Category: Race Day

2015 HOB Fun Run 10K/ 5K

This was my 9th year participating in the HOB Fun Run. It was my 8th time volunteering and my 6th time running. Breaking it down even further- this would be my 6th time running the 5K and 3rd time running the 10K. Also the 3rd time running both races. As much fun as I have at this race, it’s also one of the most stressful. So many people I know! It kind of freaks me out. Throw in team shirts and you can’t even blend in anymore. 🙂

The Scene-

The race starts and ends downtown. I could walk to the start if I wanted to. I have yet to do that though. The course is a loop around the city park and down the main drag. The 10K is 2 loops and the 5K is one. It’s one of the few races I’ve ever run that is a completely closed course. A kids 1/2 mile race, a 75 yard dash and a diaper dash are also offered. It’s a race known for being flat, fast and still offers prize money. The baby who wins the diaper dash wins a washer and dryer.

The 10K started at 8, so I arrived a little before 7:45. I knew we were attempting a group photo with whoever was there before the 10k. C and C-hub were there- race buddies!!! I haven’t run a race with them since last year’s fun run. I miss my buddies. 😞 There were 6 of us for the first shots. After the standard shot, the race photographer decided he wanted one of the back of our shirts. It was the most awkward picture ever. It’s a total butt shot and I was thankful I was wearing a skirt. 😏 The plan was to race the 10K and just have fun running the 5k. I was still feeling my running funk so I had very basic goals for the 10K-

A- Sub 55- PR- I knew it wasn’t happening but I could dream right?
B- Sub 60
C- Better than last year’s blow up

10K- The one where I was beat by a 30lb dog.

30 seconds to the start I realized I left my water in my bag with my bib change for the 5k. Crap! C rocks, I texted her and she grabbed it and tossed it my way when I ran past. I felt like I started out too fast but I really didn’t. However it was my fastest mile of the race. My stupid headphones refused to play and then wouldn’t stay in my ears so I ran the first loop with them wrapped in my hand. I stayed steady and tried to increase my turn over but it wasn’t happening. I rounded the corner to finish lap 1 and was able to toss my headphones to C-hub. I also saw my time at the 5K mark- 28:something- ouch. Miles 1-3: 9:08, 9:23, 9:23

I tried to pick it up on the second loop but I just couldn’t find another gear. I never felt like I was running hard but I didn’t feel like I could run any faster either. It was odd but I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be a banner day so I was ok with how I was running. Seeing a less than 30lb dog with little legs outrun me was a little disheartening though. 😃 Seriously, the dog ran the entire 10K with his owner and didn’t even seem phased. Miles 3-6: 9:13, 9:40, 9:31

Finish- 58:54

Goal B successfully accomplished. Time for a quick bib change and the main group shot before the 5K.

5K-

C, C-hub and their daughter E were planning on run/ walking the 5K and I was going to join them. C and E bolted from the starting line leaving C-hub and I in the dust. We eventually caught up around .5 mile in when E need a walk break. I could tell C just wanted to bolt so I suggested she and C-hub dash off and E and I would follow along behind. I didn’t have to twist her arm. 😄

It was E’s first race so I let her set the pace. We ran when she wanted to and walked when she needed. There are 3 water stations along the course and you pass 2 of them twice so that means there are 5 water points for a 5K. This was needed as it was very warm morning. I made sure that E got water at each stop. At the second stop, I hung on to my water cup for some reason. That station didn’t have a trash can and I didn’t want to toss onto the clean street so I hung onto it. I’ve never done that before but it turned out to be a good thing. As we were coming up on the third water station I saw that no on was manning it anymore. Where did they go? There were about 100 runners behind us! Once at the table, I realized there were no cups but there was still water in the 5 gallon jugs. Good thing I held onto my cup! I had E hold the cup while I hefted the water. We were able to get water this way here and on the way back. We continued run/ walking until 1 block before the finish and then it was a sprint to the end. E hauled ass and finished strong! Woo hoo!

Finish- E-37:37/ Me- 37:39

We got our medals and headed for water. We also met back up with C and C-hub. They finished just over 30 minutes. Awesome! We chatted a bit while waiting for the kids races. Seriously the kids are so stinking cute when they run. Some of them were so enthusiastic they were literally kicking themselves in the butt. The 75 yard dash was broken into 3 heats since there were so many kids. Unfortunately I had to leave before I could see the diaper dash. 😦

Overall, it was a fun morning and a great way to see a bunch of people I don’t see on a regular basis. I miss my running buddies, hopefully it’s not another year until we race together again. 😃 Water station 3 snafu aside, it was a great race, and always runs smoothly. I’m looking forward to next year.

Central Coast Cancer Challenge 5K- Recap

My first time running the Central Coast Cancer Challenge was 3 or 4 years ago. It was an entirely different beast then. It was smaller and 2/3 on trails with no warning about that on the website. Actually, I am not even sure it had a website. I ended up running into a friend on race morning and we ran it together. At the time it was the closest I had ever come to running a sub 30 5K. Well, until we realized the course was short. By a lot- we all registered around 2.6 miles. Turns out some course signage had fallen over and was not corrected prior to the race start. Oops. The past few years it has been part of the RaceSLO group so I had been wanting to check it out. Schedule conflicts prevented that until this year.

The race raises money for cancer research and a local charity. Cancer survivors can race for free and get a special race shirt with “Survivor” on the back. In memory/ In honor of bibs are free and participants can write names on them and wear them while running. I love the shirts for survivors but I think there needs to be another category. There needs to be a “Fighter” category for those who are still fighting their way to be a survivor.

As the race got closer I wondered what the hell I had been thinking. I haven’t raced a 5K in over a year, and my speed work has been more hit than miss and speed held for any length of time is problematic for my stupid stomach. So yeah. I had originally planned on trying to PR (current PR -27:48) this race but the closer race day got, the more I was leaning towards just holding on. If I could even break 30, I was going to throw a party. Then I saw the course and just laughed. The race has moved to the center of SLO over the past years and they shut down multiple busy streets for it. Having run some of these streets during the SLO half, I knew partially what I was in for. The course loops downtown and starts with a little less than half a mile sloped down, then you make a left and it’s pretty much uphill for the next 1.5 miles. It’s the kind of hill that you don’t notice driving but kicks your ass running. Ahh, crap. So new plan was to try pull off the following splits- moderate speed, slower speed, fast finish. Pretty simple right? 😃

Having picked up my race bib the day before may have made me too relaxed. Per usual my mom was along for the ride and we didn’t even get to the start line area until 7:45. I ended up bailing out of the car while she found a parking spot. Then I needed a restroom stop and there was a line. Another woman in line and I joked that at least races never seem to start on time. 😏 Took care of business and headed to the start. I hopped into the starting line chute at 7:54. I figured I could use the 6 minutes left until the 8:00AM start time to move my way forward in the crowd and get my Garmin situated. Maybe stretch a bit. Best laid plans right?The race whistle blew at 7:55.

5 minutes early!?!

Mile 1- 9:00

My Garmin was on but didn’t have a satellite yet. I just pushed start and figured I would deal with it later. I got hung up in a crowd crossing the starting line but managed to break free after a few blocks. A little too fast since my Garmin buzzed that I was running a 7:30 pace. Oops, slow it down there. Then we turned up the next street and that was taken care of for me. 😊 I passed the mile marker and checked my watch. I knew the mileage was going to be off but I wanted an idea of my overall time. Except the display was on some funky screen only showing the time lapsed in run/walk intervals. Ok then, guess I was running blind.

Mile 2- 9:42

This felt like the longest mile ever. I kept wanting to take a walk break but was arguing with myself that it was all in my head. I felt like we were climbing forever and it’s not even that steep! We only gained 133 ft. I felt like everyone and their brother were passing me. A woman came running up behind me pushing a stroller- uphill- looking fresh as a daisy. I instantly felt out of shape. I told myself I could walk at the water stop. But knowing that there was only one on the way up I had brought my own just in case. So I kept running. Seriously I felt like I was almost at the freeway on ramp, where the hell was the turn around? Oh there, thank you lord. My watch buzzed for it’s mile 2 a little before that and said 9:42. Ouch, definitely not PR pace. It was the only mile I had seen so I wasn’t even sure I was going to break 30. Grrr.

Mile 3- 8:17

I had hoped the downhill was going to help my pace but my stomach had started protesting around mile 1.5. I wasn’t sure how that was going to play out. I drew level with another woman and we had a little chat. She was surprised at just how much of a hill that had been. She said she hadn’t known. I said I had known but that didn’t make it any easier. 😖 We separated, I think I pulled ahead but I can’t remember! I picked up the pace and started reeling people in. I didn’t really feel like I was pushing the pace fitness wise but my stomach was telling a different story. I ran as fast as it was letting me and figured that was the best I could do right then. I could finally hear the announcer and people cheering. Yay, I was almost done! I could see the clock but it was far away and I thought it said 29:something. Then I realized it read 26:something. Holy crap- run!

Finish- 27:10 New PR!!!

Hell yeah! How I took 38 seconds off of my previous time, I have no idea. I felt like I was crawling up that hill. Now I am left thinking that if I had pushed a little harder on the hill, I could have been sub 27. Fitness wise, I didn’t feel like I gave it my all. I know part of that was due to some serious cramping in the last half but part of that was also due to my pre-race doubts. Or maybe me deciding to just hang on and not stress about the race was what got me that shiny new PR. Who knows. I do know I was happy about the race. I ran according to my plan and managed to pull off a fast time for myself. Maybe next time I will push a little harder. Now I just need another 5k. 😃

Oh and the women with the stroller was rocking the 10K. So fast!

What’s you favorite distance to race? Least favorite?

Shoreline Half- Recap

Going into this race, I knew not to expect too much. Partly because I had such an off May and June and I haven’t caught back up yet. Also, the course description was flat and I don’t do so well on flat courses. Then there was the humidity factor. Humidity is a big trigger for my asthma and I haven’t had the best showing at races with high humidity levels. Case in point-

Rock’n Around the Pier– 2:20:something and the first race I considered DNF’ing
Ventura- 2:34:something Granted there were other issues too, but I walked from mile 6.5 on. I also felt broken at the end- I almost couldn’t walk back to the hotel.
Surf City– 2:19- 95% humidity? Seriously?

So of course, I head back to Ventura for more ~~pain~~ fun. Different course but 85% humidity at the start. I tried not to look but have finally learned I need to be prepared. I was aiming to run a comfortable race and finish around 2:15. I don’t know about you but humidity is never comfortable. So here we go.

Race morning-

After 4 hours of sleep I was up at 3. I had limited my carb intake since Friday and eaten less than normal pre-race on Saturday. I did this for Wine Country and it worked well so I tried it again. We were on the road by 4:15. My mom drove so I dozed off and on along the way. We arrived 30 minutes before packet pickup so headed to a nearby McDonald’s to use the restrooms and she and S had breakfast. That place was sketchy. Parking was easy and we headed out to the start. Packet pickup was actually easy. I think I had birthday luck and got everywhere before lines formed. I had good port-a-potty luck too. 🙂 Exited one to find about 60 people in line. They had a map of the course up and announcer going over it. There were pacers for every 15 minutes starting at 1:30. The start was self seeded with 4 waves- Sub 8, 8:00, 9:00 and 10:00+. In keeping with my plan to run a 2:15, I lined up with that last group. Here’s where I had to contain my inner fan girl. Earlier while hanging in the grassy area with my mom and S, a man walked past up wearing a McFarland singlet. I pointed him out to my mom and wondered if it was real or just something they sold in association with the movie. I then forgot about it as we headed to the start line. The corral at the start was very tightly spaced and I looked right then snapped my head back. The flippin’ McFarland running team was standing there! At least part of it. Say what!? They soon squeezed their way through to the sub 8 group. Then the gun sounded and we were off.

Miles 1-3- 9:14, 9:23, 9:34

So much for lining up with the 10:00+ pace group. I went out too fast!! The race has 3 or so miles on the boardwalk- at the start and end. This meant amazing scenic ocean views, but it also meant running on concrete. My left leg was pissed early on. Nothing alarming, I just knew I needed to shake it out. We switched to black top by the end of mile 1. I shook off the pain by mile 3. The next miles alternated between a black top bike path and busy roadside. I was feeling pretty good but I also realized I was going to positive split this race in a big way.

Miles 4-6- 9:36, 9:50, 9:47

There was a tiny incline for miles 5 and 6 and I loved it. It made my legs happy. 🙂 Nasty looking dumpster aside, the course scenery was still awesome. It was a clear, sunny day and the ocean looked amazing. It was high 60’s, low 70’s which normally I would love but I could tell the humidity was getting to me. It was no longer a question of if but when. We hit the turn around for this section a little past mile 5. Now I knew what I was getting on the way back so I was ready. The course leaders had also flown by when I was around mile 4- they were flying! I was pacing myself by following a tall man in front of me. I did that for about 4 miles before I passed him.

Miles 7-9- 10:32, 10:47, 10:07

I took my first walk break during mile 7. And another. Grrr. I was trying to make up my time in mile 8 when I had a breathing issue. I had used my inhaler 3x leading up to race start but it wasn’t enough. I haven’t mastered using my inhaler while running so that meant slowing to a walk, taking out the inhaler, using it and giving my lungs a minute or 2 to calm down. I need to work on that but I don’t train in humidity. Mile 8 is usually my favorite mile but I feel like I missed most of it. I did find someone new to ~~chase~~ pace though. Up ahead, I saw someone I thought I recognized but have never seen in real life- Hilary @ Embrace the Neon! I chased her for the next 5 miles. Running- the only acceptable way to chase people. 🙂 I promise I’m not creepy, I just find someone to pace off of. Miles 10-11- 11:13, 10:57

I had graduated to walking all the water stops. I would drink half the water and dump the rest on my head or down my back. I was so sweaty, it was hard to tell the difference. Heading back to the boardwalk something funny happened- the arms at the train crossing came down! I saw everyone ahead stopped but I didn’t want to stand still and wait so I slowed to a walk hoping the train would come through before I got there. They lifted without a train ever coming through- what? Then we were back on the board walk. This is where things got dicey.

The boardwalk wasn’t closed so we were dodging walkers, non-racing runners, bikers, surfers, dogs, etc. That took so much more energy, mental and physical, than I had. One woman got off of her bike and parked it horizontal across the path. I swear she looked at us racers like “deal with it” but that could have been the fatigue making things up in my head. Another hard part of mile 11? Running past the finish line. We had to run past the finish/ start area to head the other direction for a 2+ mile loop before the finish. Grrr.

Miles 12-13.1- 11:32, 11:00, 8:17 pace

And my lungs protested again. Once more I slowed to use my inhaler. I had troubles getting started after that. I knew I was so close to the finish but I was hot and tired. I was so sweaty, the shorties under my skirt started sliding- they have never done that. I took more than a few walk breaks those last 2 miles. Then it was back on the board walk for the final push to the finish- dodging people all the while. Somehow I mustered up energy for a final kick to the finish.

A thumbs up?

Finish- 2:14:39

We were given our medals and herded into the grassy registration area. This is where my only real race gripe came about. The race promised tacos and beer at the finish line. Which were there but all I wanted was water. I could not find a freakin’ water table! I looked everywhere, even my mom and S couldn’t find one when they met up with me. I had read about other bloggers having this issue at races but had never experienced it.

I was so hot and sweaty and I just wanted to cool down. I took off my shoes and belt and passed them to my mom. I went down the beach, climbed over the rocks and walked right into the ocean. I heard her yell that I had paid a lot of money for the socks I was now walking the beach in. 🙂 It was seriously amazing. If I didn’t have my bib or my Garmin on I may have just sat down in the water. I hung out there for a bit before heading down the beach to the stairs back to the boardwalk. I didn’t trust myself negotiating the rocks the a second time.

All in all, I really liked the race. Even with falling apart at the end (thanks humidity) I managed to come in under my goal time for the race. Granted it wasn’t comfortable but it was fun and a great way to start a birthday. 🙂 After changing at a nearby In n Out (fries- Diet Coke!) we headed up the freeway to Santa Barbara for some birthday shopping. S’s birthday was the day before. My legs were feeling pretty good after the race but I kept popping my toes out of joint, grrr. Sorry if you’re squeamish. This isn’t something that’s new, I’ve had the issue for years it just seemed to happen multiple times yesterday. I managed to restrain myself shopping wise but did come away with a new skirt and pair of shorts from Lululemon. Oh and a purse from Macy’s. A great but tiring day. I was in bed by 10pm. 🙂

How do you celebrate your birthday? I’ve yet to have any cake!

Ever had to dodge the public while running a race?

2015 Bands on the Run 10K- Recap

Saturday I ran the third annual Bands on the Run 10k. This race did nothing to disabuse me of the notion that 10K’s are hard. Maybe reinforced it; that said it was a fun race.I managed to run away from work for a few minutes on Friday afternoon for packet pickup. For a small local race, they are very organized. I was impressed last year and this year was more of the same. Last year, I though it was really cool that the volunteer shirts all said “I’m with the band” instead of just the usual “volunteer”. So this year I was very excited to see that the race shirts said “I ran with the band” on the back. I also like that for a smaller race, only in their 3rd year, they design their own bibs. There’s nothing wrong with the Road ID ones, I just like the extra touch that the personalized bibs gives. The race is a fundraiser for the high school music department. Start and finish are the high school track and a band performs through out race morning. They also have a bag drop table which for a small race is virtually unheard of.

The weather here has been very odd for May and with the race being predominantly on the beach, I knew it was likely to be cold, windy and more humid than I would like. I wore pants, a tank and a long sleeve layer for the race and I was still cold. My 25K in January was run in shorts and a tank and it hit 80. Get it together, California! Race start for the 10K and half marathon was 9:00 with the 5K starting at 9:15. Some of the local races like to have a warm up/ fitness routine before them. This was like a full on Zumba class. I don’t think I could pull off those moves on a normal day let alone right before a race!! I just observed. 🙂 Following the Pledge of Allegiance and the National Anthem, we headed to the start line. Having been so far back in the pack at my last 2 races, I made sure to move up to the front this time. I had placed 2nd in my Age Group in 2014 but the crowd looked bigger this year and I felt out of shape so I was just aiming for a steady race. After some confusion about the starting horn, we were off!

The course is very scenic for this race. It starts on the high school track before heading through the parking lot to a paved walking path before turning in the Cypress Tunnel. The tunnel is a dirt trail that comes out a street before turning right and heading across the dunes and down to the shoreline. That’s all in the first 1.2 miles. From there to mile 3.1 you run along the water then turn around to go back the way you came. It’s one of the few out and back races I like. A half mile in, I felt like I was huffing and puffing already and that wasn’t a good sign. I had used my inhaler 3 times over the course of the morning, so I thought that would help. Then I checked my pace- 8:15. Oh yeah, that explains it. Oops! I knew I was hitting a dune sand patch – in the tunnel- and would slow down so I just kept running. Then we hit 20-30 yards of sand and we all slowed. The upside though is that this is where the drum line was and it’s kind of awesome running past a drum line. 🙂

I lied to myself after last years’ race. I really believed there was only about 20 yards of soft, dune sand total through out the race. Yeah, no. There was 20-30 yards in the tunnel and then a freakin’ football field worth to get to the water line. I tried to run it, but knew walking was more efficient. Now that my pace had been reigned in, I was breathing much better too. 🙂 From there I just kept a steady pace to the turn around and back. There were hula dancers at the right before the water line and 2 guitar players along the beach providing the on course entertainment. Once turning around, I notice that the clouds, the beach, the rock and the stacks at the old plant looked kind of awesome but I wouldn’t let myself stop to take a picture. Particularly when I had to pause to tie my shoe that had come undone. I was beginning think I had a good shot at breaking an hour and didn’t want to miss it. I had forgotten how hard beach running is but I thought I would be close.

I finally made it back to the hula dancers and had that dang football field of sand to deal with again. I tried running it once more but my calves and quads were feeling the burn. So walking again. A woman came running up next to me and mentioned that I was zig-zagging. Oops, but I was just trying to get through it. We paced each other for the remainder of the dunes discussing how much we hate sand. Once through that, I felt exhausted and all I wanted to do was walk but I could hear the drums so I pushed on. Past the drum line again, through the tunnel one more time and back into the parking lot towards the track. I knew I might just miss an hour. Once hitting the track, I tried to push it but I felt like I had nothing left. Rounding the last corner, I could see the clock and knew I just had to hang on. Finish- 59:37. This was one of those cross the finish line gasping kind of races. Some of the pictures my mother took are hilarious, I look beat, like I am going to fall over. I stretched a bit and then began the process of getting the 5+ pounds of sand out of my shoes. I was very happy that I finished under an hour. It was about the only real goal I had for this race. I also realized just how tough this course is, maybe I hadn’t phoned it in last year after all. I felt like I was passed by more than a few people on the way out and only managed to pass a few on the way back so I figured an age group place was unlikely. I wanted to check my finishing time though, so once we figured out where the board was this year, we headed over. Times hadn’t been updated yet so we waited a short moment while a volunteer hung new pages. At which point I laughed out loud. I’d finished 1st in my age group. How? Sweet! Last year, my only complaint about the race was the lack of communication about how the awards were going to happen. Even when they did start, things were announced in an order I still don’t understand. This year, there was little fan fare- you just walked over to the awards table, gave them your name and they handed you your ribbon. So much smoother than last year. And since I was cold, the ease of it was awesome.

Overall, I am still impressed with this race. It is very organized and the volunteers are great. The course is tough but pretty and I look forward to running it next year. When it is sunny and hopefully a little warmer. 🙂

Do you like smaller races? Or larger ones?

Ever run a race with a drum line?

2015 SLO Marathon Recap

I ain’t even mad, bro.😀. Actually my new motto might be “just hang on”. But before we get into that, let’s talk about the expo real quick.

The Expo-

Expo haul- love the ambassador shirts this year!

Saturday dawned rainy and windy. Those running the 5k ran in the rain. The rain had cleared by the time I arrived to pick up my packet and attend the ambassador meet and greet. Picking up my packet was super easy and I wandered around the expo before heading out to the meet. I was there less than 10 minutes before I spent money at the Lorna Jane booth. Oops, but since that was the only thing I bought, I think I showed restraint!

raceSLO Ambassadors!!

The meet up was outside and it was so damn windy, I thought we were going to blow away. It was nice catching up with the repeat ambassadors from last year and meeting the new ones. A few of them I had been trying to meet since the Ventura half. It was so windy and cold that after chatting, getting our shirts and taking some pics, we all scattered to do our own thing. I headed home to rest a bit and figure out food. I had been having a mental struggle all week, going back and forth between following my new diet rules or following conventional running wisdom. Spoiler- I chose wrong.

The Race-

Sunday was supposed to dawn cold and windy, so I tried to prepare for that. I didn’t feel like I got enough sleep and my stomach was cranky but neither of those are new things on race morning so I didn’t pay too much attention. My mom was dropping me off so I didn’t have to catch the 4am bus to the start. I got to the start with 15 minutes to spare so I figured I would hit the port-a-potty line just to be sure. The lines were huge. By the time I got out of there, they had moved the corrals up to the start line, oops.

Miles 1-5- 9:25, 9:14, 9:20, 9:36, 8:31

The whistle blew and we were off- sort of. I ended up starting behind the 2:45 pacer. Rutro. My fault but the first mile and a half were spent bobbing and weaving. I dropped the 2:45, 2:30, and 2:15 pace groups when I decided I just needed to run my own race and not worry about catching the 2:00 pace group. In one way it was freeing not having to worry about keeping them in sight. It meant I had to pace myself and while I knew breaking 2:00 was unlikely, I was feeling strong and thought I could PR- sub 2:05.

We hit the first of the long hills and I still felt good going up. Last year at this time I was already sucking air and tiring out. Thanks to all the weaving I did at the start, my Garmin and the mile markers didn’t match so I just checked my total time at each of the course markers. I was feeling pretty good as we the flat section before turning up another long climb.

Miles 6-8- 9:36, 11:25, 9:29

About a 1/4 mile into 6, my stomach started to make itself known. I began to wonder if I was going to have an issue. But wasn’t even the biggest thing to happen that mile. Maybe it’s because I was focused intently on telling myself I was fine and not paying attention to much else, but the next thing I knew, I was airborne.

It’s still kind of blur but I remember hitting the ground and rolling. My water bottle ended up about 10 feet down the course. WTF?! About 5 different runners stopped their race to come help me. Some helped me up while one chased down my bottle. A bike medic was there in seconds. I was kind of in shock/ denial, so I honestly don’t remember if I thanked all of them. I posted a big shout out to them on my Facebook page but I feel bad if I didn’t say it right then. 😔 I assured the medic I was ok and kept running. It was few yards later that it all set in and then I was trying to talk myself out of hyperventilating myself into an asthma attack.

Eventually I calmed down and I was still on track to PR. Halfway through mile 6, my stomach let me know that I needed a bathroom and I needed it now. There were no bathrooms at that point. I had to start walking because it was either walk or embarrass myself. I walked the rest of 7 just taking deep breaths. I felt a little better by the turn around so I picked up the pace. I said goodbye to the PR hope but knew I could still beat last years course time even with the fall and the walking. At mile 8, I was 4 minutes ahead of a last year.

Miles 9-11- 13:01, 9:48, 9:54

Around 8.5, my stomach reared again. I was near an aid station so I looked for bathrooms. I finally found them off to side and back away and bolted for them. Not sure if I looked urgent or if he did this the whole race but there was a volunteer who directed me to which port-a-potty was open. Thank you!

After that snafu, I was back running but had slowed a bit. Shockingly enough I was still on track to beat last year’s time. I just had to stay under a 10:00 pace the last few miles. My legs felt strong; bruised and bleeding but strong. My mental game still felt on point as well. Despite the morning so far, I wasn’t defeated and I wasn’t giving up. We had a nice decline portion before we went from the roads to the railroad trail. I knew there was the suspension bridge and a few streets left before the finish line and I was still hopeful.

Miles 12-13.1- 10:37, 12:49, 2:17

Mile 12 slowed some towards the end thanks to my stomach again but I thought if I could a 9:00 for the last mile and sprint the .1, I could still pull this off. I shouldn’t have gotten cocky. My stomach threw a fit in the last mile. Why are there no bathrooms at mile 12.5?! Ha! There were 2 times I had to get myself completely off the road, out of the way and just stand still, focusing on deep breathing and calming my stomach. My fastest pace was now a jog but I was mostly walking.

It felt like more than 100 people passed me in that last mile. Including the 2:15 pace group. The last .25 mile is a paved path that goes around the pavilion at the Madonna Inn and I had been looking forward to sprinting it. I walked 90% of it before jogging across the finish line. Half marathon#12 done.

Finish- 2:15:07

Where I wanted to sprint

Once I crossed the finish line and got my medal- which I feel like I fought for!- I was looking for a bathroom. I had wanted a finishers picture but the line had about 50 people in it and that was just not going to happen. I also should have stopped at the medical tent but I had other priorities. Plus, my arm warmers had done a pretty good job of drying the blood.

My mother found me fairly quickly and we headed for the back of the pavilion where the port-a-potties and UPS trucks (bag check) were. After that, I made it as far as the grass by the trucks and just tried to calm my rolling stomach. I wanted to try to find some of the ambassadors and see how they did but was just not up to moving. I had eaten nothing and had drank very little throughout the race as I knew my stomach was just not up to it. I let myself have a bit of the chocolate strawberry protein smoothie that Jamba Juice made for the finishers. It tasted like a Frosty. 🙂 We ended up leaving not long after that, I was feeling rough again and couldn’t handle another port-a-potty, so we headed to the McDonald’s down the street. Real bathrooms and I got an ice-cold Diet Coke. Oh the magical healing properties. 🙂

Like I said at the beginning, I am not mad or even sad. There were quite a few times throughout the race where I could have said screw it and bailed or phoned it in (see Ventura) but I knew I was stronger than that. My legs were feeling fresh, tumble not withstanding, my head was in the game and I was determined. I think that’s one thing that came out of my McMillan training plan that I wasn’t anticipating- the confidence. I knew I could I do it, and I still honestly believe that if it hadn’t been for my stupid stomach, I would have PR’d, hills, fall, headwind and all. Yes, the wind had picked up and was pretty bad but by that point it was the least of my concerns. 🙂 So with everything that race morning threw at me, I am damn proud of that 2:15.I love this race. I love the course and the crowds. The expo is still my favorite and the volunteers and staff are amazing. Seriously, I think the bike medic was there before I stopped rolling. I am already looking forward to next year.

Ever fallen while running? This was my first time.

What race/ run are you really proud of?