A Runner’s Balancing Act

Thanks to my speedy cabbie, I actually made it to the park to meet the busses earlier than expected. It was a little after 5 am when my bus departed for the start line. As we drove over the freeway you could see that the exit ramp was completely jammed with cars. I was so glad that I had taken a cab and we’d come in to the park some other way and we didn’t get stuck in the traffic.  I’m sure if I had driven myself, we would have been stuck in that mess.

The bus ride was uneventful. I chatted it up with the guy sitting next to me who used to live in Phoenix. I’m not usually one to chat with strangers, but he started the conversation and I found it was a good way to keep my mind occupied.  When they let us off at the start line, I was relieved to see many, many porta-potties. They were all clean and I could take my pick!  After doing my business, I wandered around aimlessly trying not to get too cold since I did not have a jacket and the sun had not yet come up. I had over an hour to kill before the gun went off.

I ended up finding the Cabrillo National Monument which is a statue surrounded by a little circular patio out on the tip of Point Loma with almost 360 degree views of the ocean and the city. I sat there for a while with a few other runners and watched the sun come up over the ocean. How is it that I can watch the sunrise and the sun set over the ocean in San Diego? Explain that one to me.  I know it doesn’t seem possible, but I saw what I saw! As I watched the sun come up, I was aware of how clear it was. No marine layer whatsoever. Bummer.

After hanging out for about a half an hour. I headed back to the porta potties. This time I had to stand in line. I was surprised how many more people had arrived. When it finally got close to 7 am, there was some confusion as to where to go to line up. The race instructions said that the corrals wouldn’t open up until just before the gun since the start line was on the same road that the busses needed to come in on.  I just kind of stood in the crowd with everyone else until I felt the crowd move forward about 10 feet. I could see some flags with finish times up ahead that looked like corrals, but there was no way I could get there. I thought they would give us time to find our corrals, but within seconds I heard a gun go off and we were moving. So much for the corrals!

Needless to say, the first few miles there was a lot of weaving around slower people and trying to avoid getting run over by the faster people coming from behind. It finally seemed to spread out by the third mile. The first five miles were awesome. There were rolling hills, but many more down hills than up hills. We ran through neighborhoods and I kept myself occupied by admiring the homes and the incredibly lush landscaping and vegetation. There were lots of big trees that shaded the road which kept me pretty cool. I checked my watch at miles 1-5 and I was running about my 8:30 goal pace. I wanted to stay on pace so I skipped the water stops until mile 6. That might have been a mistake.

Mile six is when it started to get hard. The course flattened out and the trees went away. I got hot and sweaty very fast. At mile six I walked through my first water stop, gulping down two cups of water. I passed the 10k mark at about 53 minutes. After that, I was in a hurry to get the next water stop, which seemed much too far away. Finally got to it between mile seven and eight and by that time, I was really starting to feel crappy. I was just drenched in sweat. It kept running into my eyes and dripping off my elbows. I was really wishing I had brought a towel to wipe myself down with.  Between mile 7 and 8 I downed another two cups of water and took my Gu and two Endurolites (I had also taken two of these before the race started).

I surged a little after that (it was a surge in effort more than speed though), but mostly because I was promising myself that I could walk at the next water station, which again seemed much too far away. At this point we ran on a busy city street that only had one lane blocked off for the race. It was pretty packed in that one lane and I remember thinking that this is one of the more crowded races that I’ve run.  The sun was still relentlessly beating down on us, and I had to put my head down to keep from being blinded by it.  I cursed myself for not wearing my visor or putting on sunblock. I guess I was thinking there would be a marine layer. Wishful thinking that did not come true.

We finally turned the corner to start the final 2-3 miles towards the finish line. At first it was a welcome change. I was no longer running into the sun and there were tall buildings all around offering some shade. It was right after I turned the corner that someone was spraying a fire hose in the street. It felt good but since I was already drenched from sweat at this point it hardly made a difference. Then began the mile and a half climb that seemed to go straight up.

Here is the humbling part. I really thought I was pretty prepared for hills. I live in Fountain Hills and I have been running those hills at least once a week since I moved here last January.

In all my hill running, I don’t think I have run up a hill that steep for that long. Most of the hills I’ve run in practice are pretty steep but don’t last more than a half a mile at most. This hill seemed to go on forever.  We tuned a corner and it went up some more. Turned another corner and up again. Wow, does this ever end?! I admit, I walked a few times here when I really should have pushed through. I was so close to the end, and I could tell by my watch I was going to finish pretty close to 2 hours.  I think being really sweaty tricks my mind into thinking my body is working harder than it really is.

We finally turned into the park and with the hill behind me and the finish line less than a mile,  I started putting the pedal to the metal. My watch said I had about 2 minutes to get to the finish line before I hit 2 hours. I ran as fast as I could manage but in the end, it wasn’t enough and I crossed the finish line at about 2:01.  I was disappointed, but not surprised. I was just glad to be done!

Stay tuned for the Part 3, the conclusion!

I made it back home to Arizona safe and sound after a 7 hour plus drive yesterday. It was lovely waking up for work this morning. I was planning to get up early and go for a run, but come 4 am there was just no way. Who was I kidding? Me get up early the day after vacation? Yeah right. Getting my butt out of bed at 6:30 was hard enough!

So here is the tale of this weekend’s half marathon. I am going to break it up into segments. Here is part 1:

The adventure of running in the America’s Finest City Half Marathon began early Sunday morning. I got up at 3:30 am with the intention of being out the door by 4:20. Even though the race start time wasn’t until 7 am, all participants were required to ride a bus to the start line since the race began on a narrow peninsula that would never be able to accommodate parking for 8,000 runners. I wanted to give myself extra time to get to the busses because the city was unfamiliar and I didn’t know how long it would take me to get there.

The dear husband insisted on driving me, even though I offered to let him sleep in and drive myself. I was grateful to let him do it since I didn’t know where I was going and I was nervous about getting lost in an unfamiliar city in the wee hours of the morning.

So we piled into the car in the morning darkness. Me in the passenger seat with the maps, Joe in the drivers seat.  It actually wasn’t that dark since there was a full moon in the crystal clear sky. I could see the reflection of the moon on the ocean from the street and it was absolutely picturesque. I was staring off at the ocean when I heard Joe turn the key to start the car. And all I heard was “click click click”.

This is a family friendly blog so I won’t repeat Joe’s exact words. It was a string of not so nice 4 letter words. The battery was completely dead.  How did this happen? What are we going to do?! Can you fix it? There is nothing we can do, Joe said as he got out of the car leaving me alone in the vehicle.

I just sat there in disbelief. I was so disappointed. Then I started to feel guilty. I had pushed so hard to get into this race, buying a race bib off craigslist after the race registration had closed, begging my husband to go, both of us having doubts about the affordability of the trip with the current gas prices. Sometimes I push too hard to get what I want and then it ends up blowing up in my face because no matter how hard I push, it just wasn’t meant to be. I felt totally defeated.

I just sat there for a few minutes when Joe opened up the door and handed me his cell phone and said “want to take a cab?”.

Why didn’t I think of that?

I grabbed the phone and dialed 411. 15 minutes later, I was in the back seat of a cab, with my cell phone and a credit card. Joe had run back into the condo to use the bathroom when the cab showed up so he didn’t see me leave. I called him from the cab to let him know I had left.

“You’re going to run with your cell phone and your credit card!? DO NOT lose those!!” He scolded me.

Joe always worries about losing his credit cards. In fact he checks his wallet to make sure they are still there multiple times throughout the day and before he goes to bed. I love him, but boy does this annoy the crap out of me (and no he does not read the blog!).

Needless to say, every conversation we had until I saw him again started with “Do you still have your credit card?!”

Annoying. But I was on my way and nothing could spoil my day now. Well except maybe the fact that it was 5 am and already 72 degrees and something like 70% humidity. But I wasn’t worried about that! 72 degrees is practically chilly to this Arizonan. And even if it does get hot. I am sooo adapted to running in the heat. It won’t affect me at all!

Ignorance is bliss I guess   More to come.