When she was picking up speed to power past a crowd of runners, I did the same; when she cut in to shorten the tangent on the turns, I followed suit; when she positioned for a water station, I did the same because just like the Laguna Hills 1/2, I found a runner that was keeping a solid pace and I didn't want to lose this virtual running companion, colloquially speaking. So for the next eight miles I stayed within ten feet of her pace ...I was getting pretty tired however - my pace was starting to wane and the distance between us was beginning to lengthen. I didn't think I made a mistake. The speed felt right and the energy expenditure didn't seem all that draining (reasonable weather temps helped a lot!). Then I saw this runner up ahead with a t-shirt that read on the back "Fight On!" - I liked that. It made sense to me. Tapping my Nike+ app on my watch instantly told me I was maintaining a better training pace and time-wise, I had the potential to set a new personal record (PR). I was kind of surprised, but I was tired, darn it, and the up-close and personal beach scenery was over... we were approaching the final 5K of the race just past mile marker 9 and I could feel the fatigue of the Wall already. "Fight On!" is right - so as my pace partner hit a water station, I decided to forgo it. In an almost ungrateful manner, I put some more speed into my pace and decided to make headway on my own.
The crowd was much thinner on Ocean Boulevard. It seemed a lot more effortless to get by folks - I was feeling the onset of Runner's High - a familiar feeling experienced during a handful of my longer training runs. I felt a lot stronger and I decided to push faster. I imagined I was on the treadmill as I tried to keep my stride efficient and quick. I would let the road conditions dictate my speed and it was wide open. By now I was well past mile marker 10. My pace was the best it's been on any of my long runs - running some math in my mind I realized I had great potential to break two-hours on this 1/2. Was it possible? I didn't feel as if I was pushing to exhaustion - the only pain I felt was in my right eardrum as a really annoying garage band was playing on the side of the road - support and cheer for the runners as it were. My ears didn't think so. I pushed on even faster.
I didn't see mile marker 12 or 13 (mentally, that could wreak havoc), but my Nike+ app was telling me I was already at 13.1 miles - I hadn't even hit Shoreline Drive, the last leg of the course. Hmm... remind me to re-calibrate my Nike+. By now it was seconds past the 1:59 mark and my hopes were dashed at breaking 2 hours. But then I saw the Finish Line banner - barely a tenth of a mile away. I knew I wasn't going to be under 2 hours, but a minute over was doable and I would be happy with that! It was a slight downhill grade and I put myself into a full sprint to make it as close to 2:00 + 30 seconds as possible. By the time I crossed the finish line my timer said 2:00:28! As I reached for my Finisher Medal, all I could think about was how soon my nameless pace partner would cross the Finish Line - I owed her my thanks; she was the better runner! (I never could have maintained that pace on my own to start with.) Plus, I pondered where I could have shaved off 30 seconds?! I mean, seriously now, 30 seconds! I know, I should be very pleased with my finish time, and I am! Quite ecstatic actually. My official time for the 1/2 marathon was 2:00:22 - so now I'm a happy runner! I gave it 100% and I was still able to enjoy myself - I even felt like I had enough energy to go on for at least another 10K, but the beer garden was open and so, well... you know...
So now that I'm done, I don't know about Long Beach in 2012. I feel that I'm more interested in running something different just for the sake of new scenery and a different course. We'll see... in the meantime, I still have the 2011 Holiday Half (Pomona/San Dimas, CA) and the 2012 Surf City Half (Huntington Beach, CA). Sure hope I find a virtual running partner there, too.
October 10, 2011 - quick update: (This one's a good one!)
I was talking with one of my co-workers this morning and he mentioned his wife also ran the Long Beach 1/2 marathon - her time was 2:08. I thought, well wait a minute, the runner I followed for nearly 8 miles was setting a 2:06 - 2:07 finish time. I recalled a conversation earlier this year with my co-worker about how she ran the Boston 1/2 Marathon the same weekend I ran the Laguna Hills 1/2 and we were discussing the benefits of power gels and the like. "Hey, was she by chance, wearing a white top over black running shorts, hair in a ponytail, black Garmin GPS watch?" Amazing. It was her! 13,914 runners on the course and I'm fortunate enough to find a pace setter! She's no longer a nameless, virtual pace partner - she's someone I can actually give thanks to! I was looking up our results online and sure enough, our split and pace times were identical all the way up to mile marker 9. What a small World!
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