13 Miles and Runnin'

In the immortal words of Jenny Curran, "Run, Forrest! Run!"

Those look like comfortable shoes

That is what 3,286 of my closest friends and I did on Saturday during the 2007 Southern California Half Marathon in Irvine, CA. And surprisingly enough, I lived to tell the tale.

Luckily, the weather cooperated. On the previous day, it rained heavily (for OC standards). And it was a cold rain. But by Saturday, the skies cleared. And while the day started on the chilly side (it was 47 degrees as I drove to the race), the sun came out and it was quite pleasant.

Yes, I did a little training before hand. Yes, I had a little pasta the night before. But the most important preparation for the race came in the form of Body Glide.

The best $5.99 I have ever spent

This stuff works as advertised. No chafing. I say with no embarrassment that chafing was one of my biggest fears. I did not want to pull an Andy from The Office.

Andy is wearing the yellow jersey

As I predicted in the 12/6/07 post, the 4-1 method was key. Run four minutes, followed by walking one minute. After the first 3/4 mile was spent dodging and weaving through the masses, I was able to get into the groove of 4-1. I had the iPod on the "Upbeat Country Mix." Everything was moving along nicely. Nicely, until I felt a little prick in my left calf around the six mile mark. A cramp. Lovely. Although concerned, I was able to work through it. A little extra water/powerade, a bit of "goo" (a type of liquefied power bar substance), and some bananas along the route helped me soldier on.

As we zig-zagged through the city of Irvine, an unexpected foe reared its head. The Marachan factory. You know, Marachan. Top Ramen. As we passed by it, the air reeked.

I don't care how clutch you were in college

It smelled like sewer mixed in with a dairy farm. I thought I was at the Stockyards in St. Joseph, MO. It was a bit of a shock to the system to hit this stench in the middle of Irvine.

The race had electronic timers and mile counters along its route. I noticed I was keeping a solid 10 minute mile pace. This made me happy. Once I hit the eleven mile mark, I felt I was home free. Not even a minor blister on my left heel would slow me down. As I pounded out the final two miles, I switched the iPod to a little DJ Quik. Irvine was now "Jus' Like Compton."

DJ Quik = victory

I officially finished the race in 2 hours, 15 minutes and 9 seconds. But, this is a bit skewed because I didn't actually start the race for two minutes because of the huge crowd at the start. I had to slowly walk to the starting line. So, in actuality, the time is more like 2 hours, 13 minutes.

If you would like to confirm the fact that I actually finished the race, click on the link.http://http://www.schalfmarathon.com/Portals/14/New2007SCHalfMarathon.pdf

For the rest of the day, my legs felt fine, but I was just tired. But I did feel queasy. Kind of nauseous. I never threw up, but my stomach just didn't feel right. I ate some decent Mexican food at Javier's at the Spectrum later in the day, but I still felt a little off. I went to bed early. Way early. Try 6:00 pm. After about 12 hours of sleep, I was ready to face Sunday. Too bad the Chiefs weren't.

I hit the training trails again today. We had the usual SRLA run today after school. To the kids credit, they were right there again. I am so impressed by these guys and girls. In fact, two of the students played in basketball games later Saturday afternoon. That is crazy. I was thinking today's run would be a nice, easy jog after the half marathon. No. It was a five mile clip. My legs were dead. I felt like I needed the hip replacement. But I persevered. I needed to get the kinks out.

Next up, the Orange County Half Marathon on January 6, 2008. It should be good. The race starts at Fashion Island in Newport Beach, and ends at the Spectrum in Irvine.

We will see how it goes. It is all leading up to the LA Marathon in March.