• April 26th, 2015
• La Jolla, California
• La Jolla Half Marathon
• Sharon: 2:44:28
• Tim: 2:20:28

 

39 down only 13 to go.

This road HM had more intense hills than last weeks trail race. My running shoes have 370.2 miles on them and they are dead. Running downhill I felt each footfall jolt through my body. This week I am going to get new shoes. I love getting new running shoes. General guidelines say to replace shoes every 300 to 500 miles. I will still wear these shoes for short runs. I have noticed that my shoes need to be replaced more often now that I’m heavier. I also land heavier than I used to which wears shoes out faster. I’m sure it must have sounded like BarBar was chasing them, to all the people I passed on the downhill.

The La Jolla HM was only a 15 minute drive from our house. One of the many nice things about living in San Diego is that there are so many close races. This is nice for us because Tim works on Fridays now so it is more challenging to travel.

This HM was a point to point with the option to park at either end. We chose to park at the end point and take the bus to the start. I’m glad we did even though it meant getting up earlier. I really don’t like to hunt down buses after running a race. I was impressed by the luxury buses. Most of the race buses I have been on were old school buses that made scary noises. A father and son who were running the HM together sat across from us. How cool is that?

There were 6 waves based on what you thought your finishing time would be. I was wondering why Tim’s bib number started with a 5 and mine started with a 6, when we signed up at the same time. I always overestimate my time because I hate to get passed. Tim came back a wave to start with me.

This race had some stunning ocean views.

It also had awesome musical entertainment.

It soon became clear that not everyone was as fast as they thought they would be. In the first mile I started to see walkers with bibs from the 5th wave. I made a game of looking for the lowest bib numbers I could find. I passed a bunch of 4th and 5th wavers, a couple in the 3rd wave and one very fit looking guy in the 2nd wave who must have been having an awful day.

Both Tim and me started out with flip floppy tummies so I thought I was going to have an awful race but once I started running I started to feel stronger. I was able to run more than the first 5 miles even though there were some hills I would usually have walked. I knew the big hill was coming at mile 5.5 so I promised myself I would walk then. Much to my surprise I saw Tim ahead of me talking to a girl and running slow. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to run long with him because I needed to walk and Tim kept running up the Torrey Pines hill.

This race I realized that I talk out loud to myself just like a crazy person. I turned off my music when I started walking and said, “no music for walkers”. A woman next to me looked over and said, “That’s pretty harsh”. I noticed that most people were walking the hill. Tim has such a good eye for signs. I thought this picture was hilarious.

The climb was hard but beautiful. Park rangers were out with signs and encouragement. This is the woman who made all the signs.

My favorite part of the race was the downhill after the Torrey hills climb. I flew past dozens of people. At least it felt like I was flying. I was probably only doing about a 9 minute mile.

Unfortunately, the last couple miles of this race were pretty ugly with awful roads. And the race director must have known it because they had volunteers directing runners around potholes and telling us to be careful. I thought that was a nice touch.

Tim spotted a woman wearing a Sculpin t-shirt. Sculpin is a great beer made by a local brewery. I don’t usually like beer very much but I like Sculpin. On a hot day my favorite is a cold Grapefruit Sculpin. She was running Tim’s pace so he was just joking when he asked if she was sponsored by Ballast Point. It turns out she was.

After sprinting across the finish line I recovered in the medical tent for about 5 minutes. I used my asthma excuse but really I just wanted to sit in a chair in the shade and catch my breath. Tim also headed for the shade of the tent after the race mentioning his a-fib when they questioned him.

This race had chocolate milk! All races should have chocolate milk. We sat under a shady tree and listened to a fairly awful band as I drank my milk. There was a beer tent and after party but we didn’t go. I was sore and short of breath and just wanted to go home.

After the race I found out that we had run right by Tim’s office and I didn’t even notice.

Cons

• No designated race parking ($15 parking garage)
• A section run next to heavy traffic (one lane was closed)
• End on a crappy section of road
• Quite pricey

Pros

• Luxury buses
• Plenty of port-o-pots
• Ocean views
• Running through Torrey Pines Park
• Course music
• Crowd support with fun signs and costumes
• An aid station with baby wipes!
• Chocolate milk
• Handed a paper bag full of snacks after the race
• Beer garden and band

I woke up Sunday morning feeling tired and dreading what I knew was going to be a hilly race. I was wrong. I loved this race. It doesn’t get much better than running through Torrey Pines and along side the ocean in the same race. This race was beautiful and fun. It just had the good vibe feeling. In spite of the hills this is a very beginner friendly race. Everyone in the middle of the pack seemed to be walking the hills anyway. I would highly recommend this race. It’s quite popular and did sell out so if you want to do this race don’t wait until the last minute to sign up. The only real negative was that this was a spendy race but all the bigger races in CA are. I would like to do this race next year and maybe stay for the beer party.

I feel sad and lonely. Please leave a comment and I will feel happy and loved.