Sunday, February 11, 2007

Sunday 11 February 2007 - San Dieguito Half Marathon

San Dieguito Half Marathon

This was predictably hard after yesterday's workout. I know I sound as if I'm complaining, again, but I slowed to like 12 min/mile towards the end of yesterday's brick. I had trouble sleeping last night on top of that.

I woke up at 6:30 today and took my pulse. It was 73. This is about 20 bpm higher than normal. That was a bad sign. It went up to the 80s and then back down to low 70s by the race start. I did not want to see what it was, so I did not wear my HR monitor.

It was nearly an ideal day for the race - misting and like 55 degrees at the start. Even during the first, downhill mile I felt like crap. I started towards the back and ended up at 7:55 for the first mile. the second mile was likewise, uncomfortable. It's flat, until just before the 2 mile marker at the onset of the first hill. I did that in 8:17. The third mile is mostly uphill. Somewhat steep at first, then a gradual incline. I did that in 9:41 and really felt like I was slowing down to a virtual stop. It was at that point I thought I might just quit. I was laboring, running slow, and being passed by overweight grandmothers. However, having never quit any event that I started, that was not an option, so I kept running. Mile 4 felt ok, but not great. I did that in 8:39. the next two miles I ran at an average of 8:56. The two after that I did at an average of 8:44.

It was at that time I started feeling better, somewhere between miles 6 and 8 that is. It's sort of downhill between 6 and 7, and then 7 and 8 are at the turn-around near the reservoir. I saw Diane Hyatt about 5 min in front of me at that point. I did mile 9 in 7:58. Mile 10 has the climb on el montevideo and the left turn and I did that in 8:44. I did mile 11 (downhill) in 7:19, and then mile 12 in 7:49. That's the same as mile 2 and I ran it 30 seconds faster as I was feeling good. So good in fact that I did something I always wanted to do. At the mile 12 aid station was a guy handing out pale rock beer. I actually took a beer and drank half of it. Mistake. within 200 meters I started to feel queasy. I tried to speed up but was really out of gas. I ran as hard as I could without collapsing up the hill (passed about 15 people) and finished in 1:51 for an average of 8:27 per mile. Not a great time, but I'm proud I even did this race today.

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