America's Finest City (AFC) Half Marathon - 2007

This Race was HOT! And I don't mean Paris Hilton Hot, it was hot HOT! Ok, I guess I should stop complaining. I live in San Diego, where I'm used to running in 60 degree weather under cloud cover. This year's AFC fell during one of the hottest weeks of the year. 70, sunny, and humid at race start...maybe 75. Good thing I don't live in the southeast (or even the midwest) where summer mornings can be outright miserable.




The morning started out at Pat's house. He only lives a couple miles away from Balboa Park (race finish/parking) so staying with him earned me an extra 20 minutes of sleep-in time. Pat and I parked at the zoo and then boarded the bus to Cabrillo National Monument for the start of the point to point course. We both stretched, went to the bathroom, stretched again....you know the drill.


Before the start, we ran into Jen Yake and Tim Neuschwander (as well as a couple other friends). Jen and I ran the entire race together last year, so we decided to start out the same this year. We started out at a nice pace (8:15 or so) for the first couple miles. My body was feeling ok, especially with the downhill portions. I stayed with Jen for the first 6 miles, and then I knew there was no way I could hold her pace for the rest of the race. Oh well. Miles 6-10 take you onto Harbor Island, and then along the Embarcadero. The crappy thing about this is that you're heading directly into the sun for most of this. It was HOT! At most aid stations, I sipped some water, and then poured 1 or 2 cups over my head. It was good to keep the head and body cool.


Around mile 9, my friend Eric caught up with me. We ran about 2 miles together and then reached the final hill of the course....where he dropped me pretty solidly. I had forgotten how painful the end of this race is....mile 11 -12.5, when you are completely depleted, are basically all uphill. Yuck. See the race profile below....





I finished the race in 1:55:57 which is a 8:51 pace. I was about a minute slower than last year, but was ok with that. With the heat, and a half ironman coming up, I had no need to push it too hard.

After a great big breakfast, I spent the rest of the afternoon drinking beers on the beach w/Pat and my brother, Ben, who was in town visiting. Now that's some nice recovery!