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Posts tagged with: half marathon
Mar 14, 2011    |      0 comments

Austin SXSW Half Marathon

I’m was in Austin, TX for a few days for SXSW Interactive, so I missed some IronTEAM practices and workouts. My schedule has been pretty hectic lately that it was tough to schedule in some sort of workout. The schedule for SXSW is rough, as the panels and discussions start at 8am, and continue on at night for networking events and parties til 2am. Most of the panels were worthwhile except one morning, so I took the opportunity to run a little bit.

My initial intention was to just run a loop around the river, which was about 6 miles, but I just felt so good that I kept running for another loop and then some and ended up being a half marathon. Unfortunately I did not have my Garmin GPS watch, so I downloaded the RunKeeper GPS app on my iPhone. The GPS was sporadic so it wasn’t very accurate, but according to the GMaps Pedometer online, I indeed ran about 13.1 miles.

The course was fairly flat, scenery was calm, not too many runners since it was a Monday, and it was rather gloomy. There were sponsored water stops which helped me a lot because I pushed myself to skip any walk breaks, and stepped up my pace a bit too. I was on a slight time crunch because time was ticking as SXSW was still going on and I didn’t want to miss anymore events. It was a really good detox from all the Austin partying the previous nights before, so I was very refreshed for another round!

Oct 6, 2008    |      0 comments

Use The Restroom

… even if you don’t have to. That is one lesson learned from yesterday’s San Jose Rock N Roll Half Marathon. You see, 4 miles into the Half Marathon, I had that urge to go pee. Usually I’d go find a bush on the side the road, but the San Jose course was primarily residential, so I waited until the next port-o-potty, which was at the end of a Farmer’s Market. 4 restrooms, BUT only one was operational, and the rest had padlocks on them. What?!? So the line was extremely long. By the time I was back on course, it was mainly the walkers. (Not that there’s anything wrong with walkers, but I started at a mid-area corral, and I just wanted to illustrate how much has passed)

I did play a little catch up, picking up my pace, but after a while I just realized that it’s not going to do me any good, and I wouldn’t want to risk any injury, so I continued to enjoy the course. It was pretty much flat the whole way. Tree-lined residential streets, great crowd support, and perfect weather. I couldn’t ask for anything more. This wasn’t a “TNT” event, so many of us who registered came into it thinking it’s just a “fun run”. Who would’ve thought 13.1 miles is considered “fun”? Well, I finished in 2:52:12. I was a bit disappointed, but hey, I’m just glad I finished injury-free (especially since I have not ran since the Disneyland Half / Nike+ race a month ago!)

View my photos from the San Jose Rock N Roll Half Marathon

Aug 31, 2008    |      1 comment

Disneyland Half Marathon

Yesterday I missed the cutoff time at the Anaheim Expo due to your friendly traffic from LA to the OC. Because of it, I wasn’t able to get a goodie bag nor my race singlet. This morning was event #1 of 2 in one day. Even then, no matter how early I woke up, I caught traffic to the event. That’s LA for ya.

Ok, enough about my whining, and let’s get to the event. I was able to finally get my singlet at the info booth, and I was off to the corrals which was a bit different than I’m used to. They were more vertical, rather than horizontally sectioned off like the Rock N Roll Marathons. The sun wasn’t out yet, but I could feel that high energy from everyone. The crowd consisted of all ages, coming in all shapes and sizes, meaning, some people were dressed either Disney costumes or running gear.

We ran through Disney California, through Disneyland, through the sidestreets of Anaheim, to the Honda Center, Anaheim Stadium, then back to Downtown Disneyland at the ESPN Zone. It was such a fun race because through the parks, we stopped and took pictures of the rides, the characters, and the crowds. We would pass our times singing to old school jams by Boyz II Men and Jodeci. We would play games splashing water on each other, tell funny running (and drunk) stories of our past, and the usual antics we would do during our training. I ran with a few TNT alumni, and also some first-timers. It felt great not thinking about the time we’ll finish. I was afraid the day would be too hot, but it was manageable. It was a little humid at first, but I got used to it. We ran at a 5:1 interval the whole way, taking it VERY easy considering there was one more race to go that night!

You can view my photos here.

Jun 24, 2008    |      0 comments

San Jose Here I Come!

Call it marathon withdrawals, but I still have the itch to do another race! What did I do? I signed up for the San Jose Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon! Elite Racing had a $15 off coupon, so I just had to jump on it. I mean, after a 26.2 run, what’s 13.1? I think of it as another training day. It’s just another Sunday, or is it? By the time of the race, I won’t have a TNT training plan, but I do have the knowledge of setting something up very similar to it. I just have to be determined and focused. I know that if I do drop off in training, or some kind of cardiovascular training, my risk to injury is increased. I plan to do other small races until the event, so hopefully the San Jose Half won’t be a problem.