The Avenue of the Giants - RunHalf Marathon

Nancy and I started off together - both of our goals were 2:05ish, and 2:00 as a stretch goal. I was ready to PR. My best half marathon time was 2:09:38 from Dallas White Rock this past December... bring it! Took about a minute to get to the start line but with a chip timer it was all good.

This run is on what's called the 'Avenue of the Giants' - a road that runs through the most beautiful and spectacular giant redwood tree forest you've ever seen. These trees are thousands of years old, and hundreds of feet high. I've put a pic of the trees in this race report, and will put a video in my album. Please check it out to see the beauty I was runnnig through - it was utterly stunning.

Back to the race... Nancy and I ran side by side for about the first half mile. The road was about the width of a one-lane road, maybe a bit wider, but fairly narrow. I was dodging walkers (Please! Walkers! Do not start in front of runners! Kthxbai.) walking four abreast and just trying to find some open space. At one point I knew I'd jutted ahead of Nancy and I slowed down to let her find her way back up to me. I started thinking that that probably wasn't the best idea if I wanted to PR. I could either run with her and hope we'd want to run the same pace, or run my own pace and risk leaving her behind me. She is admittidly a slow starter and increases her speed throughout the race. So I decided to charge ahead and hope she would catch up to me at some point in the race.

On my own, I turned on my iPod and glanced at the first mile split on my Garmin. 9:36 or something. Sh!t. That wasn't going to get me a 2:00. I *knew* it was because of the congestion, but it still bothered me. Picked it up after that, but only to be running on a slow upgrade for the next couple of miles. Hmmmm ok. I also quickly realized that in addition to the road being really windy and curvey, it was rough and uneven as all get out! Like... you had to conciously look at where you were stepping in order not to twist an ankle and fall down. There were even road signs that said "rough road ahead" - not exactly ideal running surface, but the scenery more than made up for it. I made deliberate, concious efforts to take in everything around me. I looked up at the redwoods, and around at the forest and streams, and breathed in the fresh air and smiled... this was incredible.

My mile splits were getting better, but still not exactly where I wanted to be for a 2-hour finish. I started thinking about what I'd write in my race report around miles 4 and 5... I kept formulating sentences in my mind like "I was neither pleased nor displeased with my pace" - why was I doing that?! The race wasn't even half over yet. That made me focus on running faster and making sure I wrote that I was PLEASED with my pace :)

When I started seeing green bibs (half marathoners) pass, I counted from number 1. I knew Tom was shooting for a Top 20 finish, so I thought I'd let him know where he was in relation to everyone. When I saw him, he was 17th male overall, so I told him. He looked like he was hurting and didn't smile at me or anything. I wondered then, if he even wanted to know where he was at, or if that was a mental bust?

Hit the turnaround in just over an hour - this was excellent! I saw that Nancy was maybe 15 or 20 seconds behind me. I expected her to catch up to me pretty soon, but she never did. Turns out she had to make an emergency porta potty stop, dang. Another "dang" was when I realized my Garmin had completely stopped working. For the first half it had been randomly switching to the "sattelite accuracy" screen, or the "VIP pace buddy" screen and I thought maybe the redwoods were giving it some sattelite receiption trouble. But after the turnaround, the screens started blinking erratically and it was completely useless. I won't lie. This pissed me off. I was counting on it (mistake, I know) to pace me for the last half so I could PR. Oh well. Just run.

Miles 7-8 were all right. I don't really remember much from here except for eating my GU. But after the aid station at mile 8 I latched onto two girls about my age who passed me. They were running just slightly faster than me and I decided to hang. I did hang, and it was kinda painful. At mile 9 I fumbled with my iPod and they took off and were too far ahead of me to catch up. Meh!

Miles 10 and 11 are always mentally tough for me in a half marathon. My footing was off again because of the rough road surfaces (or the earthquake?! Yeah. 4.2 magnitude I later found out - at almost this exact point in time where I noticed my footing was really off), and I just kinda wanted to be done.

Mile 12 hurt. I'd been very aware of my right knee the entire race - it gives me trouble when I try to run fast, and especially if I run long and fast. But I knew I would be done soon.

The last mile was kind of lonely - not many people around me. I chugged along and wondered how Tom had finished, how Annie had done on her 10K, wondered what kind of time I would end up with since I had no idea anymore how much time had elapsed or any sense of my current pace. My Garmin was now randomly "auto pausing" and "auto restarting" at will. It made me laugh, how sporatic it was being.

Finally came up to the finishing area and ran into the chute. I was really trying to sprint, but man, my legs were toast. Everything hurt. I gave it a good kick at the end, saw Tom and Annie waving at me, almost stopped at the recognition timing mat but realized I needed to keep going to the balloon arch finish line. Didn't hear my name being called but crossed the line and saw 2:06ish on the official clock. I knew it had taken me some time to get to the start line so I was below 2:06 and that made me soooooo happy! Wow. Another PR!

I immediately stopped a few steps beyond the timing mat because everything above my knees was screaming (quads, hammies, glutes). I held onto the sides of my legs and bent over - then my throat kinda closed up like it did after Redman. I was kinda gasping for air but it passed and I got my medal and went to find Tom.

Nothing! I PR'd by more than 4 minutes.

Hung out at the finish line with Tom and Annie while we watched everyone else come in. Got some water and peanut butter, and listened to some of the awards ceremony. When our results were printed, Tom saw that he came in 27th overall (OMG! WOW!) and I had hit 2:05! I was so happy - what an amazing race.


Uneven road surface and the narrow road while it was congested in the beginning.

I also found out later that during the race there was a magnitude 4.2 earthquake with a 2.1 aftershock! Apparently it happened at 10:45 a.m. in Eureka - the race began at 9 a.m. Interesting!


This is by far the most beautiful race you will ever run. Very organized and well-run. Aid stations every two miles, with a sign before each station that said "aid station in 200 yds" which I thought was a nice touch since they were always around a bend.

The only negative is that the road surface is very uneven. It is also not flat as described. I guess I expect "flat" to mean Kansas flat, but there were some good hills here I was not exactly expecting.

In the end, this was an amazing race that I would definitely recommend!