This unexpected race was SO MUCH FUN! I really think that one reason I enjoyed it so much is that there was zero stress involved as I didn't even know it existed until 36 hours prior running it. Ry and I were in San Diego for my sister's wedding. It also happened to be our 20th anniversary. It was just going to be a fun, chill, weekend spending time with my family and my man! A nice short get away! Anyway, to make a long story short, I did my first Yasso workout (in many many months) a few days prior and had some faster miles this past week as well. My legs were in no way ready to race as I was planning on a nice semi-long run this weekend in beautiful San Diego. Come to find out, there was going to be a FANTASTIC half marathon that finished at Balboa Park (literally less than 1000 meters from the place we were staying). After reading the course description which included the Cabrillo National Monument, Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, Point Loma, views of the Bay, The Star of India and the Hall of Champions, I wanted in! So, yesterday we went to the expo to see if there were any spots still available. And here's the best part: While I was registering Ryan (unbeknown to me) was also registering! In his words, "YOLO!" The race was just as described. Amazing! It was a nice point to point race with a net loss of merely 100 feet (a 300 foot drop the first handful of miles, a few rollers, and then a 200 foot climb in the second to last mile, that one felt harder than expected - HA, but overall the course was pretty flat). I decided to run sufficiently hard on my tired legs and see how things turned out. Under the circumstances I was thrilled. Although, I could tell the last handful of miles that I needed more fuel in my body (the course had water and a zero-calorie electrolyte replacement drink every few miles). I did have one Gu that I took at the halfway point. The course was long for me (about a quarter of a mile) because I did not run tangents and had to do a lot of weaving in the beginning (couldn't get myself from the porta potties towards the front prior the gun going off - Ha). My results were as follows: Overall: 206th (out of 3940) Gender: 47th female (out of 2079) Division: 6th in my AG (out of 315) and 9th Master (out of 826) I definitely want to run more half marathons. This was my first half in years. I did a couple of steeplechases in 2013 but no true half marathons since 2012. I keep asking myself, "WHY?" Why have I continued to run marathons but have laid off of the halfs. I'm kicking myself over this. This was so much fun!
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