Surf City USA Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


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Huntington Beach, California
United States
Kinane Events
61F / 16C
Sunny
Total Time = 2h 00m 52s
Overall Rank = 3083/11783
Age Group = M40-44
Age Group Rank = 298/616
Pre-race routine:

For breakfast had a couple cups of coffee and a banana. (The night before I had El Pollo Loco - 3 pc chicken, rice, beans.) Got to parking area about an hour before the race started and there seemed to be a lot more cars than last year. I parked in the same area last year and I saw so many open parking spots on the way to the start. Not this year.
Event warmup:

Ate a cliff bar and had some water as I walked the 1.5 miles to the start line. Air felt chilly at 7am, but I warmed up during the walk.
Run
  • 2h 00m 52s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 09m 14s  min/mile
Comments:

Found my pace early and kept my early miles around 9:10. It was very tempting with all the other runners to speed up but I did a good job running my race. Thanks to my training route, the hill at miles 3 and 4 were not a factor this year. I did miles 3 & 4 in 8:52 and 9:06.

Everything was going great but I could feel fatigue coming on at mile 9. I started playing the mental calculation game at that point. I had 37 mins to make my goal of 2hours. At mile 10 I had 28 mins to go 3.1 miles! I could have done that at the beginning, but after 10 miles with the wheels starting to fall off? I knew I wouldn't be able to sustain a 9min pace for the rest of the race. I backed off hoping I to conserve some energy. Miles 11 and 12 were both 9:29 miles.

At Mile 12, I knew I had to get going. I picked up the pace and turned up the volume on my mp3. I saw my objective, there was a string of balloons going over the street and I thought I actually had a chance. It looked about a 1/2 mile away and I had a little over 4 mins to break 2 hrs. As I approached I realized that the balloons were the marker for the START LINE and not the Finish Line. I was able to keep the pace up but I missed my goal by 52 seconds!
What would you do differently?:

Not sure that I could have done anything differently. I feel like I ran a good race. Even if I did average 9:10 on miles 11&12 I would have still not cracked 2 hours. If I had started out faster maybe I would have bonked sooner? So I can't complain about my performance. I think I did my best.

This was the first race where I didn't carry a water bottle. At the race expo the day before, I bought a race belt that had a pocket for gels and keys. There was a couple times in the last 3 miles that I wished I had my water bottle just to wet my lips, but there was plenty of water stations.
Post race
Warm down:

Drank a couple bottles of water and ate some pretzels and a banana as I kept moving and walking around the expo area. I didn't want to stop moving and let my muscles stiffen.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

More long runs. I think I reached my training peak too early, plus with all the recent overtime at work, my last couple weeks of training have been a bit lackluster.

Event comments:

This is a very well organized race. Plenty of volunteers and water stations, plenty of refreshments at the finish. And the souvenir shirt is nice. The 2 mile walk** back to the car is a bit of a pain, but that's more my fault for getting there late.

** I know it was really 1.5 miles, but after running 13 miles it felt like a full 2 miles




Last updated: 2009-11-12 12:00 AM
Running
02:00:52 | 13.1 miles | 09m 14s  min/mile
Age Group: 298/616
Overall: 3083/11783
Performance: Good
Course: Mostly flat course, with a steady incline from miles 3-4. Miles 5-6 are steady downwhill and pretty flat. Miles 6 to the finish are fairly flat and along Pacific Coast Highway.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 5
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5