Santa Clarita Half Marathon
On Sunday, Nov. 2nd, I ran my second half marathon in Santa Clarita, California. I ran "with" four other friends that also happen to be my neighbors at Edwards Air Force Base. The women from left to right are - Ashley, Gina, myself, Sonjia and Katie. Four out of five of us had the goal of completing the half in 2 hours or less. Three of us accomplished the goal and the fourth one only missed it by 2 minutes. Close enough in my opinion!!!
It was a beautiful, clear morning and the temperatures ranged from about 46-52 degrees from start to finish of the race. The event was very well organized, which made making parking and finding our way around a breeze! This race had a lot more runners than my first half marathon; however, the only way I felt this impacted the race was that I had more people around me the entire length of the course. That being said, it did not feel too crowded.
I had a loose goal of finishing the race at 2 hours because my last few long training runs had ended with tension headaches. I decided I was just going to run what felt good to my body and just hope that I ended up close to 2 hours, or at least beat my first half marathon time which was 2:05. I was just ahead of the 2 hour pacers until around mile 8 when I slowed down a bit to run with my friend Ashley. We ran together until about mile 10 when she had to start going slower because her hips were tightening up on her. At this point the pacers were much farther ahead and I just kept running what felt good. I do run with a Garmin watch but I do not like looking at it because I feel it mentally messes with my running performance. During my training runs I typically get faster the last 3 miles so I thought I might catch up with the pacers.
I don't think I saw the pacers again. Around mile 12 I normally just let my legs go and just push out as much as I've got left. I purposefully did not do that because my friend Katie had run this course the previous year and distinctly told us to hold back the reigns because there were 3 pedestrian bridges the last .2 miles of the race that would be really challenging. Those bridges were definitely hard and I passed A LOT of people walking them. The good news was that there were only 2 bridges, but the bad news was that I kept holding back my speed because I expected a 3rd bridge! Once I realized there wasn't another bridge coming I let loose and ran. The clock at the finish line said 2:00:45 and I was immediately bummed I had missed the 2 hour mark by 45 seconds. I forgot to stop my watch too so I didn't have that to give me a more accurate chip time. However, hours after the race I found out my true chip time was 1:59:48. I had done it, and with 12 seconds to spare!!!
To be honest, I was surprised I made it under 2 hours because I had totally given myself permission not to. There is something to be said about the energy that sweeps a runner into the collective frenzy that occurs during a race. During the first mile when everyone was just running and in such high spirits I seriously almost yelled, "This is so awesome!" But, I kept my enthusiasm to myself and just relished it. During my course I would mentally dedicate parts of the race to the people who love and support me, and I believe this motivated me to "up" my game in order to give them the effort I think they deserve out of me. Even though I had a goal, this race wasn't about me or going after a personal record. I ran this race for others...and the karma came full circle.
I was greeted at the finish line by my husband and daughter. Matthew and Tess are my #1 fans, and they provide me with the daily support and motivation to run. Seeing their smiles and having them physically there made that finish line so much more enticing! I am so happy I committed to this race and had such a good experience. I even managed not to get a tension headache after the race, which was very surprising to me considering the extra effort I expended to quicken my pace.
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| Race finisher photo with my daughter Tess |
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| Loves from my daughter Tess at the finish line |
Unfortunately, my glory is a little shadowed today because after going for a 3 mile run this morning to burn off some lactic acid, I'm pretty positive I strained my right quadricep during the race. The course was described as "relatively flat with a few elevation changes due to pedestrian bridges." In my opinion, this was not an accurate description. I would've described it as "rolling hills with lots of pedestrian over and under passes." I think the frequent elevation changes combined with my quicker pace just overloaded my legs and caused injury. So, I will be hanging up my running shoes for several days while I nurse my leg and hope that it is just a simple strain. The lesson I learned from this race is that love and humility empowers my running. So from now on, I will not run for myself but for others.
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| My husband Matthew, who is my #1 fan |
Ami
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