I Did It!!! June 7, 2011

 

  

So I did it. I finished my second half marathon. I am super happy about it but currently I am super exhausted, sun burnt and sore so those factors are definitely taking over currently haha

It was a good race though. My friend Beth (in the second picture on the top) came from Vegas to help cheer me on. We got up before dawn to head towards Balboa park (where the race started). It was incredible to watch all the people coming in like ants out of the woodwork. It was a continual flow of people into the park area to where the corrals were to start the race. There was even a flash mob in the park!! Flash mobs are like one of my favorite things! You can check it out at  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4VWPq__1vo&feature=youtu.be .

Originally I was in corral 29 but somehow I got pushed into 30 which really doesn’t matter since my chip only starts tracking when I personally cross the start line. My friend Beth ran the first mile with me which was fun then she split off to bee line it to the end of the race so she could get there and cheer me across the finish. The best signs at the beginning of the race were one at .2mi which said “only 26 more to go” also one that said “You’re not almost there” around mile 1 then one as we approached the first turn which said “lamest parade ever”. The bands were kind of lame sauce but still fun. A lot played covers which made it more fun. I kept my ipod in my ears so I could have a steady pace the whole race and when I was slowing down I could put on a faster song to get me back to moving faster. I tried to take it out though passing the bands so I could experience some of the Rock N Roll fun

I felt really good the first 5 mi though not gonna lie it may have been because mi 2-4 were at a steady downhill grade and mi 5 was pretty flat. They closed off  CA-163 for a section and we ran on it. The cool part was running on the freeway which made for a pretty cool experience. However freeways are not made for runners. What feels fine in a car does not feel fine on feet. It was very angled on pretty much the whole part of the freeway so you felt lopsided running. I’ve never had issues with knee pain from running and this time I had a ton of it and I blame the freeway for this. The also not cool part were that they were handing out otter pops along mi 6 on the freeway. Mi 6 is my infamous wall. I get it every run I do especially when it’s a race. Around mi 6 I see otter pop wrappers littering the freeway and get excited and start looking around for the person handing out otter pops only to find that they are all gone and all I see are wrappers. My excitement quickly turned to disdain and I was pretty embittered towards all those that got their delicious icy snack while I ran through my not so fun wall.

I stomped through my wall by mi 8 and started enjoying myself again I had picked it up a bit and it was honestly just beautiful out. Blue skies, cool breeze…perfect running weather. I was tempted though mi 8 was right next to the mall and I thought man shopping would be fun. Then I remembered I was sweaty and gross and didn’t have any form of payment on me so I kept running. Mi 9 disappointment struck again as I looked down and saw jolly rancher wrappers all around me and immediately realized as with the lesson with the otter pop wrappers that there was in fact no more deliciously sweet hard candy being given out to keep the mouth from dryness either. I was quickly cheered by a certain group of marathoners to fun by. A group of guys holding a flag that said England wearing the Bearskin, a military hat worn by the brigade of guards commonly seen outside of buckingham palace and their tightie whities  and that was pretty much it. It was a funny sight to behold and made me giggle which was exactly what I needed after my jolly rancher disappointment.

Mi 10 I started to slow down. We started looping around which is really hard to do as a runner because in essence you are just passing by where you’ve already ran. That and in other cases you can see the next mile marker but you may still have several miles to go before actually getting to that marker. Plus 10mi is the longest run you do in half marathon training so mentally it gets hard at this point because you’ve got to push past where you’ve not gone before (the last time I ran 13.1 was my first half so while I knew I could run it, I haven’t run it since the beginning of November.) I did my best to listen to stuff that would keep me moving quick but it was just not happening. I had been running 9:45-10min miles and I slowed to about 11min miles which happens. My hips and shoulder were starting to feel it, but I was encouraged that compared to my race in November I was feeling much better so I gritted my teeth and pushed through.

Mi 12 was emotional. I did this last race too. There is something about running a long race and being dead dog tired and getting to the point where you are almost there that just plays on your emotions. However tearing up on the last mile is not the best for breathing and finishing strong. So I thought I’d put on something fast to jam towards the finish on and I get the song pulled up and going and like two seconds later my ipod dies. Like seriously my last mile and it dies…it was out of control, but somehow I managed to pace in at about a 8:30 min mile which is really good for me especially at mile 12. Sprinted through the finish and booked it towards the medic tent where I immediately iced my hip and poor knee (stupid freeway lol).

Overall it was a good race. Wish that my d-chip worked because now I have no clue what my time is but oh well what do you do. After the race Beth and I headed to Coronada where I passed out for a good hour waking only to flip sides haha. Decided what better way to ice bath then in the cold ocean. The bottom right picture was my post race beach essentials Cytomax (for electrolyte recovery), a book (hardly read because I was passed out), cell so I could respond and tell everyone how I did, and vegan curry hummus and pita chips because they are deliciousness!!!

Today has been good. Definitely feeling very sore and not well rested because I managed to get sunburnt despite very liberal sunscreen application so every time I turned either my muscles cramped or I was hurting my sunburn. But managed a long walk along the harbor and through gaslamp after all my friend Beth hadn’t been to san diego so we had to do some sight seeing. Went to lunch at my favorite place, Neighborhood. Then I proceeded to lay in bed all day only to get up once because I had to go make a deposit which on the way back from biking to the bank I had to stop and rest, which was fine by me because that gave me an excuse for a second coffee beverage and opportunity to read my book and enjoy the beautiful weather. P.S. You all should read People of the Book!! It is soooo good!

Anywho it’s been a fun long weekend but tomorrow I am back to work and I’m just hoping that the second day is the worst (for soreness) somehow magically doesn’t apply to me since I’ve been so good and active today

Well hope you’ve enjoyed my rambling account of my rock n roll half marathon experience!

Live Life Extraordinary,

Alayna

 

 

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