Silver Strand Half Marathon

The nerves and excitement for the race Sunday morning woke me up around 4:45am. I didn’t want to oversleep. So I got up, got dressed. Made my oatmeal. I had important things to do within the hour before we left like pin my bib to my belt. Attach my D-tag to my shoelaces. I took my water bottle out of the freezer and placed it in my fuel belt. Made sure I had all the essentials in my belt: camera, gum, Gu, water bottle. I then woke Jason up around 5:30 am and we were off to Coronado Island. I drove, and had trouble at first finding the start line but finally arrived around 6:00am around 1 1/2 before the start time. It was freezing outside. I walked back and forth trying to warm myself up and saw everyone starting to gather. Everyone else was warming themselves in various ways, walking, wearing trash bags (which I never understood). I took a bathroom break around 6:30 am but as the start time neared I realized I had to go again. I walked over and the lines were ridiculous. I also tested out the belt, tried to run with it and realized this is not going to work. Ran over to the gear check, and there was a huge line. Now I had 5 minutes till the start. I had to just hold it, and also run with the belt which was going to be fun and I was not off to a good start. Here was a picture I took of all the people at the start line.

Its time. 7:30 am we took off. All 4,000 people. I attempted to move to the left where I am most comfortable and people kept speeding past me. I was forced to keep up the pace until the faster groups passed. The first half mile I was running an 8:30mi. I looked at my Garmin and thought immediately that I needed to slow down. I moved down to about 9:00-9:30 for the next 2-3 miles. Around mile 6 I was doing okay, just enjoying the view down the coast. I kept my pace at that point around 10:30. Then at some point I decided to slow down and take some pictures:

This was my first time running with a fuel belt, so it was a little annoying. I did like having the extra hydration. It was also nice to have a pack to put my camera in. It was just weird to get used to. It kept shifting around as I was running. Around Mile 7 I also had to use the bathroom again, and the lines were pretty long, only three bathrooms. So I decided to get my camera out to show you all the time I was wasting, and all the people running past me.

So that was my last stop. I made one more stop to eat a “Gu” at mile 9. Other than that it was full speed ahead until the finish line. Mile 8-10 was rough, I was avg around 11 min miles. I picked up the pace once I saw the mile 10 sign and tried to stick to 10:30 mi the rest of the way. It was frustrating running in the group of people in the 1030s/11s they would stop…walk…then speed up….stop walk….speed up…instead of keeping a steady pace. And somehow they kept catching up to me. Especially this one woman with this weird shuffle step.

Around Mile 12 I just wanted to be done I was so exhausted. I picked up my pace again, around 10:00. I turned the corner and could see the finish line about 1/2 mile away. I kept going, and soon made my way to the line. I couldn’t see Jason at first, I was looking for him. But I finally saw him after I received my medal. He was standing there and hugged me. It felt so good to be done. I finished at 2:27:00 and couldn’t be happier. Suzanna came out to meet me at the finish line as well and I was so happy to see her. She gave me a big hug. It felt good to finish my first half marathon, they are definitely much easier than full marathons. Jason took this last shot of me after I crossed the finish line: