Race Report

The race was excellent. I did much better than I expected, I even beat my "dream goal." Basically, I felt comfortable at a pace that was much faster than I expected, so I just tried to just maintain it. I was never really pushing, literally until the final mile which contained one of maybe 2 real uphill sections of the race. The reason I held back like that was that I was already well below my goal pace, so I knew I could adjust my goal... but within reason. I suppose I could have sped up but I risked crashing and burning. I felt good, I was more than happy with my predicted finishing time, so I just chilled out. I felt great right after the race, pretty much no soreness. Feeling great today too.

So, my goal was to run 8:05-8:15 pace (1:46-1:48 finishing time). 1:45:xx was my "dream goal." My PR is 1:49:40 from last July. My strategy was basically "It should feel easy until mile 8." I don't know where I got that or how to explain it, but it made sense to me.

The course was gorgeous and fast. I guess the toughest part was the windy and sunny out-and-back on the coast, mostly because this was also the scene of miles 18-26 of my first marathon last fall. So it was mentally tough to revisit. Luckily, as soon as we turned onto the beach and I was blinded by the sun (no sunglasses or hat), Zach appeared like an angel on the side and threw me his hat. Also, there seemed to be lots of water and gatorade stations on that section, and I walked through them all.

Splits

1 8:27 (gun time, includes the 20 seconds it took me to cross the start line)
2 7:40 well hello. I wasn't expecting to see you Mr.7...
3 7:54
4 7:59
5 7:52
6 7:38
7 7:50 on beach now. Hat rescue occurs.
8 7:54 aid stations abound!
9 8:14
10 7:59
11 8:03
12 8:28
13.1 8:53 (8:05 pace)

final time (unofficial) 1:44:54 (8:00 average pace)

The end! I'm very pleased. I am going to rest and recover this week even though I feel fine. I'm being extra cautious because I've injured myself by running on clearly un-recovered legs (and it was my last half marathon. eep!). Next week I start marathon training for Avenue of the Giants on My 7.

:)