{Lost all my pics so it’s a picture-less recap}
Race morning I got up at 4am, showered, had my coffee and then stretched it out. I left the house at 5:15 and arrived at the race a little after 6am.
I knew this race would be very hilly so I made sure to start slow and pace myself. Plus I knew there was a monster hill at mile 2. This course was absolutely gorgeous; almost all of it was ran along the waterline. But it was hilly: steep hills, rolling hills, long hills. But of course with every hill comes a nice decline.
I started the first couple miles around 8:30-9min/miles. I kept telling myself that I was just going to run for fun and to not stress about time. I really focused on pacing myself well because it was a mostly out and back course ie I knew when there was a 1 mile downhill at mile 4, I’d later be running up it at mile 21.
I took a Powerbar Vanilla gel at mile 9 that they were handing out. It was disgusting, way too sweet and really liquidy.
I crossed the half in 1:46 and took my second GU at mile 14.5. I felt good, I wasn’t pushing that hard but I was pacing well and picking people off that started way too fast… which is what I normally do.
Miles 13-17ish were ran through a residential area near the ocean. If I had to guess, I’d say the first half was more downhill than the second half, but I don’t really know. I basically gave myself permission to take each hill as slow as I needed to. GU #3 was taken at mile 18.5. There was the killer 1 mile climb around mile 21, and I slowly powered up it because I knew that steep hill beginning the race, I got to fly down at mile 24. I took my 4th GU at mile 22.
The last 2 miles were pretty flat, a few rolling hills so I pushed as hard as I could just to be done.
I finished in 3:31:17 according to the clock (there wasn’t chip timing). I finished 39th overall, 4th woman overall and 2nd in my age division.
I am really happy with this race, not because of my time but because of how I paced myself. Starting slower gave me energy to finish strong, and I never bonked, hit a wall or anything. It was hard but I didn’t get that “Someone please kill me and put me out of my misery” at mile 21-26 like I normally do.
My past 2 marathons, LA and Pendleton, I really struggled the last 5-6 miles. Like mentally fell apart. But this race was completely different and I think it’s because I didn’t charge out from the gate way too fast. Also, another thing I did was take the downhills as time to rest and recover rather than scream down them trying to make up time.
*A side note: after the race 3 older guys came up to me and complimented me on my running. “You passed me at 18 and I thought I’d catch up to you but never did. Strong finish!” They were so friendly and complimentary that we stood around talking about different races we’ve done for probably 10-15 mins.
And it got me thinking, I need to encourage other runners and people more. Something as simple as a telling someone else “great race!” can be really uplifting and you remember that.
I always try to thank the person I’m grabbing water from, but what about all the other volunteers? I think I sometimes get so into “my race” that I forget about everyone around me. And that’s lame. My race, in the end, doesn’t matter at all. But if I can make someone else feel good about themselves? Now that’s way more important.
