This was my 4^th time running the Surf City Half. It’s one of my favorite races, probably because it was my first half marathon. It’s also fairly close to home. But parking and shuttle buses can be a hassle, so hubby and I stayed overnight at a starting line hotel, so I didn’t have to worry about getting up super early or dealing with the parking hassle. (avoiding the 30 minute porta-potty lines was another bonus).

I ate my usual pre-race breakfast of a small bagel with cream cheese and small banana. Easy to digest and plenty of energy! And of course coffee. I headed down to the corrals about 25 minutes before my wave was supposed to start. I hoped to meet Mr. & Mrs. Docket but they were still on a shuttle bus.

My previous half-marathon PR was 2:22:44, set 3 ½ months ago on a course with a similar elevation profile. I’ve been training pretty hard since then, so my A goal for this race was 2:19:XX. B goal was 2:20 to 2:22:43, and C goal anything above that. I was SO nervous for days before the race – butterflies in my stomach whenever I thought about it! I’ve never wanted a time as badly as I did for this race.

My plan was to run:walk in a 7:1 ratio, maintaining a 10:35 pace. I used a sharpie pen to write the times for each mile on the inside of my arm. It didn’t look really attractive, but I figured it would save me some math in my head.

When my corral started, I settled in right behind the 2:20 pacers. At mile 1 we were exactly where I wanted to be, but we hadn’t taken any walk breaks, so I was running a slightly easier pace than I had planned but it felt ok without a break. I chatted with the pacers for a minute and they assured me they planned to stay with very even splits and get in under 2:20, so I decided maybe I’d just stick with them. Mile 2 went fine and then Mile 3 – what the heck???? We were 20 seconds over pace according to my sharpie pen! I mentally wished the 2:20 group goodbye and surged ahead to make up my 20 seconds (I never saw them again in the race). But, Mile 4 is the only hill of substance on this course, so despite my increased effort I was still about 20 seconds behind my planned pace at the end of that mile.

After the Mile 4 hill, I soon hit the sharpie pace. I soon exceeded it. I felt good. I didn’t walk except for about 15 seconds in each of the water stops.

At I approached the turn-around at Mile 8, I had a brief panic moment: “This is where it gets hard.” Mile 8 to 9 is always where I’ve fallen apart in my half marathons. But I told myself, “You don’t have to think about the next 5 miles. You just have to think about this mile. Think about the finish line. Think about hubby waiting there. Think about bragging rights on RA. Think about hamburgers.” And I did! The panic passed and I continued to increase the margin of my actual pace vs. goal pace. At Mile 10 I almost started crying when I realized how far ahead I was. At Mile 11 I got goose bumps. At Mile 12 I started sprinting. It seemed like I was passing EVERYONE! One gal zipped by me and I thought, “Oh no you don’t” and I ran harder.

I finished in 2:16:27. Here are the Garmin splits:

1 mi   10:33

2 mi   10:31

3 mi   10:52

4 mi   10:47

5 mi   10:12

6 mi   10:15

7 mi   10:11

8 mi   10:23

9 mi   10:23

10 mi 10:08

11 mi 10:34

12 mi 10:20

13 mi 9:47

14 mi 9:02

I learned some things today:

1. I have a better HM in me. I didn’t even “leave it all on the course.” The fact that I could almost run my 5k pace for the last mile shows that I wasn’t going fast enough earlier. And I could have done that for another mile if I’d had to.
2. I can run 13.1 without doing run:walk! I was terrified at the thought and had planned on 7:1. But I honestly never thought about taking walk breaks. The momentum felt good.
3. Sugar and caffeine are great. I read an article a couple of months ago (it’s been in the New York Times as well as RWOL) about a study showing that marathoners who took a gel with caffeine every 20 minutes ran much better times than the control group who weren’t given advice on nutrition. So I stuffed 4 caffeinated gels in my pockets and ended up taking one about every 28 minutes. I had never done anything like that before – typically I was taking a single gel between mile 8 and 10 when apparently it was too late.
4. Proper training is great. I have increased my weekly mileage, as well as adding race-specific workouts.
5. This forum is great. You all gave me terrific advice on overcoming the mental barrier I was hitting in every half marathon. I know I was better trained today than I have been in the past, but I still believe a big part of my last-4-mile slowdown in every other HM was mental.

So basically it was a perfect day. I regret that I never met up with the Dockets – we had also missed each other at the expo because they had travel delays.

I’ll be back for advice very shortly on the LA Marathon coming up in 6 short weeks.

Great job!  Sorry we didn't get to meet. And caffeine and sugar?  That is why I have my donuts and Dew before my marathons!!

Haha, I never should have doubted your fueling strategy!  Hey, I did take your advice a while back on salted caramel GU - it's my favorite.  PB/Chocolate was also delicious today.  The other 2 were new ones that I tried today, and they weren't that great.  One was GU Chocolate Outrage.  It was like squeezing fudge into my mouth which just didn't appeal on a run.  The other was Clif Shot Mocha - blech - tasted like coffee grounds in my mouth.

Congrats!!

Think about bragging rights on RA. 

A little peer pressure never hurts, eh?  

And your fastest mile was the last one?  Oh yeah, you have a faster half in you.

You rock! Loved reading your rr. I can hear how pleased you are with yourself. Fantastic accomplishment and you should be very proud.

You did excellent! Congratulations on a most impressive PR!

Nice work, Brilliant.  I like your list of things you learned. My favorite part of your race was the kick you had at the end. Great stuff, that. Good luck in LA.

It looks like you found that mental toughness and then some.  Congrats on a awesome race and big PR!