Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego Half Marathon Race Report

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Happy Global Running Day! I hope that you had a chance to get a run in this morning to celebrate. I’m writing this Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego Half Marathon race report the day before, but I’m going to go ahead and state that yes, I took a run, though it was probably short and slow.

Global Running Day is a great day to not only celebrate running but to get some great deals on races and running gear. For example, for today only (Wednesday, June 6) the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon offers the best prices of the year on most of their races! The prices tend to go up as the day goes on, so check it out early! Keep your eyes open today for other great deals on running related gear!

Rachel, Lora, and I are pleased to welcome Marc Pelerin to the Running Coaches’ Corner! He will be co-hosting the linkup every Wednesday! Marc blogs over at Train with Marc. I hope you’ll stop by and say welcome!

A little more Running Coaches’ Corner housekeeping. Starting next week, the second Wednesday of the month will be a theme day! We will (hopefully) announce the theme a little earlier as we go on, but we hope it’s not too late for you to join in. The theme is not a requirement, we just thought it would be fun to have a common note in our blog posts. As always, the only requirement is that your post be running related.

Oh, yes, the theme! For June 13 the theme will be your favorite run! Do you have a favorite route that you run frequently? Or one that you discovered on a holiday? Share it and take us along with you for your next run (virtually, of course).

On to my Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego Half Marathon Race Report! I apologize if it’s a little long (aren’t they all? So much to talk about!), but it’s almost a tale of two racers. Me, running my 48th half marathon, relatively well-trained, and my friend Christina, running her very first half marathon (and only her second ever race!), undertrained but enthusiastic.

Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego Half Marathon Race Report

Here's Coach Debbie's @runrocknroll San Diego Half Marathon Race Report! Get the scoop on the race, the expo, and all the excitement! #racerecap #halfmarathon #rocknblogClick To Tweet

First of all, I’d like to introduce you to my friend Christina (if I’ve confused you by calling her Brenda, that is actually her real name as well as being her Instagram name, but she goes by Christina). She used to be our neighbor and would run with Alan and me (fairly) regularly. Then, sadly for us, she and her husband moved to Oceanside last fall, so he could be closer to his Border Patrol job and where Christina would be able to begin her career as a nurse.

Christina would probably be the first to tell you that without Alan and me to yell at her spur her on, her running fell off. Of course, a new nursing job an hour away from home and working 10-hour night shifts didn’t help either. We did get her going for a while when she joined us for the Carlsbad 5000 All Day 20k in April. Yes, her very first race was actually four 5k races in a row!

Obviously, Christina is one tough chica, but her training for her first half marathon was, well, actually it wasn’t. A few miles here and there was all she could handle with her schedule. So, as you can imagine, she was a bit nervous about running the half marathon. Fortunately, I was staying with Christina for the weekend, so I was there to drag her to the start line encourage her.

Saturday: The Expo

Do you remember your first big race expo? Then you can visualize the saucers that were Christina’s eyes as we wandered through the Rock ‘n’ Roll expo. After picking up our bibs, we picked up our parking passes and shuttle tickets then did a little shopping. I may have bought a pair of Pro Compression socks (and received a free pair because I’m an ambassador and I needed to match the others in the race) and Christina purchased two pairs. We also stopped by the Nuun booth where I may have introduced myself as a Nuunbassaador (and they kindly gave me a bottle, which I may have asked for). Christina bought a few tubes. See, I’m giving my ambassadorships the personal touch!

Fortunately for our wallets, we had a Pro Compression meetup at 1:00. It’s always fun to see old friends and meet new ones. Especially when it’s over pizza and beer. After lunch and a quick trip to Road Runner Sports, we finally headed home to get off our feet for the rest of the day. I think I may have walked way too far in flipflops!

I loved catching up with Smitha and Pavement Runner and many others at our Pro Compression meet up on Saturday!

Sunday: Race Day

The alarm rings early when you have a 6:15 race! After consideration, I had given up the idea of taking the train, even though it had worked out very well last year. I wanted to be at the We Run Social/Pro Compression meetup at 5:20, but with the train arriving at 5:09 it seemed like I wouldn’t be able to make it. I figured that if I drove myself I would have more control of my arrival time.

You know that they say: Best laid plans.

I told Christina that we needed to leave her house in Oceanside before 4:00 am. Unfortunately, it was closer to 4:20 when we finally got on the road. That 20 minutes made a huge difference. It was fine until we were within a few blocks of our parking garage (they are assigned ahead of time). Then the traffic stopped dead. By the time we parked the car and were heading to the shuttle bus it was already 5:35. I made myself relax because I wasn’t going to make the meetup. Now we had to worry about getting to the start line on time!

We finally arrived at Balboa Park at about 5:50. That sounds fine for a 6:15 start, but I seriously needed to hit the porta-potty line. Like as seriously as I’d ever had to go. Have you ever seen little children when they really have to go? That would have been me if I wasn’t too embarrassed to actually hold myself. Long line. By the time we finally finished it was 6:12 or so. Now to drop off our gear.

As we ran to the gear drop, we could hear the gun go off for the race start. As a runner of many races, I can’t tell you how stressed out this makes me. Even though it was a wave start and knowing that corral 13 would take a while to get up to the start, I was stressed. I didn’t start to chill out a bit until we were finally in our corral (corral six was just heading out when we got there). We still had time for a few photos, and then we were off!

Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego Half Marathon Race Report

I had forgotten how many hills there are in this race! Maybe I should look back at last year’s recap to see if I wrote the same thing. While it isn’t very steep, the first two miles seem to be a steady incline. I’ve done my hill work, but I still could feel it. So could Christina! She may have whined a little.

While the coast of California is known for the morning cloud cover we call June Gloom, it was nowhere to be found this morning. The sun was up and bright from the very beginning of the race. While it was still in the 60s, it was humid and getting warmer through the morning.

Of course, the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon is known for the live music along the course, and it is always one of my favorite parts. Spectators also get into the fun, sometimes bringing big boom boxes with them so they can blast some music to the runners. It always gives me a burst of energy. Alan has been known to stop and pretend to sing with the band, but I just cheer a little and run on by.

I love running through the neighborhoods of San Diego, especially Hillcrest, North Park, and, my favorite, Normal Heights, which prides itself on not being normal at all. The residents are out in front of their houses to cheer us on, supply orange slices and bananas, plus a bartender’s pride of cocktails including Margaritas, straight tequila or whiskey shots, and beer. I did not imbibe.

These neighborhoods took us through about the first seven or eight miles, making it fun and easy to stay focused on our task. It was at 4.5 miles though (right after the 4.5 mile Bar!) that Christina told me that she needed to walk. I was a little concerned because it was so early in the race, but I told her fine, 20 seconds, then we have to get going. Which we did.

Less than a mile later she needed to walk again. This time, though I felt a little guilty, I let her walk, but I kept running. She did catch up once, then dropped back again. On my own.

There isn’t a whole lot to write about over the next five miles or so. I was holding a steady pace, looking at a finish time of about 2:13 or so. The music was motivating. I just kept putting one foot in front of the other. I started to feel a little tired in about mile nine, but overall, I was feeling good. You know what that means, right?

I’ve mentioned my exercise-induced asthma. When it happens, it seems to come from nowhere. And it’s not that I suddenly can’t breathe. I feel a little light-headed like I’m not getting enough oxygen. If I don’t take note, or try to keep moving, I will start running slower and slower, and soon, yes, my airways close and I have a full-fledged asthma attack. I try to not let it get that far.

As I neared the mile-10 mark, I could feel it coming. I tried running for a moment but then slowed to a walk. I tried to resolve it by focusing on my breathing, and when that didn’t really help I used my inhaler. That worked, and I was able to get moving again, quickly able to return to my running pace. Phew! Disaster averted.

The last few miles of the race are mostly downhill, so I felt good as I headed back toward downtown San Diego. I was still on pace for the most part, in spite of the slower 10th mile. As I made it past mile 12 I felt good. And then…

At mile 12.5 I could feel it happening again. The lightheadedness and weakness. So I pulled over, but it just got worse. I stopped completely and had to grab onto a low fence to keep from falling over. Someone asked me if I was okay, and I told him that I would be, even though I kind of got myself tangled in that fence while I was talking to him. If there had been a chair I would have sat down. I used my inhaler and focused on my breathing.

After a few minutes, I was able to start walking. And then I could run. I felt totally fine. Not exactly as if it hadn’t happened, but good enough to run and even pick up the pace for that final downhill surge. I was really happy to cross that finish line! My time ended up at 2:19:04. My Garmin was nice enough to not count that time I stood there afraid I was going to pass out. It tells me my time was 2:16:53. I love my Garmin. I feel like it was taking care of me. I hate my asthma, as it seems to do the opposite.

After I crossed the finish line I still felt a little shaky (which is kind of normal, isn’t it?). I picked up my medal, grabbed a water, and started walking toward the finish festival. I planned to call Christina as soon as I was able, halfway expecting her to still be at mile 10. imagine my surprise when she called me! She had just finished and was just a few blocks behind me. She’d managed to keep running, inspired by the music and the crowd. And my husband, who she’d called at mile 11 to whine tell that she felt she couldn’t go on anymore and needed a lift to the finish line. You can probably imagine what he told her. Anyway, she finished in 2:25:02, quite an accomplishment!

As I waited for Christina to catch up, my calf seized up in one of the worst cramps I’ve ever had! Then, when I tried to work it out, first my foot, then my shin did the same thing. I couldn’t move to work out one cramp without another happening! It was terrible! This continued until Christina caught up, we picked up our gear, then finally (FINALLY) got to sit down on the grass. We both massaged and stretched my leg until it seemed to ease up. I always assume dehydration in these circumstances. Fortunately, I had a bottle of cold Nuun waiting for me in my gear bag.

As soon as I could walk again, we headed over to the beer garden. Not usually my thing, but Christina wanted a beer, so I had (a half) one too. It did taste pretty darn good! After some good recovery time, we started to head back to the car.

The Active Shooter

Though it really didn’t affect Christina and me, this is now a part of the race story. If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook or have a friend who did the race, you may already know that there was what was described as an active shooter near the finish line of the race. We only knew that, as we tried to get out of the downtown area there were the expected roadblocks because of the race, plus suddenly dozens of police and sirens crossing our route. We saw ahead of us where they were stopped, so we turned to avoid whatever was going on. Even as we headed east out of town several more police were heading very fast toward downtown San Diego.

The first we heard of the shooter was when Christina’s husband called her because he’d heard about it and was worried about her. By then, we were well away from the city and heading north. At first, the information was scarce and quite confusing. While reports said the shooter was close to the finish line, we know from our experience that she was several blocks away. Yes, she.

Of course, the questions were rampant. Was she shooting at the runners? Did she injure anyone? What exactly was happening? Even though we were out of the way, we had many friends in the race, including fellow Rock ‘n’ Bloggers and Pro Compression ambassadors. One by one they started checking in on our Facebook pages. We heard that the race had actually been stopped, the runners moved to “safe areas” and held until it was determined to be safe. Fortunately, they were able to finish, though I can only imagine how hard it was to get going to finish a marathon after having to stand around for 15 minutes or more.

In the end, this event was totally unrelated to the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon and no runners were ever at risk. The shooter, apparently using an Airsoft gun, was reportedly running from a hit and run accident and drove into a parking structure after waving what was apparently a gun at police. She drove to the top level, ducked under a car, and fired a couple of rounds at the police who were trying to catch her. It may have been only an airsoft gun, but she should be grateful that she is still alive. They look very realistic, and police officers are trained to defend themselves against gunfire. One officer fired a rifle at her but missed. She apparently then threw her gun out of the parking structure.

In the end, she was apprehended and the only injury was a self-inflicted wound when an officer accidentally shot himself in the leg. He had surgery but will be fine. Here is an article that seems to be pretty factual and up to date. It looks like she has a long history of stupid criminal behavior.

Whew! That was long! If you’re still with me, thank you. I actually kept myself from writing every detail because I was afraid I’d go over 3,000 words (yes, this is that long)!

As always, Rock ‘n’ Roll puts on a well-organized, fun event. The weather, while sunny early, was still pretty mild for this desert rat. I love this race so much (so much I became a Rock ‘n’ Blogger!). Remember I was here in 1998 for the very first Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon, so I hope to stick with it forever.

Have you ever run a Rock ‘n’ Roll race? Don’t forget your chance to get the best deals of the year today on Global Running Day! If you missed that, you can still save $15 on most marathons and half marathons with the code RNRRNB2018 (some exclusions apply).

 

 

And Now It’s Time for the Running Coaches’ Corner!

Linkup with the #RunningCoachesCorner with @running_onhappy, @loramarie03, @MarcPelerin, and me! Bring your best #runningrelated posts, find new blogs to follow, and share your love of #running!Click To Tweet

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Weekly Linkups

My weekly linkups! Please stop by and check out all of the great recipes, workouts, and information that all these awesome bloggers share every week!

Meatless Monday with Sarah and Deborah
Meatless Monday with Annmarie  and Dixya
Tuesdays on the Run with Marcia, Erika, and Patty
Inspire Me Monday with Janice
Wild Workout Wednesday with Annmarie, Jen, and Nicole
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