Race Report: Long Beach Half Marathon

Runners skirt Shoreline Aquatic Park with Rainbow Harbor alongside them in the coastal portion of the 24th Long Beach International City Bank Marathon on Sunday. About 18,000 participated in six events. (Steven Georges / Staff Photographer)

After having heat wave earlier in the week, the weather cooperated for Sundays Long Beach Marathon. The weather was absolutely beautiful, not a cloud in the sky and temperatures that just barely reached 70 degrees.

My goal time was a sub 1:50:00, last year at Long Beach I ran a 1:59:42.

mile 1: 10:05 to slow

mile 2: 8:59

mile 3: 8:50

mile 4: 8:32

mile 5: 8:23

mile 6: 8:41 pee break :)

mile 7: 8:25

mile 8: 8:25

mile 9: 8:00

mile 10: 7:59

mile 11: 8:10 fell off :( pace

mile 12: 8:10 fell off :( pace

mile 13: 7:47

mile .2: 7:02

finishing time: 1:52:14 pace: 8:34 average

As you can see I did not reach my goal time, but I feel I ran a smart race. I was able to drop my pace in each successive mile other than mile 6. Then at crunch time (*mile 11-12) I couldn't stay under 8 min pace which was where I needed to be. But going back to mile 1 that was the difference maker. I used mile one as my warm up, I usually warm up with a few striders for about 10-15 mins before the race, but the Porto potty line was very long :).

Tanya pulled away from me in the last few miles to finish in 1:51:25 averaging a 8:30 pace.

Back to speed work and fartleks!

MJ