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Comments: Huge field. First time I felt pretty elbow to elbow with folks for close to the first 4 miles (around where the full marathon folks broke off to another route). Didn't feel as good as some other races during the first few miles, and was worried around mile 3 that both my pace wasn't good enough and ALSO that I was going to redline and bonk before the end. Decided to just keep at it, as I'd prefer the bonk to leaving it in the tank. After the climb on the 163, started to recover and hit my stride on the decline. Several times checked the Garmin to see my pace faster than my perceived exertion. Nice. About half way, noticed I was on track to break 2 hours. Nice again. Focused on heart rate throughout. Was at 165 early; let it go to 170 around half way; 172 the third quartile; above that to redline the rest. Wondered how much of that was from the sun. It wasn't all that hot, likely in high 60's, but the sun made it feel warmer, and I'm used to training at night. Around mile 9, started to hurt a bit, and moderately so around mile 10. Walked through the water stop around 11, but gutted it our moderately well. Kept thinking that if I kept on 2 hour pace for just one more mile, I'd at least have a chance to get there, but if I didn't, I'd be faced with the certainty of failing. Kept going, but started to weaken as I redlined the last couple miles. Had to stop twice for brief walks, though was able to keep a decent pace. Slipped behind the 2 hour pace, but held on for a PR. All in all, a good day. What would you do differently?: Get up even earlier to avoid the arrival stress. Otherwise, I felt like I had a good day, mentally, and physically.  Post race
Warm down: Just normal wander about. Also got a nice 3-4 mile warm down walk from the shuttle drop off to where I had to stash my car. Delightful. Bonus miles. What limited your ability to perform faster: Mostly just fitness, which is getting better. Event comments: Nice race. Not as scenic as some of the others (Carlsbad/La Jolla), but it's really cool to do something on this scale. Pretty well run too. Last updated: 2011-02-09 12:00 AM
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United States
68F / 20C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 3840/17152
Age Group = M 35-39
Age Group Rank = 417/989
Okay, before I get to the details, this is what matters. About a year ago, I spent something over 2 1/2 hours slogging through the 1/2 mary at Vineman. Vineman is a month away. Last year, I didn't do a half all year beforehand. This race is my third of this year running up to it. Will I do as well after a long bike and run, and lower my overall time by a half hour? Likely not, but I feel a whole lot better about the last leg of my A race coming up in mid-July. Oh, and I don't mind the PR by nearly 2 minutes either.
The traffic to the start was, as the flyers warned, a disaster. Got up at 4:15, was on the road by 4:45 and still felt like I wouldn't make it before improvising, ditching the planned parking, and finding a spot on side-streets nearish to the start.
Ended up getting fueled okay, to the potty, and to my corral (the 15th of 40 something) in fine time, but it was more stressful than it needed to be. This is the biggest race I've been in; likely bigger than the Disneyland half mary from 2009. Just a massive amount of folks. Pretty cool.