I got to the race pretty early just so that I'm not rushed into doing anything.  I've been doing so many triathlons that I kind of forgot how things go at running races and didn't want to be stressed out over the logistics of gear bag drop off and getting to the start line from the parking lot!  Once I got to the expo I took all the necessary bathroom breaks that I needed and had a really good warm up, nice and steady to warm up my body and get comfortable with the weather; it was a bit chilly at the start.  

15 minutes before the start I went and lined up with my corral; I was expecting to finish around 1:30 and I lined up at the back of my wave since that was the "slowest" time in the wave.  The gun went off and did I ever regret that decision, I would say 90% of the people in that wave were going slower than me and some were already walking from the get go in groups of 4 to 6 wide!  I was very irritated as I had to zig zag through the crowds and apologize as I bumped some shoulders but then I told myself to stop being a "snob"; everyone here has a journey and maybe not everyone is familiar with the race etiquette so just focus on not tripping it'll open up soon.  About a half mile into the race it started to open up and I found the space to be able to run at my pace in a straight line.

Miles 2 to 8 were very uneventful, I was on stride and felt so strong; every time my watch beeped my pace was always 6:45 min/mi or 6:50 min/mi so I was definitely pacing myself correctly.  And then the turn around point came to start heading back south on PCH towards the finish line, and suddenly we were facing headwinds that I never felt when I was heading north!  For the first half mile I was able to maintain my pace and I could sense these 2 guys on my toes the whole time, as soon as they felt that I was started to get tired they told me to take a break and run behind them while they block the wind for me.  I thanked them and we tried to recruit a 4th runner into our pack but he didn't want to join as we were going to fast for him.  We stayed together for about another mile and then I couldn't keep up with the two and I told them to go without me!

From that point on the struggle was real, I really thought about taking walking breaks but I told myself to just take a bit of the pace and decide if I still want to walk.  But every time I did that I found myself picking up the pace again for a minute or two and slowing down again so I stayed with that approach.  11 miles were down and we are starting to enter downtown Huntington Beach again, I was hoping the crowds would give me some boost but it had a minimal affect.  A lot of mental conversations were going on until I found the one to keep me focused:  "I know the difference between pain from an injury and pain from fatigue, this is pain from fatigue so no need to worry.  Remember the hill repeats? the legs and lungs were burning... well my lungs are not burning now so this is much easier just keep on going"  and I kept my thoughts on the hill repeats until I can finally see the finish chute.  I looked down at my watch and it was just about to turn 1:30 so I missed my target time but I knew a new PB was in the bag.  I got my final rush and I pushed as hard as my body could and ended up crossing the finish line at 1:31.

Last time I ran a stand alone half marathon I was 4 years younger... this time around I went 2m 40s faster without training specifically for this race.  I was just on the base squad program and decided that I wanted to have some fun and do a race; set a goal because I'm goal oriented but don't let it take the fun out of it.  Looking back at the race I did half marathon running sub 7 min/mi... I still remember my first ever when my goal was to run 10 min/mi (I ran 10:08 min/mi), that was 6 years ago.  What a journey?!