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...

No comments:

Post a Comment

Wally

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