Race Report: Santa Barbara Wine Country 1/2 Marathon

Just got back from a crazy weekend in Santa Barbara. The fires in nearby towns kept all of us on edge wondering if houses would be spared or if the fire would spread, and least importantly in the grand scheme of things, whether we would be racing or not. This was actually something that would not be confirmed until morning of, given the severity and unpredictability of the air quality (in spite of it being at least 30+ miles away).

After an early dinner at a nearby bar where fried and fatty foods were plentiful and I had a "black and tan" beer to chase it all down with, we retired back to Cody's mom's house (located in Goleta, where it was a good deal away from the fires) to catch my Lakers take Game 3 against Houston. In a good mood after their win, my girl Sara and I went to bed a little after 10pm.

Before my alarm even had a chance to go off at 5am, I was up about 20 minutes before and decided to get ready. Coffee, bathroom, tape nipples, mix my bottle with Nuun, etc, etc (forgot the HR Monitor though). We were on the road by 6am and walking to the start a good half an hour before gun time. After milling about upon arrival, I decided to do some strides to loosen up. But stupid me, I step right through the starting mat and the thing starts beeping like crazy. Admonished to not pass through it yet (and fully embarrassed by the whole ordeal), I continued about my business. Finally, when we were ready to set off, I gave Sara one last kiss, wished Cody luck (he ended up with an awesome 13+ min PR btw) and positioned myself about a dozen rows behind the elites.



I charged right up the minor hill right at the start sticking to the left side to pass the initial wave of folks. After a couple of turns in the small town of Santa Ynez, we were started running through some local neighborhoods where barns and open fields were plentiful. I of course, took off too fast and when I saw 6:50ish pace on my Garmin, I immediately pulled back the reigns a bit.

Not too far in, I notice that an extremely fit older gal (late 30's?) and I are running about the same pace. With nary a word exchanged between us, we start working together for the next few miles taking turns pacing but on the whole, running side by side. My goal was to start off conservative (around 7:45 pace) but feeling good at the pace I'm running (around 7:30 pace) and having someone to run it with, I decide to keep it right at my overall goal pace and see if I can hang on.

Mile 1 - 7:26
Mile 2 - 7:36
Mile 3 - 7:32

Still running in silence except for the occasional synchronized snot rockets as affirmation that we're in this together, we continued on. I didn't think much of it when she bypassed the initial water station, but after passing on the second I felt bad that she did so just to keep pace so I made my first and only attempt to communicate with her by offering a pull of my water bottle. She smiled and politely declined. On we went right around 7:30 pace.

Mile 4 - 7:38
Mile 5 - 7:31
Mile 6 - 7:40

We hit our one and only source of major crowd support along the course at around mile 6 when we ran through the town of Los Olivos. It was a sudden but welcomed change on an isolated and frankly, drab stretch of running til then. 10K mark was hit somewhere around 46:50-ish.

A little after the 6.5 mile mark, the hill that looked so tiny and innocent on the elevation map, showed up in all its glory. A seemingly endless, nearly a half-mile steep ascent up this switchback road.





I took it on fairly conservatively figuring I'd catch the over-eager runners on the other side. It still had me gassed and completely thrown for a loop at just how steep this climb was. Finally, a water station came into view and it was the peak. I stopped to take my one and only GU Roctane and was subsequently passed by fit older lady. I started the descent down in an attempt to catch her. Unfortunately, that would be the last I would see of her until the end.

Mile 7 - 8:41

The descent offered up the first real nice view of this "wine country" that we're supposed to be running through. I charged down the hill (more difficult to do in my Newtons than expected) in an attempt to get my average pace back down to the 7:30's. In retrospect, perhaps I took the next several miles a bit too hard even though they were somewhat of a decline. That, combined with the climb between miles 6-7 had sapped my energy pretty good.

Mile 8 - 7:27
Mile 9 - 7:11
Mile 10 - 7:19

The last 5K would be tough. Already hurting from miles 8+, I can usually sum up some mental toughness to carry me through the last few miles in a race. But I just wanted the stupid race to end. Had very little left. And when the series of hills hit between miles 11-12, I did something I haven't done in a half-marathon in a LONG time. I walked. A few times actually.

Mile 11 - 7:38
Mile 12 - 8:33

I ceased caring about time, effort and the stupid sub-1:40 time I so craved when I targeted this race. A pair of cyclists were riding alongside some of the runners and tried encouraging me on. But the hills obliterated me and I just couldn't dig deep. "Trail runner" my ass.

Thoroughly disgusted with myself, I told myself to HTFU and go BTTW for the final 1.1 miles. I shut out pain, negativity, doubt and just kept turning the legs over. The crowds in Solvang slowly came into view and so I just kept pushing and pushing. I was running alone (or so I thought) when I rounded the corner and made a sharp left down the final .1 stretch to the finish line.

Mile 13 - 7:06

Thinking I had home stretch all to myself, I let off a bit looking for my girls when I see a dude passing me right at the finish. With less than a 100 yards to go, it was too late at that point and he beats me by a second. Soured but thoroughly tired, I'm just glad this race is over. A click of the Garmin reveals a new PR...by a whopping 16 seconds:

1:40:28 (officially).

Damn. Oh well. After grabbing a finisher's medal (which was horrendous looking btw) I see Sara right after the finish line where she's there with Cody's mom. I offer up a shrug and a wry smile a bit disappointed with the overall outcome, but probably right in line with what I had put into preparing for this race (which wasn't much, quite frankly).



It wasn't a 100% BTTW effort, but I'll take it for now - no excuses. I'm absolutely positive I can get closer to the 1:35 time I'm longing for if I truly put in a dedicated and focused training cycle. It certainly didn't help matters that a possibility that the race would be canceled was looming in the few hours leading up to it, putting my mental preparation in a state of disarray. But today was more of an example of putting out what you put into it. And to improve upon today's time, I'll just have to put more into my training before race day.

How bad do I want it? That's the question. Today...not so much. Next time, it will be different. I promise you that.