2011 America's Finest City Half Marathon - Race Recap

Date: August 21, 2011
Location: Balboa Park, San Diego
Start: 7:00am
Finish: 1:51:25 (8:30 pace)







Elevation:

Pre-race commentary: I ran this race back in 2008 as a part of the Triple Crown Series but have not went back since. This year I thought it was about time that I revisited this course. I have very little memory of my experience running there so it will almost be like running a new course. Almost! I think I might be running this again next year but we'll see how it goes this year.

Expo: I headed to the expo on Saturday afternoon at the Sheraton Hotel across from the San Diego Airport. I got there towards the end of the expo but it was still very crowded. Especially the line to get into the parking lot. A steady stream of people continued to head into the expo pavilion even as I was leaving.

This is the pavilion that the expo is held at every year. 

I almost purchased a pair of those knee high socks. 

Race sign-ups...yes please! Just kidding, I didn't sign up for anything. I wanted to!

I went by the Girls on the run booth to say hi to Monika. She is such a personable and friendly person. She was running the 5K the next day, so I wished her good luck and was on my way.

Post race commentary: I have a story and it is almost never good when I have a story to tell about race day. The night before the race, I had set my alarm for a 3am wake up call. Long story short, I had not noticed that it was set to "pm" instead of "am". Early Sunday morning, I woke up in a startled not sure what time it was since my alarm had not gone off. I quickly turned to look out the window to noticed that it was not as dark as it should have been for 3am. I quickly grab my phone only to notice that it was 5:01am and I was suppose to be at the San Diego Zoo parking lot before 6am or I would not make it on the bus in time to be bussed up to the starting line at the historic Cabrillo National Monument. I was filled with panic at this point thinking that I would probably not make it there in time. But I had to try.

Luckily I had set everything out and packed up all the stuff I wanted to take with me to the race the night before. I quickly jumped out of bed, washed up a bit, threw on my clothes and I was out the door in 10 minutes. Also, lucky was the fact that I had mapped out the exact and quickest route to the parking lot since the 163 freeway was closed on that morning and very lucky that I had ran this race before and it has not changed in 34 years, so logistically everything was the same. Again long story short...I made it to the parking lot, found a really good space, ran to the bus line and managed to get on a bus that made it to the starting line before the start of the race. Unfortunately, even though I made it to the starting line, the potta potty lines were extremely long and I was still in one when the race started. Oops!

I ended up being in the very back of the pack and had to make my way up over the course of 3 to 4 miles. It was very congested the first mile out. I ran my slowest mile at mile 1 (okay, not really, it was actually mile 13 when I had to run up that hill but you know what I'm trying to say, right?). It was tiring dodging and weaving and even though I am sore today from running what I felt was a good race, my time was not what I had expected. While I was running, it felt like I was putting in some good effort but my time just does not reflect that. I slowed down a bit towards the end when I realized that I was not going to make it under 1:50.

Mile 1 - 8:44                             Mile 8 - 8:34
Mile 2 - 8:26                             Mile 9 - 8:14                                   
Mile 3 - 8:08                             Mile 10 - 8:13
Mile 4 - 7:50                             Mile 11 - 8:16
Mile 5 - 8:20                             Mile 12 - 8:25
Mile 6 - 8:30                             Mile 13 - 8:53
Mile 7 - 8:37

I don't know why but I feel really disappointed in myself. Maybe it was because I overslept or didn't make my goal time, whatever it was I'm over it now. There will always be another race.

It's funny because I am smiling in this photo but I was really pissed off on the inside at my time. I'm hard on myself but that is what pushes me everyday.

MarathonFoto is amazingly quick! Race photos are already starting to pop up. They rock! MarathonFoto does, not me.

Teddy: I woke up early for this?

Another race in the books!