Malibu Half Marathon Results

The good news is that I finished the half marathon!  And the bad news is I can barely move right now.  Lol.  But I'm so happy that I was able to actually finish it, which was the biggest doubt I had.  I am pretty sure the farthest I ever ran at one time was 8 miles or so, maybe 9 but definitely under 10.  And that was over 2 years ago.  So just being able to finish the half marathon today without collapsing was pretty cool.

I got a pretty medal for it too, yay!  And a pretty nice beach towel which will definitely come in handy. My final time was 2 hours and 20 minutes, which I thought was ok considering I had to stop at the porter potty and at least 8 different water stations along the way.  Not the mention the monstrous hills during the second half of the course.

So the big surprise today right off the bat was that it was extremely warm.  I had been checking the weather forecast pretty regularly and it's been cloudy and cold the past few days.  Yesterday when we went to Malibu to pick up the packet it was chilly and windy, and lightly sprinkling, so I figured it would be about the same today.  Big mistake!!  It was freaking sunny and hot, like 70 degrees at 8 am.  And of course I wore my Inspire pullover with no tank under so I couldn't even take it off.  I feel uncomfortable running in only a sports bra, but I seriously almost did it.  I was so jealous of the people that only had a tank and shorts on.

Before the race started

Despite the fact that I was rather uncomfortable to start with, I had a pretty good first half of the race.  I paced myself well and I felt pretty good for the first 6 miles or so.  I felt like it went by pretty fast.  The view was awesome as it was along the coast the whole time, so nothing to complain about there.  Looked like this pretty much the whole way:

Yes I stopped briefly to snap this pic... hehe

Right after mile 6, there was a point where we had to get off the main road and run the opposite direction on a side road for a while, and then circle back.  I did not expect that as it was not on the course map.  I think it messed me up mentally since it felt like going backwards, and then right after that we had to face a pretty high hill.  So things kind of went down from there.  

I would say miles 8-10 were the most brutal for me.  It was all hill, and no shades.  I was so hot, and I knew I had not gone this far before.  My hubby was running with me, and he was having issues and wanted to walk.  I walked a little with him even though it hurt more to walk than run.  But he claimed to not be able to go on anymore so I didn't want to leave him in case something happened.  I think he was just being a baby and I could have shaved off at least 5 minutes if I had left him then.  Lol.

After mile 10, I felt a little better.  The hills subsided a little and I kept telling myself only a few more miles till the end.  At this point my feet and ankles were kind of throbbing.  Although the rest of my body felt surprisingly ok.  

At around mile 11, I felt that I could have puked.  I have never felt like puking while working out before, but now I understand how it can happen to people.  I think I should have eaten something earlier on, but I only had water and a little bit of this espresso flavored goo they were giving out.  

Finally when we were at mile 12, hubby claimed to be seeing stars and could not run anymore.  Another reason we probably should have eaten something.  I could not even think about walking all the way to the finish because that is so lame, so I finally left him at this point.  I picked up my pace a little for the last mile and sprinted at the last quarter of the mile.  I really wanted to sprint the whole last mile but legs would not let me.  I don't know where I pulled the energy to sprint at the end, but I passed at least 50 people then! I think it was because I saw the finish line and just wanted to get it over with!  

I was so happy when I was close to the finish line I could have cried, I think I had the biggest smile on my face.  

According to my NikePlus GPS tracking app on my phone, here are my stats:

The red parts were the parts where we walked

Big drop in pace starting at mile 8  =(

Fastest pace was when I started sprinting at the end... lol

So I think that this might not have been the best race to pick as my first.  It was just too hilly.  I would imagine that without the hills I could finish around 2 hours.  But then again I'm proud of myself for finishing a tough course.  So no regrets!  About half of the people I know finished around 1 hour 45 minutes, so that's the goal to reach in the future!  I do think I will do another half marathon at some point, but definitely need to train a little bit so I don't feel like death at the end.  My legs feel sore now, 10 hours after the race.  But not as sore as I would imagine.  My joints kind of hurt though, ankels, knees, etc.  My feet are completely fine - my Lululemon Ultimate Run socks and my new Adidas shoes did extremely well.  Hubby on the other hand, got a nasty blood blister and one of his toe nails is purple now.  It's so gross I won't even post the picture I took!

We'll see how I feel tomorrow, it could be a major mistake not to haven taken the day off work!