Rock 'n' Roll San Jose Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

As always, this was an amazingly well run race. There are 1000s of people, and I never really got bottle necked anywhere. I started out a little too fast. My first mile time was 7:55 ish. I should have slowed down, but was feeling good, so kept that pace. Ran through downtown and hit San Pedro Square, the energy from the crowd was amazing...made me feel great. I knew that Rickey and my friend Scott would be out aroung mile 5.5. So was looking forward to it. Rickey doesn't come out to many races, but since this one runs so close to our house (literally down the street from our old apartment and about 2 miles from our new one) I make him come out for 5 seconds to cheer me...then he can go to bed. I waved to them and Rickey took my pic...I continued on to the 10k marker...time was 49:something...I was surprised that I was still running that quickly...was feeling a little fatigued but still able to hold a good pace. At mile 7 I stopped to down a gu and drink a little bit of Cytomax. This was the first time in years I was using a gu type product and not sport beans. I think I will go back to sport beans...the gu made me sick...and after stopping I never got my pace back. I ended up slowing down to about a 8:45 pace for the last 1/2. sometimes slower, sometimes faster. My buddy Scott had moved to a location at about mile 10...he ran on the side of the road for about 1/2 a mile...I was concentrating on just holding the pace. So didn't say much to him. At mile 12 I decided I can speed up a little...I keep encreasing until the end where I near sprint to the finish...I felt awesome seeing my watch at 1:48:37...I knew that my record for this course was 1:48:?? so wasn't sure I PR'd or not. But I knew that if I didn't it would have been just seconds off from it.

Not stop at mile 7 for gu! And train a little more (This has more to do with an injury than laziness).

Walked through the shoot...got picture taken and then collected two arm loads of stuff on the way to the family meet / finish area. My friend Nick was there...I was surprised...but happy...my mother joined later...and just like every year, asked why I didn't run across the finish line...ummmm I did and just like every year, through the 1000s running you just didn't see me. My friend Rob, the friend I saw at the start, found me and we walked around getting free stuff. He did well for his first 1/2 mary...1:59:53...He was happy with that. I looked for BTers...didn't see any and looked for my buddy Matt...didn't see him either...but I see that he finished at 2:10 something.


Gu, shoes and injury...all played a part in the fact that I didn't get my original goal of under 1:40...but...and its a big but...I knew this. I actually didn't think until recently that I would get under 2:00.


I have done this race for the 3 years it has existed...I love it. I think it is the best ran event I have ever been a part of. I can't speak highly enough of the event. In a few weeks I may try to run the Silicon Valley Marathon...this will be my 5th time in 11 years, it is not a badly run race, but the difference when running the two so close together is very apparent. One is flawless, the other just seems ok.