Sunday, November 26, 2017

My Funny Little Stride

I don't run pretty.  I don't have a neat little stride that makes me look good, or like I'm running effortlessly and fast.  For whatever reason, I relate with Emil Zapotek.

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...

Wally

 Wallace at Stirling Bridge aka Wally, Footboy,  Booboo, Mister Blondie, Bubby, Knucklehead, Goofball, Salt to Poppy's Pepper. Age 12, b...