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!