I spent the weekend in my most favorite part of the country. Of course, when it comes to visiting another city, food is on top of my mind, so I knew I wanted to get a cheesecake (yes, a chain restaurant but it is not in Memphis, don't judge), Indian food (insert sentence in previous parentheses again) and this burger (which I stumbled upon long ago as I wandered around LA downtown starving). Win, lose, win. I am not bitter because we ended up having Indian food more than once which is always a welcome thing.
Coming off of my unexpected PR on Apr 6, I went a little crazy. I had signed up for a Bay area 5k to be held on Saturday. I browsed around for more races that weekend and found this one. I dithered for a few minutes between the 10k and the half and then decided if at all I am going to do one of the two, it has got to be the half (more bang for the registration fee buck and... I had this feeling that the 2:20 was not a real thing and I just stumbled upon it, so I wanted to test that theory out). Definitely felt guilty about wanting to do a HM during a weekend visit but the good doctor was super encouraging and supportive.
Saturday morning started off great - a trip to the farmer's market where we shared a tabbouleh - hummus platter and a box of super fresh strawberries. I also indulged in some iced Vietnamese coffee which turned out to be very similar to Indian filter coffee (the closest American coffee shop equivalent being a latte). Lunch with friends was at this Indian place - Amber India. I found it very underwhelming - the usual "safe" Indian buffet fare. Give me Saravana Bhavan over any chaat-paneer-alu-gobhi place any day. However, make no mistake, I overate just like I always do at Indian buffets.
We decided to make a short trip of my race weekend and started for Santa Cruz. Wandered around a bit and got dinner at Sitar Indian Restaurant because there was no promising Mexican place (and my pre-race dinner is usually Chipotle... and froyo). As I expected (and knew from eating at Sitar), it turned out to be better than the pricier place we had lunch at.
About the race (finally, you say?):
- the course is not all road or all trail. It is this unpaved non-technical trail-like.. (okay, I will stop)
- it is GORGEOUS. Seriously, google for Santa Cruz half marathon view images (I am not yet at a point where I stop and take pictures during a race)
- there were too few water stations and I noticed the port-a-potties were a little off the course. Thankfully, I didn't need to use one but I did see a girl take off into the bushes. Poor thing. I wonder if this stinginess with regard to number of fuel/toilet opportunities is typical of this event organizer - this other race course also seems to have fewer than average aid stations.
- tee-shirt and medal were very ordinary, not worth a mention.
- I have this gripe about Sunday races - I want my long run/race to be on Saturday so I can veg on the couch on Sunday!
- this is the first of the races I have run where there were pacers. I wanted to make use of their presence somehow but I didn't know how. I knew I didn't want to do much worse than HM-2 but I didn't hope to do better either, so I thought of sticking with the 2:20 pacer. Turns out they maintain a steady pace all through the race. I didn't feel comfortable starting out at that pace, so I just did my own thing. Eventually the 2:20 pacer went out of sight as did the 2:25... and the 2:30. I just kept the pace so that the 2:35 guy didn't pass me. My plan was to pass the 2:30 pacer around mile 6, 2:25 around mile 9 and eventually catch up with the 2:20. Turned out to be a not-too-bad strategy. I did pass the 2:30 guy around mile 6 but the 2:25 took longer - maybe around mile 10. Around mile 12, I saw the 2:20 pacer at a distance but could never catch up with him... ended up with 2:21:27.
Refueled with half of a Woodstock pizza (made a gaffe and ordered one that came with salami - oops) followed by Turkish coffee flavored ice cream (my new favorite flavor). Ended the day with a long awaited burger from the Counter and slept like a baby on my red eye. The end.
Coming off of my unexpected PR on Apr 6, I went a little crazy. I had signed up for a Bay area 5k to be held on Saturday. I browsed around for more races that weekend and found this one. I dithered for a few minutes between the 10k and the half and then decided if at all I am going to do one of the two, it has got to be the half (more bang for the registration fee buck and... I had this feeling that the 2:20 was not a real thing and I just stumbled upon it, so I wanted to test that theory out). Definitely felt guilty about wanting to do a HM during a weekend visit but the good doctor was super encouraging and supportive.
Saturday morning started off great - a trip to the farmer's market where we shared a tabbouleh - hummus platter and a box of super fresh strawberries. I also indulged in some iced Vietnamese coffee which turned out to be very similar to Indian filter coffee (the closest American coffee shop equivalent being a latte). Lunch with friends was at this Indian place - Amber India. I found it very underwhelming - the usual "safe" Indian buffet fare. Give me Saravana Bhavan over any chaat-paneer-alu-gobhi place any day. However, make no mistake, I overate just like I always do at Indian buffets.
We decided to make a short trip of my race weekend and started for Santa Cruz. Wandered around a bit and got dinner at Sitar Indian Restaurant because there was no promising Mexican place (and my pre-race dinner is usually Chipotle... and froyo). As I expected (and knew from eating at Sitar), it turned out to be better than the pricier place we had lunch at.
About the race (finally, you say?):
- the course is not all road or all trail. It is this unpaved non-technical trail-like.. (okay, I will stop)
- it is GORGEOUS. Seriously, google for Santa Cruz half marathon view images (I am not yet at a point where I stop and take pictures during a race)
- there were too few water stations and I noticed the port-a-potties were a little off the course. Thankfully, I didn't need to use one but I did see a girl take off into the bushes. Poor thing. I wonder if this stinginess with regard to number of fuel/toilet opportunities is typical of this event organizer - this other race course also seems to have fewer than average aid stations.
- tee-shirt and medal were very ordinary, not worth a mention.
- I have this gripe about Sunday races - I want my long run/race to be on Saturday so I can veg on the couch on Sunday!
- this is the first of the races I have run where there were pacers. I wanted to make use of their presence somehow but I didn't know how. I knew I didn't want to do much worse than HM-2 but I didn't hope to do better either, so I thought of sticking with the 2:20 pacer. Turns out they maintain a steady pace all through the race. I didn't feel comfortable starting out at that pace, so I just did my own thing. Eventually the 2:20 pacer went out of sight as did the 2:25... and the 2:30. I just kept the pace so that the 2:35 guy didn't pass me. My plan was to pass the 2:30 pacer around mile 6, 2:25 around mile 9 and eventually catch up with the 2:20. Turned out to be a not-too-bad strategy. I did pass the 2:30 guy around mile 6 but the 2:25 took longer - maybe around mile 10. Around mile 12, I saw the 2:20 pacer at a distance but could never catch up with him... ended up with 2:21:27.
Refueled with half of a Woodstock pizza (made a gaffe and ordered one that came with salami - oops) followed by Turkish coffee flavored ice cream (my new favorite flavor). Ended the day with a long awaited burger from the Counter and slept like a baby on my red eye. The end.
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