I was ready to break 1:32 this morning but I blew it with some slow early miles. (Lead Photo - at the start)  The first miles is mostly downhill and that was great.  I hit the mile at 6:30 and it felt pretty easy.  But my legs all of a sudden were feeling heavy.  My second mile was 7:10 and my third was the slowest of all.  I ran that one in 7:17.  There were a lot of marathoners on the course (they started at 5:30am) and I did have to slow a few times. 

After seeing 20:57 at the three mile mark and I knew I had to pick it up.  My next two miles were 7:03 and 6:48.   I really started feeling my hamstring tugging a bit at this point.  I am sure glad that Catherine massaged it the night before.

I am also glad I had put on a Hot patch before the start.  This kept it together and I am sure if I had not had on this patch, it could have gone south.  But it didn't.  I am going in for a massage on Tuesday to get it totally straighten out.

On this course they close down one road and then direct runners to another and then back and forth.  This way cars can get through.  I was about 20 seconds behind the guy I thought was in my age group but then I lost track of him when we had one of these breaks at about the 7.5 mile mark.  I didn't see him again until about a half mile to go.  It was too late to catch him.  He did tell me he was going for 1:32 and he ran 1:31:59.  I should have been there. 

My sixth mile split was 7:02 and then another 7:02.  I then hit 6:49 and feeling strong.  But I did not see the guy I was shooting for.  I think we hit some more hills and I slowed a bit to 7:08, 7:04 and then 7:11.  I looked at my watch and I knew that I needed to do something.  I ran 6:58 and 6:54 my last two miles.  And my last .1 was at 6:28/mile pace.  My final time 1:32:23.  I was 172nd overall and I was 20th age-graded overall. 

This was the fourth straight year I have run this half.  I beat last year's time by over one minute.  This was my second fastest time so far.  It is a good course but challenging.  It is tougher than Napa to Sonoma.  After 31 races I have raced 208 miles.  My average is 6:56/mile and I am 14:16 ahead of pace.   Photos by Catherine Cross

Mike along with his crew Waitman and Catherine are getting tons of good footage for the movie. 

Great job Bob at the SF Half. Only 19 to go!
Justin Wall 7/30/12 8:48 am

Bob, way to hang tough in this one. Great age graded result too. By the way, how do you choose which half to run at SF?
Bruce Gilbert 7/30/12 10:00 am

Like wise Bob...great run. Some how that number 19 seems to sound more manageable.
Barry Anderson 7/30/12 12:16 pm

Bruce, I run the second half in SF because it is not as hard as the first half...and 19 more does sound more manageable...only 142 more miles of races to go by Dec 31...at under 7 minute pace/avg..that's all
Bob Anderson 7/30/12 1:24 pm

Log In To Comment

I really needed this training run.  This is my third training run with Bill Dunn this year and I hope we will be able to do more.    He is on vacation this week and we were able to get together this morning and run my 7.7 mile Lake course.  We start at my house in Los Altos and run up to Rancho San Antonio.  We go through the back gate and into the park, then up to the lake.  There are some tough hills the first three miles.  Bill toasted me on the hills.  I need to run more hills to be ready for the Kauai Half Marathon Sept 3.   Overall we ran about 8 minutes/mile.

My legs are still tired from the race on Sunday.  One thing I for sure have noticed is that it takes two or three days to recover from a race.  My right hamstring is bothering me a bit and I put a hot patch on it.  I am going to need to drink a lot of water today.  I am running race number 31 on Sunday.  The San Francisco 2nd Half Marathon.  I am hoping to run under 1:32...or even 1:31 if everything goes right.

Bill has run some amazing times over the years.  He is turning 65 in a week.  He is running a 5k in San Francisco the first weekend in August and hopes to get under 20 minutes.  I like training with Bill and I hope to do more of it.

Bill is a proud member of the Ujena Fit Club.  He was telling me how much he likes our site.   Photos by Waitman Gobble Ujena Fit Club

So even though Bill "knew" you had a big race Sunday, he still pushed the pace? We're going to have to talk to his agent.
Richard Stiller 7/25/12 4:29 pm

Log In To Comment