What up everyone, here is a recap of the Holiday Half Marathon and 5K races that I ran in this last weekend!

Just the facts:

5K

Time = 22:23 (a PR!)
Place = 51/1198 (4th in my age group!)
Garmin Map

Half Marathon

Time = 1:45:49
Place = 251/4915
Garmin map

Golden Snowflake Challenge (combined both races)

Time = 2:08:10
Place = 19/358

5K report:

I came into this race having run every day since Oct 30th as my big goal is next year’s LA Marathon. These 2 races were to serve as measuring stick to see how my training is going so my job was to run them as hard as I could. I got to the Pomona Fairgrounds where this race is at 7am for the 8:30am start time. The weather was nice, not cold as usual for this time of year. After picking up my bib and shirt and taking the shirt back to my car I did a 2 mile warm up so I would be ready to rock when the starting horn went off. At 8:30am sharp we were off, I started in the front group and took off! Mile one was pretty good as it starts with a downhill as we ran through the fairgrounds but turns uphill around mile 2. Mile 2 of a 5K are always my worst since I am too afraid to gun it since there are 2 miles left, a big chunk of mile 2 runs up the Pomona drag strip which just seems to go on forever but I know when you get to the top you get a downhill back toward the finish line so I just hung in there and kept grinding. Mile 3 is when I dropped the hammer, I felt really good and passed a few folks and before you knew it, the finish line was in sight. I don’t look at my watch when I race and thought I ran fast but not my fastest to was pleasantly surprised when I saw that I ran my fastest 5k ever! YEAH! I went right home after and took it easy because tomorrow was…………………

Half Marathon report:

My goal for this race was to run my personal best in the half marathon which is 1:44:30. I did a 2 mile warm up and felt pretty good considering I ran an all-out 5k the day before. The weather was just like Saturday, a little warmer than usual for December so I hoped that it would not be a factor later in the race. Luckily there were high clouds so the sun wouldn’t be beaming down on us. As I lined up for the start the 1:40 pace runner got right in front of me so I took this as a sign that that was a good time to shoot for. At 8am the horn went off and off we went. I stuck with the 1:40 pacer for the first 2 miles but my legs were feeling yesterday’s 5k so I had to let him go and run my own race. This race has lot of up and down hills which makes it a challenge but it is also why this is my favorite half marathon that I run. It goes from the fairgrounds to the dragstrip and them by an airport before heading around Puddingstone reservoir and back. I had a good steady pace but just did not have the all-out pace needed to beat my record. My legs were definitely feeling all of the miles I’ve been running the last couple of months so I just put my head down and grinded to the end. Just like yesterday I was able to finish very strong and squeaked in just under 1:46. Not the time I was looking for but not bad ether as it was my 2nd fastest half marathon ever. To hit my goal for LA I really need to be able to get closer to 1:40 for the half so I still have a lot of work to do so I will end this report now so I can get back to training!

Next Race = Paramount ranch trail marathon, 12/16/2017 (holy shit that is tomorrow!)

Thanks for reading this, see ya next time!