Laguna Hills Memorial Half Marathon

I've ran this race 4 straight years, but skipped it last year to run the LA Marathon. Since the LA Marathon was moved to another date, I'm back to run one of my favorite races. I love courses that are undulating. Flat courses are unappealing to me. They might net me a better finishing time, but I love the challenges of running uphills and downhills. From looking at the final instructions, I've realized that they've made a few changes to the race course. They took out the initial loop around the mall and started both the 5k'ers and half marathoners at the same time.

I got there pretty early around 5:10 am. I parked at my usual spot at the Taj Mahal, but later decided to park a little bit closer to the starting line. It turned out to be a good call since I managed to park in the volunteer parking lot before they blocked it off. I picked up my bib and milled around a little bit. Didn't see anyone I know. Went back to my car to attach the timing chip to my shoe and the bib to my singlet.

T-minus 1:19:45

The goal was to run around 1:59 give or take 10 minutes. My legs have been getting stronger so I wanted to push the pace early in the race to see how they would react. My right ankle has been bothering me still so I had to factor in the possibility of me running into trouble which would cause me to finish around 1:59 or even slower. As it would turn out, I know my body pretty well.

Why do I always get so nervous before a race? :)

After using the potty several times. I headed back to my car, but ran into a few familiar faces: Mitch, Jeremiah (Mitch's friend), Nadia (ran the 5k), Andrea, and Jeff. After chatting a bit, I wished everyone a great race and went off for my warm-up jog. Nothing hurt, so I made my way to the 7:30 min mile pace section of the starting corral. It seemed like everyone had the same idea, since I saw the same people again. After a few opening memorials to those in the armed forces and the national anthem, it was race time!

Race
The start was still somewhat clogged even though we were really close to the front. I followed Jeff and let him pave the road. He's a much stronger runner so once the crowd loosened up, he took off on me. I then saw Andrea who is also a stronger runner than I am. Mitch and I followed her for a while. I dropped back after the 2nd mile to conserve energy. Nearing the mile 3 marker, I saw my coworker who lived in the area. She came out again this year to watch me run by. I definitely got caught up with the 5k runners and was pulled by them. Once they broke off for their finish line, I finally settled back to a more reasonable pace. I took a PowerGel at the 1 hour mark. Mile 8 was when it started to heat up just in time for the steady climb. On my way to mile 9, I saw my friend Alison. I only recognized her because of her awesome Ironman visor. I have a hard time recognizing people when I'm suffering during a race. I caught and passed Mitch. He was also having difficulty with the heat. I took a salt tab at mile 10 and boy did I need it. The last 5k was horrible. The right hip just did not feel right. I tried to focus on my form and breathing. Then the right foot/ankle started feeling off. Just to make things interesting, let's throw in back spasms at mile 11. I was tempted to just walk it in, but again I just slowed down and tried to find a comfortable pace. I had to jog it in. In the final mile, I was passed by the runners carried flags for each of the armed forces. That kind of got me going a little. I had a very hard time convincing myself to open up my stride for the finish. But I was able to pass a grandpa and a girl in the last 100m. :)
1: 7:30
2: 8:03
3: 7:55
4: 8:39
5: 8:50
6: 8:31
7: 8:56
8: 9:30
9: 9:34
10: 8:58
11: 10:38
12: 10:07
13: 10:28
13.1: 0:59
Finish: 1:58:45

I waited for Mitch to finish. Looks like he had a rough day since this guy almost always beats me. His excuse was the heat and he couldn't find his Garmin this morning. :) We made our way to the food line. They handed out Monster water. I was sort of baffled thinking that they were trying to kill us with a caffeine overdose. But the volunteers assured us that it was only water. I took a can and also a Myoplex Chocolate Cream drink and spotted the RunRacing booth. I went over to say hi to my friends Danica and Lynda. We then headed over to pick up our T-shirt and goodie bag.

I picked up another can of water for Danica and Lynda. Danica couldn't believe water would come in a can. Yes, those are my chicken legs.

I headed over to the finish line area to watch my friend Alison finish, but I missed it. She finished ahead of schedule. She had just crossed the line and was talking to her mom. I went back to the RunRacing booth and hung out for a little bit mostly to get my bearings straight. After eating a piece of banana and drinking the Myoplex, I was good to go. I said my goodbyes and headed to the shuttles to get a ride back to my car. The girl I sat next to on the bus also ran the Palos Verdes Marathon. What a small world. Next stop San Diego!

Sabotage

05-22-10 - I ran ~11.8 hilly miles in 1:47:30 at approx. 9:07 pace. Had a close call with a car too near the end of my run. It felt good today. I was almost 4 minutes faster than 2 weeks ago. The ankle still felt weak on the uphills. The anterior tibial tendon was still puffy after a run, so I slapped on the ice pack. I need to buy a new icepack. :)

Spongebob icepack strapped on with a rubber band :)

I felt as if my body's self-preservation tactics would always kick in whenever it knows that we're going out for a long run. I would feel sick and then contemplate scrapping or downgrading the run. Also I usually suffer from GI distress right before a marathon. Last night I had a bout of diarrhea. I'm guessing it was from eating too much shrimp chips. MSG was one of its ingredients. My body can't really tolerate too much of it. So I guess it was a bad idea that I ate a huge bag full of it. :)

Shrimp chips - too much of a good thing

Who knows... maybe I subconsciously make poor snack decisions so I can get out of running. :) Anyway I think my body is almost ready to handle some light regular mileage. I hope so, because these 5 hour marathons are really hard to handle mentally. I hope to set a new PR at the Laguna Hills Memorial Half Marathon. It shouldn't be too hard since my PR is only 1:54:17, but my endurance is still lacking. I can't wait to run the San Diego Rock n' Roll Marathon. The race has undergone changes, but I'll still run this race every year. I really think that they shouldn't have added the half marathon. They were getting plenty of runners even as a marathon-only event. But a business has to make decisions based on maximizing profit and the half marathon brings in more profit per runner per hour.

Palos Verdes Marathon

Do Over
Not being able to complete the Country Music Marathon in Nashville really bothered me. Me and my rather obsessive compulsive personality did not like the weather-forced DNF one bit! I was supposed to take a month off from running a marathon in May due to my ailing ankle and hip. But I kept my eye on the Palos Verdes Marathon. I've always loved this gem of a race. In 2008 I ran the half and in 2009 I ran the full. Still I had all the intention in the world to sit out the entire month. But when I took a ~12 mile run, the body parts felt good enough that I sent in my registration the Monday before the race. I've taken a break from running for the most part, so today was both a test run and a make-up marathon for the one in Nashville.

Pre-Race Stuff
I got to the park at about 5:30am. I went over to use the portapotty and to pick up my bib. They did not have my name on the list, so I had to fill out a scan-tron card. They just assumed that I've paid. I bumped into Marcia, Mitch, Nadia, and James. Right before the start, I bumped into a few more friends, Deo, John, Rocco, and Yolanda. I'm probably missing a few. We just keep bumping into each other at these races.

The volunteers were not morning people :)

The plan for this race was to finish around 5 hours. I wanted to push hard for the first half and just jog/walk my way in for the second half. I also wanted to use this race to fiddle with my salt/gu schedule. Most of the mile markers were off so I will not be listing the splits.

1st half - ~2:00:00
I intended to go out as hard as I could, but I was stuck behind very slow runners early on. After getting around them, I finally was able to open up the stride. I ran next to Skinnyrunner for the first 2 miles. I did not know it was her until after seeing her picture on her blog. She quickly ran away from me on the first big climb. I realized that I could not climb very well with my bad ankle. It was great seeing Colin and Kristin on their training run, two very great runners! They will be running Comrades very soon. By mile 8, my hip was already feeling weak. I hung on as well as I could. I wanted to get to the half at about 1:54, but I'll take the 2 hrs.

2nd half - ~2:50:40
I was taking a salt cap every hour, but had to increase the frequency since my muscles were headed to cramp city in a hurry. I was taking about 1 Powergel every 30 minutes and sometimes sooner if I felt hungry. I need to work on my race morning fueling. The next 3 miles was not pretty. My legs were entering marathon-shuffle mode. I saw Colin and Kristin again a little after mile 16. There were miles where I opened up my stride which felt okay for awhile, but the hip and foot would complain. So I alternated between shuffle, walk, and actual running. My friends (Jake, John, Noel, Rocco) started to pass me around mile 18. But I was able to pass 2 of them right before the finish line.

Finish - 4:50:40 (watch)

Post-Race Stuff
While a bunch of us were waiting for Jessica to finish, I ran into Lori. I had no idea she was running this race. She was pacing her friend in his first marathon. This was and probably will be the last time that I ever beat her in a marathon. :) Unfortunately Jessica could not finish. She's been dealing with the lingering effects of food poisoning. She was able to cover about 23 miles before being picked up by the sag wagon.

Finally a shirt that looks good enough to wear! I don't mind a cotton T as long as the design is good.

I swear I'm getting out of this maniac business. 2011 will be the year that I finally get healthy. Then I'll put in some real training and run some quality marathons. In case you're wondering, I drove all the way to Costa Mesa to eat ramen. The wait for ramen was 1 hour! I shopped for snacks in Mitsuwa to kill time. Well worth the wait. I've said it before, maybe I need to change my blog to "I Love Ramen". :)

OC Marathon Section Commander#1 Volunteer Report

The Plan
Just a quick recap concerning my injuries. Back in October when I first hurt my Achilles, that was when I halted my out-of-control race sign-ups. Too bad I was signed up for races clear out to June of this year. But luckily, I have a breaks in May and July. This year has been rough having to get the ailing body to the finishing line without causing additional damage. There has been more rest than actual training. Every time I've felt better, I've had to fight the urge to fill those months. What I've been doing to prevent myself from signing up for races was to volunteer at these races. Thus I was section commander#1 for the OC Marathon. I was in charge of the first 3 aid stations, approximately the first 4 miles of the course.

Getting ready for the action
I got to the starting line at Fashion Island at around 4:30am. Hopped on the cart and drove through the course. It was really dark and I missed the turn at Narcissus Ave. Oops! I eventually got to first aid station at mile 2 and watched them setup. I'm definitely not used to being a commander. All I wanted to do was get out of my cart and help setup. After I checked up on the 3 aid stations, I parked myself near the first aid station. I radioed in that section 1 was ready to go. Shortly thereafter, the race began.

Mile 2 Aid Station

Early Race Action
I got out my camera and took a video of the first runner. Then I tried to find my friends in the sea of humanity. I saw Sam and Jeff running strong. I got pictures of them but really didn't have time to zoom in since they were moving pretty fast.

The half marathon leader approaching the aid station at mile 2.

Later I spotted James, Howard, and Marcia. But I could not get clear pictures of them. It was rather hilarious to see Bert and Ernie out there. Most of the people I spotted were Marathon Maniacs since they really stood out in the crowd with those super bright yellow singlets.

Marathon Maniacs: Silver and another dude

Bert and Ernie!

Mile 4 Aid Station

Impromptu Rescue Missions
There was pretty much no problems except for a few things. Before the race, we had to go pickup keys from a course marshal since her car alarm was going off and they were threatening to tow her car. Then a runner was feeling really nauseous and wanted to drop out of the race. I called it in and a van came rather quickly to pick her up. There was an angry homeowner whose house got trampled on because the portapotty lines were pushing the runners' path onto his lawn. Looks like they will need to put those portapotties somewhere else next time. After my section was cleared, I was told to take the cart to the finish area. No problem! But here was where the fun began!

I drove the course and headed for the finish. This was very very slow since the course was pretty narrow when I got to the bike trails. Sometimes I would have to follow walkers that couldn't hear my loud cart because they were listening to their music. I was fine with that because it's their race. I wanted to hurry up to the finish to watch my friends, but at the same time I didn't want to disturb their race experience. I ended up giving rides to runners that wanted to drop out. I picked up 1 runner while in the Back Bay section and drove her to the medical tent at mile 9. From there I picked up 2 people that wanted to go to the finish area. It took forever to cover those 4 miles. Plus when the roads were finally wide enough for me to drive faster, I got yelled at by a cop that jumped in front of my cart saying that I couldn't do what I was doing since I was driving against oncoming traffic. I told him I was transporting injured runners so he let me go and told me to be careful. Thank you officer, I was.

Once I dropped them off, I had a hard time getting the cart to the return spot near lot F. I finally just drove out of the parking lot at Newport where the half marathoners were entering and went all the way around to the other side using Arlington.

As I was going to checkout at the volunteer area, Sam spotted me. He was with Lori. I took a picture with them and agreed to hang out with them later. Luckily I was able to see some of my friends finish. I'm glad I saw Howard almost break 3:54. I also saw James, Dennis, Rocco, and Deo finish. Dang it, I hate being on the sideline!

James approaching the finish

Dennis approaching the finish, who just ran Boston and Big Sur

Lori and Sam

Dude, Where's My Car?
I met up with Lori and then we went out to find her car. That took us awhile to find it since all she remembered was that it was near some trees, grass, and the shuttle pickup spot. She thought it was in parking lot 1. She was in D1. That was actually fun since I was sitting in a cart for most of the day. We met up with Billy and drove to the Costa Mesa Omelette Parlor. Rachel, Alan, and Sam met us there. It was about a 15 minute wait before we were seated. I had a ribeye steak and eggs... my favorite breakfast food and I didn't even run today. Afterward Lori drove me to Fashion Island to pick up my car. Thus ended a long but fun day with the OC Marathon.

Ribeye, 3 eggs, and potatoes

Other Thoughts
I really really want to sign up for Palos Verdes, but I also really really want to heal up so that I can start working on a BQ. My anterior tibial tendon has been bothering me lately as well as the hip and weak butt muscles. I'm pretty sure that I don't want to volunteer again so soon because it killed me to sit in the cart. As fun as it was, I just wanted to ditch the cart and run a few miles.

La Jolla Half Marathon

Carbo-load
On my way home from the airport, I stopped by Pho Hana to eat some Korean food. The owner is Korean and they have really good kimchi fried rice. I also ordered 3 rice rolls since it was a Vietnamese restaurant. I got home, unpacked, took a shower, got my race gear ready, and went to sleep.

Pre Race
I woke up around 2:30am to get ready. I left the house around 4:30am to make the long drive down to the Del Mar fairgrounds. I got there at about 5am. I was among the first row of cars to park in the lot. I hate being late to any thing. Usually I'm super early. I took a nap while listening to my iPod full of boy band songs. I headed to the starting area around 5:30 to use the portapotties and to pickup my race packet. I went back to my car to change. I bumped into my friend from college after using the portapotties for the last time before the race. Back in college I never thought that about 15 years later that we would be bumping into each other at a half marathon. I hope that both of us will continue to run for a long time... it is good for you! Smoking on the other hand is bad for you!

My goal was to finish sub 2 or just run hard. I've never raced on back to back days so I didn't know what to expect. I love challenging courses, in particular courses that are not labeled as flat and fast. The La Jolla half marathon is well known for its hills especially the infamous Torrey Pines hill.

The Race
For this race, I just concentrated on my running form. I wore my Asics DS Trainer 12's. I love this line because they are minimalist shoes and almost forces you to land mid or forefoot. I knew that I was tired and the form was probably the only thing that I could control. Surprisingly, the legs felt okay in the first few miles. But I made sure never to press the pace. As we approached the first mile marker I spotted Shacky, my barefoot friend. I ran with him for about 2.5 miles. We were spotted by our RWOL friend, Charlie, cheering at all of the runners. Around mile 4, I had to let Shacky go during the first gentle climb. I didn't want to spend energy keeping up with him since I wanted to save the energy for the harder parts of the course. Mile 5 was fun flying down a hill. I didn't get too crazy with the Torrey Pines climb looming just ahead. I dropped my salt tab just a little past the aid station. I had to stop and turn around to pick it up. Since the tab was dirty, I washed it with a squirt from my bottle and took it. I guess it was a good time as any. I picked a comfortable pace going up the monster of a hill and just stuck with it, ignoring every person that passed me. As we were approaching mile 9, I heard someone call my name. It was my former TNT coach, Jimmy Freeman. He was pacing his sister to a sub 2. Jimmy reminded me that it was supposed to hurt and that I paid to do this to myself. I wished them well and not to let me pass them since I was planning on running 1:59:59. Miles 8 through 10 was where I lost my sub 2. I could not get the legs to turn. Pumping the arms barely got me a sub 9:30. I took a Powergel at about mile 9 to see if I could revive the legs. When I saw that I barely broke an 8:30 at mile 11 which had a huge downhill that it was going to be close. The final 2 mile climb was a pain. Turning right at Prospect was nice, but my legs were wobbly and not looking forward to the quad busting super duper cobble stone downhill section to the finish line. I tried to motor as fast as I could. I heard my name as I made the final right turn onto the grassy area for the finish. In the end, I was 5 seconds shy of my goal.
1: 8:13
2: 8:14
3: 8:39
4: 9:27
5: 7:57
6: 9:54
7-8: 20:06
9: 9:17
10: 9:21
11: 8:13
12: 9:45
13.1: 10:54
Finish: 2:00:04

Post Race
This might be the last year that I run the Triple Crown series... well, maybe until I qualify for Boston. Who knows, maybe I can work these races into my training. I really love visiting the San Diego area. I really do enjoy half marathons more than full marathons.

Country Music (Almost) Marathon

Travel
I got to LAX very early on Friday to catch a direct flight to Nashville on Southwest Airlines. As I boarded the plane, I bump into my friend Sam who is attempting to run 60 marathons this year for his charity, OperationJack. The Country Music Marathon was his 21st of the year. We're in April, you can do the math. CMM was supposed to be my 6th marathon this year and the 10th state. We arrived at Nashville on time and went our separate ways once we got to the car rental area. I drove to my hotel that was about 5 minutes away. I checked in and found it weird that they gave me a care package. It consisted a bottle water, peanut butter crackers, and Doritos chips. They probably knew most people were there for the marathon. I threw my bag in the room and headed back out to attend the race expo.

Expo Entrance

Expo/Pace Pickup
The expo was super crowded. While in line to pick up my race packet, I bumped into Sam again. We went over to the Clinic area to check out Tara Stiles, Ryan Hall, and Eddie George. I lost Sam after I went to get a better picture. I went through the expo with no intention of buying anything or signing up for any races. I did check out the iFitness belt, but decided to pass. I drove back to the hotel to take a short rest before dinner. I stopped by a local Walgreens to pickup some water and my usual race morning OJ. I was getting pretty famished, so I ended up eating the Doritos and crackers.

Tara Stiles (yoga instructor), Ryan Hall (elite marathon runner), and Eddie George (former Titan)

Pre-Race Stuff
For dinner I ate at the Stock-Yard Restaurant. Definitely not a place for penny pinchers, but a place that any steak lover needs to visit when in the area. I had the South Pacific Prime Ribeye Steak, baked potato, and cream of spinach. My waiter James introduced me to the grill master after I was done. The grill master showed me the charcoal that they use and the nice big grill.

The best advice they tell you when you run a marathon is: nothing new on race day. Since the weather report did not look one bit promising, I figure the race was going to be canceled or cut short. I packed my Camelbak dual bottle waist-pack to give it a try. Also I've changed to using Salt-stick caps instead of Shotbloks.

I had my orange juice in the morning, but realized that I had forgot to pack my Powerbar. I got to the LP field super early and tried to take a nap. But my GI system had other ideas. I had to make 2 portapotty visits before I even got to the bus for the starting line. It might have been a case of nerves. In the starting line village, I ate a banana and a bagel.

Almost a Marathon
Right from the very first mile I felt like I had ankle weights on. I did not like the waist-pack. It was very cumbersome with 2 bottles full of liquid. I took both bottles out and carried them as hand-helds. But my arms were getting tired after 2 miles since they were bigger bottles than my normal hand-held bottle. So back in the waist-pack they went. The course was very up and down. I felt extremely fatigued during a gentle climb around mile 3. I slowed way down. Never have I felt like I wanted to die so early in a marathon. The humidity was really getting to me. My head was starting to hurt. Once I took in my first GU and salt cap, I started to feel better. But could not run comfortably except at around a 10 min pace. I kept pouring water on my arm sleeves and on my head. It was a very enjoyable course, lots of trees and definitely a lot of rollers. It reminded me of the Cowtown Marathon in Sacramento. The race was storm-free for about 3 hours. But shortly after crossing the mile 20 mat, I was diverted to the half marathon finish since the storm was upon us. The rain was starting to come down and there was a good possibility of tornadoes. Their original contingency plan was to allow runners running 4:30 or better to finish. At mile 20 I was still on that pace, but it was more than likely that it was going to take me about 4:45 to finish. But at the end of the day, it was a 3:37 long run.
1: 8:18
2: 8:16
3: 9:47
4: 10:03
5: 10:04
6: 9:37
7: 10:22
8: 10:08
9-10: 19:36
11: 10:10
12: 10:13
13: 11:14
14: 9:55
15: 11:24
16: 11:52
17: 12:21
18: 13:12
19: 12:31
20: 13:08
20.x: 4:38

After the Race
After crossing the "finish line" they gave me a marathon finisher's medal, but I'm not too sure what to do with it. I guess I'll keep it with my Pasadena Inaugural Marathon medal. It just counts as a DNF or a training run in my books. I picked up my gear bag and headed back to my car. It took a really long time getting out of the parking lot. I filled up the gas tank and headed to the airport. I hung out there reading my book until it was time for my flight.

Sure I was disappointed that I didn't complete a marathon, but the race director made the right call. With possible tornadoes headed our way, there was no sense in risking the lives of runners, public servants, and volunteers. It was not an easy marathon, but I guess I will be back to try again. Hopefully next time, I'll be able to see the last 10k of the race. In a way I was glad that I ran about 20.5 miles instead of 26.2 miles since I was running the challenging La Jolla Half Marathon the next day.

I won't use the waist-pack again in a marathon. Salt-stick caps worked great, but I need to take more than 1 per hour especially if it is very humid. My right ankle is still no good. A little bit of anterior tibial tendonitis.

Carlsbad 5000 all day 25k

This was the 25th year of the Carlsbad 5000 and only the second year that they've offered an all day 25k event where the runner gets to run in 5 heats. As the race got closer, the more I began thinking that it was a very bad idea. After my disaster in Sycamore Canyon, I had nearly zero confidence in coming out of this race unscathed. But still I wanted to run hard and see what I could get out of my not-so-fresh legs. But I had to monitor the condition of my ailing body parts so that I don't cause any further damage.

I parked in my usual spot at the Carlsbad train station at around 5:15am. Took a little nap. Then I used the portapotties and picked up my bib at around 6am. I bumped into Charlie, a fantastic masters runner! We wished each other a good race and I headed back to my car. Along the way I stopped by the expo to pick up my race shirt and goodie-less bag. I got ready and jogged back to the starting area. In the starting area, I bumped into the same 70 year old triathlete as last year. I really hope I move like he does when I'm his age. Right before the start of the first heat, I came up with a goal to try and break 23 minutes. I don't run very many 5k's, so I don't really have a personal best at this distance.

Masters Men 40+
23:09 7:13, 7:22, 7:55, 0:39 - overall pace 7:27
I went out pretty well. The course was a bit congested with really large men trotting along in the front. I realized that I was pushing too hard as I got closer to the first mile marker. I was going to clock a sub 7 first mile, so I backed off. The second mile was pretty much a steady climb. When I saw that I had clocked a 7:22... I realized that I had to back off again or my other heats were going to suck really bad. I guess I backed off a little too much as I kicked down the final stretch and noticed that I was going to be about 10 seconds shy of my goal. If this were my only 5k, I'd definitely be in the 22s or lower.
31:49 break - I drank a bottle of Clif Shot Electrolyte drink and took 1 GU.

Masters Women 40+
24:59 8:02, 8:08, 8:08, 0:41 - overall pace 8:02
Running with the cougars! RAWR! This was my favorite heat. It's more of a happy fun run since most of the testosterone was not present. I started off a little bit slower in this one, but I developed a side stitch. So I kept it at an even pace the rest of the way. I tried taking deeper breaths to see if the pain would clear up. Eventually it did.
59:34 break - I drank a bottle of Clif Shot Electrolyte drink. I then went through the expo stopping by the RunRacing booth to say hi to Brian (at least I think that was his name, the band was loud). I then relaxed a little bit in my car. I jogged back to the start to loosen up the legs. I took 1 GU before the next heat.

Men 30-39
24:05 7:27, 7:52, 8:06, 0:40 - overall pace 7:45
Since this was my age group, I went out as hard as I could and tried to hang on. Seeing the same hill for the third time really drained me mentally. I just could not convince my legs to push after the first mile.
32:41 break - I drank a bottle of Clif Shot Electrolyte drink and took 1 GU. I carried a GU and some water into the next heat.

Women 30-39
25:37 8:13, 8:17, 8:26, 0:41 - overall pace 8:14
I started to feel really sluggish in this heat. I took a GU at around the first U-turn and finished off the water. In the final stretch as I was passing a guy also running the all day event, he turned on his kick. So instinct took over and I tried to match his kick. He beat me by a little. We congratulated each other, but it looked like I pulled or strained my right hammy.
51:22 break - I drank a bottle of Clif Shot Electrolyte drink and took 1 GU. Used the Clif Shot bottle to massage the hammy loose. I kept doing stretching exercises and it finally felt good to go a few minutes before the next heat. I was about to take a DNS on the final heat. Then took another GU.

Men and Women 29 & Under
26:13 8:18, 8:22, 8:43, 0:50 - overall pace 8:26
The heat that almost didn't happen. This was basically a fast jog. Good thing was that the right hammy was fine with it. I don't remember much about this heat as I was tired and spacing out. On the final stretch I tried to speed up, but my left hammy was cramping up. So, I ended up cruising in.

It took a bunch of us a while to find the Awards table in the village faire to pick up our 25k medal. There were signs pointing to it, but man it was a bit confusing and far! I picked up my medal and met up with my RWOL friends to watch the elites run the course. Man, those elites were flying! The winner for the men, Eliud Kipchoge, finished in 13:11, 4:15 per mile pace. The winner for the women, Meseret Defar, finished in 15:04, 4:51 per mile pace.

The breaks were kind of hard to endure. The faster you ran, the longer you had to wait in between heats. But if you run them slower than your capabilities then what's the point? I love this race, but 5k's are incredibly hard races to run. Most likely I'll be back, but man that was brutal to run five of them in succession. Carlsbad is a tad far of a drive to run only 1 heat. None of the usual niggles or ailments were bothering me during the race. But maybe I'm just more suited for shorter distances.

We then had lunch at Casa De Bandini. It was a Mexican restaurant in the Forum. I had an avocado omelette and 2 Stone IPA's. It was my attempt at eating less red meat. I'll probably go back to eating more seafood. It was a fun Sunday with running, food, and friends. Maybe next year I'll run 1 heat and just watch other people run.