Sunday, December 14, 2008

I LOVE Half Marathons!

It's my favorite half marathon, period. Today, I ran the the Fiesta Bowl Half Marathon in Scottsdale for the second year in a row. Most other races, I might have stayed in bed. The weather forecast was for rain. My heel didn't feel 100% or even 80%.

But, this was the Fiesta Bowl. Bigger than Texas v. Ohio State. It's my final race for 2008. It was my final race for 2007 (funny, in 2006 my final race was the Holiday Bowl 5k in San Diego).

The start and finish line are at the Scottsdale Center for Performing Arts and they have a wonderful sculpture garden. I got a "LOVE" shot after the race.

The finish line festival is around one of the fountains. Here's a shot right after I finished the race. The race started at 7:30 am under clear skies. I didn't feel a drop of rain the entire day. It was cool, maybe 50 degrees at the most. I started with one of my famous 'goodwill throw away' sweatshirts and got to run with Karen and Christina for a bit. I, also, got to see Chad who was running the 5k. We started 2 minutes after the gun (not that we heard it). Karen said I could go on, as I was hoping to get a PR (I always do), so after running a bit with the TRC (Tumbleweed Running Club) I looked at my garmin and headed south of an 11 mpm pace.

According to garmin, the Fiesta Bowl course is 94% flat. The other 6% are speed bumps (well, the hills were not an issue). Five miles up Scottsdale rd, across Gainey Ranch (a nice subdivision) and then back home along the Indian Bend Wash (home of the SF Giants, at least in March). I love to look around as I run in new areas, so much to see. I've driven these roads, but you miss a lot at faster speeds.

Six of the first seven miles were at 11 mpm or less. Mile 7 was at 9:57. I have no ideal why. My feet felt fine and I wasn't having any issues with getting winded or tired legs. I was taking some walk breaks and conserving my energy. I knew I hadn't logged enough training miles (better to spare the heel, then train too much). But the last six miles were a bit slower.

Not to bore you with the details, but my left heel started to be a constant pain and I didn't deal with overcoming it like I should. I would run some, then walk some and watch all the people I pass, pass me by.

I ended up finishing the race around 2:32:44, five minutes slower than my PR. I'm ok with that time. It could have been much worse. I didn't stop at the McDonalds for a Big Mac around mile 10 and I didn't stop at the Circle K for a bag of fried pork rinds at my 12 (I don't really like them anyway). I made my way to the finish, just like Karen in the picture below.


Karen, got a PR and was happy. She didn't have any leg issues and you couldn't tell she had just finished 13.1 miles. She did great.

Christina ran her first half marathon, therefore she too got a PR. Two out of three TRC runners got PR's today, which ain't bad (ain't ain't a word, so don't use ain't).


Here's the TRC - Christina, Karen, Pat. The medals this year are the same as last year, but bigger and thicker. Metal must be cheaper this year.



Christina getting a back rub by the fine folks at Massage Envy.




If it looks painful, it probably is. But, I'm sure it was good for me. Here's Amber removing my bothersome left leg. It's actually, one of the better photos of me.
I would have posted sooner, but as soon as I got home and showered, it was off to show homes and write an offer on one in Discovery at Daybreak, a townhome community in Mesa, AZ that is quite nice (can you say run on sentence) with both one and two story units that are right next to the canal, which is great for running (you can stop reading whenever you like), hiking and biking to Freestone Park or even to Tumbleweed Park down in Chandler, the home of the Tumbleweed Running Club (are you still reading?) and . . .





15 comments:

billdowis said...

It looks like you had a great run! I can not wait to run the longer distances like halfs, partly for the finisher medals but moslty for the massage!

Great job!

lifestudent said...

During the Las Vegas marathom we passed about 7 McDonalds! I was tempted by every one of them :) Sounds like despite the heel you had a great time ... congrats!

E said...

Awesome job!

The Boring Runner said...

Nice work! You're right, metal MUST be cheaper! :)

Pokey said...

Woo hoo...whose fine butt is THAT??

Oh wait...I recognize it :)


(now youre wondering....is she talking about mine, or her own???)

:P

Thanks for a great time yesterday! You did awesome as always....and you are a spectacular cheer leader for me. I really appreciate it :)

Mary Gee said...

Great job. And I need to know more about tp stuff. It is expensive!

Frayed Laces said...

screw the big mac and pork rinds, how about stopping for a pint?

Anonymous said...

I'm with frayed laces on the pint!

Congats on getting it done. You don't even want to know about the weather here on Saturday. :)

TNTcoach Ken said...

No stopping for a Big Mac! That's the main reason to run. Sounds like this will be a traditional race for you in the years to come.

Unknown said...

It was great seeing you guys at the race! I'm glad to hear it went well for you in spite of the heel pain. Hopefully you can get that fixed up before your next race in 2009.

The weather really did turn out great in the end.

J~Mom said...

Congratulations!! I am sad that I missed out on all the fun! :>)

Anonymous said...

great raCE. congratulations.
patrick concepcion
http://runningshield.blogspot.com/

Marathoner in Training said...

Great job Pat, glad to hear you had a good race. Almost a PR, that is what we got 2009 for.

Jeff said...

Congrats on running through the pain, Pat.

Viv said...

Great job Pat! Even if it was a bit longer than your PR you completed it and I know that foot has been giving you a hard time so awesome on crossing that finish line! Loved the pics!