This past week was all about rockin’ it at the Rock n Roll San Diego 5K and Half Marathons. What an amazing week it was!

On Tuesday, I got in my final training run for the Rock n Roll San Diego Races. Looking back on it, this might have been a good day for me to skip the run and run on Wednesday instead. I was pretty tired for most of the run. The first mile was sluggish and took me nearly 11 minutes to finish. I had debated over running 3 miles instead for the mid-week runs. However, decided against it on Tuesday morning. I don’t know why, but this run seemed to be in much more humidity than I’m used to. Honestly, the air felt heavier than usual. Although, it could have been my slower times in each mile that made it seem that way. Even though, I finally had a 4 mile run that crossed the 44 minute mark, I was still happy that I got out and did it.

Thursday, I couldn’t get out the door for a run. I was tired and a little congested. Even thought I made a true effort, it was one of those days where I just didn’t have the energy to get out the door. At work, we were celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the Walt Disney Studios. They had a walk around self guided tour of the studio. The tour wasn’t too elaborate. They had signs like the one pictured above to tell the story of the studio. The picture above was in front of the building I work in. I didn’t know that it used to be a softball field. I want to do a full post on the walk around tour because there are some interesting tid bits of information to share.

In addition to the walk around tour, they had free cupcakes and these bottles of Coke for 11 cents!

Friday, I headed down to San Diego for the Rock n Roll Marathon and Half Marathon Expo.

This was a fun expo for me!

This is where I got to meet Meb Keflezghi for the first time. Y’all, my day was made right from the start. Not only did I meet Meb, have him sign my copy of Meb for Mortals, and get this picture, but I got a fist bump from Meb! When I told him that I was reading the book to help me with training for the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, he asked if Chicago was going to be my first full marathon. When I told him it would be my third, I got the fist bump! Yeah, no big deal, you know.

I was on cloud 9 after meeting Meb. Then, he spoke on the main stage. I do have video which I’ll post when I cover the Expo more fully. What an awesome talk! After hearing Meb talk, I got to meet up with Brian from the Pavement Runner blog and Linzie from the Sharp Endurance blog along with some other runners who apart of the We Run Social crew. I got to hang with them for a while. I ended my Expo time by registering for the Rock n Roll Los Angeles Half Marathon ($70 – special Expo pricing) and the 2016 Rock n Roll San Diego Half Marathon ($50 – special Expo pricing). These deals were too good to pass up. Seriously…a half marathon for $50?

Saturday, I was up early to run the first, annual, Rock n Roll San Diego 5K. It was a 1.5 mile walk from my hotel to the start line. So, I enjoyed a pretty quiet walk to the start. As I mentioned previously, I was hoping to set a new 5K PR at this race. Unfortunately, I didn’t do that. The 5K course featured rolling hills. I lost control of my breathing in the last half mile, killing my chances for a PR. However, I did finish in 34 minutes, 14 seconds, which set a new 2nd fastest 5K! There’s nothing wrong with that.

By the way, I had to share this…this guy ran the entire 5K dressed as Tom Brady juggling deflated footballs the whole way! Too funny!

The highlight of the day, though, was meeting Meb again. Best finishers picture ever! When I signed up for the 5K, it was because I got an email saying Meb would be taking pictures with people at the end of the race. Since that email was the only thing got saying this, I assumed that it wasn’t happening. However, after wandering around after the 5K, I saw the line and made my way to the back. This was the reason I signed up for the 5K in the first place. I wanted to meet Meb. So, I was super excited that it happened!

With the afternoon to hang in San Diego, I decided to do a few things. First up? A tour of Petco Ballpark… home of the San Diego Padres. I love being on the field!

Petco Ballpark is absolutely beautiful! If you’re ever in San Diego, I highly recommend the tour. It’s only $12!

After the tour, I was off to the Hard Rock Cafe to “Carb Up!” One of the fun parts of being in town for the Rock n Roll San Diego Marathon and Half Marathon was all the local business signs made to appeal to the runners (like this one).  After lunch, I went to watch Tomorrowland. Loved it!

Then, I headed down to the Seaport Village for the last meal before the half. Meb’s meal of choice for his final meal is spaghetti and meatballs. He has this the meal before every race since 9th grade. If it’s good enough for Meb, it’s good enough for me. I loved the view! Nothing like carbing it up by the water!

Walking back to my hotel after dinner, I got to pass by this iconic place in San Diego right by the USS Midway.

Sunday, was the San Diego Half Marathon. Before the race, I got to meet up with the We Run Social crew, including these guys…Linzie and Brian.

Another person in the crew is Carlee from the Be the Change blog. If you haven’t read Carlee’s blog, you should. She’s super speedy and a cool person.

After the meet up, it was time to head to my corral.

Before I knew it, we were the next corral to go!

If you’ve run a Rock n Roll race, you’ve probably seen this guy.

Here’s the thing about this half marathon. There are a lot of hills in it. When I read about this race, it talked about how the second half of the race is pretty much downhill or flat. They were wrong. I think there were hills in almost every mile of the 13.1 miles. The steepest inclines came in miles 9 and the end of 11 heading into 12.

 

By the time we got here, we were almost done. I’ll get to a more proper blog post on the half marathon. For now, let me just give you the cliff notes version. A bathroom break in mile 3 pretty much killed my attempt to finish in 2 hours 40 minutes. By the 10K mark, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t PR the race. However, once I realized this, I also realized that I could still finish with my second fastest half marathon. That became the mission for the second half of the race.

So, how did it go? I finished with my second fastest half marathon, finishing in 2 hours, 48 minutes, 55 seconds! You might think I was bummed with not hitting my goal or a PR. However, you’d be wrong. What was even cooler is that 2 hours, 48 minutes was the time I thought I’d finish around from the 10K mark. The closer I got to the finish, the more convinced that I’d end up there. By the time I saw the finish line, I was overwhelmed with the reality that I was going to set a new second best half marathon time! It was pretty much the same feeling I had when I set my half marathon PR. I worked hard to get this time. The course was more difficult than I expected. I could have given up after the bathroom break. I could have given up at the 10K mark. But, I didn’t. I kept pushing and made getting a new 2nd best time as the goal and I got it!

It was an amazing week…capped of with a truly epic weekend in San Diego. Now that I’m in a new week, it’s time to focus on the Bank of America Chicago Marathon.  My calendar for the rest of the year is pretty much set. I still have to sign up for the Awesome 80’s 5K. But, I now know I’ll be going for the 5K PR at that race and I’ll attempt to set a new 10K PR at the Disneyland 10K in September.

How was your week?