Work was stressful the week before so my sleep was not the greatest. Mallory came over and we did dinner and watched Think like a Man and fell asleep around 11. I got up at 5:55 and headed out around 6:30 to get gas and was on the road by 6:40. The Drive down was fast! I was expecting to take 2 hours and I got down in 80 min including a 10 min slow down from closed lanes. So crazy! If the drive was always that fast, I would probably visit more often.
I got to the hotel and got organized and went to check in so I could leave my car. I was able to walk the 6 blocks to get my bib and shirt. I kept asking people about gear check and no one knew anything so I assumed there was not one. I had a lot of time (about 40 min until the race started) so I walked back to my car to drop everything off and headed back and started my warmup.
I got in a solid 10 min warmup and realized my shorts were going to suck as they would riding up! I did a few sprints and felt good.
When I got to the start line, they sorted us by finish time which was nice as there were kids running and the kids were forced back to the end so no one would get injured. I was gunning for a sub-8 mile but chickened out (and really doubted myself) and lined up with the 8:30-9 min mile.
The races in Carlsbad are at the mercy of the train schedule and we had to wait for not 1 but 2 trains. We started late so they let us warm up-I just did dynamic stretches in place as I didn't want to get out and jog and push my way back forward.
The race started with a countdown and I decided to go big or go home and set my watch to 2:30/:30 and decided I would try and run as much as I could and stop for 5-10 sec to walk a bit and also adjust my shorts.
I took off like a bat out of hell at a 6:50 pace. I knew there was no way I could hold that I slowed down and tried to stay steady. We hit an incline and I decided to walk (I was power walking the same speed) and hit the .25 mile sign. Crazy! We went down Carlsbad Blvd and then turned around towards Carlsbad Village Blvd and to the finish line. I stopped a total of 4 times. I was able to hold about a 7:38-7:43 pace. As we headed to the finish line, it was a nice incline and I stopped briefly to adjust my shorts and flew towards the finish.
My finish time was 7:53 in 1.03 (how did I go long?!) for a 7:38 pace.
I definitely wanted some water and snacks and spent the next 15 min wandering the Expo. What was great was we got a post race bag so I had somewhere to put all my stuff.
The expo had a lot of booths but I only visited a few-nuun to stock up, try out glukos as they are the fuel for RnRSD, stop by ProCompression to check on the sock of the month and then got in line for bib pickup. I realized that if I showed my key, I got a free gift from Toyota. I had completely forgot that they do VIP pickup. I could have been done! Oh well-I'll remember for RnRSD.
Bib pickup was a hot mess. They didn't start until 10 and they had the juniors Carlsbad organization was up with no one around and a very loud (but good band) playing so it was impossible. I finally found the 20k line and waited.
I got my bib finally, and went to get my shirt. Sadly we only got the all day 20k shirt and not the 5k one. That also was a cluster. I met some super great people in line and we talked about strategy for the day. One great thing about running the 1 mile was I saw the first .25 mile and the last .75 mile so I knew what to expect. There is no shade so my idea to wear a hat would be super important.
I had a whole day (it was only 10:30 when I got back to my car!) so I did a nice baby wipe bath, added some deodorant and perfume and off I went. I went to a local running store and they were out of ucan(so I need to order online) and then went across the street to the movie theatre to see My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2. I grabbed a kids meal (popcorn, drink and fruit snack!) and had an awesome theatre with reclining seats. I love the movie and so glad I treated myself to see it!
Afterwards I was able to check into the hotel and finally shower and prep for the next day. I then went to the beach to snack and read before heading to the Witch Creek winery for a tasting, bought a lovely Tempranillo, grabbed an awesome chicken fajita gluten free pizza. The wait was a while so I grabbed a cider while waiting. I headed back to room to eat and relax and I fell asleep at 8:15am. All of the work I didn't need to get done didn't happen-oops. I woke up at 11 to take out my contacts and get properly ready for bed for a 5:55 wake-up call.
Have you ever run a 1 mile race before?