SLO Half Marathon Recap

The quick and easy version... I meet my <2:20 goal for the SLO Half Marathon! It was a good day for me and I came out on top.

So now for the long versions. I had a crazy week leading up to the race with little sleep and too much going on. Well Saturday night that was actually a blessing because 8pm rolled around and I was sleeping. Yep on race night I managed to fall asleep easily and get some quality sleep, until 12:45am. Someone was ringing our doorbell non stop for a good 15 seconds. Charlie put on her best guard bark and Chad checked around the house. No one there. Probably idiot kids.

From then on out I didn't sleep well. I got back to sleep eventually but 4:30am came around too soon. I got up and ate my pre-race toaster waffles, this time with homemade strawberry jam on top, and had a cup of coffee and 2 large glasses of water. Probably a little heavy on the fluids since I had been hydrating like a pro for the two days leading up to the race. 

I got dressed and left the house at 5:30am. The half marathon started at 6:30 and I had a 20 minute drive to my super awesome parking local. The race is a point to point and starts at the High School. The entire area around it is shut down very early, however I learned last year that you can sneak into a friend of mines neighborhood, cut through the hospitals parking lot and get to the High School with an approx half mile walk! 

I got to the start line just after the marathoners took off at 6am and hit the porta potty line ASAP. There were plenty of porta potties and I waited for maybe 10 minutes. Then it was some easy stretching and more fiddling with my socks and shoelaces then I want to admit. 

Just then I realized I had my sunglasses on top of my visor and my glasses were still on my face! I had meant to leave my glasses in the car and my dumb ass wore them to the start line. I was wearing my FlipBelt and knew I could shove them into that but my mom was supposed to be out on the course just before the first mile marker so I was hoping to just hand them to her (she was right where she said she would be and the hand off went perfectly!). 

Before I knew it we were self seeding ourselves in the corrals. I lined up in front of the 2:30 pacer but I could still see the 2:15 pacer. I was next to a group of women with matching tanks that read "On a scale from 1 to 10, I'm a 13.1!". Of course I loved the idea! 

We were off! It didn't take me very long to pass the start line and the timing mats and head out for half marathon #3! 

My goal pace was 10:35/mile for a 2:20 finish (I planned in running 13.2 miles and did) but I knew pacing would be interesting in this race. It's really hard not to start this course quickly because it starts downhill! The first mile was downhill and a 10:01 pace. Not too quick but I felt like I was breathing easy and using gravity. A lot of people were passing me this first mile and i had to keep myself in check so i didn't chase off after them. Around mile 2 I realized I had to pee. I have never stopped to use the bathroom in a race and I was thinking I would stop around the 4 mile mark if I had to.

Then you head uphill and then uphill some more. I learned that the course has named the hill I was worried about on Johnson "Cardiac Hill". Sounds scary but when you take into account that you run past the cardiac specialty hospital (and first aid provider for the finish line) its less scary ;)

I was keeping track of how much time I had "banked" during my first few miles and figured I would loss some of it on the hill. Well I didn't! I kept under my 10:35 goal and I was passing people on the uphill. then I flew down the next downhill section, yeah 9:37 on mile 5 was probably too fast but I felt good. 

I was on target and other then still needing to pee nothing speaks bugging me. No tightness, no soreness, just feeling good. Mile 7 I feel like everyone started slowing a bit, the big hill was done but now it was just rolling up and down. I was running next to a women named Julie for a mile or so around this time. We started chatting when she started walking up a hill and I told her that she could run to the top and not to stop now. She made it to the top running and there was no way I was going to start walking once I told someone else they could finish the hill running! It was nice to chat with someone for a bit but I lost her on the next hill.

I hit the turn around and when I started back I started to feel the wind. It wasn't super strong but it was a headwind and I hate running in the wind. I know it's more of a mental thing for me then physical. I just find wind demoralizing and it honestly makes me sad. I walked through the next aid station and filled up my hand held with water. I carried my own water and fueled every 2 miles with 2-3 Swedish Fish candies. 

Heading back into town I was getting tired. I walked up the bridge that crosses over the railroad tracks as well. At the next aid station I ran up and asked "water?" of the volunteer holding out a cup because they had both water and Fluid at the aid stations. My stomach can get iffy when I run so I wanted to make sure and keep with the known and only drink water. He replied "water" and I got a huge mouthful of Fluid. I immediately spit it out. I'm not sure what would have happened had I dank it but I was still on course for my <2:20 finish and with under 2 miles to go I wasn't going to risk anything. 

My pace slowed the last few miles and around mile 11 I told track of how much time I had made and lost with my pace varying but I was still on track. The last half mile is tricky, there is an uphill part that doesn't look like much on the elevation map but when you hit it man does it suck! Then it's downhill to the finish along a beautiful bike path with spectators cheering you on. 

My niece caught these pictures of me running downhill towards the finish. Apparently because I came in with a faster time then I had told them to anticipate I snuck up on her and she just got these pictures. I like them but I also look like I'm really working for it! 

I crossed the line smiling and got my medal and some recovery goodies. I meet up with Chad, my sister, my niece and my mom who gave me back my glasses. Like an idiot I didn't take any finish line photos, oops! However I finally went pee! Yep I held it from mile 2 till the finish. Truth be told I forgot I had to pee around mile 6 and only started thinking about it again around mile 11. 

When I say it was a hilly course I'm not exaggerating. Nothing super huge but it felt like it was always up and down. 

My Garmin told me I had meet my goal and when I checked official results I found out my chip time was 2:18:10 which is a 12 minute PR and under my goal! It was also 1:14 faster then i completed the same course last year! Stats wise I was 1,114 out of 2,237 overall, 598 out of 1,481 women, and 75 out of 194 for F30-34. If I did the math correctly that means I finished in the top 40% of my age group! I have never even finished in the top half before so that feels pretty good. 

Hopefully the professional pictures turn out well and I will post them here when they are available. 

I don't think I could have asked for much more! I felt good even at the finish but don't think I could have run another half mile if you had paid me! I still need to refine my fueling and considering my stomach rebelled that night despite my best attempts at "safe fuel" I may be back to experimentation. I also planning on a "post race" post but if you have read all this I am impressed (thanks!).