San Dieguito Half Marathon 2011-Race Report

(Photo Credit: Skinnyrunner.com)

My family has lived in Rancho Santa Fe for since I was in the 3rd grade so you could say that I’ve been scouting this course for the last 16 years haha, however, this is the first time I have done this event. My race preparations were anything but ideal. The last time I ran over 8 miles must have been 2 months ago, and I am coming off a 4 week injury. So going into this event I was confidant that my legs could handle the 13.1 miles of running but I was not expecting much from them in the speed department.

In the days leading up to the event I spent time doing other activities to ensure that I wasn’t aggravating my prior injury. Yesterday I had a great time surfing and beaching it with my friends, then called it an early night. This morning we met up with some running friends at my parents house. My new running friend Linzay or Broke Runner as she is better known, came over to run with us. (Check out her amazing blog at www.brokerunner.com). We all took a slow run/walk over to the starting line. I always love races because its like I’m going to a party and reconnecting with all my athletic friends.

We all lined up and I started running with my dad and his friend Bob who were planning on holding an 8min average pace on the course. I figured that I could safely hold this without aggravating my quad or blowing up. I was feeling pretty solid up to mile 5.5 when there was the steepest hill on the course.

I LOVE running UP hills and was able to create a bit of a gap on Bob. Once I crested the top I noticed I was pacing well off of this girl who was taking a bunch of pictures. I asked her “So are you taking pictures every mile”, she replied “no these are just for my blog”. Turns out her name was Sarah (I think I spelled that correctly) and her page is www.skinnyrunner.com Right after that hill I was starting to feel pretty good and lowered my pace to the 7:15 range. It was nice to have someone to chat with to keep my mind off of running. We were able to consistently hold this pace for the next 5 miles which was pretty sweet because it yielded a new PR (1:39)! I do have to note that the last Road Stand Alone Half Marathon I have competed in was something like 2 years ago. But none the less I was very pleased with my efforts after coming back from a month long injury!

Things are feeling pretty good right now. After the race we walked a mile home, downed some recovery drinks, and then hopped in the pool to cool off. The pool is something like 56 degrees right now so it does wonders for tired muscles! I’ve been refueling and relaxing Ill probably get back into the pool one more time then hook myself up to the muscle stimulator to flush things out later tonight. It was great having Linzay come kick it with us and be sure to watch out for this girl she’s PR’d in her last two races! And as always I love making new running friends like Skinny Runner (thanks for helping me push the pace!), it makes going to that next event much more exciting.

Final Time: 1:39:12/7:35 pace/11th in AG.....not to shabby

That’s all for now, training as usual this week (FINALLY!) Next up: Safari Park Half!

Happy Training/Racing…