Rock n Roll Pasadena Half Marathon Race Recap

Yesterday I ran the inaugural Rock n Roll Pasadena Half Marathon.
I wanted to redeem myself after Surf City.  I was very disappointed with how I did there.  I signed up for Pasadena just a week ago, a last minute decision.

This was my first Rock n Roll event.  I was not too sure about how I would like it after reading so many posts on the disaster that was the Las Vegas race.

But I needed to get Surf City out of my head and Pasadena is near where I live and I love that town so I took a chance.

Saturday we went to the Expo.  I thought it was great.  Super easy packet pick up.  People were very nice.  It was not crowded..place was big and it was easy to go around and see all the booths.  Brooks was a sponsor and they had a nice boutique will lots of great stuff.
I got 2 t-shirts: one Brooks tech shirt, the race shirt and another t-shirt for the inaugural race that we could get if we signed up for another RnR race.

I signed up for this:

Halloween race on October 28.  They offered a $15 discount so I had to go for it!  Those are the shirts:

After the Expo I was feeling pretty good about this race.  Usually we drive the course but we did not have time so I just saw part of it. 

Saturday, I drank a lot of water and I tried to eat more than I usually do..not an easy thing to do for me.  I slept better than I did before Surf City also, being at home helps a lot.

Race Day

The weather was PERFECT.  I have zero complain.  It was cool...was not even 50 when we got to the race.  Bill was able to drop me at the start, at the ROSE BOWL, even though we had been told this would not be possible so that was great for me.  They had plenty of porta potty.  I have done several races at the Rose Bowl and it is a great place for pre and post race activities.  The start went perfect.  They had the corrals set up so that the first number on our bib was the corral number where we should line up.  Of course some people went in the wrong corrals...I don't really get that.  They had 10 corrals I was in the 6th.  They started on time and everything went really smootly.

I will not bore you with a mile by mile description of my race.

I was really surprised by how HILLY the course was.  I was not expecting this at all and after reading the comments on the Facebook page, I see that the majority of the runners were surprised as well.  This from my GARMIN:

I was feeling really  good for the first 8 miles, I knew the 2:15 pacer was behind me and I was a little worried about that because that is too fast for me, my PR was 2:24:05.  I kept telling myself  "don't panic..take it easy, ignore him, maybe he is confused and he is going to SLOW"

Crowd on the course was great, bands and cheerleaders and of course the supporters.  Before mile 5, I saw the winner flying by, on the opposite side of the road...I cheered for him, I am always so impressed to see the leaders and how fast they are.  Right after mile 5 I saw my family!  Elvis had passed right before me.



After that we went up hill....I felt it but I did not stop..I just looked down instead of up so the hill would not mess with my head!! :)

I did not think I would see my family again but they surprised me at mile 7 on a hard hilly part and I was so happy to see them, gave me a major boost.

Not long after that was a brutal section at the Colorado Bridge that locals calls The Suicide Bridge.  My pace dropped there and the 2:15 pacer passed me.  I told myself "It is OK he is not your goal."

I had a rough couple miles there but I was able to pick up the pace at mile 10 and I started feeling hopeful about getting a PR.  I knew I still had a difficult section ahead of me and I did not want to fall apart like I always do.  Mile 11-12.5 was no joke...wow...that killed me.  After that my stomach who had been behaving pretty good decided it was DONE.  I was cussing and crying as I kept going... "Not that CRAP again, not today, you have got to be kidding me"  But the dry heaves came...it was pretty bad.  I had to stop and walk many times.  My family was there at the finish but I never saw them.  Bill saw me walk,  I HATE that.  Here on these pictures I can see the finish line..one more turn and it is there and you can see on the other picture that I am in pain..look at the fist on my right hand..and well my face says it all.

Here, getting to the finish I was in full dry heaves mode...it is embarrassing to do that in front of all the people lined up.  I was worried about throwing up...but I kept going the finish line was right there...

And then it happened.
I arrived on the mat.
In front of the pro photographer that is sitting on the chair.
And I puked.
Twice.  ON THE MAT.
It was not pretty.
I almost passed out.

It took everything I had to make it to the mat.

It was a shaky finish, not raising the arm up in the air.

I am sure I looked like a drunk person.

2 medics came to get me right away "Are you all right?"

hmmm really?? "NO!"

Thank God, Bill and the kids did not see me get sick...after Bill snapped those last pictures they headed to the end of the chute to meet me.

I went to the medic tent to get water and I was OK to walk on my own so I did not stay long, I did not want Bill to get worried and I was OK.

I felt better because I got sick I think.  All the other times that I got dry heaves I never got sick...I just had the painful cramping.

But I am forgetting the most important, it is that this time that pain was all WORTH it:

2:21:17

Brand new PR for me and I am so happy.  2 min and 48 sec better than my old one. 

I walked back to go meet my family.

(Wearing my Italian T-shirt )

Those are my splits

There were celebrities at the race:

Justin Chamber, Chandra Wilson and Kim Raver from Grey's Anatomy and New Kid on the Block Joey McIntyre.  First 2 went over 3:30.  Kim Raver was just over 2 hours and Joey M.  ran under 2 hours.

The band Sugar Ray was doing the entertainement after the race

I loved that race.  The course was much harder than I expected but it was a beautiful course, I really liked it.  My best 2 half marathons were on hilly courses and both on days that were cooler.   Yesterday I did not eat anything during the race.  I had honey stinger in my belt but decided to skip it to keep my stomach quiet, that worked for 11 miles.  I drank water only..not a lot, maybe that was a mistake..I am not sure.  I took one salt tablet.  I ran with my Brooks Ravenna, first race with those shoes. 

I am happy with how I did and now I get put SC behind me and move on.

I am very embarrassed by how it ended..the poor people who were around me, I appologize to all of you.

I will be back next year to do this race. I have zero complain about it.  They organized a GREAT event!!!