Race Report: San Diego Half Marathon

On Sunday I ran the San Diego Half Marathon. After a quick breakfast and a cup of coffee, I donned my running gear, pinned on my bib, and walked the few blocks from my hotel down to the start of the race in the Gas Lamp District. It was a beautiful sunny day and in spite of the time changes (hour difference from Alaska and the beginning of daylight savings time) I felt pretty well rested. My only real concern going into the race - aside from whether or not it would feel a bit warm after running in mostly teens and 20s over the past few weeks - was the fact that wearing flats around the city the previous couple of days had given me a minor case of shin splints.

Miles 1-3
I was in corral 9, and I wondered if it would be a lengthy delay between the start of the race and when those of us in the later corrals would finally get across the start line. However, the race organization was excellent and each wave started less than 2 minutes apart. Before too long my corral was off and I was on my way. I had hoped to line up with the 2:25 pace group, but there was only a 2:20 pace group in my particular corral, so I let them get up ahead of me a bit but worked to keep them in sight and to find a pace that seemed a tad challenging but maintainable. The miles clicked by in 10:18, 10:23, and 10:31.

Miles 3-7
Much of the first half of the race was really quite beautiful with views of the harbor and city. I loved running with thousands of other people and seeing the ocean and palm trees. I might have stopped to take photos, but I had a feeling that I could surpass my goals, so I wanted to focus on running instead of stopping and starting to snap shots. Then there were a few less scenic patches, like the airport, where the exhaust from the rental car buses did not make for the most pleasant running conditions. I was feeling pretty good. At around mile 6 I took a GU at a water stop and just as I was tearing into it I spotted my friend from grad school, who had come with her 2 year old son to cheer me out on the course. I got high fives from them, walked for about a minute to let the GU settle and was off again. My splits were 10:21, 10:31, 10:43, and 11:09.

Miles 7-10
The GU and support out on the course gave me some energy, but I was starting to need to pee. The next couple of miles were some of my slower ones as I did stop to use a biffy and then there was the one serious hill out on the course. This hill was long and one that had the potential to crush the soul and shred the calves. I opted to walk up the steeper parts of it and run the flatter portions of it. It was also not as scenic as somewhere around here we also passed a glass recycling center. I finished these miles in 10:31, 12:10, and 12:42.

Miles 10-13.1
After I crested the hill, I had my second GU at the next water stop and felt reenergized. I looked at my watch and realized that the sub 2:20 that I thought I might be able to pull out a couple of miles before was probably out of reach, but I was going to be damned if I didn't achieve my goal of finishing in 2:25 or less. I told myself to pick the pace back up. The last mile or so of the course was down hill and I let that do some of the work for me. My splits were 11:00, 10:18, 9:23, and 2:11 (my cuts and weaving around other runners had added about .20 to my total distance). My official race time was 2:22:07.

Reflections
In general, I am really pleased with my performance at this half marathon. I'm still working back to PR-level speed, but I did run this half 8 minutes faster than my fastest half marathon in 2012. And that gives me a fair bit of confidence moving forward. I know that working more consistently on speed work helped me in my final miles of the race. I know the downhill was a big part of it, but pulling out 9:23 and 8:28 paces at the end of a half marathon is definitely a marked improvement for me. This race and this trip was good for me mentally and emotionally. I would definitely consider doing this one again, as it was incredibly well-organized, the volunteers were great, and the atmosphere and scenery were truly excellent.

It was also really great to reconnect with my friend. She very generously had me out to her home for dinner twice. We spent some time doing a bit of hiking out at Point Loma, had a girls' night out that ended with post-drinks visit to Extraordinary Desserts in Little Italy, and spent part of Saturday afternoon out with her son exploring at Balboa Park.