By the time that I had gotten home from the Castaic area, it was already 10pm-ish. I got cleaned up and was contemplating just staying up. But I'm not a Spring chicken anymore, so after draining my blisters on each foot, I decided to get at least a couple of hours of sleep before I head down south for the La Jolla half marathon. I also decided to wear the Leona Divide shirt for the race. Ink-n-Burn makes the most comfortable race clothing!
Leona Divide race shirt
Sunday
Being the on-time or rather super early person that I am. I got to the Del Mar Fairgrounds before the race people even got there! In my drowsy exhausted state, I sort of panicked and thought maybe they had moved the starting line to a different location this year. There was also the Cirque du Soleil tent at the starting area to add to my confusion. I actually started driving down to La Jolla to park at the finish where I could catch the bus up to the start. But then I realized just how freaking early I was, so I turned the car around and parked at a nearby hotel to wait. Eventually the race folks started to show up. I guess I shouldn't show up at 4:30am for a 7:30am race. :)
I was among the first cars to park. I grabbed my VIP postcard and headed over to the starting area to pick up my race packet. I was walking very gingerly and awkwardly as both feet did not want me to be moving around. I was thinking, "how am I suppose to complete a half marathon in my condition?" But the more I moved around, the better things felt. At first I had to ignore the irritation from the blisters and just force myself to walk "normally".
I waited around the VIP packet pickup table with a few others. They weren't ready to hand them out until about 6:30am. As soon as I got mine, I headed back to my car.
VIP race packet pickup
Bring on the hurt!
After getting my stuff ready, I headed back again to the starting line area. I met up with my San Diegan friends briefly near the gear check truck. We parted ways when they went out for a warm up jog and I went to find a place to sit down.
Starting line
Goal A: finish around 2:30, don't do anything stupid
I let myself go on the first two miles just to check what the legs could do. The first mile felt ok, so I sped up a little on the second mile. But after that it was time to coast it in. I had thought about trying to run around a 2:10 but I didn't want to gamble with the still-recovering ankle. I stuck with the original plan of running around an easy 2:30 and started taking regular walk breaks at every mile marker. The downhill at mile 5 felt awkward. The quads were clearly trashed from Leona Divide. Once we hit the Torrey Pines hill, I only ran at most about 1/4 of it before I ended up hiking the rest of it. Even this monster of a hill felt easier to hike compared to Leona. After getting to the top, I stuck to keeping my miles between 11 and 12 minutes while continuing to take my walk breaks. I was promptly passed by 2 people that I knew. I took a GU at mile mile 7. The big downhill at mile 11 again made my legs felt like they were going to fall apart. I passed a lot of people running up the final hill headed up to mile 13. Right before the steep downhill cobblestone section near the cove, we ran through a row of people looking for and yanking out bandits. I wish more races would do this so that the race isn't so crowded.
1: 8:26
2: 7:55
3: 9:51
4: 10:38
5: 9:30
6: 13:42
7: 12:48
8: 11:54
9: 11:11
10: 11:48
11: 9:22
12: 11:33
13.1: 12:39
Finish: 2:21:17
Post race thoughts and food
I made a good fartlek run out of this race. I put in a lot of speed bursts here and there probably annoying the heck out of the runners around me. Running on roads was much easier than running on trails. The sure footing did not aggravate my right ankle. Getting out of the finish area has always been a pain in the butt each year. Friends of runners always crowd the exit so it takes forever to get out. I suppose I could run faster so that I could avoid the crowds. It's not as bad if you finish under 2 hours. I stopped by the t-shirt table to pick up my shirt. Then I headed over to the bus stop to catch a ride back to Del Mar.
Reverse Ultra Goofy!
I changed and took a quick nap in the car. Then I met up again with my San Diegan friends at the Brigantine Seafood restaurant for lunch. It was really close by the Del Mar Fairgrounds. I had a Karl Strauss IPA, a Crab & Lobster Cobb Salad, and finished it with a Guinness. This was a very good salad. In hindsight I should've gotten a drink with caffeine. I was dozing off on the drive back home. I had to roll down the window and slap myself a few times. 2 down, 1 more to go to complete the Triple Crown.
Karl Strauss IPA
Crab & Lobster Cobb Salad
Guinness
1 comment:
Wow, so many races! That's crazy!
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