It’s official, I have new PR for the 1/2 marathon! I have a history of being sick or injured whenever I try to run 1/2 marathons, and this time was no exception, but all that training sure paid off.
Like I said, I’ve been excited but nervous leading up to this race. Last year I was battling with ITBS and a very painful knee, and I’d rarely run over 7-8 miles.
As the race was approaching, I realized that getting up at 4:30am to drive to Santa Cruz solo, get my race packet, and get lined up at the start line by 7 was going to be a nightmare. I couldn’t find any friends to join me last minute, so I booked a hotel about a 1/2 mile from the start line.
My husband and my puppies were kind enough to join me, and we enjoyed some time in Santa Cruz together before the race. I have never stayed at a hotel before what I would call a local race, but it was a brilliant idea. We were able to visit the expo yesterday afternoon, visit a cool restaurant and take the puppies on walk around Santa Cruz.
And I got to sleep in until 6am! This is what I felt like when I got up this morning:
As usual, I was not really feeling it on the morning of race, but as I told my husband, I don’t challenge myself to do these things because they are easy!
Once the race started, I felt a lot better, and decided to focus on how I was going to run each mile, each minute and STOP trying to calculate my progress. Nothing like doing math in your head… oh I’ve gone a 1/2 mile, so that’s umm… a really tiny percent of the total 13.1 miles. Blergh!
This is the first race I’ve done with my new Bia GPS Watch, and I have to say, I really love it. I did still bring my iPhone, but I was able to get rid of audio cues and use my iPod shuffle for music, and obsess a little less about things. However, having right there on my wrist meant instant access to my time, distance and current pace, and that was awesome!
I felt really strong and motivated for the first 4.5 miles or so. Unfortunately, I suddenly needed an emergency trip to the bathroom. Eeep! No restroom or port-a-potty in sight. I was forced to walk and terrified that I was going to have to walk to the turnaround at 6.5 miles before I’d find something. I kept looking at people sitting on their patios in Capitola watching the race, and wondering if I could beg them to let me use their restroom. Of course, I am waaaay too shy to do something like that, so I just kept walking as fast as I could tolerate.
Hallelujah, just before mile 5, there was public restroom near a beach. Yesssss!
After a nice 1/2 mile walk and short stop, mile 6 was fast. Well, fast for me. This was my fastest mile of the entire race, with mile 1 being a close second (18 seconds slower).
At the turnaround, I was so happy, I stopped for a quick photo op:
So now the bad part. At mile 10, knee pain. Horrible, horrible knee pain. It was so bad, I considered calling my husband to come pick me up. Then I looked at my watch. And did some math. If I could finish in < 46 minutes, I could have a PR. 3.1 miles to go. I can walk at 15:00/mile, so WTH? Seems like even with the knee pain, I could have my PR. It wouldn’t be as nice, or as much of a PR as I had hoped, but it would still be a PR.
I spent the last 3 miles constantly monitoring my walking pace, calculating my time and distance left, and running (flying) on the downhill stretches, because even though it hurt, it felt good to be running towards that PR.
My official race time is 2:53:11, which is 3 minutes and 16 seconds better than my previous best. Woo hoo!
Overall, I enjoyed the race, and was surprised at the low attendance. I felt like there were twice as many people last year at the Santa Cruz 1/2. If I had to choose between them, I would go for the Santa Cruz race next time, as that runs north up the coast and there are such great views along the bluffs. That course also tracks along the coastline for more of the race. Today’s full marathoners got to run that part as the second 1/2 of the course after the out and back to Capitola.
Funny story. I had not paid attention to the location of the expo, and as my husband and I were getting ready to walk from our hotel to the boardwalk with the puppies, I realized that is NOT where the expo was. Turns out it was in Capitola (at the turnaround point of the race). I told my husband how to get us there and after looking at the map he says “that’s far!” …. and that’s where I ran to and back this morning!
Now, it’s been a few hours, and I’ve had a chance to ice (a few times) and rest. I’m feeling much better now. What is always fascinating to me is that the debilitating knee pain (right knee) that prevents me from running goes away pretty quickly, but the swelling and agony in my left foot/ankle stays with me all day and into the next. I have three screws in that foot from when I broke my talus and I wonder if it will ever survive 13.1 miles without causing so much pain.
I wore compression socks today for the first time during a 1/2 marathon, and I can’t say yet whether they helped or not. They did make my outfit though!
And last but not least, even the puppies are tired after all these adventures….
