Inagural San Diego Half Marathon at Petco Park - Recap

Saturday, March 10th

Expo
My husband and I picked up our race packets at the Sport, Health & Fitness Expo located at the Petco Park. Yeahhh, we haven't ran together since the New York Marathon. We arrived around 2:45pm. I was worried that we were tight on time. I wanted to stop by the West Coast Road Runners (WCRR) booth to say hi to my coaches. They were also the official pacers for this race, which made it extra special for me. Since the expo was rather small we had plenty of time for picking up our packets, chat and more. For those that don't like staying at the Expos too long, this race is perfect for you. Easy grab-and-go. Also, finding parking was not too bad.

The evening before the race, we stayed in San Diego downtown. We decided to have dinner at one of our favorite restaurant, Royal India. Oh, BIG mistake! Don't EVER eat Indian food the night before the race. Believe me! Those malai kofta and navratan korma taste & look really good but perhaps not the best before a race. Pavana Muktasana - wind removing pose! That's all I am going to say.

After dinner, we walked to our hotel just a few blocks from Petco Park. We spent the rest of the evening downloading MP3s. I usually run without music but I decided to bring my headphones to this race, as we had a crazy hill at mile 9-10.

Sunday, March 11th
We woke up at 6:00am. I think this is the latest I've ever woken up before a race. For the Tinkerbell Half Marathon, a month and a half ago, I was up at 3:00am :-0 It was definitely convenient to stay that close to the starting line. The weather was perfect, not too hot and not too cold. We met a few of our friends and my coaches at wave #4.

The gun went off at 7:30ish am. The first few miles were around San Diego's Gaslamp district, Pacific Highway and Harbor Island. They were flat and fast. I was averaging 8:35 min/mile. I was feeling very good with the 2:00 hour pacers just behind me.

At mile 7-8, we passed the Bikram Yoga Old Town studio. I thought of one of the main teachers as we ran by. I was thinking maybe she will come out and do some asanas with me in the middle of the race. hahaha, I know, I have a great imagination. The thought put a smile on my face and gave me strength to continue. I slowed down a tiny bit as I knew I had to save my energy to conquer Washington Street and the crazy hill, around mile 9-10.

As we reached the tough part of the course, I saw coach Sharon holding the 2:00 hour sign passing me. Nooooooooo, where do you think you are going? This is my sub-2. Oh, I couldn't keep up. I ran the hill at a ridiculously slow pace. Aghghg, my hill training in the garbage can. Unbelievable! I need to work more on those hills before RnR Madrid!

At the top of the hill was Hillcrest, one of my favorite neighborhoods.

We passed by Hash House, an award winning brunch restaurant in San Diego. Perhaps a good place to go after this race ( hint for out-of-towners).

The good news is that it was all downhill from there, over 2 miles of pure joy. I don't think I've ever felt better in my entire life. My mind and body wanted to run. The sun and wind were in my face and Gavin DeGraw was singing "Not Over" to me



I usually listen to a different type of music when I am training, something more like this:



But Gavin DeGraw worked for me this time around. I was experiencing a runner's high like never before. I think this picture summarizes my happiness. Still smiling for the cameras at miles 12, hahaha such a diva!

I almost cried when I saw the stadium. I didn't want the race to finish. I wanted to continue running. I was feeling alive.

Entrance to the stadium

I looked at my watch and saw 2:06, this a new PR for me. I was happy but a little disappointment at the same time for wasting so much time at the hill. But now I know I can run a sub-2 at a flatter course and even go a little faster.

Posing with my yogi sis Maria aka "tough chik"

On our way home, I saw many people running in the sun. I seriously felt a little jealous. I wanted to go for a second run but my hubby convinced me to rest. I have speedwork on Tuesdays. The plan moving forward includes lots of hills. I don't want to die in Madrid.

Race Review
- Very well organized
- Beautiful course with challenging hill and outstanding finishing at the Petco stadium.

- Nice goodies at the finish line including: Coconut water, bananas, fresh cut oranges, Pop Chips, chocolate milk. Not bad at all!

- Awesome gear check bags

- Beautiful technical shirts

- Beautiful finisher's medal

- Beautiful matching blue toes? hahaha, hey all runners end up having blue toes sooner or later. We might as well embrace it, right? ;)

Oh, I will run this race again next year!

*********
I just connected my Garmin FR 110 to my MAC with the intention of uploading the course elevation and my stats to find out that all data was corrupted. No data found on this device! Mierrrrrcoles! Thank goodness I also had the Nike+ GPS app running. These are my stats for the race in min/km which is a little confusing but hey I gotta get used to it for RnR Madrid, right? You can tell where I hit the hills, right? Yep, km 14-16th ( miles 9-10) :-0

YES, more hill training for me coming up!