My Plan: Follow the 3:20 pacer through the 10+ miles that the half and full marathon share the course, then try to increase pace the last 3 miles to the 13.1 mile finish line. That would get me to my goal of 1:40 (7:38 per mile).

My Reality: There was confusion in Corral #2 and about half the runners left before they were supposed to (since it was chip timed it didn't affect results). Unfortunately, when I finally got to the starting line some 30 seconds later I wasn't sure if the 3:20 pacer was ahead of me (I couldn't see him) or behind me (I couldn't see him there either). So I just ran my own pace. I saw the 3:15 pacer ahead and I tried not to catch up. My shoe came untied before mile 1 so I stopped to tie it, expecting to see the 3:20 pacer catch up to me. He didn't.

So I continued at my pace. After the second mile I realized that the 3:15 pacer and 3:20 pacer were pretty much side by side so I decided to catch up to them. It was surprisingly easy to do so. By mile 3 I checked my watch and realized why -- the pacer was running about an 8 minute minute pace, not 7:38! I figured he must know what he was doing so I didn't go ahead to make up time.

In the end the pacers (there were several) picked up the pace, one mile as fast as 7:17 (that wasn't easy). We finally settled at a comfortable 7:30 to 7:40 pace. After the half and full course separated between miles 10 and 11 I tried to increase my pace. I wasn't sure if I actually sped up, but I was passing more people than were passing me. I tried to stay with a woman who was running strong with the 3:20 pacers but each time I looked up she was further ahead....

The only real hill on the course was in the last .2 miles and it really wasn't much of a hill. It did slow me down though. I was fairly sure I'd break 1:40 so I didn't finish overly strong kick.

Pace from my watch:
First 3 miles: 7:52 pace
4th mile: 7:43
5th mile: 7:34
6th mile: 7:17
7-9 mile: 7:33
10-12.9 mile: 7:29
final .2: 8:05 (hill)

Pace from website:
5k - 24:25 (7:52)
6.1 mile - 47:07 (7:35)
10 mile - 1:16:34 (7:40)
13.1 mile - 1:39:37 (7:36)

Tie shoes better. Learn to pace without relying on pacers. I probably could have started faster and maintained a more even pace throughout.

Walk around, chat, meet family, watch race.


Nothing really. I was happy with my training and the result.


Great race! Only downside is getting 25.000 runners to the start line on time. The freeway was at a standstill at 6:20 am. The race started 10 minutes late, apparently due to getting racers to the starting line. Since this was the first year of the event I think it is an understandable problem. Hopefully next year they'll do better.