A bit delayed in posting this but I had to get it off my mind before I pen my LA Marathon 2012 recap!
Race: Rock ‘n’ Roll Pasadena Half Marathon
Date: Feb 19th, 2012
Start Time: 7:00AM
Location: Pasadena, CA
I did it! I finally PR’d my half marathon distance — and it only took me about 3 years to finally get a new personal best. This race also marked my brother, Jeremiel’s first half marathon! He did it in style, too — DEAD LAST. LOL. OK, that was mean. Even if he did come in last, though, the important thing was, he finished! ^_^
Anyway, back to me! Hehehe. 🙂 I was a bit nervous coming into this race despite telling myself that it was but a “training run” leading up to the Los Angeles Marathon. I’ve been training well in my Vibram Five Fingers (VFF) KSO’s and had only recently switched back to doing some part of my training in shoes, albeit a minimalist pair (Saucony Kinvara). I had suffered some shin pain whilst in shoes and wasn’t looking forward this race in them on hills! It’s not like it’s the first time I ran in the Saucony’s either (I ran LA last year in them) but it was just different this year.
When race day arrived (or more accurately, the night before the race), I decided to wear my VFFs since it was a “training run” anyway.
The Expo
This was the inaugural RnR Pasadena so I was a bit excited to see what sort of expo they’d have. It was small. LOL. The nice thing though was I got to see some LA Leggers friends and tasted this delicious, brownie-like cake at one of the booths… but I can’t seem to remember what it was called! AHHH. I swear they weren’t spiked either 😉 but it was just that good.
Carbo-Load
Since the parentals were still in-town and Annelle (who had broken her leg 17 days before the race!) wanted to join us for carbo-load, we all met up at this nice restaurant (Celestino Ristorante) in Old Town Pasadena. I had this exquisite black & white tagliolini with scallops and a hint of saffron. Mmmm…
Race Day
As usual, for “out-of-town” races, we spent a night at a hotel, the Westin in Old Pasadena. Because we were with lucky Irene, we got into the the Presidential Suite! Anyway, the Westin also had a shuttle that took us to the start line (or close to, anyway) inside the Rose Bowl. The race seemed small, actually and the amount of participants was just right for that balmy morning.
The Course
Some parts of the course (particularly when we ran through Old Town) reminded me of Georgetown in DC! It was rather hilly, too, but nothing I couldn’t handle thanks to doing almost all my training runs on hills 🙂 Since I was in my VFF’s I was also confident attacking the climbs. Oh, this is the first time I ran with my sis Minel from start to finish! She was soooo nice and slowed down to my pace and my interval (run for 30 minutes, stop for a minute or so to consume some nutrition). It was around mile 9 or 10? that I cramped up, though! Sisy massaged my rock-solid calf muscles and I poured some Kool ‘n’ Fit on them for good measure. She also gave me some pep talks, reminding me that I didn’t have to PR if I didn’t want to, but that I was so close to the finish if I didn’t stop running, that I could deffo get that personal best. It worked. LOL. Despite the cramp and brain fog, I kept going and finished strong. I thanked her immediately after crossing the line and told her that had she not accompanied me, I would’ve given up mentally after cramping up.
Chip time: 2:32:54. BOOM! That’s nearly 4 minutes better than my previous best…. and in Frodo shoes ^_^
