To make it short: What an awesome race!
It was so good, or felt so good because, as evident in the previous post, I was quite nervous about this race. I hadn't felt too well for the entire week, and on top of that hadn't gotten much sleep two nights before the run. But as soon as my alarm went of at 5:30 I felt good... a quick shower, two PB&H pitas, a coffee, and some water and I was ready to go. Lesley and her friend picked me up at 6:30 and we got to downtown San Jose in about 20 minutes. The parking was surprisingly easy... About a 8 minute walk from the start area. The temperatures this morning were in the 50's which felt ok, if not a little too chilly. Around 7:30 I dropped my long sleeve and my long pants at the gear check and went looking for my starting corral. I had given an estimated finishing time of 1:45.30, which put me in corral 3. Honestly, I was surprised to be that far up front (there were 13 coralls). Lesley was in corall 4, so we hung out for a bit anc chatted etc. With ten minutes to go we took our positions. During this waiting period I was quite happy that I had brought a 'space blanket' that I wrapped around my legs, and which kept me nice and warm. This race featured 'pace groups': Some runners carried signs saying 1:45 for example, and they were expected to run at the pace to get you to the finish in exactly that time. I spotted one a few meters in front of me and figured that I might tag along...
Then at 8:02 the starting horn went off. The start was, compared to other races, a pleasure! The corral system worked! No one walking or running extremely slowly, so that I could get into my pace right away. And that pace was fast. My plan was to run the first mile at 8:30, but checking my watch I was doing 7:30...ah well...it felt alright. The miles went by and I felt good... always a tad behind the pace group guy...by perhaps 30 seconds to a minute... At some point I caught up and even passed him. By mile 7 or 8 the group passed me again and essentially took off. Checking my watch revealed that I was on the right pace, so that I didn't worry too much. Around mile 10 I switched my soundtrack from "Live after Death" to my "Hate Crew Death Roll". I instantly felt the boost... Without the GI problems I had during the Kaiser 1/2 in February and with more long runs under my belt the last two miles were a pleasure compared to my previous half marathons. At some point during the last mile I passed the 1:30 pace group guy... No sign of the 1:45 group though. Shortly past the 13 mile marker I turned into the final stretch and see the time ticking away: 1:44...1:44.05...
I wanted to stay below the 1:45 mark, and managed to in 1:44,45. I took almost 14 minutes off my previous PR.
So what did I learn? Don't trust 'pace groups' but stick to your own pace!
This race was definitely different from Las Vegas: Crossing the finish line there I ate almost everything they handed me...Bananas, Oranges, cookies, pretzels...Here I was disgusted by the idea of food. I had half a banana, that was it...
After picking up my gear I came across the Widmer Brother's booth though...One free beer for every participant! Now that was something I could not say no to! What an excellent recovery drink :-)
After meeting up with Lesley I got back to my place around 11... Met up with my parents and went for a huge breakfast at Stack's...Now I was ready to eat...
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