Month: February 2011

I ran the San Dieguito Half Marathon yesterday and wow… most painful race, ever. I didn’t feel half as bad in the Chicago Marathon in which I ran twice the distance… Granted, I hadn’t run for about 3 weeks due to the cold in Indiana but I just didn’t think it would have that much of an impact on my performance.

A recap of the race:
-55 degrees or so at the start, my hands were pretty cold until mile 3, by the end it was 75 degrees or so
-I’d say at least 50% of the race if not more was uphill. Seeing how I hardly do any hill training, that was really bad.
-I started the race with a 7:15 first mile and then a 7:26 mile the third mile was almost entirely uphill and so I hit 9:30 and after that, the race went downhill from there
-At mile 1.5, there was a lady dressed like the Queen of England and said, “If you’re running the 5K, turn around now.” Odd.
-At mile 3, they offered Sangria, I thought they were kidding but they were serious after I took one sip. I seriously thought it was just “Sangria” in the disguise of red Gatorade or something. Nope!
-Every mile marker was hand-timed as opposed to a big digital timer
-My right foot went number for miles 5-8
-At mile 8 to 9 or so, there was a turn around, and that was just weird to see people running the other direction
-Mile 10 or 11, more Sangria. No sign of Gatorade still after 10+ miles.
-Mile 12, Beer or Water, I had a bit of both just for fun
-Mile 12 to 13.1 was the most painful and long mile I’ve ever run… I was TRYING and I was running at a 11:45 per mile pace. My arches were shot and every step was excruciating.
-Mile 12.0 to 12.8 was nearly all uphill
-I had 0 kick left at the last 150 meters or so, I was just utterly dejected from the race
-I had a lot of orange slices and banana slices after finishing, they were seriously the best oranges I’ve ever tasted
-After finishing 13.1 miles, in order to get back to our cars, we had to climb another hill that was at least 3/4 to 1 mile long and with a pretty steep incline
-First race that I’ve seen offer chili to its finishers
-Free Activate Drinks, I got lime
-Not a single trace of Gatorade or its logo or anything the entire time I was at this event
-Final time was around 1:56:07

It was definitely a humbling race. I think God was teaching me some humility since after Chicago and the Indy half, I felt fine and I was pretty non-chalant about being able to finish these races. I mean, after the Chicago, I was definitely sore and in pain but not even close to the extent that I was in pain from the San Dieguito Half.

It’s going to be mid 40’s to 50’s this week in Indiana, assuming my body heals up in the next few days, I think I’ll start training again and maybe I’ll find another half-marathon to run soon.