i wasn’t really sure how i wanted to tackle this race… did i want to go all out and race it, or just treat it as a training run and run how i felt? i still hadn’t decided when race morning came, so i decided to just start out and go as i felt. on the one hand, i would love to test my speed and PR. on the other hand, i have a tough week of training coming up, i ran a lot of miles this last week, i am only 3 weeks into marathon training and last week i met my itb for the first time. i definitely wasn’t willing to push it hard to an injury today (or any day), but i always want to see what i can do.
saturday morning i ran 5 easy recovery mile (48:22/9:41 avg pace… i am getting better and better at these recover miles!), then spent the rest of the day running a couple errands but mostly relaxing watching college football (yay cal, boo usc). i made pasta for dinner and got to bed really early… i actually got almost 8 hours of sleep!
the alarm went off at 4:45am and i felt pretty alert. i pushed snooze once (cause that’s what i do) but was up before it went off again into race day mode. i ate my toast with pb and was ready to go 15 minutes before my friend tara was going to pick me up. this gave me time to do some stretching, sticking and rolling before she got there. at 5:45 she was at my house and we were on our way to san jose!
we got there pretty early and had time to hit the porta potties twice, drop off our sweat check bags and head over to our corral with 20 minutes to spare. we were both in corral #3 and we hadn’t realized how many there were – 13 total! this was a pretty big race. we kept walking and walking until we finally found ours. i was glad to be closer to the start and not have a .5 mile to go to the start line.
tara and i before the race it was a perfect temperature at the start… probably really close to 55, just how i like it. it was clear though which meant it would probably start to heat up as the sun continued to rise. the bay area had its first rain in what seems like forever friday night/saturday morning, which thankfully helped keep it cooler for sunday. the horns went off and off we went!
mile 1 i tried to keep it a little slower, but didn’t want to start off too slow, just incase i was feeling it today. i kept my headphones off for a while and was listening to the runners around me chatting about their stories. one girl behind me is running chicago next weekend, another runner this was his first run over 10 miles. it’s pretty cool to see what a diverse group a race like this can bring. you have your people using it as a taper run, and you have those that have been working to get here for months, its pretty awesome. miles 1-5 i was feeling pretty good and kept pace pretty strong. i took my first round of luna moons at mile 4.5, and i proceeded to breathe in a chunk of one and had to cough for a minute. at that same time there was a photographer right there taking a picture of the guy in front of me with his arms up… i hope he was blocking my choking action.
mile 1 – 8:35, mile 2 – 8:24, mile 3 – 8:26, mile 4 – 8:24, mile 5 – 8:29
i started to feel a very slight twinge in the knee area around mile 6, so i had a conversation with myself and decided to slow it down a bit. this was not a goal race, or even a goal pace training run day, so there was no need to push it too hard especially since it was just a week before where i had the itb pain. i continued to run along, keeping the pace in the 8:30′s and just enjoying the race. i started to have some stomach pains around mile 6 too, which i was not excited about. eventually they went away. there was a pretty big slope if you ran on the side of the road, so although this would add some distance, i really wanted to stick to the flat middle. around mile 6ish i saw the leaders since the race doubles back for about a mile… they were flying! there was one guy who had a definite lead and then behind him there were a pack of 4 guys all neck in neck. soon after mile 7 i saw chris which definitely gave me a boost. i was feeling a little “bleh” at that point, so it was awesome to see him. i kept the miles around the same pace through mile 9 and ate my second round of luna moons at mile 9, this time without choking.
mile 6 – 8:32, mile 7 – 8:36, mile 8 – 8:35, mile 9 – 8:35
the sun was definitely higher by this point and i could tell when it was shining on me. i definitely appreciated the shady miles. i was able to pick the pace up a bit once i got to mile 10, and i knew the end was getting closer. many of the middle miles were run through residential area, so as we closed in on the end we were running back to the downtown area, running by hp pavilion. i was really able to kick it in for mile 13, i knew my pr was close, but wasn’t sure if it was in me or not today, especially since i cruised a lot of the middle miles. as we got close the crowd really got thick which was so fun. i think this was probably the best race i have been to for crowd support. i was running hard and then we took a left turn and the finish was straight ahead. i gave it everything i had and made it to the finish line with tons of spectators on both sides.
mile 10 – 8:26, mile 11 – 8:27, mile 12 – 8:17, mile 13 – 7:53, .21 – 1:34 (7:25 avg pace)
garmin:
13.21 miles/1:51:12/8:25 avg pace
race stats:
13.10 miles/1:51:15/8:30 avg pace
overall: 1704/9563
women: 399/5375
age group: 78/915
i went through the finish line and got a bottle of water, and then was handed a towel that had been in ice water which felt amazing!! i continued through the loop of finishers until i finally made it out to the public and found chris. i checked my garmin and saw i was just seconds off my pr time… booo. i felt pretty good though, i think i was feeling much better than i did after my first half marathon. tara soon came through and found us, then my friends who live in san jose found us too! we chatted for a bit, then tara and i wandered off to find our sweats… i always get cold real quick!
i texted julianne and was able to meet up with her and chat and get a post race picture 
tara, me and julianne
after that it was time to head home. i was feeling pretty sleepy on the way back, but have yet to take a nap. i ate a luna bar on the way home, but my stomach was still feeling a little ekk so i didn’t eat anymore. i stretched, rolled, took a shower and iced, then chris and i headed to noah’s bagels for some food.
i was looking back to my first half marathon and realized i never even posted my splits for that race… probably because of the timing issues they had or something. so i was comparing today’s race to that race and it was pretty close. i started off slower last time but had a few faster miles towards the finish. 12 seconds separated the official race results today…. BUT if you look at garmin this is what he says:
today: 13.21/1:51:12/8:25 avg pace
see jane run: 13.19 miles/1:51:09/8:26 avg pace
does anyone see what i see???? avg pace today was faster per garmin yes i know one second but still. besides the slight knee twinges (which were a little sore after but not bad now at all), i felt great. i don’t feel that tired or sore (yet) but i remember feeling pretty wiped after see jane run. so that being said i think today was a success
overall this was a great race! it was really big, very organized, had great crowd support, lots of on course entertainment, and although it got a little warmer than i like (i love the overcast, fog, cold days), the weather was really nice and i had a great time.
my new medal to hang next to my sfm one… which is still above the mantle
week 3 ended with 42.36 miles.
Congrats Aron! I finished waaaaayyyyy after you so too bad we didn’t get to meet up.
It was a bit warm this morning though, huh?
Hopefully I’ll see you at another race!
CONGRATS Aron! Way to go! You are a speedy speedster!!
Nice Bling!!!
Congratulations on a speedy half, and I like that medal!
Way to go! you are a smart runner! I like the medal, and good job on this week’s killer mileage!
Awesome, awesome job Aron! I’m sure if you went all out, no doubt you could’ve cracked a sub-1:50 and a new PR. Bummer you missed it by a mere few seconds…just get it next time.
Kudos to you for running a smart – but still a fast – race. You’re gonna kill it at CIM!
congrats! great race and great time!
Yay! Congrats on a great job!
Nice job on the race! Sounds like a fun time and you ran it fast too! That is a great pace! I know how it feels to be seconds off a PR but that is great that you are in such good shape!
You did a great job with your pacing. I like that it’s so even. Congrats on running a great half. That medal is definitely a keeper!
Congrats on your half! That’s a FAST time
you really did great today!!! that’s a such a good pace!
Fantastic! Your pace was so steady — and then speedy over the last miles. That’s awesome!
Congratulations Speedy!!!
I get cold after long runs too – I thought it was just me, glad to know I’m not weird – well okay maybe I am!
AWESOME JOB! Me speedy? HA. your speedy! Both half marathons i’ve ran, it took me at least two hours! After all this training id like to see how things would go though!
Seriously, great job!
Great race and great race report. Cool medal. Fun friends. And a Garmin PR for your half!!! Way to go!!!
GREAT job!! that is so awesome! very pretty medal too.
Wow, way to go on keeping pretty even splits. You’re good at pacing yourself!
You finished so strong, you should be proud! Way to run a smart (and speedy) race. Congratulations!
I love the colorful medal! Great job on the race.
Great job today Aron! It was so fun seeing you today, too.
Nice job. You ran a great race. Your mile 13 was super fast! Keep working hard.
Really great job there speedy… it sounds like a great race.
Yippppeee!!! Great job!!! You did awesome!! Way to talk your way through the knee pain, hope you are feeling great today!
Congrats. You ran a great and smart race. I was really impressed with your consistently quick pace and a fast finish. Way to go Aron – you rock!
Concrats and a good time!.
Groet Rinus.
http://rinusrunning.punt.nl/?home=1
YAY Aron!!! You did a fabulous job! Very nice ;D ;D
AW! I am so bummed I coud not do this. I would not have been ready in any case…
BUT YOU DID AWESOME! Congrats Aron!
Fantastic race report, and a terrific time too! You’re just doing it as a training run and are pretty much in PR land, that awesome! Hope the ITB continues to get better.
Look at those last few miles! It’s clear that you conserved energy. I know it’s hard not to want to PR at every race, even if in the context of your training plan that’s not necessarily smart, so NICE WORK holding back, listening to your twinges, and allowing yourself to feel good instead of wiped out at the end of the race– the fact that you came so close to your PR suggests what you could do if a HM were your goal race! Cute photos, too. Love the pink!
Yay, congrats on another great race! It sounds like a good day, and I hope it helps you gear up for another week of training. Also, the Nashville Country Music half and full is part of the “Music Marathon” series, too… don’t you just LOVE how awesome the medals are in this series? I’m determined to do one of the other music races someday!
Sounds like a great race!!
Congratulations on a kick-@ss time too!!! Glad to hear you didn’t have any issues.
Wow! You are SUPER consistent!! Way to go!!!
CONGRATS!!!!
Congrats on a great race! Sounds like it was a fun time and you did great!
You are awesome!! Great job!
Woohoo! Congrats on an awesome time! Very impressive!!!
Amazing splits! You inspire me for my first race coming up this weekend, and how fun for you to meet up with Julianne! Looks like fun, and nice medal!
Great race!! Congrats!
You did awesome!!! Great job!!!
(MIA from gchat today because I played hookey…shhhhhh)
Congrats!! That’s a great race. Cool medal!
Wow…speedy!!!! Aren’t the RnR medals neat??!!
I can’t wait to meet you in a couple of weeks. Hopefully I’ll be back up to par…I’ve caught some sort of bug again =(. ONe bad thing about being married you pass your germs back and forth =).
Not sure what the Xmas time Cali plans are yet. Likely, be in Sac though since that’s where family is..though my brother in law bought a house in Danville…so who knows. Maybe we could meet in the middle?? (Haha…there really isn’t anything in the middle!)
Great job on the half…you are so inspiring!
Awesome race!!
woo! great report and sweet pics!
Wow – you are fast! thanks for your comment and support – can I add your blog to my blogroll?
Thanks for the comment on my blog. I grew up in the East Bay and still have some good friends who live in the SF area. Always fun to go back and run where it’s cool.
Great job on your race. Looks like the knee and stomach issues didn’t slow you down much. CONGRATS!!
Nice job! Damn that’s fast!!!
Aron your running is soooo consistant and fast. That is awesome.
Thank you for all your kind words about my marathon.
Great race report! Man, that reminds me how much I LOVE HMs. I wasn’t able to squeeze one in this year. You had a really great race. And 78/915 for your AG–that is super awesome!
I can’t remember if I commented or not. But Congrats on getting it done. I love the big half marathons…
Congrats on the awesome race! You’re so fast, even when you’re trying to slow down. I hope your knee is feeling better.
Hi Aron! Congratulations on another great race! You ran so well. Awesome! Thanks for stopping by the booth at the expo to say hello. Keep running strong and I’ll see you at the CIM.
Congratulations. You have some machine-like splits there…hardly any variance until a kickin’ last mile. Nice job!