11th Annual Pacific Shoreline - Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

Started at the back of the 8 minute group. It was pretty congested at the beginning which was fine because it prevented me for going all out which has been problematic in the past. The first 2 miles I was just over an 8 minute pace. A little trouble began when I had to use the Porta potty. Damn.

Tick tock. 40 seconds in there as I was looking at the counter on my watch. And to make matters worse, I tried to make up those seconds too quickly. Finally settled back down to a nice pace again.

I also wasted some time when I decided to follow a few participants on to a dirt road for a small strech. Figured it would give me a feet a little rest. Was way too much of a zig zag and the dirt road was uneven. Total waste.

1:49:59 was out the window. I ended up running 13.2 miles because of some wasted zig zags. I would have needed to run under 14 minutes for the last two miles. Wasn't going to happen.

Felt strong as I crossed the finish line though. Improved by 3 minutes over my first half-marathon even with the bathroom break.

Gorgeous day.





Should have used porta potty one last time before starting race. Going onto a dirt road for 200 yards won't make a difference. I know I will get down into the high 1:40s very soon.

Got one of those space heater blankets. Used "The Stick" I bought at the Expo. Bought a spray-on bottle of something that supposedly reduces cramp. It was probably just water with aroma smell, but I can be such a sucker for gizmos :)

Met up with Sunny from BT. Wonderful person! Had drinks with her the night before. She had a solid race.


Still in my first season of running. Just need to continue getting mileage in.


Two things you should do in a race they say. I took care of it.

1) Negative split -- best thing is to take a porta potty in the first half!
2) Pass people - easy way is to insert about 500 people doing a 5k walk at the end of the race. It was fairly tight for the last mile as the walkers in the 5k converged with us. Felt like I was playing pachinko as I weaved back and forth trying to avoid people.