Sheri - Back from the Brink

Well, my third half marathon is in the books. I can't say that all went as well as I had hoped, but it went well enough. Didn't make my hoped-for finish time (boo!) but a new PR was set (yay!) 

Tradition is to make a weekend of these things, so Hubby and I drove down to Monterey Friday night. Since we wanted to miss most of the traffic, we stayed in town to eat dinner out, then at home to pack before heading south around 8 pm. Oldest son is living in Marina to attend CSU Monterey Bay, so he was pretty excited to have family arrive and provide free restaurant food (and friendly faces too). We gathered him up to do a clothes shopping trip at the local Kohl's for their late-night sale. Task was to get him a sports jacket for our upcoming cruise, and we also hit up the clearance racks, and I managed to get a new sweater and work slacks, but not before end-of-the-week/late-in-the-evening crankiness sent Hubby to wait in the car for the madness to end.

We arrived at our hotel (Colton Inn) just after 11 pm, which was late enough to get our keys in an envelope taped to the office door instead of an official check-in. But our assigned room had not in fact been cleaned (major ICK!) so Hubby was off to rouse the night staff to change our room. Thankfully, all was remedied and we were in a clean room and unpacking by 11:30.

Saturday morning the three of us had a delightful breakfast at Archie's American Diner in Pacific Grove. This is our new favorite utility restaurant in the area, since they have an extensive diner type menu at very reasonable prices. They also have an awesome ocean view and ample people watching opportunities since it is situated across the street from the bike pedestrian trail and is just up the street from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The three of us had a great time catching up while Hubby and I carbo-loaded (I had two HUGE blueberry pancakes. This is why I run!)

After our meal, we set off to enjoy the scenery by walking around the Cannery Row area and check out parts of the next day's race route. Of course, after all this walking, we went to our other favorite Monterey establishment, the Ghirardelli Fountain shop. Hubby thinks we have to stop by every time we go to visit Oldest son, you know, just because. Hubby and I shared a Mint Bliss sundae, which was just enough to get a good taste, but not enough to feel bloated and guilty (running only assuages so many calories, right?)

We still had to hit the Expo to pick up our bibs, so we drove back to the hotel and then walked downtown. This was my first actual race expo, but there were only vendors, no presentations to sit through. Hubby and I did some shopping, and I found a nice ASICs water resistant jacket with race logo embroidery for $50. Other than that, prices weren't that great, since the Gilroy Outlet mall has plenty of sporting goods stores that do better.

After that excitement, we walked back to the hotel. Normally Hubby and I would take an afternoon nap on the day before a big race, but Oldest son really wanted to visit some more. So I caught up on some magazine reading while they talked (even MORE) about World of Warcraft. Before you know it, my parents arrived to meet my son at a nearby pub for another free meal for him. Hubby and I went to Jamba Juice for a nice healthy and light smoothie and we split one of their sandwich wraps.

With an early bedtime, we watched a DVD in our room (Sunshine Cleaning, pretty good little movie) and it was lights out by 9 pm.

With a race start time of 7:05 am, I woke up at 5:00 to eat my Kashi/skim milk breakfast. But, there was No.In.Room.Coffee.Maker!! Nothing is open that early on Sunday morning either. I really should have gotten a cup from the hotel office the evening prior and re-heated in the microwave, but hindsight is 20/20. I tried to stop at a local bakery on the way to the start, but on top of a $.79 charge to use the ATM card I had brought with me, they wanted a $5.00 minimum (shouldn't it be one or the other?). Not worth it for a small cup of caffeine in my book.

The race was set up with corrals based on your own estimated finish time that were provided to race organizer at registration. Bib numbers included your corral letter, so cheating forward was a little more difficult, even if it was only peer pressure, if not the presence of volunteer Marines in each corral. I think this is the best way to organize a big race, because the least experienced (and slow) runners seem to be the most likely to want to start as far forward as possible. I mean, I'm a mid-pack runner, but the last thing I want to do is waste energy in the first mile darting around slow runners who should have started in the back. So each corral started separately, about a minute apart, so there was virtually no need to run around anyone. It was awesome to run in the midst of people going my same pace!

It was pretty cold at the start, I'd say in the high 40s, so I wore my cheap gloves and my beanie cap, that could both be easily tucked into my Amphipod belt once I warmed up. I like to bring my own water to a big race so I can bypass the water stop craziness. I was really glad I wore my long sleeve compression shirt under my MMRF singlet. The cold temps kept me feeling a bit creaky for longer than normal, and I never felt so warm that I regretted the long sleeves. The course wound around the downtown area a bit before heading into the tunnel that goes under downtown. That offered a great view of the crowd of runners in front of me, and of course people whooped it up in the tunnel. Fun!

(TMI alert!) Just as we entered the Cannery Row area, I started to wish I had gotten my pre-race coffee and associated porta-potty visit before starting. Ugh! 10 miles to go, and I had to GO! Keeping in mind my goal of a sub-2 hour time, a potty break was just not in the schedule. So I soldiered on. I noticed a guy carrying a full size American flag on a six foot flag pole, and tried to keep up. I tried to tell myself it was only a bit of discomfort, that I could just suffer through. Then the rolling hills of this course started in earnest. They weren't steep, and they weren't long, but they were mentally taxing, requiring constant pace adjustments. Double ugh!

Of course, the views alongside the ocean were amazing, but I was not enjoying them. My attention was on the porta-potties! 'Should I stop?' 'How far to the next one?' 'Is there a line?' and 'ugh, now my tummy feels queasy too'. And that guy with the flag? He was about 400m in front of me, then I lost him. By the time I made it to the turnaround point, it was obvious that I was no where near my time goal, so I decided to make the stop and at least enjoy the rest of the race. I only wish I had stopped sooner, because I felt so much better, I was able to turn on the speed and really finish strong to get a new PR. Here's my official results:

Overall: 1826 out of 4814

Women: 806 out of 3057

F 45-49: 71 out of 355

Age/Grade: 58.92% Place: 942

Split Time 7.5 Miles: 1:15:37 Pace: 10:05

Finish: 2:05:22 Pace: 9:34

Tag Time: 2:05:22

Gun Time: 2:09:34

Check out that split time! I was really dog slow at that 7.5 mile mark compared to my normal long run training pace. That translates to a final leg of 5.6 miles at 8:53 pace. Talk about a negative split! And I passed lots of runners in the last two miles, including that flag guy. So my take-home lesson is to just GO. As long as there isn't a line to the porta potty, the time spent is worth it. OK, end of TMI.

I am kind of bummed that my parents didn't actually get to see me cross at the finish (they missed me in the crowd), but my son did see me and got a picture. I met up with them after I went through the food tent. I was feeling a bit queasy still and really wiped out. Hubby was not expected for another hour, so I wandered over to the Customs Plaza to try for some beer and hot soup, but was too overwhelmed by the crowds so I went back around to try to rest a bit. Hubby came in at 3:28:13, even more wiped out than I was. He had never gone much over 10 miles in training, and those hills nearly beat him. But he finished and is already talking about the next race. By the time he finished, the crowds had dissapated, so we both got our beer and soup (and it was good).

Hotel check out time was 12 noon, so we made plans to meet my parents and son for lunch at 12:15 and walked up the street to our room to shower and pack up. There is nothing better than a hot shower after a long run, even if ice might be better for your muscles. Managed to check out about 11:58, and drove to California Pizza Kitchen at the Del Monte shopping center. Hubby ordered a Newcastle straight away, and I was so happy to see that they served Diet Pepsi (not Coke). The one thing I forgot at home were my compression leg sleeves, and I really started to miss them while sitting in the restaurant. Ouch, my legs were sore.

My parents managed to drive past the restaurant and went to the opposite end of the shopping center. My son was so sweet in how he kept calling their cell to guide them to the right location. He even went outside to flag them down. My parents are only in their sixties, so they are not incapable, but he has really stepped up to help them out when they ask him. Hubby and I must have done something right.

We ordered the garlic foccacia appetizer (yum) and I had the italian tomato & basil pizza on honey wheat. I could only finish half, and didn't even want dessert. Too bad, because they had some awesome sounding cheesecake choices.

For my Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation fundraiser, I ended up with just over $1100, short of my goal of $1500. I'm kind of disappointed that I got very few small donations, and really got by with $100 donations from close family. So many thanks to them!! I know that MMRF is a much less well known charity than Team in Training, but I chose this one because it sends a much higher percentage of funds raised to actual research activities. I am not sure if I'll sign up for another charity race in 2010, but I'm fairly certain that if I ever do get up the nerve to try a marathon, I'll be doing it for a charity.