Today DW and I ran in the La Jolla HM. It was my second and her first.

Short version:

1:40:33  7:41 pace

OA - 302/5360

M - 258/2677

AG - 28/296

Longer version:

Dw and I signed up for this race many months ago because it goes right by our son's dorm at UCSD. He is a freshman there so we thought it would be fun to spend the weekend down there in La Jolla, which is about two hours south of us. At the time, I didn't know the course profile looked like this:

That is one heck of a hill at mile 6. More on that later.

Yesterday, DW and I drove down to pick up our bibs and bling. My older DD was slammed with homework this weekend so she stayed with grandma and grandpa. She advised me to listen to "The Humpty Hump" by Digital Underground to get motivated for the race. Nice kid. The race expo was ok, nothing special. I did fill up on free Clif bars and got a few coupons that I will never use.

From there we went and picked up DS from his dorm and had a nice lunch at Island's. We took him back because he has midterms he wanted to study for. My brother lives in Oceanside with his family and we drove there and stayed the night with them. We had a nice chicken dinner and a few Newcastles to help with the carb up.

On the morning of the race, my brother dropped us off at Del Mar Race Track where the race was starting. It's a point to point race and he met us at the finish. The start was packed with over 5000 runners. I cannot even fathom what I truly big race like Boston or Los Angeles are like. What a mess!! It was a fun crowd and there were a lot of people dressed as Elvis, Spider Man, bananas, etc... The weather was perfect; overcast in the low 60s. Because there was no sun, I was able to debut my new Halo headband, recommended by my good friend Bin Running. I usually wear a hat when I run for sun protection, but not today.

For this race I followed the Ryan Hall 10 week plan given to me by hog4life. I pretty much stuck to the plan, but I did turn it down on the intervals. There were making my left Achilles start to hurt so I replaced intervals with easy runs. I still did one tempo run a week for my speed work.

I had two goals. One was to beat my PR of 1:44:48 which I did last October. The other was to break 1:40. Knowing that this was a tough course, I wouldn't be down on myself if I did not get either of those.

Miles 1-3 went as expected. LtH advised me to "conserve, conserve, conserve" and I kept thinking that knowing that that monster hill was coming at mile 6. The course did not waste anytime and gave us a nice little hill just after mile one. No big deal, I was taking easy. In hindsight it was just a bump. This part of the course went through the city of Del Mar, a sleepy little beach town. There was no crowd support through here, maybe a few people every block or so. What the elevation chart does not show are all the little ups and downs that we ran. These were adding up and my legs were already feeling a bit of a burn at mile 3. There was another steady climb at mile 3 that lasted about a mile. The elevation gain was about 180 feet.

Miles 4-8 were tough and great at the same time. At mile 4 there was a great downhill where I could let my legs go and get in a rhythm. This felt great and I passed quite a lot of other runners. Some passed me as well, but because I started in the wrong wave, I had a lot to pass.  During this downhill run, we could see the monster hill down the coast just over a mile away.  As I started up the hill, I shortened my stride, leaned forward, and went. I had run the hill before, but not in a race, so I knew I could do it. My legs truly were on fire about halfway up. The part that killed me was seeing people walk. There is no harm is walking but I didn't want to! I even heard one guy say "I'm paying for this?!" and another say "Why the hell did I sign up for this?"  I yelled at them "Come on, you got this!!" Just that little bit of encouragement that I gave actually gave me a boost of adrenaline and up I went. The mind is a strange thing.  This hill gains about 410 feet in 1.5 miles and it hurt. At the top we ran by the famous Torrey Pines golf course. They have the U.S. Open there every so often. This part of the course was rolling, rolling, rolling. 

At mile 9 I was feeling great. DS was outside of his dorm and I stopped and he got a picture of us together. It was about 8:30 in the morning so I knew it took A LOT of effort for him to get out there at that hour. They usually stay in bed until at least 11:00 on weekends. This was the first time I looked at my Garmin and I knew at this point I could get my PR, maybe even 1:40.  On LtH's advice, this is where I put the hammer down. The big downhill at mile 10 was tricky. It was so steep I was afraid that I would take a face plant. Seriously, it was STEEP! My quads hurt and I felt myself putting on the brakes with heel striking so I shortened my stride and that helped a lot. I felt like I was flying and when I saw my splits after the race, I think I was!! Miles 9-12 were all downhill and I just took off. It felt really good because I truly I had no idea I could do that. It's funny how it all comes together on race day if you trust your training!

During the run through La Jolla, the crowd support was awesome. Lots of signs, people, bells, cowbells, etc... One guy even had a sound system set up in the front yard of his (probably) five million dollar house and he was playing the theme from Rocky! Now that was cool!  Just before mile 12 there was a big group of about twenty girls who were screaming, waving signs, ringing bells, and offering kisses. I didn't take a kiss but I did high five most of them. A kiss would have been ok but I didn't want to stop! With a mile left, the course knocked me down.  You can see that hill at mile 12 and it was not easy. It was smaller than the monster hill but at this point of the race it was a killer. The good part was that the last half mile was all downhill and I really floored it here. I finished with a kick that I didn't know I had and had a time of 1:40:33, good for a PR but just short of my second goal. No big deal, I am HAPPY!!!

I waited for DW to come in and she finished at 1:56. I am very proud of her. After the race we had a few cold ones in the beer garden, found my brother and went home.

Post race thoughts:  I might have been able to go out just a bit faster, but I think I ran a good race.  One thing I learned is to listen to your body and trust your training. Like I said before, it all comes together on race day. I really had no idea in the world that I could do that and it feels great!  This was a fun race and I recommend it to anyone who is in the area. It was well organized and well staffed with water at every mile, sports drinks every other mile, and GU at the halfway mark. My only complaint is the rubbish shirt they gave us. It will probably fall apart after two or three washings.

Last thing...  I had texted DD my time and when we got home she gave me a big hug and said, "Not bad for an old guy!"

My splits were very inconsistent but with that course, it was understandable.

Enjoying some post race refreshments!

Thanks to the Penguins and the Daily groups for all the support. You guys are the best. A special thanks to LtH for all the help.

Thanks for reading!  Yeah, Baby!!!

Jack, congrats on the PR! I think you could easily break the 1:40 on a better course.

Holy cow, Jack... You bring glory to that headband... You could almost smell that sub 1:40... You will get it next time.. Maybe the Hulk Hogan moustche is the finally piece of the puzzle to get that 1:40, maybe a 1:30 in no time.

Nice run!  I'm a UCSD alum and figured I would do this one some day.  But yikes, I never looked at the course until now!

I see you are doing the Pendleton Mud Run the day before me.  I'll be running in your footsteps, so try to keep the mud clean for me.

Fantastic PR on a very tough course! I have no doubt whatsover that you'll do great in your marathon. And congratulations to your wife as well, she did an awesome job!

Amazing job with the PR on a killer course!

But I'm still not giving you back that astronaut pen!

Grats on the PR Jack, that's outstanding.  Damn that hill looks rough.

Out-freaking-standing!!!  That is so awesome to have a huge PR on a killer course like that!  I'm with Mitch,  you need to find a flat course and get your sub-1:40!  Congrats to your DW too on her awesome debut!

+1 to you killing your marathon.