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Surf City USA Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


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Huntington Beach, California
United States
Kinane Events
55F / 13C
Sunny
Total Time = 1h 35m 33s
Overall Rank = 363/14099
Age Group = M 50-54
Age Group Rank = 15/543
Pre-race routine:

Got up at 4am anticipating about an hour drive. Had a Clif Z Bar and string cheese before leaving and another Z Bar when we arrived. Had trouble parking, so Liz dropped me near the expo and went off to park. Got in a nice 0.75 mile jog to the expo parking lot from there.
Event warmup:

After jogging to near the start, I got in some good stretching and strides. I've got a nerve injury going on in my left forefoot, but it felt fine. Lined up in first corral (1:40 or better peeps).
Run
  • 1h 35m 33s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 07m 17s  min/mile
Comments:

Had to take off more than a week due to foot injury suffered on Dec 31, so my visions of a 1:32-1:33 got tabled and I honestly thought a PR (sub-1:36:30) might be a stretch. (And then there's the fact that my weight was 3.5 lbs higher than I wanted...) But I went out comfortably at around 1:35 HM pace and decided to see if I could hold that. Answer: Yes.

Pretty boring course for anyone who lives in SoCal and sees the beach a lot. Which was fine. Hung with a few "rabbits" along the way...dropped a couple, got dropped by one. Ate one gel each at 4.5 and 9.0 miles.

Wanted to get to the turnaround just past mile 8 in under an hour...got there at :58:59...game on. Doing the math, it looked like I might sneak in around 1:35. No pain during last five miles, but definitely running down the gas in the tank. Over the last two miles, I was relying on hanging with a couple people who passed me to eke out the negative splits I needed.

End result? New PR by over a minute...breaking my oldest PR at any of the ordinary distances, actually, dating all the way back to December 2008. Nice to pull off at age 51, if I do say so myself.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing. This was a really well-managed race for me and I really didn't have anything left at the end.
Post race
Warm down:

Met Liz at the exit from the finish chute and walked around with her. Re-hydrated and nibbled on post-race food. We took a shuttle to near where she'd parked and I was able to get in a good stretch while she retrieved the car.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Lost training due to the foot injury. Weighing more than my target race weight.

Event comments:

Venerable marathon/half marathon. Flat course made for PRs. Lots of surf music on PA speakers along the beach. Ultra-cool surfboard finisher medals.




Last updated: 2011-12-08 12:00 AM
Running
01:35:33 | 13.1 miles | 07m 17s  min/mile
Age Group: 15/543
Overall: 363/14099
Performance: Good
Official splits: 3 mi = 21:37 (7:13); 8.2 mi = 59:04 (7:13). Splits per Garmin 310XT: 1 7:14.9 2 7:08.6 3 7:05.3 4 7:19.8 5 7:07.4 6 7:13.2 7 7:22.3 8 7:22.4 9 7:17.7 10 7:18.5 11 7:23.4 12 7:13.4 13 7:10.0 14 1:15.9 0.19 mi (6:36/mi)
Course: Mostly out and back along flat stretch of PCH. Interrupted for miles 3-5 by an out-and-back section up a short climb to a gated neighborhood on the bluffs.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 5
Physical exertion [1-5] 5
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 4

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2012-02-05 10:23 PM

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Champion
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Northridge, California
Subject: Surf City USA Half Marathon


2012-02-05 11:53 PM
in reply to: #4030976

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Subject: RE: Surf City USA Half Marathon
Solid! Congrats on the PR
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