One more week till the Rock and Roll San Diego Half Mararhon

Yay for four-day work weeks. It's awesome to wake up thinking it's Monday, but guess what? It's already Tuesday! Oh the simple things in life :)

I also can't believe it's already time for the Rock and Roll San Diego Half Marathon! It's in....gulp...5 more days!!!! EEEEEEEE.... the longest run I've done to date since the LA Marathon is a meager 12 miles.... Good thing I didn't sign up for the full marathon! haha.

Though I am woefully unprepared for the HM both mentally and physically, with all the things that have been going on lately, I am quite excited about this race. First of all, there's gonna be live music at every mile. Awesomeness!!! Second, it's in Sandy Eggo, where I haven't been since high school! I always enjoy exploring new places, especially since we are also going to go see the San Diego zoo. Must sees include LEMURS(!!!!), the Komodo Dragon (ewwww) and Pandas (yay). And third, it's the last HM James and I will be able to do together for a while.

I did a brutal, awful, no-fun, way-too-hot, killer 12 miles this weekend. I was really hoping for a 13-14 miler, but the heat would not allow for that. The heat was so unexpected too. We've been having a chilly, windy spring. Out of nowhere, on the one day that we run, it was BLAZING hot. Seriously. WTF. Of course, 24 hours later we were back to the cool, chilly, perfect running weather. C'est la vie my friends.
We somehow managed to hold onto a 9:30 average pace, but it was KILLING me. My goodness! By the end of 12 miles, I was completely out of hydration and miserable. I don't think I could have run a single more step.

However, I'm optimistic, and I don't think this is a bad pre-cursor to the upcoming HM. I'm sure that with the early morning start (6:15am), live music, and the adrenaline, I'll be able to complete all 13.1 miles of it.

Now the only question remains whether or not I want to splurge on a new pair of running shoes.... Currently all of mine are.... very close to slipper status. hmmmmmm........

Now some pics from the weekend:
The i madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival
It's an annual event where artists of all ages and calibers come out and adorn the pavement in front of the Santa Barbara Mission with chalk art.
It's really quite impressive what you can create out of pavement and chalk!

work in progress

Before

After

2010 version

flashback! 2009 version

Twas fun.

promise to be back with more exciting running news soon!

happy short week!