San Diego Half Marathon 2013 Recap

Monday Workout:

I taught spin in the morning.

I taught my usual two classes at night and then did a short, slow 3 miles on the treadmill before heading home.

Well, I meant to get this race recap up yesterday, but I didn’t. I’d like to blame the time change instead of the fact that I decided to eat this last night

watch a little of the The Biggest Loser (from 2 weeks ago) instead.

So, like I said in my last post, I really like the San Diego Half Marathon. This was only the second year they held this race and made a few changes, but it’s still one of my favorites.

Let’s recap, shall we?

Let’s see. Typical race morning. My race outfit was laid out the night before.

Red Halo Visor

Bic Bands Headband

Handful Bra (complete with bra pads) 

Mizuno shirt

Mizuno Meridian Skirt

Pro Compression Marathon Socks

Mizuno Elixir 8s

Amphipod race belt 

BOSE sport headphones (they’re inside the race belt for the picture, oops)

Oculus sunglasses (also not pictured)

I’m not going to sugar coat it, that 5:00 am alarm was not a fun one to hear. Ugh. I also never know quite how I’m going to feel on a race morning until that alarm goes off. Sometimes I’m really tired, sometimes I’m really excited and/or nervous, sometimes my stomach hurts like a mother….

it’s always a surprise.

Things were pretty normal, besides being tired. I got ready and went with what I used to eat before races awhile ago (whole grain bread, peanut butter, half of a banana) instead of my usual oat, chia, banana, PB2 mix.

My ride was right on time, although I was running late because a certain toddler was up with me and had to take his time doing his thing in the bathroom. Isn’t that lovely.

I love my driver, love her, but she was sending me some mixed messages on the way down to the race.

First she told me to give up running so I could have more time to sign the boys up for swimming lessons. Then she told me she was feeling like I was going to run well in the race. I was a bit confused. So I focused on getting my new fashion statement together.

There was plenty of parking close to Petco Park where the start line was. Last year the line for the port a potties was ridiculous, this year there were barely any lines. Huge plus.

The start was organized really well. I think they had about 12 wave starts or so. We made our way up to WAVE 1 (not sure how I got in there). On our way we ran into a couple people that I had to take pictures with.

A banana man from The Barking Lot (a dog rescue organization)

and my buddy Bachelor Andy Baldwin.

He caught me off guard. I was not aware we were doing a “gun show” picture.

I got up to my wave with about 10 minutes to spare (that’s a lot for me).

Miles McPherson from The Rock Church said a little prayer and gave a short inspirational message right before the start. I thought that was pretty darn cool. He talked about wanting to succeed in something as much as you want to breathe. Interesting thought.

Then I gave my Mom and Carol a bunch of stuff to hold, thanked them for the ride and we parted ways for a bit.

Unfortunately I was busy trying to take a picture of my favorite shoes and socks instead of getting my Garmin set up.

The race started and my darn Garmin was still locating satellites. Lovely.

There were a lot of people out in front right at the beginning. It was a really fast paced race.

I didn’t get to start my Garmin until mile 2, and it was still a little bit off the entire race. That was kind of annoying.

The course was awesome though. It went through downtown and then along Harbor Drive by the water. I crossed over into some of the same areas we ran for the Women’s Half Marathon a couple weeks ago. Speaking of, Skinny Runner just wrote a really great review of that race.

Most of the course was flat and fast, except at mile 9. There was a pretty major hill. It was long and not fun, but after than it was downhill for the last 2-3 miles or so to the finish line. We even went through Hillcrest by a bunch of fun restaurants that I really wanted to stop at. Ha.

Last year the finish was amazing. It was inside Petco Park, you got to run through the tunnel to get on the field, they had you on the jumbotron and they announced your name as everyone watch from the stands. It was so cool.

This year, the finish was just outside the park. Nothing too exciting. They still had the jumbotron, but it wasn’t as hyped up as last year. I found these guys right away though, and nothing beats that.

And then my friend Dr. Andy Baldwin crossed the finish line.

I beat him. Yes.

They were handing out barf bags at the finish line too which I thought was pretty funny. Haven’t seen that before.

Luckily I didn’t need one.

They had the military handing out the medals.

I got smart this race and had Mom give me a bag in case they had lots of goodies to stock up on.

And that they did.

Fruit cups, bananas, bagels, coconut water, and most importantly chocolate.

You better believe I got my fair share of those.

They also had computers set up where you could look up your results right away. That was awesome.

I ran into my cute, cute friend Stacy after stocking up on goodies.

She sure knows how to dress in style for a race. I was loving her pants.

The race had this great “Gaslamp Block Party” afterwards with music, entertainment, restaurant discounts, a family fun zone, etc. I knew exactly where I would find everyone.

The boys had a blast.

This was the family favorite.

How cool is that?

I got smart and brought along my Reebok bootcut pants to throw on under my skirt since I always get cold after races.

I’m starting to like the whole pants under skirt thing.

And one of these days hopefully the family will start liking all this racing business.

Ha.

If you’re local or ever need an excuse to come to San Diego, this race is a good one to run.

And another one is in the books.

Dang my Garmin for not locating the satellites in a timely fashion.

Next race is the LA Marathon this weekend that I’m running with Pro Compression.

Woo hoo!

By the way, this is the last week to enter the BIGGEST PRO COMPRESSION giveaway ever!!! Make sure to check it out.

And…… if you’re running in the LA Marathon or just stopping by the expo, come visit the Pro Compression booth. This awesome lady, this awesome lady and myself will be hanging out there from 1-3 on Saturday, March 16th. Yeah, I get to pretend I’m part of the cool crowd for a couple hours. Come say “hi”.

Have a great Tuesday friends!