The race took place in San Francisco's Golden Gate part and has been voted one of the most scenic races in the US. I actually run Golden Gate park all the time and I would have to agree. I chose this particular race for 3 reasons 1) I live within walking distance of the start line 2) At $55 it is far less expensive than any other half-marathon I've found and 2) The timing in my schedule just worked well. I didn't see any charity it was donating to, but Kaiser is a non-profit health organization I support in and of itself as it is. Weather was 47 degrees and sun peeked out around 8:20am. I wore a long sleeve tech shirt, running tights and shorts over them to hold my gels and because I'm too modest to run in just running tights as a man. The shoes I wore for this race Nike Lunaracer+ with a pair of polyester liner socks. They're a 6mm drop dedicated racer with a stiff springy bounce to the sole. The main reason I selected them however, was their lightweight combined with Lunarlon cushioning. For my 5Ks I usually go sockless and go with a firmer shoe. In my experiments during my longrun training, however, I've found the cushioning to be indispensable and the Lunarlon foam has that perfect balance of being very cushioned but not being mushy, robbing you of precious responsiveness and toe-off spring.
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| When engaging an unfamiliar opponent, adaptability is key. Proper weapons selection, however, remains no less crucial to victory. |
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| Start line. |
I lined up at the front of the pack for the 8:00/mile pacing group, which was in fact my actual goal. The race started with some riling up for the SF 49ers (it's the Super Bowl today) and off we went, right on time. My plan was to run miles 1-6 at a 8:20 pace, miles 7-10 at an 8:05 pace and to gun it for the GO miles at mile 10.25 hoping for 7:30s splits for the final miles.
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| The crowd. I noticed there were definitely a lot less brightly colored racer shoes and tech shirts from other races at this event. Don't know if that meant it was a less competitive crowd, cuz I'm not at that elite level to be able to judge, |
Mile 1:
Just flew by. I was still fumbling with my iPhone trying to get get a proper pace going as it was having trouble locking on. I made sure not to panic over it as the first few mile should feel too slow. By the time the phone was in working order and I got my facebook cleared up (yep, I facebooked during my first half-marathon), I was surprised to hear my mile time announced in my earbuds. 8:30 splits. Behind, but I knew that the silliest thing I could do was try to speed up to make up for it in the next mile. Just didn't let it phase me.
By the time I realized I was running without music, this mile flew by as well. The pitter patter of other racers is apparently sweeter music than anything coming out of my Ne-yo & Calvin Harris mix. However, I forced myself to turn on the music as I always did, because I wanted to deviate from my set habits as little as possible. At the 2.75 mile mark I stopped to the side to gulp down a non-caffeinated Gu gel pack. 8:03 splits.
Mile 3:
This is when the first hitch came up. I suddenly had to pee. I had hydrated well into the night and woke up several times to urinate and didn't drink anything form the time I woke up to the time of the race. Where was this coming from? No idea. But I had to pee and at the end of mile 3 there some porta-potties wwwaaaayy off to the side. There was also a water station at this point. Another problem: during my longruns up to 12 miles, I never drank water. I am dead serious. Simply because I wasn't able to bring some and didn't trust the public fountains. Introducing water would be a new variable and like I said, I always want to decrease unknown variables. I compromised and took some some gulp and tossed the rest. In the hesitation of deciding whether to pee or not (I did not), I slowed down. 8:36 splits.
Miles 4 & 5:
This is when I forced myself to go into zen mode to ignore the decision of whether to pee or not until the next porta-potty station around Mile 6. As planned, I took a caffeinated gel pack at mile 5.50, doing it quite smoothly and losing almost no time. I also felt like I was getting a good feel for the pace and decided to go mostly by feel. End result? Both mile split times were 8:07. Zen.
Miles 6 & 7:
Forgot I had to pee for the rest of the race. Score. Now, the Kaiser race is known for having a net downhill. Unbeknownst to me, this is where it occurs. I noticed a downhill slope giving me a boost and decided to NOT let it take me for a ride. As in, I slowed down a little to conserve effort, thinking I would have to make up for it soon. Still, splits were 7:59 and 7:55. I thought, hey, it's past mile 6, time to ramp it up anyway.
Mile 8-10:
This was the hardest part. At this point the course goes onto the Pacific coast on a road known as the Great Highway. It's gorgeous. Well, usually its gorgeous, just as I got to it it became overcast. Which was good for me because hey, I can stop to appreciate the beauty anytime, I live within spitting distance of the coast. Overcast meant no unnecessary rise in temperature. So what made it so hard? Quite simply, the monotony. It's a straight road for over three miles including the turnaround. When you're trying to take the race one mile at a time, monotony basically tries to tear away the veil you're trying so hard to keep over your eyes. A second psychological factor was the fact that my iPhone GPS was now reading 0.25 miles more than each mile race marker that came up. I know it wasn't the phone because everyone's GPS watch would go off within seconds of each other every mile. The markers were just wrong and it began to worry me just a teeny bit. At this point the race leader came around the other way, which actually boosted my sense of motivation because DDAAANNNNNNG look at that form and speed!!! Splits were 8:10, 8:17 and 8:04. I took a non-caffeinated gel pack as planned at mile 8.25.
Mile 10:
It's GO time. Or so I thought. The mile markers they had actually seemed to be getting worse in their accuracy at this point which meant I had to be conservative when to gun it. I took my last caffinated gel pack at mile 10.25, a calculated deviation from my plan to take it at 10.50. I eased down on the pedal to mile 11, fully expecting the race to be at least a quarter of a mile too long. 8:04 splits.
Mile 11:
GO time. I didn't sprint but I started zipping by just about everyone in the pack I was with. Definitely didn't get passed any any point and people around me were beginning to pant. One fellow went down in front of me with a spectator stopping to help him. He called for a medic and a cellphone. I was in mid-stride to stop as I had a cellphone but it looked like another spectator had a phone as well. Very soon a motorcycle officer whizzed past me the other way, no doubt to help him. 7:59 splits.
Mile 12:
Had it in high gear now where my form was beginning to change. I could feel my footstrike shifting from midfoot to almost a forefoot strike and my arm swing was getting a little bigger. We were still on the Great Highway and folks were beginning to stop and walk, to my surprise. This was also the same time I passed by an older gentlemen who had also gone down and was being helped. I wanted to fully gun it but 2 things threw me off. 1) the mile markers were a full quarter mile off now and 2) my iPhone indicated my overall pace was now 7:55, much to my surprise, causing me to ease up just a tiny bit and focus on just keeping my current pace under 8:00. 7:48 splits.
Finish:
The course veered off the Great Highway and back into Golden Gate Park. With the turns and hills I couldn't tell where the finish line was and the GPS was no use now. I looked down and suddenly saw the GPS reading backtrack and say I was doing a 8:10 overall pace. Screw it, I was gunning it. It was all uphill at this point, however, so 90% throttle still meant a 7:20ish pace. Still, I was passing everyone and I kind of felt guilty at this point because I was hoping this would motivated everyone to join in on the kick. Instead I was just passing people at a solid clip. When I spotted the finish line, about 400m away.....
I full throttled it into a sprint. Honestly, I felt like a douchebag because everyone was just panting and no one joined in on my kick and I'm sure it was quite noticeable this one dude was just blasting past everyone down the final stretch. The announcer called it out, but he didn't call my name as I had my bib on my shorts, facing away from him. Just as well. Final splits including the extra distance: 7:30. Final distance: 13.37 miles on my iPhone GPS. Final time: 1:47:34. Average pace of 8:04/mile.
Met my friend as I walked down the line, still having a lot left in me, not breathing nearly as hard as I should have been. Got my cotton t-shirt which was much better than I expected and got my first medal (yeah, finisher's medal, but whatever). I didn't really check out the expo much. I have to admit, for the past year I was one of those folks who cared A LOT about the t-shirt and swag. I won't lie that it has tipped my choice towards one race over the other before. But I dunno, this one was different. I just wanted to race it and finish it. I didn't even opt for the polyester wicking shirt option despite the fact that I dislike cotton shirts. It just felt different. And while I wouldn't dissuade anyone else from enjoying the medals and photos and swag (DO enjoy it, it's half the fun and it feels great to be celebrate amongst other runners!), I just didn't care for it this time. Probably because the half-marathon is such a longer endeavor than the 5K and for once I really systematically trained for a road race. And you know what? It feels great. Knowing "I did that," that's some permanent swag I'll get to bring with me everyday.
Some highlights and lessons from the race:
I never looked down. I noticed this around the time of the Great Highway. I looked down literally once during the entire race to check to make sure the time-chip tag was still on my shoe. Other than that, I literally stared straight down the road and I have zero doubts this increased my performance greatly. Head up and eyes forward is a universal trait of good running form and there are many many types of "good running forms." I don't know why it happened like this but I'll be sure to keep it for my future races.
Carbo loading and tapering works. I don't carbo load and I don't taper. Because I do 5Ks where it's not as big an issue. I think this was actually my greatest mistake as to why I didn't reach my 8:00/mile target. I underestimated myself and was too conservative with my pacing. I could have easily ramped up my pace in each mile by 5 seconds, maybe even 10 seconds, and shattered my expectations.
I stop to take gel packs. Literally, I've learned that for me it's not worth it to try to run and eat/drink at the same time. I just stop over, enjoy my 10 second break and the rest usually makes for a faster pace which makes up for lost time anyhow. And no stomach cramps and messy hands from trying to run and dine.
I got to go pee afterwards. Best highlight of the race.
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