2013 Rock N Roll Pasadena Half Marathon Race Recap

Race Date: February 17th, 2013
Start Time: 7:30  a.m.
Distance: 13.1 miles
Location:  Rose Bowl




Saturday 16th - Expo

I arrived at the expo on Saturday at 3:55 p.m. I quickly picked up my running bib, shirt, goodie bag and headed to the stage area. One of my running idols, US Olympic Bronze medalist Deena Kastor was scheduled to speak at 4:00 p.m. Thanks to my friend Greg, I was able to sit in the front row. She offered great advice and shared with us her training leading up to the RnR Pasadena Half and later on the LA Marathon next month, March 17th

After this amazing encounter, I walked around the expo promising myself not to buy anything.  I didn't need anything after all. Of course "need" and "want" are two different things. I ended up buying a  really cool RnR medal hanger with 7 hooks. Perfect for my 2013 RnR Challenge: To become a Rock Legend or run 7 RnR races in one calendar year.  To learn more about Heavy Medals, click here

This is my new medal hanger, from SportHooks. Don't get jealous, my friends! You can also purchase it online. By the way, the owner, Marcey Futris was super nice and offered me a great discount.

From the expo, I went to dinner with my friends Greg and Pretty whom I just met. We found this really nice restaurant called Tender Greens. Everything in the menu looked delicious. Happy healthy carb-loading to us!

 Happy Vegan ( wheat with cranberry and hazelnuts, quinoa with cucumbers and beets, green humus, tabbouleh over mixed greens). I am in HEAVEN!

Sunday 17th - Race

My friend Caro picked me up at the hotel at 5:30 am. We were staying 25 miles away from Pasadena as we couldn't find hotels in town for the weekend. It was a little early but we were told that there was going to be a lot of traffic that morning. Better safe than sorry! We picked up Greg and Roush and carpooled to the starting line where we met the rest of the gang.  As for traffic, not bad at all!

Viva Las Vegas Pasadena

I arrived at this race without any training. I ran the Surf City Half  two weekends before but I couldn't run in between due to my work schedule a million excuses. I also learned at the expo that the course was going to be a hilly one. Oh my! When the gun went off, I started very slow. I knew there was going to be a hill around mile 1 and I wanted to save my energy. What I was not prepared for was the low temperatures. My feet got wet in the grass while waiting at the starting line and I couldn't feel my toes at all, for about 30 minutes. This was a new sensation for me. I started to panic. "Is this going to be my first DNF ( did not finish) race?" Yep, these were my thoughts at the beginning of the race as we climbed to the city.  "Ohhh it's going to be a long race". But my negative thoughts vanished by mile 3.

At mile 4, I saw Deena Kastor coming back from the opposite direction. It was mile 7 or 8 for her. She was flying and everyone was cheering.  I was now enjoying the race. I could feel all my toes. I was running 9:15 min/mile. We passed Colorado Boulevard where we ate the day before.  "Oh, familiar territory. I would love to eat some quinoa now!". We ran a lot of "out and back" but I didn't mind it. At mile 6, we passed Caltech and looped back. The sun was coming out but the streets were full of trees providing us with nice shadows.

At mile 8, we crossed the famous Colorado Street Bridge. There is a spectacular view of San Gabriel Valley. There is also a scary view of an upcoming uphill on the other side of the bridge. It's not a long distance though.

From there, it was all down hill to the Rose Bowl. In perfect circumstances, this would have been a PR course for me. I love hills. Unfortunately, today was not the day. My piriformis started acting up after we crossed the bridge. To the point that I almost had to walk the rest of the race. The good news is that I didn't. I trotted until mile 11 where I gathered all the energy left in my body to obtain a strong finish. My time was 2:15:20. It's slow for me but I am wasn't disappointed. I hadn't trained for this race and I have been dealing with piriformis issues lately. Yes, I will come back to Pasadena! What a beautiful place!

Deena Kastor won the race. Her finishing time was 1:12:57