I was perfectly content with my running schedule for the rest of this season. I knew that I had a couple of long runs planned with some sprinklings of speed work, but I hadn't intended on doing any more races.
Then my friend Audrey asked if I wanted to do some 5k race in Palo Alto on the 27th. I told her that I think I would need to do a longer distance race, so she told me to check out the Victory Half Marathon which was going on the same day. THENN the gears started turning...and I fell into a bit of a rabbit hole. I discovered Brazen Racing had this awesome triple medal going on since the Bay Breeze Race and the Victory Race combined to one ultra medal called Breeze to Victory. For the record, Brazen has some of the best medals, and some of the most impressive art of any race organization. The triple piece medals are our favorites...
I assume there are a lot of runners like me, but I'm kind of a sucker for medals. I don't even know why, I just hang them all on top of each other like an elaborately colored and sparkly sandwich. This was only before Jon made me a medal rack since my friend told me it was terrible luck for me to stash them in my bottom drawer like I used to.
I looked at the date of the Bay Breeze race...it was Saturday 2/13...the very next day (I looked it up on on Friday 2/12). It was so close that they even closed the online registration and we could only sign up race day. Luckily, I have a couple of equally spontaneous and medal loving friends, and a very sweet fiance. Did I mention that this day is also our fifth anniversary? Kind of a big deal.
My plan was to do the half marathon as part of my scheduled 20 mile long run. Nice and easy, not pushing the pace. I'm going to attempt to get some speed on the Victory race in two more weeks, so a hard effort would be poor training. I don't have a problem doing races just for fun. I like the energy and it's nice to have a little bit of nutritional support along the way as well.
Jon and I woke up at the butt crack of dawn, and we both wondered why we were doing this again. We had a quick drive over to San Leandro which is on the East Bay, just a skip and a hop over the 92 bridge.
The morning was unusually foggy, and we even witnessed a car accident on the bridge right in front of us because of it. We made it to the race in one piece, but the thick fog remained through most of the race.
There was no line for the race day registration, and parking was ample although it was just about a half mile away. I was really surprised at how many runners were attending! It was a pretty major race with pacers and everything! I'm used to Brazen Racing's smaller trail runs, but this one was really bustling.
The registration for the half marathon was $70. In return, I received a small goody bag with a couple of weird foods. A bag of sriracha cashews, some probiotic prunes, and a corn cake. Nonetheless, the shirt was really cool! I opt for the cotton tees instead of the tech ones, because I find I wear them more often. Additionally, were tons of porta-potties there, and I had no problem going in 15 minutes before and coming back out with plenty of time before the start. That is always a HUGE perk in a race for me. They also had a gear check station and supplied garbage bags with our bib numbers written on them.
At 8:00 the 413 half marathoners took off across a bumpy grass patch before hitting the asphalt trails. There was also a 10k that left at 8:15 and a 5k that ran at 8:30. For half marathon "Hikers", they were allowed to start at 7:30.
I kept my pace pretty easy, never breathing hard. The weather was PERFECT, not too cold or hot with a nice blanket of fog between my skin and the sun. The trails were flat and easy, although I wasn't too keen on the gravel. Up until about mile 2.5 it was paved, but then it was mostly gravel until the turn around. It wasn't bad at all but if you're looking for speed it's something to think about.
There were several pacers, and I tried to stick between the 2:00 pacers and the 2:10 pacers.
I wore my pack since I wasn't sure what kind of nutrition they'd have there. My stomach really isn't too fond of Cytomax, so I like to have my Tailwind just in case. I didn't stop at any of the aid stations, but there were three of them. One at mile 1, mile 3, and mile 5.
I finished the race in 2 hours and 2 minutes, snagging 174th place and averaging a nice 9:18 min/mi. I was awfully tempted to squeak in under 2 hours but didn't want to anger my coach since I'm sure he wasn't too pleased about me hopping into a last minute race. Jon waited at the finish and snapped some quick pictures.
The super cheery volunteers happily handed me this gigantic medal.
I made a quick pitstop at the finish to drop off my pack, and then headed back out for another 7 miles. Jon also had his long run scheduled, so he went off for an additional 9. People looked at us like we were crazy, and we got a lot of "wrong way" jokes. When I finished, I stopped through to see if there was any food left over, but it was mostly picked through at that point. I grabbed some extra bagels, rice krispy treats, and skittles (definitely not doing the low carb thing now), and hobbled back to the car.
Overall it was a surprisingly good day. My run was easy, effortless, and the 20 miles went so much faster breaking it up into a half + 7 miles. Everyone was really friendly and supportive, and the race was executed very smoothly with a ton of really kind volunteers. It was a great way to do our long run together on our super special 5th anniversary. I can't wait for the Victory half in two more weeks!
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