Except I don't run particularly fast. I'm also not an Olympian. He did have an unorthodox running style though.
I am so close to breaking the 1 hour 45 minute barrier for a half marathon, so close...
On November 12th I tried to break that barrier in Monterey, probably not the best idea. Monterey has hills. I don't think of it as a particularly fast route.
My training for the run suggested I wasn't going to do much better than in Santa Cruz.
Nevertheless, I was confident that I could beat my previous Monterey run time of an hour and 59 minutes.
The pre-race dinner wasn't particularly fabulous. It was bit of a disappointment. The service was terrible, the food pretty good. My wife loved her scallops. I thought the barrel wine was cool. We had the chardonnay. I don't recommend the C+ restaurant in Monterey. Perhaps its name was an indication of its quality.
I love staying at the Hotel Pacific in Monterey. They accommodate the runners with a very early breakfast (4:30am is when it starts).
I followed my plan of running with out my Garmin. It makes it less stressful, and is one less thing I need to worry about on race morning.
Pre-race breakfast wasn't bad. A cup of coffee and a bagel with cream cheese. I'm not used to breakfast and wondered if the bagel was a mistake. Maybe I should have gone with half a bagel.
The walk/trot down to the start was nice. I did a warm-up and some active stretching with butt kicks and knee highs.
I got to corral B only to find out they were letting the "Elites" go first and putting my start time 10 minutes after what I thought it was. It was a bit chilly, and I was worried my warm-up wouldn't last.
Got into the Corral and inched my way forward with delusions of keeping up with the 1:45 sign held by the pacers. Silly me.
I stuck with my plan of running hard enough to breath hard, but not so hard that I felt like I couldn't hold it for 13 miles, or hard enough that I would have nothing left at the finish line. I lost the 1:45 sign around mile 3.
However, amazingly, the miles seemed to melt away. My first stop was for water and then every other stop was a Gatorade. I skipped the last stop.
I passed people, people passed me, the usual stick. On the hills, my mantra was "don't kill yourself on these." I even had enough in me to smile for a couple of the photos.
Not smiling:
I really love the people of Monterey. They have bands, they high five you, they call you out by name (Go Eldon!), and in general so supportive.
I came into the last mile with a little in the gas tank, not much, but something. So when I saw the finish line I kicked in whatever I had left, reminded myself of my two days off after this, and told myself I wasn't going to die, even thought I felt like it was imminent. I saw the clock at 1 hour and 47 minutes.
Final chip time (which is what I am paying for): 1 hour 46 minutes and 26 seconds. In 36th for my age and gender class out of 350 finishers for same said age category. So I crushed my previous Monterey time, missed a new PR by 21 seconds, beat my Santa Cruz time, and finished close to the top 10% in my age group. I'm actually fairly pleased with the results. Next time, next time, next time...
