Race Report: 10.30.2011 Los Angeles Rock N Roll Half Marathon

Chip Time: 1:50:12
Pace: 8:25/mile

The Los Angeles Rock N Roll Half Marathon didn't turn out as badly as I was worried it would. It's far from my fastest marathon at 1:50:12. I should have pushed a little harder to get in under 1:50. Last year's time was five minutes faster at 1:45:23 but that was a different course. The lack of training really did me in, and it didn't help that I had gotten sick a week before. I had a couple of coughing fits during the race, but really the biggest issue was not getting the mileage before the race that I should have. By the 10K point my legs were feeling fatigued. I thought I might have gone out too fast, but considering I maintained the pace throughout probably means that it was just right. SInce I was in corral 2 I didn't have too many issues with having to swerve around people and I managed to run the first mile in 8:30 flat. In fact, I was consistently at 8:30 or under during the race. My slowest mile was mile 7 at an 8:36 pace. I can't remember anything unusual about that portion, but the reason for that being the slowest mile was probably due to a brief water/walk break. I thought the slowest one would have been mile 9 and its uphill climb up 6th Street bridge, but it doesn't appear that the bridge slowed me down too much. Mile 9 was accomplished in 8:19 and mile 10 was 8:32.

The race was mostly uneventful. The weather was fine until the end when it quickly warmed up. Thankfully the high rises of downtown provided much shade and the heat didn't trouble me. In the portion through Little Tokyo and towards Boyle Heights, though, there wasn't shade to be had, so the heat was a little more troublesome there. All in all it was a decent race. I didn't hurt too badly and I was able to finish. I doubt I'll run this race again next year, though. I don't like the new course. It's boring and not as fun as the old one that ran through Griffith Park, Silver Lake, Echo Park until finishing in downtown. Besides, it's been there, done that. Hopefully when I run the Pasadena Rock N Roll Half Marathon in February I will have trained better and be able to challenge my PR of 1:41 from four years ago.

As for the rest of the month, October was a slacker month for running. Including the half marathon, I only managed 84.1 miles for the month. Not good. The longest distance was the half marathon. I'm becoming a broken record, but I need to train more!