04.17.2011 - La Jolla Half Marathon

3 weeks before the La Jolla Half I felt confident that I was going to SMANG the crap out of the race. My training was going great. I felt strong and I felt confident. Then something happened. I ran Torrey Pines and got my @$$ handed to me. Just like that my confidence was shot. To top it off, work was becoming more and more stressful and I felt like I was losing focus.

After the dry run of Torrey Pines, my training fell off. I called it tapering, but inside I felt like I was taking too much time off. I ran only 4 times prior to the La Jolla Half. Everything felt like I was heading for a complete disappointment. The night before KC and I were up in LA for the Janet Jackson concert (amazing BTW) and had to race back down to SD. My carb loading was Pink's hot dog wrap (overrated), filled with bacon, chilli and cheese. We didn't get home until 1:30am and I wanted to be in La Jolla by 5am to catch the bus. It seemed as if I had a lot of things going against me. LACK OF REST. BAD NUTRITION. ALLERGIES.

I woke up at 5am and was stressed. I knew I couldn't make it to La Jolla in time so KC ended up driving me to the Del Mar start and then went down to La Jolla to meet me at the finish line. The start of the race was typical. Bob and weave through runners. By the time I got out to mile 3 it opened up a little bit, but surprisingly it was pretty bunched up the entire race. The overcast did wonders for me and I was able to finish strong and finish within the time frame I had set (1:43 - 1:47).

A couple of things for the next race.

- Try and get to the front so I can get in my pace right away. I may have lost at least 30 seconds from the start.

- Make sure you tie your laces good. I had to stop twice to tie my laces.

- I ran 40 seconds slower than my PR on a course that is considered way more difficult than the one I PR'd on. I know on the right course I can hit a sub 1:43 maybe even a sub 1:40, but when will that be?