I was somewhat frustrated with my phone not powering up but realized there wasn't much I could do about it. The lack of music was going to be a hurdle to overcome and I tried to push it out of my mind and focus on the race. Music is a luxury I enjoy at running events and I know that for my first Olympic triathlon (later this year) I won't have music for the 10k run so I better get used to running without it.

I was lined up between the 2:00 and 2:15 pacers, hoping to finish the run between 2:05 and 2:10. The middle section of the race is rolling hills that I expected to slow me down compared to my other HM's. The horn sounded and we were off!

The first 3 miles of the course went through the historic downtown on San Luis Obispo passing some of the landmarks: Fremont theater (which is featured in the t-shirt and finishers medal), the mission, and down the main tree lined street. For the first mile I kept a nice quick pace as I let the excitement of the race carry me along with the pack. The lack of music opened up new sounds: the rhythm of thousands of feet, small talk between runners, and (this one got a chuckle from me) the chorus of Garmin/GPS watches all beeping together as we finished the first mile. Heading out of downtown and into the surrounding neighborhood there were a handful of early morning spectators cheering from porches of some of the Victorian style houses. My pace settled down a bit and I was in my groove and I hardly noticed the lack of music.

As the 3rd mile finished so did the easy terrain as we hit the first hill. I run this hill each week as I train so I knew what to expect and shifted into "low" gear and cruised right up. At the top I yelled out "That's the first of many!" and heard some groans and laughs from those in earshot. After a short down and up we were on our way out of town and into the rolling hills for the next 6 miles as the sun rose over the ridge line to the east. The scenery was beautiful for this stretch, green hills and vineyards kept my mind off the inclines and I cruised the downhill segments. There was a great crowd of spectators at one of the intersections and they cheered as we came and went. Favorite signs: "I thought they said RUM!" and "It's not sweat, it's liquid awesome!".

With the hills behind me as we ran back into town I was feeling good. Only a few miles to go and I was cruising. A bunch of my friends were having having mimosas on their porch and gave me a big cheer as I ran by which was a great boost. I looked at my time and thought "wow, I'm pretty close to a sub 2:00, I wonder If I can push the last 1.5 miles..." then came to my senses and realized I'm already running a great race and should finish solid without worrying about the time. Right before the final stretch was a steep little incline followed by a gentle downhill to the finish line. With the gate in sight and the cheering spectators lining the fence I kicked in with all I had left and finished strong.

Not much, this was great race and I felt good the whole way. I beat my target time by a good 5 minutes and set a half-marathon PR!

Drank some water and stretched out. Enjoyed the expo and found friends and fellow runners for pictures and congratulations.


Just need to start working on some speed training.


Excellent race, looking forward to doing it again next year.