Race Day - Ventura Half Marathon 2013

Decided to run a half marathon after a 3 year hiatus. The last time I did 13.1 was back in July 2010 - the Bryce Canyon Half Marathon. I had originally planned to train really well for the Ventura Half and signed up 2 months in advance so I had enough time to do so. I also picked a fast, flat course with the hopes of earning a new PR (possibly a 01:40 finish). Unfortunately, a ton of traveling and several other things (including slacking) meant I trained very little. The total number of miles I ran in September was 3.2miles and in the whole of August was 42.9miles. The longest training run I did between the day I signed up for the race and the day I ran it was just 8.4 miles.

With all that in mind, I had set myself a really low bar as I drove up north on the 101 on Sunday morning. I would be happy to just finish (and hopefully without injuring myself). So, in some sense I really surprised myself with the following finish (limited stats on the website)

                  Overall Place: 250 out of 1195 Finishers
                  Age Group Place: 24
                  Chip Time: 01:51:38
                  Avge Pace (First Half): 8:37/mi
                  Avge Pace (Last Half): 8:25/mi

When I started the race, I had the mindset of wanting to "just finish it". As I got to the turnaround point, that changed to one of "being able to keep my sub 2hr half marathon finish streak alive" and finally, as I got to around mile 10, I really started to think I might be able to come in at under 1:50! - And I think that is pretty evident from my average pace splits above.

Overall I was quite happy with the results for what I trained (nearly none). The race itself was absolutely beautiful. It was an inaugural race so there was no darth of excitement, the course was scenic, flat, fast and the weather was great too. Definitely recommend it!