I had about the same race as last year, but I kinda screwed myself off the bat by starting with a later corral than I was assigned because it felt more important to get through a port-o-potty line first, which meant I had to do a lot of weaving around other runners until oh, mile 10 or so? So I ran 13.3 miles instead of 13.1, and finished officially in 1:51:33.
But overall I was pleased with how I ran this year’s Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego Half Marathon, and best of all, I didn’t have to use the bathroom once on the clock!
Friday after work, I ran 5 miles at a 9:19/mile average. That evening, we went to the trivia tournament semi-final at Tower 13 in Cardiff-by-the-Sea. We got blown out of the water ha. Those questions were on a much higher level than the ones in the regular weekly game! Even if our best player had been there, I think he’d have only scored us a few more points. So no trivia tournament prize money this year for Drunk in Public.
I got up early Saturday morning and met the running group again. Kathy and I ran another 5.1 miles at a 9:41/mile average.
Clark and I drove down to San Diego later that morning so I could hit the expo at the convention center kinda early. I got my race bib and T-shirt and then jetted through the maze of race merchandise and other vendors. I hate that they force you to walk through all of it to get out! People who want to see what else is there will go look.
Anyway, I was pretty hungry by that point, so Clark and I walked to Kansas City Barbecue for lunch. When we left there, he noticed I was walking kinda funny.
I’d gotten new casual shoes on Thursday — the same size and style as two other pairs I already own and have walked a lot in, just in a different color — but these were sawing into my outer ankles on both feet with every step! I guess it was a different material. Seriously, the ankle on my left foot was bleeding. We had to stop at a Ralph’s to get Band-Aids so I could patch them up. Of course I did this to myself the day before a race. Sheesh.
We stopped at one more bar in the Gaslamp, then drove to AleSmith, and finally came home. Clark grilled some marinated tri-tip for dinner and I was out early, which was good, because I had a 4 a.m. alarm set.
I felt pretty well rested when my alarm went off Sunday. I got up and immediately made some coffee and had some cereal, and I was able to clear out the ol’ GI tract before we even left the house. Things were looking good!
The drive to the city was easy enough that early in the morning, but for some reason, Apple Maps sent me to the start line a different way than last year — the same way everyone else was getting there too, apparently. Once we got off the freeway, it took a lot longer to get anywhere near the start line along Balboa Park.
Finally, we got within a couple blocks. I got out there (Clark didn’t run, so he could park the car closer to the finish line) and booked it for the start area. I had to PEE.
When I got there, I only had about 15 minutes until the 6:15 a.m. start, and the port-o-potty lines were predictably long. I wasn’t too worried about it though; I was supposed to start in the fifth corral anyway, and the last couple of years, they used a system to spread out runners from the start, so it had taken a while to get over the line if you weren’t right at the front.
Well, they didn’t spread out the runners this year. They just let every corral go en masse. I heard them announce the fifth one was next when I was almost to the front of the line. I really had to pee and I thought it’d be better to start a couple minutes later than I should have, rather than take off with the right corral and hope the urge to go went away or find a port-o-potty on the course.
So I started with the seventh corral — but with an empty bladder.
The first five miles of this course are rolling hills. Nothing big up or down, but enough that you have to make some pace adjustments to keep an even effort in a few places.
This year, I also had a lot of slower runners to get around, and it was pretty crowded. I was doing a lot of weaving, which I knew was just adding distance to my own race, but it was either that or slow down. The first two miles were 8:22 and 8:23.
I was running near a group of at least three runners who were annoying the crap out of me. One of them was wearing sunglasses, even though it was overcast, and the other two kept yelling “blind runner coming through!” to make fun of him, I guess. But it was just confusing all the runners around them trying to get out of the way of the “blind runner” and his guide. Also, any joke gets old fast when you keep repeating it! I wanted to yell back “I’M GLAD YOU’RE HAVING SO MUCH FUN BUT PLEASE SHUT UP!!” I would say I’m just cranky now because I’m old, but honestly that would’ve bugged me 14 years ago when I ran my first half.
Anyway, I lost them in the crowd eventually. There’s an uphill in the third mile that has always made it my slowest on the course (unless I had to stop to use the bathroom); this year that split was 8:50.
The next few miles go through the Normal Heights neighborhood, where a lot of residents come out to blast music and set up unofficial aid stations offering everything from water to Sour Patch Kids and Bloody Mary shots. Miles 4 through 6 were 8:37, 8:19 and 8:22.
Then we ran back through North Park. I always look forward to the Ron Burgundy impersonator between miles 7 and 8. This year he was announcing, “San Diego is home to the best runners in the world. In fact, you’re all in first place right now. Stay classy, San Diego!” as I ran by ha. Those two miles were 8:29 and 8:25.
The half and full courses split around mile 8, and then the half heads toward the outskirts of Balboa Park. My mile 9 split was 8:17.
In the next mile, there’s a steep downhill followed by a less steep uphill. Then we run through a parking lot and finish mile 10 — that split was 8:31.
Right past the mile 10 marker is the worst uphill of the course. Thankfully it’s not super long, but it sure feels like it.
It takes us up to Pershing Drive, where it flattens out and then starts going down. Mile 11 was 8:23 and mile 12 — which was almost all steeply downhill until we got back into downtown San Diego near the end — was 7:59.
The last mile has a few small uphills and then one last downhill stretch to the finish. I ran mile 13 in 8:24 and the last 10th of a mile at 7:26 pace, and crossed the line in 1:51:33.
My legs were kinda wobbly as soon as I stopped running and I felt like I was almost going to tip forward for a few seconds there, but I managed to stay upright and get my medal. It took a while to get out of the finishers chute though, because so many large groups of runners were hanging around in it, trying to take group pictures or just waiting for other runners to finish. I was getting cranky again ha. I weaved my way around them to gather all the water, Gatorade and snacks they were handing out to runners, and then I walked down to the harbor, where I found Clark napping in my car.
I was absolutely drenched in sweat and water I’d spilled on myself trying to run and drink at the same time. I felt a lot better once I peeled off all my soaking wet running clothes and put on dry stuff!
We walked over to the post-race party so I could get my one allotted June Shine canned cocktail.
I also checked the Garmin Connect app on my phone and saw my Garmin was being a jerk again.
We came back home, and then that afternoon, we went to our friend Kris’ house for a cookout. It was a fun day but I was ready for bed early last night.
That was the end of a three-week streak of races for me. My next one isn’t until Aug. 5 in Balboa Park.
I do have some other fun stuff coming up though. Clark and I are heading back to the East Coast this weekend for our friend Bart and Janelle’s party to celebrate their wedding, her finishing her Ph.D. and their new house they’ve been renovating. I’ll also get to see my younger sister’s new house and go for a run with Kelly and Susan, and hopefully go out on the boat. Both of my other siblings are swimming Sunday morning — my brother is doing the swim leg for an Eagleman relay team and my older sister is swimming 4.4 miles across the Chesapeake Bay!
So, to wrap up this post, here are my stats from the race:
Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego Half Marathon
- Chip time: 1:51:33
- 61st/956 F 40-44
- 607th/7,373 women
- 2,169th/14,223 overall
A Simple Running Log 
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