Few months ago I never would've thought of doing a half marathon. Earlier last month I did the Asha 10k and finished in good time (47:40). That, and encouragement from friends, motivated me to try doing a half marathon. I was never training for a half or any such, but when I started reading about the kind of disciplined training people do, I got a little anxious; all the running geek talk scared me a little. I hadn't been in good physical state (bike accident the week before) or a good mental state either, so that sucked. (I was telling Gopal the other day that I run well when I'm happy or when I'm super angry, but I was sad, and I don't do well when I'm sad.) Running makes me happy, and I had to do this.
Raj and I went to Santa Cruz the day before the race (Saturday). We stopped at Bill's Cafe to carb load and then drove to Santa Cruz. Checked-in to the hotel, walked around the boardwalk, had coffee at The Abbey and then later carb-loaded at Lillian's. The night was spent being anxious and I slept very poorly. Next day morning, I had couple of bagels and OJ and then was off to run!
Was exciting to see so many runners (4,000+). The course is beautiful, but the weather sucked (20-30mph winds, overcast). I'm not used to the random inclines so that was a little painful. The coastal route was especially bad because of the winds, but I survived. The last two miles felt like a long time, but I finally made it. My time was 1:47:30.
While I didn't feel like I pushed myself enough, I am happy with my time. Next I'm doing the SF half marathon in July, and considering training for a marathon.
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