Kaiser Permanente Half-Marathon race report

Rickshaw · Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 1:23 pm

I finally got back in the saddle today with my first race in many months. I've run this half-marathon four times in a row, with times of 1:37, 1:44, 1:32, and most recently 1:33. Even though my recent training has mostly consisted of sitting on the couch, I was determined to extend my streak to five in a row. From a base of near zero, I threw together a couple of 20 mile weeks, 8 and an 11 mile "long" runs, and declared myself ready.

In my recent training runs, I've typically been doing around a 9:00 - 9:30 pace, and finding it challenging to do more than about 6 miles. I hoped I could keep a 9:00 or slightly better pace through a half-marathon, which would give me something like a 1:55 finish. Not blazing, but still better than sitting on the couch.

A beautiful morning greeted me in Golden Gate Park, with a record crowd of 9000 runners. This race just keeps getting bigger every year. I lined up pretty conservatively between the 8 and 9 minute mile signs, and from there it took me about 2 minutes to reach the start after the gun. My plan was to start slow, then taper off. Actually, I planned to take the first couple of miles as more of a warm-up, then see how much I could crank down the pace after that. But not surprisingly, that plan quickly flew out the window.

1 - 8:32 - bobbing and weaving through the crowds
2 - 7:58 - moving faster than expected, feeling ok
3 - 8:03
4 - 7:58
5 - 7:29 - the beginning of a few downhill miles to the ocean
6 - 7:36
7 - 7:55
8 - 8:07 - running along the beach now
9 - 7:57
10 - 8:03 - kind of zoning out, just focusing on keeping quick leg turnover
11 - 8:00
12 - 7:55 - pumping my arms like a madman!
13.1 - 8:47 [ 7:55/mi pace ]

TOTAL: 1:44:26

Not bad! It's still my slowest ever time for the course, but only by a hair, and still better than I'd been expecting. It's nice to know that my fitness hasn't TOTALLY evaporated. Now I'm looking forward to an 8K next weekend with my 4-year-old daughter. Maybe I'll race myself back into shape!