Double Whopper Weekend

If this past race weekend could be described as a hamburger, it was a double whopper! I ran a half-marathon on both Saturday AND Sunday. Am I crazy? Well okay, a little bit. This marks half-marathons #3 and #4 for the year, with #2, #3, and #4 all occurring within a week period.

 

 My Race Weekend - The Double Whopper!

I had originally only planned on doing the Carlsbad Half-Marathon in January, and then the San Dieguito Half-Marathon in February. But, when I was given an injured friend's race bib last weekend I ran Surf City as well. (More on my blogs Carlsbad Half Marathon Race Recap &  Surf City Bandit - Kinda) After PR-ing in Surf City in her name, I was hungry for a PR to record for my own! Unfortunately San Dieguito is known to be a really tough, hilly course. So hmm.... what to do? What to do? A few days after running Surf City I decided that I would sign up for the Mermaid Run as well, which was a flat course by Mission Bay. Surely I'd PR there!

Half Racing History

Over the past several years I stopped running half-marathons in lieu of full marathons. Once I started running a lot of fulls, either the halfs didn't fit into my schedule or I just didn't want to pay for them. Once you're partially through your full marathon training plan, you're running at least the distance of a half marathon every week. Suddenly the idea of paying for a training run didn't make sense to me. Granted the experience and challenge of a race is much greater than that of a training run, but still, I passed on halfs for a while. 

Race History Chart - Yes, I'm a Nerd!

California Dreamin

Last year I ran more half-marathons than I had in a while, and completed three races in the California Dreamin series. I have to admit, the race series (and associated schwag) is what got me from running one to three in the year. As I improved on my half time over the last few years and my full time remained stagnant, I realized that maybe the best strategy for me to improve my overall full marathon time was to improve my half time first. I had slowly shaved my full marathon time down from 4:30 to 4:00, but seemed pretty stuck around the 4:00 mark.

Mermaid Run

I first heard of the Mermaid Race series through Girls on the Run when we joined as a sponsor last year. I hadn't heard much about this year's race in San Diego until about two months ago. I knew there was an adult and children's race and that GOTR would have a booth there, but didn't realize they had a half-marathon until recently. After PR-ing at Surf City and wanting to claim the finish time for my own, I realized that the  Mermaid Half-Marathon would be on a flat course, and I could easily run in the following Saturday after Surf City. The only complication? I was registered for San Dieguito (a notoriously hilly course) the day after. I thought about it for a day or so and thought what the heck! I could race my heart out at the Mermaid Run and then go easy at San Dieguito. And so I registered.

Mermaid Race Day

As a high maintenance runner who hates arriving early and parking far away, let me tel you that the golden ticket to avoiding all of this is being a vendor at the race expo! Since GOTR had a booth at the race expo I got to park in the VIP parking lot. SCORE! Just like I could at Carlsbad thanks to the SF Marathon. :o) I parked yards from the start and headed over to the GOTR booth to talk to my GOTR comrades and hang out for a bit befor the race started.

GOTR Booth at the Mermaid Run Expo

Once the race started I got to leave my stuff at the booth and mosey over to the start line. I was surprised by the small group of us that would be running this length of the race, but then was excited at the idea that maybe I'd rank in my age group! I usually place in the top 10-20% in my age group, so if there were only 30 people in my division, there's a decent chance I could come in around 3rd.

Mermaid Run Start/Finish Line

I had looked briefly at the race course online and wasn't thrilled to see that the course had an out-and-back, loop around Fiesta Island, sub-loop around Fiesta Island, and then an out-and-back to the finish. Ugh not a fan of the out-and-back and totally don't like Fiesta Island. I started towards the front of the small race pack and settled into a pace with a few girls that I stuck with for many miles. We stayed together for most of the  race until about mile 10 when I gave up a bit and walked through a Team in Training water station along the bay and asked for water. (Thank you kind TNT running friends!) 

One of my GOTR Girls & Her Sister!

The course wasn't great. Out and backs suck, a semi-repeat loop isn't fun, and having most of the water stations at the early loops and having nothing after mile 9 is just cruel! I tried to push when I could and just took it easy when I felt i needed it. I was hoping for a PR in this race but knew that stressing about it would do me in. I ran at a pace that felt good for most of the race and really only pushed at the very end, and was THRILLED to find out that I finished this race with a new (and my own!) PR!! *yay* I finished the Mermaid half at 1:49:53 which beat my impostor Surf City PR of 1:50:59, and my prior official PR of 1:54:00.

Mermaid Run Schwag

Was I happy? YES! What made me happier? The cool race schwag! Finisher's necklace and cute technical hoodie? Yes please! Thank you Mermaid Race!! I felt great after the race but noticed that the balls of my feet hurt in the last mile or so, and was suddenly apprehensive of my race the next day. I dismissed these worries with the thought of "Whatever. I just PR'd. I can just walk most of the race tomorrow and claim my finisher's medal and still feel accomplished!"

San Dieguito

I didn't feel too bad the next morning, wasn't sore, felt pretty normal, and aside from being tired was okay to be up early to run. This race was about 20 miles north and you had to shuttle to the start, so sadly I had to leave home at 6am, eat breakfast in my car (oatmeal and egg whites on an english muffin), and got to the shuttle lot around 6:30am to catch  bus to the start. The race started at 8am but the website said the last shuttle would run at 7am. I got on the 6:45am shuttle and got to the start around 7am . and then.. okay what do you do until race start? Tick tick tick.

Got My Bib - Ready to Run

I caught up on emails, twitter and facebook on my blackberry ... and then I stared tat the grass, sun, my shoes etc. BORING. Omg I was so bored. At one point I saw on facebook that my friend Crystal was also running, so I walked around for a while looking for her but could find her. Finally at 730am I figured Id go to the start. I went to look for bag check and asked a registration person where bag check was. He said "oh, its by the start". I asked where the start was. He said "its a 10-15 minute walk that way".   WHAT?! Driving 20 miles and shutting for 10 minutes wasn't enough? UGH. I started walking towards the direction he had pointed and actually bumped into Crystal along the way! We walked the rest of the way together (about 3/4 mile into a park) and lined up at the start line. 

Hills, Hills, and Hills

I had seen on the course elevation map that this course had a long hill from mile 0.5 to mile 3.5 and mentally prepared myself for it. As I cruised along mile after mile, I was amazed that I actually felt okay, was able to push my way through hill after rolling hill, and didn't even feel like I had raced the day before! I kept a steady 8:15 pace on the flat parts, 9:00-10:00 on the hills, and ran almost the entire course. I took two mini walk breaks (0.05 miles) around mile 6 and 10, but otherwise ran the whole way. WOW! Has this past year of hill repeats really paid off? I think it has! Yay!

 

Garmin Output from the Race

The San Dieguito course is really pretty and lead you through different neighborhoods with huge, beautiful homes. Apparently we were running through Rancho Santa Fe which I had heard of, but had never been to. There were a lot of twists and turns in the road which made the hills seem never ending at times. You'd focus on making your way up one hill, only to turn the corner to see that it kept going and going.

I made a point not to look at the overall time on my watch and just listened to my body and told myself not to worry about my overall finish time. I had set a goal of coming in under two hours, but didn't feel much pressure too. I had PR'd the day before and this was my third race in a short period of time. What did I have to prove? As I approached the end of the course I heard some people on the sideline yelling "Beat two hours!". What? Was I about to? I glanced down at my watch and saw that indeed I was! Whoo hoo! I kicked it up a notch and raced through the finish line.

I was amazed by how good I felt on the course and felt even more accomplished knowing that for once the hills on a course didn't do me in. I am starting to feel more and more confident about tackling the hills of San Francisco in July for the San Francisco Marathon. I can do this!

San Dieguito - Done!

Next Up

I'm not racing for a little over a month now, and my focus will turn more towards my tri schedule. I have the  Super Seal Sprint Triathlon coming up March 26th, the La Jolla Half Marathon April  17th, and then the OC Marathon on May 1st. Its time for me to start getting more swims and bike rides in!