Silver Strand Half Marathon

Sunday was the Silver Strand Half Marathon, and it was my first race at this distance. The location is great, the course is really flat, and it seemed to me that the turnout reflected that. I had hoped to set a PR here given that there are no hills, unlike my half marathon route at home, but that was not to be. In fact, I turned in my worst time ever at this distance.

I don't handle heat well, and today I was really overheating. At one point, I had slowed to a 10:30 min/mile pace to try to recover, but my HR was still at 184 which is about 7 bpm higher than my normal 7:30 pace HR. Eventually, I just had to start pouring water over myself at the aid stations, looking very sad indeed, not to mention embarrassing when everyone else was seeming fine. I was doing OK by cooling myself down like that, but I think they skipped an aid station as there was one at mile 7 and not another till mile 10. Normally, I wouldn't need that much water anyway, but today, I needed it. Around mile 9, I think, all that water was working wonders in my shoes and I had developed a good blister on my big toe.

Well I finally got myself to the finish and was limping around. I think I must've been compensating for the blister and really messed up my stride. Anyway, I found my dad who did the 5K, and we hung out and chatted as I snacked a little. It was really great seeing dad at the finish since it was pretty crowded, and I didn't think I'd find him or vice versa.

As I was leaving, I spotted James and Beth and went over to congratulate them on an amazing year of triumphs. Beth made her goal of running a sub 1:30 - congrats Beth!

Well, my first half marathon event is done. Now on to the Carlsbad half, and hopefully cooler temperatures.