Started off a bit on the wrong foot this morning when I awoke at 5am and couldn't get back to sleep (race time for the 10K wasn't until 8:45am). I ordinarily would've popped out of bed after a few minutes of tossing and turning, but I didn't fall asleep until about 1:30am the night before. I think I just laid in bed for the next couple of hours with my eyes shut. Don't recall getting actual sleep in there.
Once up, I donned the race clothes I laid out last night and headed out. Ordinarily, I would've packed up my camera along with my other running gear for the purposes of this race report but...it is still out of commission.
I made the 10 minute drive up north to Brentwood and parked at the base of Wilshire and Barrington. As a warm up, I jogged the rest of the way up to San Vicente Blvd where the race was going to take place. Right as I got to the starting area, I heard the airhorn go off and immediately had flashbacks to my late start at the Great Race of Agoura Hills Half-Marathon.
In my state of confusion, I started running to the back of the corral that was leaving when I saw other runners in bibs milling about. I asked one of them which race this was and he told me it was the 5K. That's when I looked at my watch - 8am. Duh.
So I spent the next 45 minutes warming up here and there, doing some stretching and hydrating. When it was near start time, I positioned myself in about the middle of the pack where I met up with my buddy David, who's a personal trainer at my gym.
Now prior to this race, I had a race strategy mapped out in my head of running negative splits with the first half around an 8 min/mi pace and finishing at a 7:30-7:45 min/mi. Once the airhorn went off however, I completely forgot about this strategy and bolted right out the gate. I spent the first half mile zig-zagging my way past people before realizing, "ummm...I may be going out too fast..".
Sure enough, mile 1 = 7:13.
Then came the troubling part...when I glanced down at my Garmin for the mile split, I saw my heart rate...AT 188 bpm!! WTF?? My breathing wasn't that labored and while I started out faster than anticipated, I figured a combo of that and race nerves jacked it up. So for the next mile or so, I really concentrated on my breathing. Miles 2 & 3 passed at a slightly scaled back pace:
Mile 2 = 7:34
Mile 3 = 7:37
Once I completed the first 5K loop, my Garmin read 23 minutes and 4 seconds which bests my previous 5K PR by a few seconds. I clearly went out too fast.
The next loop became really difficult. The legs began slowing down, the breathing became labored...and my heartrate was still in the high 180's to low 190's! I immediately scaled my pace back even more by 15-30 seconds or so. This was not good.
I started getting passed here and there and we all know the beating the ego takes during those moments. But I was more concerned about my heart rate and my mind started wandering to what happened to the late and great Ryan Shay during the 2007 Olympic Marathon Trials.
Mile 4 = 7:53
Mile 5 = 8:07
Ugh. Refocus...refocus...
I basically said 'fuck it' for the next 1.2 miles. If I keel over and die from running beyond my means, so be it. I needed to finish strong. I ran mile 6 in 7:40 and the last 0.27 (according to my Garmin) in 1:53. But during the finish, max heartrate peaked at 199!!
Final time = 47:59*
Not bad as my new 10K PR but my times for the first and last half of the race really should be flip-flopped. I need to really stick to trying to run negative splits in San Diego to prevent myself from starting out too fast and so I can finish strong.
The Brentwood course was fairly flat with some minor climbs. The double-loop got a little tedious but it at least allowed you to cheer on the slower/faster group coming back the other way. The race overall was very well-managed with more vendors than I would have anticipated for a shorter race. Then again, it was held in the very affluent town of Brentwood so...Sorry again for the lack of photos. Hopefully, I'll get a new camera before the weekend so my write up can do the San Diego Marathon justice.
Enjoy the rest of your long weekend!
*Edit to add: official time is listed at 48:00
1 comment:
I also ran the 10K on Sunday - and really enjoyed reading your race report. I did the exact same thing with getting too excited and going out at a 6:20 first mile...hahaha. I went through the same feelings of "F this next mile" but finished with a course PR over last year's time. Thanks for the post, looking forward to reading more :)
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