First, thanks to James for snapping this pic and sending it over.
On to the race report...
It was a tough week leading up to the race, I was in Charleston, SC for a business trip all week and my training sucked. Between a completely packed schedule of early morning breakfast meetings, a full day of presentations and other meetings, group dinners and cocktails with my co-workers... I think I averaged about 5 hours of sleep per night. Not ideal preparation. I did manage a few short runs, but for the first time since October, I had two consecutive days with no training.
In retrospect though, it ended up being an unintentional taper. I got some good rest on Friday and Saturday, so by race morning on Sunday, I actually felt pretty good and ready to race.
My goal, just like at the Orange County Half Marathon two weeks ago, was to get under the 1:20 barrier... run smart and controlled for five miles, try to lift the pace for 5 miles, than blow it out for the final 5K.
It was cold out, high 30's at the start. I elected to go with long sleeves, though I ended up regretting this decision.
Since San Diego is such a hotbed of triathlon talent, there were the usual number of big names at the start. I was lined up toward the front and a bit to my right were Michellie Jones, Heather Fuhr, Jim Vance... also in the race were ITU pro Matt Reed and Joanna Zieger. Pretty cool.
At 7:30 the race went off... I made a real effort to hold back and just ease into a solid pace. 13.1 miles is long way, no need blowing myself up in the first mile! I ended up running next to Heather Fuhr up until Mile 4 or so... pretty cool to keep pace with an Ironman world champ!
Once I got to the seven mile mark, I still felt comfortable, so I sucked down 1/2 a Gu, and tried to lift the pace a bit... I ended up with 3 miles right at 6 min pace to get to 10 miles in 1:00:23... average 6:02 pace. Miles 11 and 12 really hurt, I lost a bit of speed here... than I took advantage of the downhill at the beginning of Mile 13 to bring it home in sub 6 pace.
Here are my splits (from my Garmin):
6:04
5:47 (11:51)
6:02 (17:54)
6:00 (23:54)
6:11 (30:06)
6:04 (36:10)
6:11 (42:21)
6:00 (48:22)
6:00 (54:22)
6:01 (1:00:23)
6:13 (1:06:37)
6:12 (1:12:49)
5:49 (1:18:48)
1:02 (1:19:51)
First 5: 30:06, Second 5: 30:17, Last 5K: 19:28
Average HR 176, Max HR185
Final official time was 1:19:49
Ended up 54th Overall, 46th Male, and 8th in my AG.
Finally got under the 1:20 barrier, I'm stoked... starting to feel like a legit runner, not just a triathlete dabbling in some running races.
Now, with Oceanside 70.3 only 2 months away... its time to get on my bike and into the pool!