A Little Redemption

I ran a 12K in San Francisco today and when I ran it last year, I was in horrendous shape and the course ate me alive. Back then I ran the 7.46 miles in 55-1/2 minutes or so.  This year I wanted to run it in the range of 52-53 minutes. Ideally closer to 52 than 53, but I knew I'd be happy with anything in between. I finished officially in 52:51, which is a 7:05 avg. pace. Not bad for me considering the course and my fear of it.

The first 4 miles is hilly with a good, steep uphill climb to the Golden Gate Bridge, and good, steep downhills onto Crissy Field. After that, it's all flat to the end and this is where the race really picks up. Last year it was where I slowed down to a jog!  Ha!  But I did okay this year.

I wish I could use my Garmin pace as my official "pace" but I didn't run the tangents perfectly so all it tells me is how fast my legs moved. Running outside of the tangents gave me a 7.57 mile race. :(  It was too crowded to get into that ideal position every time. Anyway, the Garmin recorded an overall pace of 6:59, based on my ineptness at tangent running. Ho hum, too bad it doesn't count as official but at least I know my legs are moving faster!

My splits were:
6:43 (nice 1/2 mile or so downhill, just wanted to find some kind of groove before I hit the hill)
7:59 (crazy steep and long uphill climb, just told myself to get up the hill one knee lift at a time)
7:03 (recovered on the Golden Gate Bridge, felt pretty good)
6:15 (did I say there was a good steep downhill?) I literally reminded myself not to fly down the hills with each step I took
6:52 (I guess this is where my race began)
6:56 (this is where I was starting to fight the heavy legs and started the self talk w/ "I'm strong," "I love feeling like I'm about to puke," "Don't even think about giving up," "Stick with those two women right in front of you," etc.)
7:01 (oh yes, struggling to get to the finish line; major self talk -- "Relax," "Breathe," "Hang on," "Almost there," "Do not let go of them!")
4:01 for the last .57 (which is about a 7:02 pace). I was breathing out of control in the last 1/2 mile because it's another steep climb (at least it's a short one) followed immediately by a super steep downhill. I think I was actually wheezing!

All in all I'm happy about this race. I felt blessed to be able to push my body to its limits again, and to see the beautiful views that surrounded me. I highly recommend racing in San Francsico... it's really amazing!
I think if the course were nice and flat, or had little rolling hills I would've been able to run 51-52 minutes instead. I hope to run another 12K in April... so maybe I can redeem myself a little more.

Thanks for your time! :)