Rock n Roll Seattle Marathon

Travel and Stuff
I took an early morning flight out of LAX to Seattle with Virgin America. I got there in a couple of hours. I took the fairly new Link light rail to the Stadium station and walked over to the expo. I went through the expo, stopped by the WorldVision booth, and met Meb again. He's a really cool guy. I ended up signing up next year's Seattle RnR race for $40 off and the DisneyWorld Goofy's marathon and a half challenge. I met up with my friend Ryan to go eat sushi. Too bad we couldn't find one open for lunch. Instead we ate at Pho Hoa.

Visiting my friend at the WorldVision booth

"Free" bag for signing for the Goofy's marathon and a half challenge

Met Meb again... great athlete, great guy!

Carbo-loading at Pho Hoa

Afterward we met up with Sam, who ran Seattle as his 31st marathon this year. He will be running a total of 60 this year for Train4Autism. Here's Sam's website: OperationJack. I usually sleep early, so I wished them both a good race and headed north to my hotel. On my way there I stopped by Walgreens to pick up cookies, water, and some juice. This year I stayed at The Roosevelt. I took a quick nap and went back out looking for some sushi. I had thought about eating at a kaiten sushi restaurant across the street from my hotel, but I decided to go for quality sushi and walked over to Shiro's Sushi. I lucked out, there was one seat left at the sushi bar. I ate my usual picks: toro, mirugai, hamachi, amaebi, geso, albacore, and a salmon skin temaki.

Pre-race
I walked over to the Westin to catch the bus to the starting line in Tukwila. I met a couple of Loma Linda Lopers on the bus. When we got to the starting area I met and hung out with 2 marathon maniacs, Ed from Hawaii and Ponytail from Arkansas. I also got to meet the guy who takes crazy photos, Dave from Chicago. I also happen to spot Ryan and his friend Jennifer a few minutes before the start of the race.

Pre-race photo with some maniacs

1st Half
I started off in the front of my corral. Ran as comfortably as possible. Few people ran ahead of me and I was smart to not follow them. After getting my first mile split, I knew I was going a bit fast. I made sure not to speed up during the steady climb all the way through mile 5. Mile 6 was a huge downhill. Once again I started feeling discomfort in my right ankle at around mile 8. This was when the 3:40 pace group started coming up to me. I hung with them for about a mile and then I had to let them go since I still do not have the endurance. I felt that the pace would be really comfortable if I could get my ankle back to 100%. I wasn't pushing very hard but the lower back was getting tight. So with the ankle and the back I stuck to the usual plan... a slow 2nd half. While on the Lake Washington Bridge, I was able to see my friends Ryan and Sam.
1: 7:52
2: 7:58
3: 8:13
4: 8:32
5: 9:11
6: 7:44
7: 8:17
8: 9:09
9: 8:35
10: 8:47
11: 10:18
12: 9:16
13: 11:02
13.1: 1:55:59

2nd Half
I slowed down a lot, more than I expected. I used the same refueling plan as San Diego, but I started feeling nauseous when I took my next scheduled PowerGel. I tried to push on and switched to drinking Cytomax only for carbs. But by mile 17, I knew it wasn't working. I was starting to get light headed and was having the feeling of diarrhea coming on. I walked most of the next 2 miles trying not to pass out and crap my shorts. I tried to stick to my plan for the most part. I took my salt at regular intervals and tried to run a little for the next 2 miles. But then at mile 21, it happened again... nausea, light headed, and feeling the squirts coming on. I eventually made my way to the median divider to sit down before entering the viaduct tunnel. I was getting really dizzy. This was when I decided to go back to taking the gels. I would rather risk throwing up and crapping my shorts instead of passing out and taking a ride with the EMT. I would walk a little right after taking my gel and salt to let the stomach settle before running. I guess it worked out ok since I was able to recover enough to speed up a little and get to the finish without any unfortunate accidents.
14: 9:28
15: 11:07
16: 11:44
17: 14:07
18: 18:21
19: 13:12
20: 13:21
21: 17:47
22: 16:08
23: 13:43
24: 12:47
25: 12:07
26: 12:39
26.2: 1:36
Finish: 4:53:05

Post-race
It was good to get a feeling of what it's like to run at a 3:35 - 3:40 marathon pace. The ankle is getting better, but I need to get off of the maniac bus. I'm pretty sure everything will be solved once I am able to work on my endurance. It's just too much to ask my body to run 26.2 miles when my longest runs have been less than 12 miles. I finished about 40 minutes slower than what I planned. Anyway, I hung out with Steve at the finish area for a little bit. I then had to get back to my hotel to clean up and eat with my friend from college.

Gordon Biersch

We ate at Gordon Biersch. I had a burger and a schwarzbier. Good stuff. Then I was knocked out for the "night" at around 6ish. So early, but I was pooped from the marathon and had to catch the first train the next morning to catch my flight home.

Rock n Roll San Diego Marathon

Expo - Friday
I normally attend the Friday expo when I run the San Diego RnR Marathon. But this year I was actually planning to attend on Saturday and just spend the night in a hotel. But when they finally released that Kara Goucher was going to be there on both days, I just had to be there on Friday. The expo would be a zoo on Saturday which could possibly hinder me from finally meeting her. So off I went to the expo on Friday. There was a huge line waiting to get into the expo. As soon as it opened, I picked up my race packet. Then I donated 4 pairs of shoes that just had to go. Then I planted myself in the front row and waited for Kara to show up.

She's just a normal girl, very approachable person, and never once acting like a diva. She was taller than I'd expected. It was also very cool to talk to her husband, Adam. I asked him when he was going to take a shot at the marathon. He said he'd like to one day. I think he's still injured.

Introduction

Kara Goucher being interviewed for RunCenter

Picture on stage with Kara

Signed magazine and shirts I picked up from the expo

She signed my magazine before the interview. Afterward I got a picture with her on the stage. I stopped by The RunRacing table to say hi to Danica. Then I quickly went through the expo. Within about 5 minutes I had signed up for the San Antonio RnR Marathon and next year's San Diego RnR Marathon. Economy stimulated! I drove up to Costa Mesa and ate ramen at Santouka.

Expo - Saturday
I drove back down to attend day 2 of the marathon expo. It was much crazier and more super packed than Friday. I made sure that I wasn't going to stay long or else I'd spend way too money. I ended up buying some black Injinji micro socks and their new compression toe socks. I figured I'll just wear that instead of socks plus calf sleeves, but only when it's really cold. I'm convinced that they don't help that much to be wearing them when it's warm.

Danica working the RunRacing booth

The legendary ultra-marathoner, Pam Reed

I bought another pair of Mizuno mustangs. I love those shorts. Got them in black again. Economy stimulated again! On my way out I ran into the legendary Pam Reed. She was running the treadmill for training or something. From my picture with her, I realized that I've been getting skinnier. I might need to start wearing size small t-shirts. My shorts were pretty much falling off. I keep forgetting to wear a belt.

The last meals
I drove over to the Mitsuwa in Kearny Mesa to eat lunch. For good luck in the race, I ate a katsudon at Kayaba. I've had better. I will have to try something else next time. Then I headed over to my hotel. I stayed at the Hampton Inn. Not too bad... it had a small fridge and free internet. I got my stuff ready for the race and accidentally took a nap while watching a movie. I think it was Batman Returns.

I met Glenn (blogger) back at Mitsuwa to eat ramen at Santouka. I guess I can't get enough of that place! We talked a little bit about each other's training and how the Rock n' Roll races have sort of grown out of control... especially in how much they'll be charging runners in the upcoming years. I think all of their races will be at least $100 next year. I'll run San Diego every year. The only other 2 races that I will consider running after this year are Las Vegas and Country Music. But other than those 3 races, they've essentially priced me out of their races.

Pre-Race Shenanigans
I got myself to Qualcomm Stadium a little after 3:30am. There was barely any cars in the parking lot. I took my time to gather my stuff and boarded the shuttle. Turns out I could've waited another 30mins and still would've gotten to the starting area sooner. The bus driver was lost from the get go. First he drove the wrong way when he was trying to exit the stadium. Then when he turned around and got directions, everything was fine? No! We got into downtown San Diego, but I noticed that we were headed towards the convention center. The park's the other way dude. Then he had us heading west. He signaled the dispatch, but continued to drive in circles. Eventually he started heading in the right direction. We came to a road block. The guard there initially didn't allow our driver to cut across from 5th Ave. to 6th Ave., but one of the event traffic controllers spotted our rogue bus and bailed us out by telling the guard to let us through so we could be dropped off at the park.

Fun stuff.

I used a portapotty and waited by my UPS truck. Ran into a maniac friend Joel. At about 40 minutes before starting time, I dropped off my gear bag and headed towards corral 5. On my way GrapevineRunner (RWOL) spotted me... first time meeting him. I lined up at the potty line for one last time just outside my corral. I spotted Lifesabeach (RWOL) while waiting in that long line. I made it with 10 minutes to spare. I squeezed into my corral and shortly thereafter we were off.

First Half
My goal for this race was to finish at 4:30 and see how fast I could run the first half. I started off running at what felt like an easy pace. Turns out it was an 8:10 pace. I must have sped up during mile 4 because that included a walk break. After I saw the split for mile 5, I knew I had to slow down. I saw Lifesabeach, James, and Howard on this short out and back section near mile 7. James of course told me to slow down. I should not be catching up to either him or Howard because they started in corrals 2 and 3 respectively. So at mile 7 when I took my 2nd walking break, I made sure that I started up slowly. I kept it in the 9s for a while. Going up the 163 was a pain in the butt only because it was an obstacle course full of walking half marathoners. They need to rope them off next year. Adam spotted me from the sideline... this was a good section to get some encouragement. I got to the halfway mark faster than I've ever ran any half marathon. What baffled me was that I could not run faster 6 days ago at Laguna Hills.
1: 8:10
2: 8:10
3: 8:13
4: 8:10
5: 7:39 oops
6: 8:22
7: 8:58
8: 9:00
9: 8:57
10: 9:32
11: 9:24
12: 8:29
13: 9:30
Halfway: 1:53:32

Second Half
I stopped to fill up my water bottle. Here was when my back started giving me trouble. First I was passed by Noel. Then Teatime (blogger) spotted and passed me at around mile 16. My back had already seized up so I told her it might be a 4:50 kind of day for me. The right hip was giving me problems as well. I'm guessing it's an IT band issue since it only shows up when I get into the higher mileage. I kept plugging away at about 11 min pace until I hit the wall at around mile 20 somewhere on the dreaded bike path. Everything started to hurt. I saw Charlie (RWOL) cheering as I was entering Fiesta Island. Apparently I was so out of it, I didn't even see Wayne (RWOL). I started to feel better during this loop. Almost got taken out by a guy on a bicycle near mile 24. I was even lucky enough to come up to an empty portapotty. I filled up my bottle for the final 2 miles or so. I tried to speed up, but I couldn't sustain anything. I would run. Stop. Run some more over and over until I saw the mile 26 sign. I ran hard for the finish and as soon as I crossed I went over to the side to lean up against the fence. Before the medical aids spotted me... I gathered myself, grabbed a medal, and headed towards the ice cold towels.
14: 11:04
15: 9:59
16: 11:01
17: 11:01
18: 10:43
19: 11:02
20: 12:46
21: 13:46
22: 13:30
23: 13:00
24: 12:47
25: 12:58
26: 12:07
26.2: 1:42
Finish: 4:30:08

In this race, I took a salt cap every hour to begin with then I took it more frequently as the day got hotter and the cramps started creeping into my legs. I took 1 Powergel per hour but near the end I was taking one every 30 minutes. I think I've gotten the salt replacement and hydration figured out since none of my muscles locked up.

Post Race Shenanigans
I headed over to the food area and ran into Noel again. I got a bottle of water and a Cytomax. We went over to the gear trucks and waited for our friend Oksie to finish. After we met up with Oksie we went over to catch the shuttle to the trolley station. While in the huge line which wrapped around at least 10 times, my legs were screaming from the lactic acid. I just wanted to sit down or walk around... anything but stand around in a long line. I ate my electrolyte jelly beans just to distract myself from the burn. It was nice to finally sit down in the shuttle. We saw lots of people walking to the trolley station.

When we got off of the shuttle, we encountered a huge mass of people waiting at the station. Once we got on the trolley, it was a pleasant ride to Qualcomm. It was a short walk to our cars. They need to figure out a better way to deal with the finish line and parking logistics.

I ate at Niko Express in Tustin. It may look like a Japanese food stand but it's Korean. It's in a food court next to the Freshia supermarket. I ordered their sashimi on salad and rice (hwe dup bap).

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.