Carlsbad Half Marathon

I did this Half Marathon last year as my kick off race.  My new found passion of running sparked the plan to finish the 3 races here in So. Cal and earn the triple crown award.

The Triple Crown Award is awarded to runners who complete the Carlsbad Half Marathon in January, the La Jolla Half Marathon in April, and America's Finest City Half Marathon in August. THAT people, was my goal for 2010. 

Carlsbad Half Marathon 1/23/10
Finished in 2:05:04

La Jolla Half Marathon 4/25/10
Finished in 2:11:00

If you followed my journey last year, you would know that YES, I did finish the beautiful Carlsbad and I DID finish the VERY difficult La Jolla. 

Sadly, my goal was not met, as I waited too long to register for the 3rd race of the series and it sold out! I didn't get my Triple Crown Award. :( BOO! I did however, grow as a runner and learned a lot about what I AM capable of accomplishing. I got over it...and decided my new goal was to run Carlsbad again, and beat my 2010 time. 

Middle of my 12 miler on the course!

Training for Carlsbad 2011 began in mid October and I was determined more than ever to beat my 2010 time of 2:05:04. I had a great training cycle! I only missed 1 or 2 runs and met my goal paces on all of my runs. I knew I was going to crush my time! That's what I thought anyways. I mean my longest run of my training cycle was done at a 9:23 overall pace, I also had a 10 miler done at 9:21 overall pace...which would put me at a finish time of about 2:03 or less. I was stoked!

Danielle & I after our 11 mile sunrise run!

Anyways, back to the race! I went to the expo on Friday to beat the weekend crowds...it was great...no standing in lines for my bib or shirt, and I was actually able to move around and look at the vendors booths without punching people! I was also able to meet up with a friend of mine from high school that I played soccer with. 

I was able to pick up an iFitness belt that I won on Facebook!

I really wanted to wear it on race day, but since I had never ran with one before, I thought that I would wait on that! But SO excited to have finally got one. I will for sure be using it on tonight's 6 miler to test it out! 

After the expo, we headed to the jacuzzi for some RNR! I was so excited for Sunday!

I did my usual race morning routine. I woke up at 5:30, had my cup of coffee and toast with peanut butter and a bottle of water. Took a hot shower, got dressed and stretched it out! The hubby then got up and helped get the kiddos ready and we left by 6:40. Luckily, I live only about 10 minutes from the start, so getting there was easy peasy! I had plenty of time to get in line for a one last time pee break and get my stretch on! 

The race started on time, and even though I was assigned to wave 4, I snuck up to wave 3 because I noticed that the pacers in the front of wave 4 were for a 2:20 finish. I was aiming for 2:00. The first few miles were of course crowded, but I never noticed being "stuck" behind anyone. Miles 1-3 went by super fast! Here are my official splits from my Garmin:

1-9:34 

2-8:37(say what?!...oops!) 

3-9:00 

4-8:48 

5-9:12 

6-9:05 

7-9:03 

8-9:09 

9-9:22 

10-9:49(starting to slow down) 

11-10:16 (even more) 

12-10:35(slowest mile, walked here for about 30 seconds, felt worse than running!) 

13-9:49 

last .25 miles-8:17 pace

As you can see, I was having an awesome race until about mile 9. I was so stoked to see my Garmin at mile 7 and see that I was doing it...I was on track for my first sub 2:00 race. I noticed myself starting to slow a little after the hill climb at mile 9 but then I hit a mini wall. I started getting a little nauseous, and was getting slower and slower. Luckily, knowing that my family was waiting at mile 11 kept me slightly energetic. I waved at them around mile 10.5/11 and kept on truckin it! Mile 12 was definitely my low point of the race. I slowed WAY down and even let myself walk up the last little hill bump but it actually hurt worse to walk than to run! I fiddled with my iPod and turned on the music for the last mile. I gave it my all that last mile! It felt like I was running the fastest ever...come to find out...it was a slow 9:49 mile! Ha! Turning the corner for that last .25 miles...I gave it even more and finished with an 8:17 pace! Final time of 2:04:16. Not the sub 2:00 I dreamt of, but better than last years time of 2:05:04. I'LL TAKE IT! 

All in all, I was proud of myself for the great training that I put into this race, and for ultimately meeting my 1st goal. But to be honest, there was still this part in me that was disappointed that I didn't do better. I'm hoping that this is normal...people, is it?!

 I'm over it though, and now on to my next goal...The Rock n' Roll San Diego Marathon on June 5, 2011. BRING IT!

This is my absolute favorite half marathon! Not only because it is near my home town, but honestly, the course is absolutely beautiful. Not to mention that the weather her in Southern California in January has been strangely spring/summer weather. I'm not going to lie, I was cold at the start. I think it was like 44 degrees and I was wearing my capri pants, a shirt, a long sleeve shirt, and gloves. Things got warm, real warm quickly. By mile 5, the sun was out in full blast and there was not a cloud in the sky. Here are a few photos from the actual race on race day, courtesy of Sarah at SkinnyRunner

This is right past my work at about mile 2.5

Such a beautiful January day in Carlsbad...mile 4

This was after the turn around heading up one of the hills on the "flat" course! It amazes me that they call this course one of the flattest...not really!!!! This is about mile 7.5

Here are some photos that my hubby was able to quickly snap!

Mile 3 (I'm the one smiling like a dork!)

Action shot...passing my family at mile 10.5

And there I go!

I finished! 2:04:16

I would HIGHLY recommend this race to anyone! Especially if you are looking for a destination race...so worth it! After running it 2 years in a row, I am happy to announce, that next year, the hubby will be joining me! 

La Jolla Race Report

Wow, where do I start? First of all, I was SUPER SUPER nervous for this race. Mostly because I knew what to expect. I did this race as my 1st half marathon ever back in 2001 and all I can remember is how sick I was afterwards. Last time, this course put my body into a shock like it had never seen! Taken from the website:


The La Jolla Half Marathon is one of America's most picturesque and challenging runs. Starting adjacent to the Del Mar Fairgrounds main entrance, the course follows a scenic route along the coast before reaching the challenging climb to the summit of Torrey Pines State Park. After leaving the park, the course continues the beautiful residential district of La Jolla Shores, and finishes on the grass in the park at La Jolla Cove.


Basically, this course was almost all uphill, (at least it felt that way!) with the exception of a pretty brutal down hill that KILLED my knees and shins at mile 11! I am so glad that it is over, and that I finished strong...the ONLY reason I did this race again, was to fulfill the requirement for the Triple Crown Award. It was my goal this year to do it...and I have finished 2 of the required 3 races! :)


OK, on the to race report!
I knew come Sunday morning that I was going to have to get up super early (4:30am), and the last race, my daughter was not having it! As you can see in her beautiful photo to the right! ;) SO, she stayed the night at Nana's and my son Mason stayed at YaYa's. To tell you the truth, it was so weird having no kids at home...so quiet! But I was able to get all my stuff ready and packed and to bed at a decent time (asleep by 10:30). I was surprised how soundly I slept, I only woke up once (around 3:30) to go pee and was thankful that I had more time to sleep :) The alarm went off at 4:30 and I brewed my coffee and made my toast with peanut butter. Played on the computer while eating and drinking my coffee, and then took a hot shower. Got dressed, and stretched a little while waiting for the hubby to get ready. We were out of the house by 5:45am. We only live about 30 minutes from the race start, but I wanted to make sure we had plenty of time before the race start at 7:30...and luckily we got there by 6:30! So sad, my hubby got the camera out to take a picture of us, and the battery was dead! BOO! So I have no photos from the start. :(
My tummy was was very uneasy, mostly due to nerves...so I left the hubby and headed to the port o potty lines. Glad I got that out of the way! The lines were crazy by the time I was done! This is when i felt really lonely :( I was running solo, so I pretty much had to sit there and stretch for an hour or so by myself. I mainly just people watched and tryed to calm myself down...I kept thinking to myself, What's the worst that can happen? Well, check this out:
HERE Apparently 2 runners suffered heart attacks towards the end of the race! CRAZY!!!
Anyways, it was 5 minutes until race time and the announcer kept telling people to start lining up. There were about 6500 racing in the half marathon, so there were only 2 waves. Those in wave 1 were 8 min/mile and under, and wave 2 was over 8 min/mile. So I waited to start with the 2nd wave, but then I noticed that people who didn't look like 8 min and under runners were lining up. ( Not to be judgemental, but really, some of these people did not look like they could run under 8 minute miles!) So I jumped into wave 1 in fear of being stuck at the end having to bob and weave a butt load of peeps! 
It took me about a mile and a half to warm up and for the heavy legs to feel not so heavy...I mean I hadn't ran more than 3 miles in 10 whole days due to my bout with the stomach flu! But I finally set into a groove. Hills Hills and more Hills! Despite all the hills, the course was absolutely beautiful! All I kept thinking to myself was, "just make it past mile 5...then you have the mondo crazy hill and then it will almost be over. Just get past Torrey Pines hill!" I got to Torrey Pines Hill and decided to power walk up the steepest part. Which I am SO glad I did! I was even passing people that were trying to run up it, that is how steep it was. Why waste my energy trying to run up it when I still had half the race to finish?! This is when I was SO glad that I had my handheld water bottle. There were no water stations at all here! That was one thing I noticed, there were hardly enough aid stations on this course; and for how tough it is, I would think they would have a lot more. At this point, I ate 1 shot block (I had a whole bag of them, but before the race had a 5 hour energy drink shot, and I didn't feel like I needed any nutrition throughout the rest of the race)...I would HIGHLY recommend that little bottle of greatness! ;) Check it out HERE
Thankfully I made it to the top and had a slight downhill afterwards! What a relief! ;) This is where I saw my friend Meghan. She wasn't running this race (she just ran the L.A. Marathon) she just came to watch. It was so cool, she and her cute dog started running with me for a few minutes, and it really gave me some more motivation! I was still feeling good by this point, then came a brutal steep downhill. When I say brutal, I mean you could hardly slow yourself down, and with every step it felt like your toes were going to come out the front of your shoes! My shins hurt so bad this morning, along with my toe nails being tender! But it was a good break from the hills! Mile 12 was along the boardwalk which was pretty cool...lots of spectators there! I wish I had my camera! AHHH! I was getting pretty tired at this point...really wanting to walk, but didn't because I knew that somewhere in mile 13 I would walk up part of the last uphill. Thinking back, I probably could have run more up that last hill, but I really wanted to sprint to the finish and finish really strong! And I did...once I was at the top of the hill, I started booking it, that last .25 miles was all out (according to Garmin, at a 7:26 pace! Which is great for me, ha! )  Crossed the finish line...and hubby was there to watch me...I almost welled up in tears, I was so happy to have finished! Pushed STOP on my Garmin...2:10:47. My goal for the race was 2:15 to 2:10. I DID IT! I really surprised myself, I was really expecting to not do as well considering the past few weeks I was not feeling 100%...so I was really happy with the overall outcome of the race! Here are my splits:
Miles
1~9:02
2~8:53
3~9:09
4~10:00
5~8:56
6~12:17 (Torrey Pines 420ft elevation gain Hill)
7~10:46
8~9:49
9~9:28
10~10:13
11~9:00
12~9:48
13~11:24 (Last hill, walked up a lot of it)
.25~ 7:26 pace :)


Total distance 13.24 miles
Total time 2hr 10 min 47 sec
AVG pace 9:52


Offical chip time ended up being 2:11:00 on the dot!
2911/5839 OVERALL
1199/3150 WOMEN
300/722 AGE GROUP
Thank you everyone for your support and good wishes! I am so thankful to have finished this race and looking forward to a PR in my last race America's Finest City Half Marathon August 15th. I would be so happy to beat my Carlsbad time of 2:05:04. 


Me and the hubby at the finish at La Jolla Cove

Thank you again everyone for your support...now off to ice my shins! OUCH!

Carlsbad Half Marathon 1/24/2110

YIPEEEE!!!!!! I am so happy to report that I finished the Carlsbad Half Marathon in my goal time! Here are the stats:


Runner Details Race Results
Bib: 8977
Name: Kelly Nakamura
Gender: F
Age: 28
Overall: 2735 out of 7105
Women: 1218 out of 4394
F 25-29: 242 out of 846
Age/Grade: 52.65% Place: 2828

Finish: 2:05:04 Pace: 9:33
Tag Time: 2:05:04
Gun Time: 2:10:44
Split Times
6.6 Mi: 1:01:48 Pace: 9:22

It was a great race and I was so happy to have my husband, my kids, my parents and my friends there to support me.

Race Report
This is offically my first race report, so here goes:

    The race was having their expo starting Friday from 2-6...I figured we would go Friday, since it would be a lot busier on Saturday. After the hubby got home, we packed up the kiddos and drove down to the expo. The expo was in these huge outdoor white covered tents right next to the start/finish line in the mall parking lot. We arrived around 4:00 and there wasn't that many people there yet (I didn't even stand in line to get my bib number)! We walked around for a bit, looking at all the running gear...I even met the running skirt sisters! Around 4:30, I met up with an old high school friend of mine that I played soccer with, and ran my first half marathon with back in 2001. Here we are:

Meghan & I

We ended up not staying too much longer, the kids were getting really bored! ;) But it was so great to see her after 7 years...I wished her the best of luck in her upcoming L.A. Marathon, and we agreed that we need to get together ASAP again to catch up some more!

    So, pretty much, Saturday was spent doing much of nothing. Went to Target, made a yummy dinner of rice and chicken, and then tried to go to sleep early, but managed to stay up until 11! Here is all my gear layed out:

    I checked the weather for Sunday morning, and it was supposed to be 39 degrees at start time, and heat up to about 60 degrees by finish time. So I stuck with my black capris, gray t shirt, and black long sleeve top.  All in all, I was perfect until maybe mile 11, then the sun started beating down on the black.

   I woke up Sunday morning about 4:50am, made my 1 cup of coffee, ate my wheat toast with peanut butter, and tried to eat a banana, but my nervous tummy wouldn't allow it! Drank a bottle of water and got the kids up and ready at 6am! My daughter Kaitlyn was NOT a happy camper that I got her up "when it was still dark outside", as she put it! Mason, on the otherhand, was HAPPY as always!

    We got to the start line at 6:45, enough time to stand in the HUGE lines to go pee once more and then line up for the 7:30 start. The girl that I was running with was assigned to wave 7 (she put her last half marathon time as her expected finish time...well, she is MUCH faster now!) and I was assigned to wave 5. We lined up in wave 5 and noticed the pacer for that wave was 2:30...well out goal time was 2:05...so we snuck up to wave 4! The pace in that group was 2:20...so again, we snuck up to wave 3! DON'T TELL!!!! ;) Much better, the pacer was 2:10, so we sayed there and 5 minutes after the gun went off, we were let loose!  Here we were waiting to start...

    Sarai & I

   

    Mile 1 and 2 were SOOOO crowded. You couldn't even bob and weave by people, but luckily we moved up a few waves, so everyone was at the same pace. I couldn't wait to get to mile 2.5! It is right in front of my work, and all my co-workers were out front with a sign cheering me on, it was so cool to see them all! Then, at mile 3, my hubby, my kids, and my parents were there to cheer me on and the hubby got a few good photos! It was smooth sailing until mile 6...this was the first huge hill since the mile 1 hill, i put on a pumped up song, and trucked it up the hill. Still feeling good! Somewhere between mile 10 and 11, I really started slowing down. My legs were feeling tighter and heavier and I soooo wanted to walk. But, I knew my family was waiting for me at mile 11, and I didn't want to stop...so I kept on truckin'!

Me giving my Dad a high five at mile 11!

    Mile 12 was the longest mile of my life!!! I just kept thinking to myself, I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL I'M DONE! We finally were heading downhill to mile 13 and I was so happy that the end was near. We sprinted that last 100 yards and crossed the finish line together @ 2:05:04! YEAH BABY!!!!

And we FINISHED!

All in all, it was an awesome race. The crowds were awesome, the volunteers were fantastic, and I am stoked to have met my goal time. The only thing I wish could have been better was my last 2.5 miles. I was really hurtin'. And honestly, I think if I would have stopped and stretched for a minute or two that those miles would have gone a lot better...note to self for the La Jolla Half in April ;)

    I want to say thank you to all my family and friends who supported me thorughout my training...especially my hubby! For watching the kids on the nights I had to leave and do my long runs...love you babe! Thank you to my parents for being there race day and supporting me (I really needed it at mile 11!), and thank you to my mother-in-law for letting me borrow her treadmill for my training runs...you have no idea how much it helped! And lastly, thank you Sarai for being my running buddy on all those long runs! It was so nice getting to run with you!

Looking forward to a week off and then training resumes for the La Jolla Half Marathon April 25th. As far as training goes this time around, I think I am going to extend my longest run to 15 miles instead of 12; and then continue my 2 shorter run during the week. If anyone has advice, I am TOTALLY up to hearing it, as I have obviously never trained for a 2nd half marathon! :) I am also looking forward to seeing my daughter compete in her first running event on April 10th, the Carlsbad 5000. :) She is so excited to race "just like mommy"! LOVE IT!!!!