2012 Surf City USA half marathon

The Surf City Half Marathon marked the 2nd running event of the year.  What a difference not running with a bummed knee, lungs full of black soot, and being hung over made!

The only technology that I run with is my Garmin because I like that it tells me my pace, time, and HR (I am a data fiend).  So, you can imagine my disappointment when it decided not to work the morning of the race.  I gave up after numerous times to get it to work and decided to embrace this race by running "naked."  I never/rarely run with any music as I enjoy listening to the sounds around me and the internal cues of my body.

I felt good the entire weekend about this race... I felt that I could run it under 2 hours just as long as I gently push myself.  When I crossed the start line, I kept a comfortably uncomfortable pace and told myself to try and hold it until at least the half way mark (6.5 mi).  When I reached that mark, I was still feeling pretty good and decided to push it just a tiny bit more.  My legs started to feel fatigued by about mile 9/10.  I started to walk through water stations and then picked up my pace after chugging some water / hydralyte.  It was around mile 9 that the 1:58 pace runner passed me and I started to lose confidence that I would finish under 2 hours.  I kept her in sight until about mile 11 and lost her completely.  Still, I trudged on, determined to get to as close to 2 hours as I can. As I crossed the finish time, I noticed the gun time to be 2:06.  I crossed the start time at 7:54am and tried desperately to do the math in my tired head.  I figured I was close, but went to check out the official results to be sure.  You can imagine my excitement when I saw this:

I threw my fist into the air and screamed, "YESSSSS!"  Someone behind me jokingly asked, "Did you win the race?"  To which I replied, "In my mind, I did."

I'm looking forward to the San Dieguito Half Marathon next weekend.  It will be a tough one since it will be my first trail race.  My goal for that one is to maintain a 10min/mi pace or less.  I would be entirely ecstatic for a sub 2 time!

I love the Surf City USA medal!  Seriously, the only reason why I signed up for the half.

There is almost always something interesting/noteworthy about each race that I participate in:

1. A man ran the half marathon balancing a watermelon (seedless presumably) on his head.

2. A couple of bare foot runners (I was passed by one in the first mile, but I soon caught up and passed him at the 5K mark... take that, barefoot runner!! ;) ).  I guess bare foot running is becoming more common, but I still find it rather noteworthy.