Well, my first run back from having Thing 3 was this year’s Disneyland Half. Tom doesn’t much enjoy it because it’s too hot for him…and, admittedly, the weather is always a risk!
Luckily, this year, it was only 66F when I headed out for the corrals. Unluckily, I didn’t realize they had made a mistake on my bib with regards to my corral assignment!! And, no kind soul mentioned to me that the little white slip I picked up at the Expo along with my race bib was a correction to my corral assignment. So, I shlepped my way to Corral G early that morning, when really I should have been in Corral C.
I knew something was amiss when I noticed a pace-runner in Corral E (right beside G) who was holding up a 3-hour finisher pace sign!!! After I realized I was in the wrong corral, I was really irritated, so irritated, in fact, I leapt out of the gates at a faster-than-wise speed! But, I let my adrenaline carry me as I huffed past the slower and more casual runners.
Anyway, I thought I might try for a sub-2 hour half, so I was disappointed when I got a cramp around mile 10 or 11 which had me walking for a few minutes. I was already demoralized so I would have continued walking had it not been for a nice lady from Morgan Hill who cheered me on with a “C’mon Santa Cruz!!” (I was wearing my SC Half Marathon shirt!). I wanted to run with her and chat as a gesture of thanks … and to boost her own efforts if I could … but it turns out, my natural pace was much faster than her’s, even with the cramp, so I had to run on ahead. I tried to accelerate at the end of the run, too, but it just wasn’t enough and, in the end, I came in at 2:01:07.
Stats:
1892/14836 overall
639/9337 women
97/1239 in my age division
I still shake my head when I think about this race: if only I ran through that cramp….But, no whining is really allowed and there are really no excuses! All things considered, with the zigging and zagging past slower runners–which Runkeeper says my half added up to 13.6 miles instead of 13.1–the warmer weather, and my cramp, I know I did the best that I could do…and, in any run, your best effort is all you can really hope for.