We are the CHAMPIONS!

I officially ran my first 1/2 marathon this past Sunday. Carlos offered to run it with me (which was very nice of him considering he goes so much fast than I do)

We did the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation 1/2 in Irvine. It's for a fantastic cause - pediatric cancer rates have risen in the last decades, more and more kids are being diagnosed with cancer. Figured this was a good way to give back.

The race was tauted to be a flat, fast course running through Irvine. Irvine is pretty spread out though and when I looked at the course map, it really didn't seem like we'd be running on streets - so I figured paved trails.

To prepare for the race, Carlos had been doing longer runs about 8-9 miles. I on the other hand, went from 4.5 to 7 mile runs, and was told that I couldn't go too crazy and jump up to 10 miles because I might injure myself. So I got up to 7 mile runs and prayed that it would be sufficient.

Day of the race - we lined up by 7:00am, the day was primarily overcast (perfect running weather). I had all my gear on, my tunes blaring, and had stretched, I was ready to go. We started off at a moderate pace because I didn't want to run out of fumes half way.

The course took us through Irivne's commercial and residential areas. I was happy that it was well marked because I would have gotten lost otherwise. We ran through paved trails, streets, parks, etc. It wasn't as flat as promised, there were various mounds/hills that we ended up climbing.

I was fine at mile 6, but by mile 10, I was wondering - when is it going to end. At this time, a 40 something year old asian woman started us run with us. We had been passing each other up at various parts of the course and I noticed that she was running pretty close to us. She would run between Carlos and I and then right behind me on my shoulder. We finally reach mile 12, the 5k walkers were on the course and it was a little complicated trying to dodge them. I felt my legs getting more and more tried. By this time the sun had come up and had started to warm up the streets.

We opted to move out of the asian woman's way and she was like "I'm not passing you, I'm drafting off her" (ME!!! she was using me) According to wikipedia: "Drafting can be cooperative, in which several competitors take turns in the lead position (which requires the most effort and energy consumption). Or, it can be competitive or tactical, where one competitor will try to stay closely behind another leaving him or her more energy for a break-away push to the finish line." Let me assure you it wasn't cooperative! So as we approach the finish line I see her take off. What a piece of work. I did all the dirty work while she kept it easy :S Now I know better!

Our results:
Time: 2:26:41
Pace: 11:12 min.

I couldn't have done it without Chuck! He's my biggest fan and support system!
After we crossed the finish line he said "I think I could run at least 4 more miles, I feel good" (I'm sure it was because he was running at a significantly slower pace) :D