I had a pretty good run in the Carlsbad Half Marathon yesterday! I was about 90 seconds off my Rehoboth time from last month, but this race course had more than 300 feet of elevation gain, compared to less than 50 in Rehoboth, so I feel good about it. I still have a lot of work to do on hills though — apparently Carlsbad’s is one of the easier courses around here!
Anyway, Clark brought home our race packets Friday evening. Everyone got a drawstring cinch bag we could use for gear check, a long-sleeved T-shirt AND a quarter-zip shirt.
I saw a lot of people wearing one of these in the race. They both say “finisher” (it’s on the back on the T-shirt), which just seemed to me like asking for a DNF.
That evening, we took Pepper to Vista to hit a couple more breweries. I liked the tagline at Wavelength Brewing, which had a science-geek theme:
We also had dinner at Belching Beaver, known for its peanut butter milk stout, which was delicious. They had a pretty good food menu as well.
Saturday was low-key. Neither of us had a run on the schedule so we just hung around the apartment for a while. In the afternoon, we went to IKEA to try to get the chaise lounge section to add to the end of our couch, now that the Christmas tree is out of here, but it was sold out.
So we took Pepper to Amplified Brewing in Pacific Beach instead. Yet another good brewery! They had a food menu as well. We weren’t terribly hungry there though, so we just split a plate of pita chips and three different kinds of hummus.
We also stopped by Pure Project’s tasting room in Miramar. Then we went home and made burgers and roasted asparagus for dinner.
Usually, the night before a race, I lay out my race outfit and get together anything else I’ll need, like gels and a change of clothes for after. For some dumb reason, I didn’t do any of that Saturday night.
So Sunday morning was a bit of a shit show when I got up. I had to get all of Pepper’s meds in him and take him for a walk first before his dog sitter got there. She showed up a little early (at least someone was on the ball) while Clark and I were running around the apartment trying to remember everything we needed.
The half marathon didn’t start until 7:45, and the start/finish area was only about five miles from our place, but I wanted to leave early because I was picturing the same traffic jams and mega port-o-potty lines at the New Jersey Half Marathon last spring. So I was a little stressed when we left 15 minutes later than I wanted.
Turned out I’d stressed over absolutely nothing, because unlike that race, this one really had its stuff together. After a minimal wait to get into the lot, we were parked more than 45 minutes before the race start, and there were so many port-o-potties, the longest line I saw had about 10 people in it, not 100+ like in New Jersey. We had more than enough time. This race definitely gets a 10/10 for organization.
We didn’t use gear check, because our truck was parked close enough we just chose to walk back there.
On to the race! It was a perfect day for a run. As usual in Southern California haha. It was a little chilly at the start, in the mid- to upper 40s, but I figured as soon as the sun hit us it’d warm up quick, so I just wore shorts and a T-shirt. (I haven’t had to wear anything longer than shorts to run once since I got here, by the way.)
I was in the second of eight waves of runners in the half (the full marathon started separately at 6:15.) My wave got to take off about four minutes after the first. I threw away the heat sheet from a previous race I’d worn into the corral and I was off!
I was a little chilly at first and felt like I was stomping along down the road, rather than running. Then the sun hit us for the first time, and then we hit the long uphill that makes up most of the first mile, and suddenly I was no longer chilly.
I ran that first mostly uphill mile in 7:56. Only 12.1 to go.
The next couple of miles took us through residential Carlsbad out toward the 101. There was a short out-and-back at a traffic circle just before mile 2, which I didn’t love, but that was pretty much my only complaint about the course. Then we were on the 101, running right along the ocean. The scenery to our right was gorgeous! There was also plenty of spectator support and a ton of aid stations. I was taking a small cup of water at each one.
I was cruising. Miles 2-6 were 7:45, 7:59, 7:43, 7:55 and 7:45.
Right after the mile 6 marker, we hit that long uphill I’ve already run a few times in long runs and during that half-mile interval workout last week. I ran the whole way up, but I was absolutely gassed when I made it! There was another aid station at the top, so I stopped there for a few seconds to eat the one Huma gel I brought and drink some water. And, to be honest, catch my freaking breath!
I’m on the right. Pretty sure this is right near the top of that hill. I remember photographers sitting there.
Not far past that aid station was the turnaround, and then we hit the mile 7 marker. My split was 8:18.
I got back on track in the eighth mile. That split was 7:52.
But… then my guts started rumbling. Sigh. One of those aid stations appeared soon enough, with a large bank of port-o-potties, so I dipped into the first open one and took care of that.
Garmin sees all haha.
Mile 9 was just past that aid station. The split was 8:52. Same as Rehoboth, I only lost about a minute in there tops. Not too bad.
I managed to get the 10th mile back under goal pace and ran it in 7:54, but the next two were slower, 8:13 and 8:12. My feet were really feeling it. I wore a pair of NB 890v7s I got in December — I wanted another pair of 1400s, but I had to use a gift certificate to the Rehoboth New Balance store before it expired at the end of the year and they didn’t have any 1400s in my size. I’ve been wearing the 890s for speed workouts since then, and thought I liked them, but this was definitely the longest run I’d done in them, and they weren’t exactly working out.
Not gonna lie, the rest of my body was just tired of those rolling hills too.
I was happy to see we didn’t have to run that short out-and-back at the traffic circle on the way back. More good news — that uphill in the first mile meant we got a nice downhill in the 13th, and I ran it in 7:40 as a result, my fastest of the race.
According to my Garmin, I ran the last bit of a mile at a 7:28/mile pace, and I officially finished 13.1 miles in 1:45:17.
I really wanted to run under 1:45, but I can’t be too upset with that result! I was 23rd of 438 in the F 35-39 age group, 104th of 2,667 women and 420th of 4,823 overall.
In the finisher chute, we all got a medal, a heat sheet, water, chocolate milk and a bag of snacks. My favorite thing in there was a cup of rice… that needed to be microwaved for 90 seconds. I forgot to bring our microwave, dang it! Now I know for next time.
I went back to the truck, changed my clothes and waited for Clark. He finished in exactly 2:18. He said the first half was good but then he just didn’t feel like running anymore. In fact, he said his only complaint about the whole race was that he had to run haha.
Then we went to the beer garden and got free beers from Ballast Point.
The volunteers handing out the beers weren’t marking our bibs or anything, so even though we were technically only supposed to get one each, I’m pretty sure we could’ve taken as many as we wanted. However, Clark and I had to get going because I’d told the dog sitter we’d be back by 11:30, so we only had time for one.
When we got back to the apartment, Pepper was really excited to see us. The dog sitter said “It’s nice to see some life in him! He was so mopey the whole time you were gone.” She said BOTH of his eyes looked red and droopy, not just the one he jabbed with an aloe plant last week, he refused to eat his breakfast and just paced around.
Of course, as soon as she left and he was back with us, both of his eyes looked fine and he scarfed down his food and promptly fell asleep on the couch. I texted her to let her know he was just being dramatic while she was here haha. As I’d suspected.
We’d gotten home just in time to see the football playoff games, which we spent the rest of the afternoon watching.
Late in the afternoon, Clark got a text that a package had arrived for us in the locker where they store large deliveries for tenants, even though neither of us was expecting anything.
Turned out someone had ordered a Bark Box but entered the wrong address or something. So Pepper got his first Bark Box.
There was this snowman toy that you were supposed to put treats in the face, where the eyes and nose would be, for the dog to try to remove. The snowman came with a detachable hat, so we put that on Pepper.
He was not a fan haha. But he liked the treats at least!
Today, Shamrock training continues with an easy 3-miler and some strength training. My legs aren’t as sore as I expected them to be. I’m sure it’s coming though!
A Simple Running Log 