Rock 'n' Roll Marathon - RunMarathon


View Member's Race Log View other race reports
San Diego, California
United States
Elite Racing
65F / 18C
Sunny
Total Time = 3h 40m 50s
Overall Rank = 1192/16373
Age Group = M25-29
Age Group Rank = 185/1444
Pre-race routine:

I arrived in Cali from MD on Friday morning, after a long 6hr flight. I checked in to my hotel, then headed down to the expo. Spent a fair amount of time perusing the wares, but didn't buy anything. The expo was one of the bigger ones I've been to, and had just about anything you could want. I then went to the Gaslamp quarter for lunch, then drove around SD to see the city. On Sat I relaxed by going to the Zoo and touring the USS Midway. I probably did a little too much walking, but this was my first time in SD, so oh well. I had a pasta dinner Sat night, then headed to be early to be rested for the race. The Eastern to Pacific time thing was still messing with me a little.
Event warmup:

Woke up at 4:30, but it didn't feel to early since that's normally 7:30 for me. Had my pre-race breakfast of black coffee, and drove to the airport to be shuttled to the start line. Immediately hopped in line for the porta-potties so I wouldn't miss my corral start like in Nashville. The line wasn't too bad, actually. I then did a little stretching and waited for the start gun.
Run
  • 3h 40m 50s
  • 26.2 miles
  • 08m 26s  min/mile
Comments:

I started out way too fast for me, and I'm not really sure why. Even considering that, my HR was sky high from the get go. I walked a little at mile 9 just to bring it down. It helped a little, but not enough. My goal was, and continues to be 3:30, and I realized early on that I wouldn't be getting that for this race.

The weather was really nice at first, but when the cloud cover broke I got REALLY, really, hot. The temp wasn't too bad (around 70 I think), but the sun was absolutely brutal. I drained the Gatorade in my fuel belt, and was still drinking 2-3 cups of water at each aid station (not counting the extra cup or two i was dumping on my head). Around mile 23 I pulled off my outer shirt because it was absolutely drenched.
What would you do differently?:

Not start out as fast as I did. Wear a sleeveless shirt the whole race. Use google to map the course ahead of time so that I'd know there were more hills than being reported.
Post race
Warm down:

Stood in the cool showers they had right at the finish line for a min or two. Drank a lot of water, and munched on a few of the snacks they had. Stayed out in the sun too long and got burnt badly. Went back to the hotel, and then to the pool to get more sun burned. Used "The Stick" later to rub out some of the soreness in my legs.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Primarily the heat / sun.

Event comments:

San Diego is absolutely beautiful, and if you haven't been, I'd heavily recommend it. The race was well supported, and the crowd really seemed to get into it. One thing that really made me laugh: There was an add for a mattress store on the Rock station that was encouraging the runners to have a comfy mattress to come home to after than run all 22.6 miles. Seriously, if you're going to try to advertise to runners, at least get the distance right. I've run 3/7 of the Elite races this year, and I'm registered for the other 4, so I'm well on my way to getting the RockStar and Super 6 medals! This will probably be my last marathon until San Antonio in Nov (or possibly Baltimore again in Oct), so I should have time to train well in order to meet my 3:30 goal by the fall. :-)




Last updated: 2008-06-06 12:00 AM
Running
03:40:50 | 26.2 miles | 08m 26s  min/mile
Age Group: 185/1444
Overall: 1192/16373
Performance: Average
10K split = 0:47:54. Half split = 1:45:28 21mile split = 2:55:13. Avg HR = 167 Max HR = 184
Course: The course was absolutely beautiful, compared to some that I've run (DC, Baltimore, Nashville, etc). Elite Racing, the organizing company, has a VERY bad habit of overly smoothing out the hills and elevation changes on their website. I know that the elevation reports from Garmin / Google maps aren't perfect, but the elevation data did not remotely match what Elite published on their website, and given that I ran the hills I tend to believe the Garmin. Mind you, it's not that I mind hills (I run on the almost daily), I just want to know that they're coming.
Keeping cool Below average Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Below average
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 3
Good race? Ok
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 4