Kaiser SF Half Marathon 2012

Prelude: After the Run With the Jets 1/2 marathon race in November which set up a first race time / PR for my sister of ~1:44, we started thinking about the next race for us to really push at. I sent her a suggestion or two and before I knew it she already signed up for the Kaiser Half in SF and I had to follow suit. We didn't have a huge amount of time, but we promptly ran a bunch of 10-12 milers with some speedier splits. My shins felt pretty good, but back to back days would make them sore, so I monitored them and held back on run days when I had to.

We checked out the course and I talked to a few runner pals from work and the neighborhood, it sounded like a great course to PR / push on, with a couple miles of nice downhill. I put together a spreadsheet which included going faster on the down and we ended with a goal time of ~1:40, which would be 2+ min PR for me and 4+ min PR for her. So a goal time of ~1:40 and primary goal of not getting injured! This meant ~7:40 on the flats and sub 7:20 on the downhill.

I was doing track speedwork with the ARM Academy and my sister joined for one session. The good speedwork made me feel pretty confident about our pace targets.

Race Report

What went right: Pretty much everything! I felt so in control for almost the entire race, I knew exactly what we wanted to hit and how to get there, including a smooth fast push at the end. I prepped with Roctane and a Salt Tab, I did Roctane every 1/2 hour, I did a Salt Tab at the hour. We drank at every water station. I wrote some of the major splits I cared about on my arm with a Sharpie.

Splits (mile/total minutes)

We paced together pretty much the entire time, talking a little and checking in on pace and how we were feeling. The start had some rollers so we went a little faster than planned which was fine. We hit the downhill and it felt pretty nice to crank up the pace to the sub 7:20 range. We had beautiful views of the ocean as we ran down from Golden Gate park to the Great Highway. The out and back was long, but allowed us to see the ultra fast front runners. It also really opened up towards the end to nice views of the crashing surf on the beach out to our right. Around mile 8-9 I had a couple twinges of doubt creep in, but we were solid on pace with our splits and after some Roctane and making it to Mile 10, I completely shook that off.

On pace on the Great Highway

We decided not to push it harder for the last 5k and held pace on the way back. At mile 11, my sister told me to go ahead and push on without her, but we talked about exactly this situation before the race, instead we'd slow a little bit, but keep pace and stay together for at least another mile and then check in again. So I said let's keep on it, just go a little slower. I told her to tuck in behind me and dig deep for the last couple miles. I gave her some Roctane with caffeine and she had some Gatorade (might have been more mental then dietary, but whatever works!) She tucked in and really ran well - we pretty much stayed right on pace, still nailing our split time at mile 12. Another runner was talking to himself about 'keep going' and we started talking too 'get on it! let's go!' our own self-cheer squad!

At mile 12 I was pretty ready to push for a fast finish and I knew she would do well in her last mile. She told me to move ahead and this time I said OK, with a few parting words of advice on finishing strong with a good pace. I pushed harder and was heading towards 7:00 min miles. I saw another woman take off passing folks in front of me and now it was my turn to tuck in behind someone. She brought us to a sub 7:00 and then I passed her on final hill when she started to slow down a bit. I ran through the finish, with the announcer calling my name and my awesome wife, family and my sister's family cheering for me as I finished at 1:39:09, a nice 3+ min PR and a little faster than the original estimate of 1:40.

Kick at the finish

Nice kisses from the wife and hugs with the kids and then we went over to see my sister finish only 1 minute behind me - she pretty much kept strong on pace even for the last mile including the hill and hit the finish line at 1:40:09, nailing the original goal time with a big PR. She did amazing and it was just her second half marathon!

Pushing hard to the finish.

Walking through the finish expo we got some race shirts in kid sizes (OK, now that makes sense, I don't need another cotton race shirt, but the boys thought they were great). We also ran into Steven from ARM Academy, he did really well, raced to a big PR and he also saw us out on the course (probably due to the glowing yellow ARM shirt and on the nice out and back by the ocean.)

Finished! Great Running Partner!

Cool running clothes from INKnBurn.

What went wrong: Again, not much. A little self doubt at miles 8-9, but got through that - one of the biggest helps was pacing with my sister. I might have slowed down, but with her at my side, I pushed through and then hit mile 10 and felt great again and ready to push hard.

Shins are a little sore now, so I still need to watch them and rehab against shin splints. I'll do a full rest day on Monday and also do some icing.

What's next: Are You Tough Enough 5 person 100K relay in the Santa Barbara mountains. My sister will be joining the team with 3 other runners from SB. After that I'm going to run the Ohlone 50K Ultra marathon (trail run in the hills.) I'm pretty happy with this PR, so I have no burning desires for another half marathon right now. My wife was inspired and she signed up for her second half marathon for this year, so that's another good bonus!

Awesome family cheer team!

Splits
Course map, the start is at the East side of the park