On Sunday, August 15, I stood at the start of the America's Finest City Half Marathon, in San Diego.  I had run this race several times, but this time it had been an especially long journey to get there. I started training for this race early last summer--last year's race, actually.  I was training pretty seriously, doing long runs and speed workouts with the Snowcreek Striders, at Mammoth.  But in mid-July my training came to an abrupt halt.  Medical problems forced a temporary retirement from aerobic activity, until surgery got me back to running in January.

Well, running might be stretching the term a bit.  After a 6-month layoff, my first few running attempts felt like I had never run a step in my life!  I had read somewhere that for every week off, it takes two to get back where you were, so I knew I had my work cut out for me.  What more appropriate goal, I thought, than to train for and run the race I had set out to run the previous summer?  In June I went back to Mammoth, and this time no major disasters (or minor ones for that matter) occurred.

The start area for the AFC is at the very tip of Point Loma, where runners are bused from Balboa Park.  In the quiet darkness, runners can mentally and physically prepare for the race ahead, and watch as the day slowly dawns and a beautiful view of San Diego comes into focus. The level of activity steadily increases among the 6000 or so runners anticipating the 0700 start.

I did make a pre-race logistical error. I had hydrated pretty well that morning--not a bad thing.  But by the time I finished my warmup, and realized I could use another potty stop, the lines at the portapotties were so long that I had leave the line to get into the start area.   Despite my attempts to work up further toward the start line, I was in a less than ideal position when the gun went off.  I knew they were going to use the chip times for both finish time and age group placing (so they wouldn't be counting the time it took to get to the start line), but being further back also meant there was more congestion during the first mile or so after the start.  I did a lot of fancy dancing to get around people without actually elbowing anyone or stepping on any toes (or, worse, tripping myself).  Then, just as the crowds were beginning to thin out, I spotted some trees that would serve as an acceptable portapotty substitute. Figuring that it was now or never, I ducked into the trees for a short break.

I love the course for this race!  After a couple of rolling miles, you ZOOM downhill to the harbor area.  The run along the harbor towards downtown is scenic and flat.  A significant hill awaits at 11 miles.  All along the harbor's edge, I played mind games looking forward -- or at least pretending I was looking forward -- to the hill.  I sprinted across the tracks to beat an oncoming trolley, before entering a downtown street surrounded by tall buildings, and could see the turn at the start of the hill ahead.  Once actually ON the hill, it wasn't quite as much fun as it was in my imagination.  But still not too bad.  Finally, a turn into Balboa Park offered relief, and the finish would be less than a mile away. Near the end, Tom, son Craig and his wife Susan, along with 18-month-old twins Niall and Liam, were all there to cheer grandma on to the finish!!

My net (chip) time was 1:50:19.  All in all, I'm pretty satisfied with that--it was at the lower end of the time range I thought I could manage to run.  That was good for 5th place in my age group (55-59). This age group seemed especially competitive this year, with the top 2 women coming in at under 1:40.  I'd like to thank my husband Tom and Striders coach Andrew Kastor, as well as my Striders teammates, for all their support in helping me get to this race.

Randy and I finished the Bulldog 50K.  They had to change the course because of some right of way issues so this year it was a out and back with Bulldog Mountain (2528' elevation) in the middle.  Essentially the course consisted of a climb up Bulldog Mountain then down to Tapia ( the half way point) then climb back up Bulldog and down to the finish.  The start of the 50K was marred by the fact that someone screwed with one of the first major course marking during the night and over 50 to 75 runners (Randy and I were among them) lost 20 - 30 minutes until one of the race directors came up and showed us the right way.  The markings were corrected before the 0700 start of the 30K.  Randy and I finished around 7 hours.  Most of us were training for AC so we were glad to get the "bonus" mileage (yeah right!).  I saw Hal Winton running the 50K.  He is a tough old guy.  Gabriel Flores said hi.  He was singing all the way.  Gorge Pacheco finished first even though he probably ran the furthest off course.

        I saw Carol Wolf and Sher Davis on the way back out of Tapia but didn't see Traci McCormick.  I probably didn't recognize her.  I understand they all finished the 30K in fine fashion.