I have taken quite the hiatus here, and for that, I apologize. I also promise to blog about more than just running.
But in the meantime...let's talk about...running!
Since we last talked, I ran my 1000th mile since taking up the sport in September 2011. And last weekend, I ran the Surf City Half Marathon in Huntington Beach. Overall, it was a lackluster experience, but my running group made it a good day.
The race was flat, which is good, but it was pretty boring. We ran on the Pacific Coast Highway, save for a few miles through one of the residential neighborhoods. I know the ocean was right next to me, but it was nowhere in sight. I was good for the first 10 miles, but then my mind starts playing tricks on me, and no matter how hard I try to convince myself that I have only a 5K (3.1 miles) left to go, I can't forget that I've already run 10 miles. I also got a foot cramp and side stitches around the 11th mile, which made it difficult to know whether or not I should kick it up a notch in the final 5K (as I'd planned) or go easy so as to not make things worse. I used to think that race strategy was such a silly concept; when I'd read about runners talking about it in Runner's World, I used to think "Isn't the plan to just run as fast as possible and hope for the best?" But now I realize that this is a real thing, and so my strategy in the last 5K was to go easy, take walk breaks, and then go all out when I reached the final mile (I figured that any ensuing pain would be bearable for just a mile).
And for the most part, this strategy worked. I PRed again, finishing in 2:32 down from 2:35 in the Long Beach Half. Again, my goal was to finish in under 2:30, but I was thwarted by my tiny bladder and the pit stop after only the 2nd mile.
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