I’ve given it away in the thread title.  But, some of you will remember my “adjusted” PR at the Ventura HM+ last month.  The race course was 13.75 miles, so of course my actual time wasn’t a HM PR.  But I calculated where I thought I was at 13.1 based on my splits, and the Ventura race organizers calculated an even more generous adjustment based on some formula they didn’t reveal.  So I kept that as my PR, but it just didn’t seem quite like a real PR.

I’ve run the Long Beach HM twice before and the weather has been OK.  No shade on this course, but it’s October in SoCal, so how bad could it be?  Well, we had another heat wave roll in last week.  I swear the weather in SoCal is sublime most of the time – just not when I have an important race like say, the LA Marathon.  Then it’s like the furnaces of hell have been stoked just for us.  Because of the heat, the race organizers announced that HM participants could start at 6AM with the marathon, or wait until the official 7:30 start.  I decided to take advantage of that kind offer!

My hubby and I had a hotel room about ¾ mile from the start line.  It was a nice warm-up walk.  And by warm-up, I mean it was already 74 degrees.  I timed it to get there right before 6AM  (use the nice hotel bathroom for the last time and head for the start line was my strategy).  The only problem with the 6AM start is that it was crowded and pitch dark still.  So I didn’t get to see Lurch, or any of the other local friends I knew who were running.

They started a bit late, and started us in two waves, with no attempt at corrals.  I felt a little sorry for the marathoners whose race had been overtaken.  I ended up not far behind where they divided the two waves, so I crossed the start line at right about 6:15.  My race strategy was to go out at a 10mm pace.  There was a lot of sorting out of paces at the start, with many runners passing me, and me passing many others in the first couple of miles.  And of course I was going faster than 10mm.  I had to consciously slow down, repeatedly.  Yet I still felt I was going too fast.  Zelanie had shared a link before my last half about trying to stay in the easy “yellow zone” for the first half in a HM.  I reached orange pretty quickly.

The course is advertised as very flat. They lie, and I knew this going in because I’d done it before.  There are 2 bridges in the first 5 miles, but I attacked those pretty well.  At about mile 4.5, we passed our hotel and my husband was there to shout encouragement.  That put a smile on my face.

Starting at about mile 6, the course heads due East.  The sun had just come up and was hot and bright.  The course runs along the water which is not as scenic as it sounds.  For about 5 seconds you think “The Queen Mary!  Cool!” and then you realize you have 3 miles of long straight flat concrete ahead of you.  This part of the race has always discouraged me in the past.  But I mentally acknowledged that and told myself I just had to get through this and everything would be great.

I had taken 2 GUs, at about 4.5 and 7.5 miles.  I thought about taking another at 10 but it didn’t sound good to me.  I didn’t feel like I’d taken in too much water, but I could feel it sloshing around in my stomach.  This always happens to me in hot races.  I’m afraid not to drink enough water, so I drink a bit at every water station, but then I feel like it just sits in my stomach.  Anyway, about this time, some spectators were handing out donut holes.  That sounded great!  But I popped it in my mouth and started chewing, and immediately thought I’d throw up.  I couldn’t seem to swallow it but didn’t want to spit it out.  Then we headed up another hill!  I was so discouraged.  My race had seemed perfect and now I was losing it.  I walked.  I knew I was on pace for a PR but I didn’t care.  Luckily that funk lasted about 30 seconds.  I turned it up again and got back on pace.  (it was a close call – for a second I thought, what if I start walking and can’t start up again?)

In the last three miles, I never lost the feeling that I had to throw up, ugh.  But somehow it didn’t matter.  About a half mile from the finish, I heard my husband yell my name from the sidelines.  I knew I had it then, and he knew it too.  I put on the afterburners and crossed the finish line in 2:10:27. We headed straight for the beer garden.  Before I became a runner, I thought that drinking beer at 8:30AM was wrong.  

Splits:

1 mi       9:50

2 mi       10:03

3 mi       9:53

4 mi       9:50

5 mi       10:05 (there was a hill here)

6 mi       9:54

7 mi       9:51

8 mi       10:09 (I think I walked a wáter stop here, and a coconut water table)

9 mi       10:02

10 mi    9:57

11 mi    10:09 (this is where I got discouraged)

12 mi    9:54

13 mi    9:45

14 mi    I forgot to stop my GPS, but it was fast

All of my times for the Long Beach HM are:

2012 2:44:36

2014 2:22:44

2015 2:10:27

Next year, 1:59:59.  

Look at you!!!  Those splits are fantastic!  Only 10 seconds slower in a couple of places for noted reasons and otherwise right on the nose.  And in warm conditions too.  You should come out to a cooler part of the country for a race sometime. 

Congratulations on a GREAT race!

Congrats on the real PR! I will be bringing rain, cold or a heat wave to LA later this month. I don't care what the forecasts say, our two most recent vacations included snow on the Vegas strip for the first time in several years and the first rain the Bahamas had seen for 5 months. I apologize in advance for whatever lousy weather we bring. 

I cannot drink water at race effort without feeling it. I either feel queasy or get horrendous cramps. My last half, I only had one cup, probably could have done without. If you are hydrating other times, in decent weather you could probably skip the water stops.

Awesome job, RR and a definite congrats on the PR!!

I know plenty who have run long beach over the years and it's not flat as you say. You did great especially with the heat which was bad this weekend. Great time improvements over the years too. Congrats!

Congrats on hanging tough and on your brand new shiny PR.

Anyway, about this time, some spectators were handing out donut holes.  That sounded great!  But I popped it in my mouth and started chewing, and immediately thought I’d throw up.  I couldn’t seem to swallow it but didn’t want to spit it out. 

So what happened to it FFS?

We headed straight for the beer garden.

Yeah, that's good for that 'throwing up feeling" lol.

Congrats on the PR and a Brilliant report!   You earned your beer!