Monterey Bay Half Marathon: This one weird trick* lets you run races without training (runners hate this)

Surprise! Bet you weren't expecting a road half marathon race report. Well honestly, neither was I. My last road race was Kaiser 2017 (no, Fear and Loathing doesn't count) But I'm just as vulnerable to peer pressure as the next GGRC alum (Hof, I blame you) so I signed myself up in October to survive a road race again.

The lead up: I've been battling hamstring and calf issues for quite some time now. Thankfully I've been seeing a PT this fall and actually listening to what they have to say. I neglected to tell them about this race (sorry Olivia) but with the various aches and pains I wasn't 100% convinced I'd finish, or even start. Training? Well I rode a century in August and have been doing the occasional threshold rides (basically trying not to max my heart race up Tunitas) Otherwise it's been about 20 miles a week running with a max long run of 12 miles. I've also been riding with a corgi in my backpack; that counts right? I was mostly trying to stay healthy and relatively sane and not freak out about sharp pains in my calf and shin the week before the race. 

The results

Strava or it didn't happen: https://www.strava.com/activities/10207097629/overview

Hof, Pat, and I started at the front of a relatively slower corral than we would have in the past. It was a perfect morning with low fifties and sunny. We started at about 7:45 pace for the first few miles, then settled into our respective paces. I was happy to find that my injury was of the "warm up and you can ignore it" type so I settled into a "comfortably uncomfortable" pace right at my lactate threshold. Great course; it was an out and back along the coast so definitely some echoes of Ocean Beach during Kaiser. I was surprised to be feeling relatively good cardiovascularly (is that a word?) so I pushed the pace as much as I could without a hamstring pull (been there), a calf strain (also been there), or an achilles mishap (you guessed it, I've been there) 

I've never been able to write an interesting road race report so here goes: blah blah blah, slammed a gu at the turnaround, drank a bunch of water on course, made a 30 second pit stop at an open port a potty (the shame!), then popped a Hot Shot to stave off the cramps on the way back. 

The retrospective

It worked! I managed to finish with negative splits and no new injuries. Whew.

It was nice to approach a race with a beginner's mindset after so many years. I was burned out on road racing when I quit, but this was a great race. It was well supported with lots of energy from the crowd and it even touched my cynical road running attitude. Plus it was a great feeling to tap into that runner's high on the last few miles at tempo pace, picking off folks who had gone out too hard. I can see the appeal in the excitement, the competition, and the camaraderie! 

It was a challenge to try to decide on goal times beyond "finish without hurting myself too badly." It was humbling to see how much slower I was than my last half marathon (my PR :-/) but I was genuinely pleased to be able to push myself this year. I can't wait to use this as motivation to get back into running 5 days a week, introduce some structured workouts, get some speedwork in, and finally make a grand return to...hopefully running a trail 50K sometime. 

Those ultra distances are calling, but who knows whether I'll get back to them any time soon.

The more interesting lead up to the race

Not being super concerned about finishing time was a fantastic call and let us enjoy the whole weekend!

The Whiskey club makes a mean old fashioned! Here's Larceny infused with apricot. It was a great call; Larceny already has some of those dried fruit vibes. I just with they went a little heavier with the bitters to offset all that sweetness.

Alvarado st brewery had some great pale ales! I paired it with an in house loco moco which was fancy and surprisingly not as much a gut bomb as I had thought. Gravy was surprisingly good! It was definitely elevated by the homemade hot sauce.

Hot fudge sundae pop tart. Looks great, but how is this different from the s'more flavor? (Spoiler: it really isn't) Tasty though.

Wine tasting in Carmel Valley was a first for me! I'd never been in this growing region before, but they had some really fantastic red blends that stood out. Lunch was an egg salad sandwich with smoked salmon at Cafe Rustica that really hit the spot.

Carbo loading/ sugar high came from a little shop called "Candyland". A+, would stuff all into my pack for a long run (except for the pickle salt water taffy) Did the fudge actually taste like birthday cake? Perhaps not, but it definitely was flavored with childhood nostalgia and plenty of fake vanilla. 

Pre race dinner was a nice rainbow trout with cardamom syrup at Passionfish. While their wine list went way over my head, it was a great meal!

Obligatory post race donuts and beer!

And last but not least, the bank that looks like a church across from the church that looks like a bank. Will wonders never cease.

Thank you to Hof and Kate for organizing!

Thank you to Erica and Sarah for cheering!
Congrats to Hof and Patrick for achieving their goals at this race!
Matt Dina, it was great running into you first at the Waldo 100K and then here! Sorry I was too zonked out to get a pic.

A+, surprisingly I would race this again. Preferable better trained and not on the cusp of injury next time.

*The trick is cross training. Makes sense, right?