Tuesday, August 19, 2008

AFC Marathon

PRs all around! Woohoo. This is the second time I have run this race. I ran it a few years ago before the pregnancy and last year I ran the last 5k or so with Christy up the hill into Balboa Park.

Our day started out at the wee hour of 4:00 a.m. when our alarm clock went off. I had just put the baby back down from a mid-night feeding and snuggled back into bed. BEEP BEEP BEEP! Up again! We were on the road by 4:35 headed to the park to catch one of the buses to the startline. This year we got there in plenty of time to get a parking place and and early bus to the start line.....plenty of time to check bags, warmup, stretch and hit the "spankys" (portolets). We had a great time warming up and visiting with all the other "skirts" out there - so many customers from the expo were thrilled with their new skirts. Camopink and minidot were everywhere! It was so cool to have a minute to talk all of our skirt customers about their race plans, etc. and share "good lucks" and high fives with everyone before the race. This is the fun part about our business and we feel we are very blessed that our work and passion are one in the same.

We lined up toward the front of the pack and watched the elite runners in the "special" starting corral doing their warmup pickups and stretches. As the last 3 buses rolled in, they national anthem began...and still no Arma & Nassim (our plan was to meet at the front of the start line). I looked into the windows of the last buses rolling in wondering...hmmm - is Arma on that one? Did she make it? Next minute the gun went off and off we went! I must have blocked out the hills from the beginning....for some reason I remembered the course as being all downhill in the beginning for first 10k. But as we headed out from the start from Cabrillo Monument we had a few good climes up away from the point before the descent down into the city began. My race plan was to PR from my last marathon of 1:29:57 and make the most of the downhill miles since I knew the last 2-3 miles were uphill into Balboa park and I would most certainly be slower. It was a very challenging course with the hills and the heat and sun right in your face for most of the 13.1 miles. Here are my splits: 6:41, 6:38, 6:21, 5:56, 6:27, 6:37, 6:39, 6:37, 6:40, 6:41, 6:43, 6:45, 7:14 - finish time 1:27:42 (average pace 6:42). I am quite happy with this PR from my pre-pregnancy personal best of 1:29:15!

Here's a few shots team Running Skirts coming across the bridge into Balboa park about .5 miles from the finish line.
(Cindy coming over the bridge and running into the park across the bridge below)











Below is a great shot of Christy leading the pack of men along the finish line stretch - she also had a great pr race. Here are her splits: 7:07, 7:20, 6:46, 6:40, 7:26, 7:35, 7:35, 7:35, 7:32, 7:38, 8:20, 8:09, 8:16 - finish time 1:39:28 (average pace 7:36)













Arma even flew south for this great race! Here she is all smiles as usual looking fresh as a daisy in the home stretch. Arma also ran a PR of 1:39:57.












Arma's cousin Nassim from LA, joined Team Running Skirts on Sunday for a great PR of 1:54:24

4 comments:

Brenda said...

Congrats on your great PR's! I almost decided at the last minute to run that 5k but my body doesn't like getting up so early especially to run. Can't do a half marathon. You ladies are soooo fast. Wow! I love running the Cabrillo Monument road. I go from guard shack to guard shack and it's about 41/2 miles round trip. Also, Happy Birthday to you. :)

GB said...

Yaaaay! Smokin' fast for both of you. I am so happy for you and proud! Can't wait to see those times continue to drop and drop, studettes.

Lindsey Broere said...

Congrats on your new PR! WOW that's both awesome and inspirational...

When are you guys going to make it ALL the way to the east coast :-)

cindy and christy said...

Hey Lindsey! We will be at the Marine Corps Marathon in October - hope to see you there!