Carlsbad Conquered
Woke up at 0330 to get ready for the big race. The wave starts at 0600. On the way I got pumped listening to a live Ozzy Osborne. No More Tears baby! It’s a surprise that it was fairly easy to get there compared last year, well last year I signed up for the half marathon which has a bigger crowd anyway compared to the marathoners which is just 1,500.
After the usual porta potty prep we head out to the starting line. My plan of attack was to start conservatively and just listen to my body. So we took off. To prevent taking off and to pace my self slowly I went to the first porta john in the course which also help let the surge past by. You know the head of line excited crowd and the elites. I stuck with an 87% ave heart rate.
By mile six I was still feeling good. I was just watching my left shin which I just found out I was not suffering from shin splits but from tendinitis instead. But that is a different story just ask me if you really want to get bored. So I pushed through 90% ave HR.
I did the usual refuel by taking Gu every 45 minutes before the hour which interestingly enough I always got hungry 35 minutes before the hour. Mile 8, I started to notice that my left inner thigh is starting to chafe. Holy crap! I used body glide but because of the cold weather it just wiped it off, so I started to switch to survival mode. Luckily as soon as I passed the first water station the volunteers were handing out the one thing in my mind… Petroleum Jelly! I was so happy! I took my time to slather a wad of Vaseline on both legs. It was icky but it was pure heaven…
Mile 10, everything was still gravy so I level up to 94%. Went to cruise control from there. By mile 11 I was just starving and can’t think of anything but a hotdog pretzel. I totally spaced out and forgot everything I was trying to remember to write in this blog afterwards. Mile 12, my HR monitor strap was starting to chafe. Nothing a wad of Petroleum Jelly can’t handle.
So I spaced out and just have to jump to the finish line. Sorry ha ha! I look up to the finish chute and saw the time… 03 hours and 59 seconds with a few seconds to catch! I summed up whatever’s left in me to catch that sub 4 hour clock. I don’t have any personal goal in mind maybe a 4 hour 30 minutes finish but this was awesome!
After getting my medal another surprise was waiting for me at finish line. Pat Oscar’s got a booth and serving Penne pasta, salad and bread sticks! I asked for two servings, I was just famished.
Not bad for another Sunday long run!
