Carlsbad 1/2 Marathong Race Report!

I'm too tired to get all mushy, but I had a blast today. I'll start where all good stories start... The night before.

Saturday Night
Had whole wheat rotini pasta with primavera sauce, french bread with butter and salad next door at Julie's. Tauni and Julie's friend Spencer were in attendance. Spencer took the last piece of bread (jerk); Julie split hers with me (saint).

I got home at 8:30 and promptly flipped out for twenty minutes. I laid out all of my gear and set my coffeemaker to begin brewing at 4:00am. Then I made a big pot of Sleepy Time tea. Then I talked to Harlan until 12:00am. Not my smartest move ever, but I was nervous.

Race Day
3:45am: Alarm goes off. "Wtf am I doing waking up at 3:45?!" Snooze. This went on until 4:15.
4:15am: Oh. Oh crap. I'm running a race today.

I made a big bowl of oatmeal and mixed in peanut butter, banana and chocolate chips. That was followed with two big mugs of coffee. I got dressed and went to 7-11 to fill up on gas, where I bought more coffee. I think I had roughly 40oz of coffee this morning. Julie met me in the back of our building and we left for Carlsbad at 5:15.

We listened to Britney Spears' "Circus" CD. I kept pointing out that track 2, "If You Seek Amy" really spells out "F-U-C-K Me." Julie was a good sport. I am still really impressed with that trick.
6:00am: Arrive at race site. The race doesn't start until 7:30.

6:02am: "Um, sorry Julie." She was understanding.

We chit chatted for a bit and waited for Tauni and Mark to arrive. When they pulled in at the reasonable hour of 6:45, we headed towards the starting area.

Then the 40oz of coffee kicked in... Remember how coffee is a diuretic? Yeah... It was a painful wait for the porta-potties.
The wait was made more painful only by the need for me to clean off the toilet seat before I could sit down. Painful, but eventually worth it. I hate porta-potties.

7:00: Check our sweatshirts and cell phones.

7:10: Tauni asked where my Garmin was. It was still in my sweatshirt. In my checked bag.

7:13: Retrieve Garmin.

7:20: Take first pack of decaffeinated (I maybe have a slight addiction) sports beans (Cherry flavor. Thumbs up).

We made our way to the start and lined up at the back of the fourth wave, behind the 2:20 pace group. My personal goal is 2:15.

7:30: Gun goes off. We stand still.

7:39: Cross the starting line. Holy crap, I'm running a half marathon!

My strategy for the race was to use intervals to avoid fatigue and injury. I was planning on running 9 minutes, walking 1 minute, and repeating the entire time. I chose 9/1s mostly because it makes the math incredibly easy.

Mile 1 (10:59): Ran with Julie and Tauni. I think a photographer got a really cute picture of all three of us waving at the camera. Will have to check photog site in a couple days. I did not walk at all during this mile.
Mile 2 (10:47): Still with J and T. The course is taking us through residential streets, and the home owners are very supportive. Best homeowner? The old woman in her full length housecoat whooping everyone on. She was a dead-ringer for the old lady in "The Wedding Singer." She was awesome. Again, no walk break.
Mile 3 (10:30): By now we were on the 101 Hwy. At their urging, I pulled away from J and T (who are both nursing injuries). At 39:00, I finally took my first walk interval. Of course, my parents saw me at that point. Nothing says "endurance athlete" like a photograph of your daughter walking along the coast. I gave them both a hug and continued on.
Mile 4 (10:09): I believe there was a downhill here. Nothing stands out, though I did realize I was always near these girls in purple feather boas and "Will Run 4 Cabernet" and "Will Run 4Pinot Noir " on their shirts. Cute, but not someone I want to finish before me. I did hit a nice downhill stretch at 49:00, so I decided to push through the interval and use gravity to my advantage. It was nice.
Mile 5 (10:32): Funny how those downhills lead to uphills. I decided to smile the entire time I was charging the hill. I think it helped! I walked for another minute at 59:00 and took in my second pack of sports beans.
Mile 6 (10:02): Woohoo-no big hills! At this point you could see the first place marathoners (that race started earlier) coming in on the opposite side. Very inspiring and impressive. Still following the interval plan.
Mile 7 (10:16): Still feeling good. I turned around just after the half-way
point. I was able to look across the median and catch Julie and Tauni as they approached the turn. I let out a huge WHOOP! and waved. I also startled a lot of people, but whatever. Intervals are working like a charm. Each time I walk I pat the tops of my thighs and tell them "Good job, legs!" What? You would too...
Mile 8 (10:00): Dude, was I jamming or what at Mile 8?? A 10min mile with a one minute walk break? Uh, yeah. Awesome.
Mile 9 (10:16): I call myself a "bad ass" as I
run up the hill. I feel pretty great. Somewhere during Mile 9 I see my mom on the sideline. She yelled out (louder than all the other moms-hah !) and said she was proud. Volunteers were handing out orange slices. I took two and they were wonderfully refreshing. Downside: sticky hands.
Curses. Still doing intervals...
Mile 10 (10:04): Hit the 10th mile at 1:43 and did some quick math- only 30min left to hit my goal of 2:15. I had to keep it at 10min miles or just below for the rest of the race. Doable, definitely doable. I abandoned the interval plan and slowly at my third pack of sports beans. I also decide to stop looking at my watch and just run by how I feel.
Mile 11 (10:35): Left IT band starts acting up, and this is a first for me. I recall an article forwarded to me the other day by a friend. Author said to stop running at the first onset of injury in order to avoid a significant amount of time on the bench. I contemplate the advice and decided that he must have meant that only in the case of training runs. I push on. Mile 11 feels really, really long.
Mile 12 (10:01): Instead of urging myself to run faster I tell myself to run "longer" and increase my stride length. Seems to be working! Still, Mile 12 seems to stretch on for quite a while. We've left the coast and are weaving back towards the start. Things are feeling pretty good and I start picking off runners in front of me. I zeroed in on the color orange and passed a
woman in an orange hat, a man in an orange visor and a man in an orange shirt. It feels really, really bad ass to pass people.
Mile 13 (09:56): I still don't really believe that I'm ALMOST done. I look down at my watch and see my time at 2:14:15. I shout out "Oh F---!" and start sprinting around the final turn towards the finish. I hear my mom
yell out on my left. I hear another female voice cheering on my right, and I try to remember to smile as I cross the finish line...
Mile .14 (when I stopped my watch) (00:01:25): I can't really believe I'm done.
Chip time: 2:15:22.

My left hip and knee hurt, I'm limping through the finishing chute and I keep missing the medals being handed out. I finally hook my right arm through a medal, grab agoodie bag (banana, water, various nutrition bars- thoughtful!) and make my way to the bag check. I'm cold, I hurt and my face is covered in salt. I grab my sweatshirt and eventually reunite with my mom, see my friend Bryan and watch Julie andTauni cross the finish line.

In all, a fabulous first 1/2 marathon. I write this on my laptop, from my bed, numbed by Ibuprofen, an ice bath, Bengay cream and ready to take some Advil PM. My left hip flexor is so tight that I can't move my leg without searing pain, but I don't really care. I just ran a freaking half marathon, and I can't wait to do another.