Yesterday, I ran the half marathon distance of the Brazen New Year’s Day runs – the companion event to Saturday’s Brazen New Year’s Eve Run. The run had three distances: a 5K, a 10K, and a half marathon and drew a field of 389, 318, and 297 finishers respectively.
The weather was even better than it was for Saturday’s New Year’s Eve run: cool, clear, with a light wind. I still wore shorts (one fellow runner called me “hard core”), but sported a long sleeve tech shirt, my running rain jacket (as a windbreaker), and my lite Lululemon running gloves for warmth. As on Saturday, I stayed toasty throughout the run.
The course was the same as Saturday’s, just in the clockwise direction. Same description: hilly and a mix of paved and dirt trails (30 and 70% respectively) that circled Lake Chabot and Chabot Regional Park. I will say that this direction was not as steep as the counterclockwise direction – mainly on the final third of the course. The downhill took it’s toll on my legs though! Since we had two days of clear weather, the muddy conditions from Saturday had dried in most areas. There were still some soggy areas though, just to make the run “interesting.”
As I mentioned in my New Year’s Eve run race report, Brazen Racing is a class act and put on a wonderful event. This one was no different – it’s always fun to run their events.
My Race
Results:
- Garmin time: 2:07:23 at an 9:39/mile pace
- Official time: 2:07:21 at an 9:39/mile pace
Recap:
As with Saturday’s run, my race plan for the New Year’s Day run was to have FUN and just enjoy the morning. I did want to beat my time from Saturday – and I’d be lying if I said that a sub 2-hour wasn’t on my mind. I ended up with a cold/sore throat on Monday, so I didn’t want to push it too much…
That said, I got to thinking about my “new PR” goal for this or other hilly, trail half marathons. I think I’m setting unrealistic goals – at least at my current training level. I am basing my PR goal on a flat and fast course…not a comparable hilly course. DUH…HELLO!! My half PR will always stand and be chased whenever I run, but I probably should revise my goals for hilly trail half marathons (or other distances.) I think i will be less frustrated at the finish line.
I followed my normal pre-race carb loading plan (36 hours of >80% carbs and +500 calories above my normal day) and my usual race fueling plan (bagel at -3 hours, GU at -45 min, GU at -15 minutes, and 21oz of GU Brew along the way.) I also did my new SaltStick course, taking one at -15 min and another at the +1 hour mark, which seemed to work again.
Wrap-Up
Bottom line: Another great event and a fun way to kick off the 2013 running season!
Post-race meal: Light lunch with a full-blown, turkey-with-all-the-fixin’s, FEAST at Harry’s Hofbrau…followed by a bunch of See’s Bridge Mix later that night!
Oh, and the bling from today was pretty cool. If you ran this event and the one on Saturday, you got a middle medal which created a cool MEGA-MEDAL:
GIDDY-UP!
Training Journal – 1/2/13:
- Current plan: Big Sur Marathon Training Plan – W2/D3
- Today’s session: Rest or 3-mile easy run
- Comments: With this cold I’ve got, I opted to rest this morning…
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