Conquering the San Diego Half Marathon!

Welcome back to Unexpected Abundance! Before we start our conversation, I want to take a moment to say how grateful I am for you. Although we’re only 5 posts in, this has been such a wonderful experience, sitting down and getting to express my thoughts to the world. The journey ahead is unknown, but I have you all to accompany me, and that’s all that matters. On to business!

You may notice the title is a little familiar, and that’s because it’s primarily the whole reason why I started Unexpected Abundance! You can go read the original post, “Intro to Gratitude”, to understand the origin behind the blog, but if you’re too tired like me, I will give a recap. Last year, I was preparing to run the Malibu half marathon in November, when I got sick with a bad case of food poisoning about 4 weeks before the race. Long story short, I didn’t think much of the illness, got worse, and ended up in the hospital for 4 days. I was diagnosed with Reactive Arthritis and couldn’t walk or do any physical activity for 2 months. Since Reactive Arthritis is so rare, the recovery times vary patient by patient, so I had no idea when or if I would ever fully recover. With that being said, I am so PROUD to write that I did recover and was able to run the San Diego Half Marathon on June 4th, 2023. Praise to our Heavenly Father above! I want to take you through my experiences with training, the race expo, my preparation, and the race itself. Without further ado, let’s begin!

I started training for the race back in January. I followed a great 14-week plan created by Nike Running Club. The structure consists of 5 weekly runs: 2 recovery runs, 2 speed runs, and a long run. I enjoyed it because it gave me flexibility to change the mileage/time based on how I was feeling, and it never felt too hard. The mileage increased every week at a steady rate, allowing my body to get used to more miles without breaking down. In total, I ran 219 miles throughout the entire plan. I lost about 7 pounds, starting at 236 pounds and ending up at 229 pounds. The biggest difference I felt from the last time I was training for a race was my cardiovascular endurance. Of the 74 total runs, there were a handful of times where I felt that my breathing was out of wack, and I wasn’t in control. I peaked at a 10-mile run 4 weeks out from the race, and even though the training plan had a 12.5 mile run as the longest, I felt the 10 miler was good exposure for the race conditions. I will talk about this later, but I could tell that I didn’t run a 12.5 miler. Towards the end of the race, I was in uncharted territory and my body was almost telling me, “Hey, 10 miles is the most we’ve ran. Why are you still running”. For future runs, I will make sure to have the longest run be as close to the total race distance. Leading up to the race, I felt great physically. The nerves started to build up the week prior to the race, and I was just excited to get out there and prove to myself that I could still get it done.

Let me say, those 4 months of training went by fast! It seems like yesterday that I signed up for the race. My lovely fiancé and I head down to San Diego the day before the race to head to the expo, pick up my bib, settle in the hotel, and get some rest before the big day. The expo is always an awesome experience that every runner should embrace and not just walk through to get their bib. Vendors are always selling cool gear and accessories, and there’s an energy in the building that you can feed off for the next day. As I pick up my bib, I start to get a little emotional and reminisce on how I went to the expo for the Malibu race last year to pick up my bib knowing I wasn’t going to participate. I know it seems weird, but I wanted to go and get the experience and use it as motivation for my recovery. As I limped out of the parking lot in Malibu with tears in my eyes, the only thing I could do moving forward was take it day by day. Once I got my bib, my fiancé and I went to the vendor section, and she got these awesome headbands and compression socks for me that I ended up using the next day during the race.

Once we left the expo, we headed over to dinner, fueled my body with delicious pasta, and drove back to the hotel to wind down for the night and get ready for the next morning. From a nutritional standpoint, I started to carb up about three days prior to the race. I didn’t eat anything crazy, just more brown rice and pasta. I drank electrolytes on Saturday to get my body the extra nutrients it needed for race day. The weather was forecasted to be in the mid-60s, but I didn’t want to take a chance on humidity affecting me during the race, so I made sure to eat a banana and drink electrolytes. My in-laws gave me a massage gun for Christmas, and I primarily used it on my hamstrings and calves. I did some light stretching the night before, laid my clothes out, prayed the Rosary, and went to bed. I’m not sure if I’m the only one, but I could NOT sleep. I was too energetic/nervous! If there are runners reading this, please give me some advice on how I can relax the night before the race. The start time was 6:15 AM, so I set my alarm for 4:30 AM to make sure I had everything ready to go and head out a little earlier because there is always going to be traffic around the start line. I learned that the hard way during the LA marathon back in 2020 (story for another time). As we’re driving out to the start line, I am surprisingly calm. I put the work in throughout the course of 4 months and was confident in myself. I got in line to start the race and had to wait for about 20 minutes to start because there were over 20,000 runners that day and since I’m not that fast, I had to wait in the back.

6:48 AM. It’s GO TIME. I’m trying to enjoy the moment, taking pictures and videos, but once the announcer finished the countdown, I was off and running. The first steps past the starting line were very surreal, almost like an out of body experience. For the first 100 meters, I just enjoyed the moment I was in. 8 months ago, I was in a hospital bed and couldn’t walk. I had to use a walker to get around, and my knee and wrist were so swollen that it was painful to move. None of that mattered, because I was back to doing what I loved, which was competing. I shifted my focus back to the race, and it was time to execute. The strategy was simple: start slow to conserve my energy and gain speed as the race went on. I wanted to get stronger the longer I went. For the first 3 miles, I kept a 12:28 mile pace, which is slow for me. It’s hard not to come out the gate on fire, but at this point, it’s about sticking to your plan and trusting yourself. On race day, there is so much energy from all the racers, and it’s easy to exert so much energy in the beginning. I’ve learned to use that adrenaline to your advantage. Although I was going slow, I knew that I wasn’t going to burn out prematurely by using too much adrenaline and energy in the beginning.

As the adrenaline wore off for others, I started to pick up speed. For the next 7 miles, I kept an average pace of 11:42. I felt strong with every step and started to pass a lot of people. The best part was that I picked up speed naturally, instead of me consciously going faster. I’m the first to admit that I was surprised at how fast I was going, considering the course was very hilly. I incorporated hills into my training, but not the rolling hills the course had to offer. Around mile 8, I was running by a Catholic church and was looking at the bulletin on the side that had the mass times for the day. I always think about the most random things while I’m running, and I thought to myself, “How are they going to have mass right now if the road is blocked? How are the people going to get inside?”. As I say that, I see a priest with holy water, blessing the runners. I run over, bow down, and the priest sprinkles me with an extra splash of holy water. Prior to the race, I asked God for His protection and St. Sebastian (my patron Confirmation saint) to pray for my health and well being throughout the race. I knew God was with me, but He made sure to let me know that He was there. For the next two miles, I get into a runner’s high and completely zone out. That wasn’t the case when I got to mile 10. The last three miles were uncharted territory for me because I never ran past 10 miles. I started to feel fatigue and began the mental battles with my mind. Mile 10 starts downhill, then there’s a steep, but brief hill that drains you, especially since it’s in the later part of the race. I start to have doubts in my head, but nonetheless, take it step by step, exactly how I said I would when I left the Malibu expo. I approach mile 13, and I can see the finish line. I’m about 100 feet from the finish line, and it all hits me. The memories of being hospitalized, not being able to walk, being in the ER for 12 hours, losing all my strength, not knowing if I would fully recover, all disappeared when I crossed the finish line. An overwhelming sense of joy and gratitude hit me. 8 months ago, I was hospitalized and couldn’t move. Fast forward 8 months later, I’m crossing the finish line at a half marathon. To others, it may seem like a small accomplishment. To me, the race was everything. It was my bounce back story, my motivation to recover, but most importantly, it was my chance to show myself that I could do it. Seeing my fiancé and friends after the race was the icing on the cake. There’s nothing better than having friends who woke up at 4 am to drive down to San Diego from Orange County just to see you race. They are the most supportive group of friends that anyone can ask for, and I love them to death.

To my wonderful fiancé, I love you. You have seen me at my lowest of lows, and those days in the hospital where I was scared were no exception. But you were always by my side, always encouraging me and reassuring me that things would get better with my recovery. Seeing you at the finish line with our friends brought so much joy to my heart, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. Thank you for loving me and being there for me. I cannot wait to marry you this fall. Sorry, got a little sidetracked there. This is an emotional post if you haven’t noticed!

So, now that a couple of days have passed since the race, I’ve had time to think about what’s next. The answer is… I’m not sure. I’m going to take the summer to work on my fitness and lose weight. My final time for the half marathon was 2:38 hours, and although it’s not bad, it’s not where I want to be. I’ve realized that I need to slim down about 20 extra pounds and work on improving my speed, so my focus will be there this summer. I will focus on heart rate zone training, improving speed, and increasing cardiovascular endurance. As for races, I may run another half marathon this year, but will shift my focus to running full marathons next year.

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Have a great day 😊