Yesterday, Sean & I ran the Resolution Run Half Marathon at Tecolote Shores as our first race of 2019. This was our second time running this race & 12th edition of the Resolution Run. If you’d like to read my recap from last year to see what was different click here.
This year, we decided last week to sign up, we found a great deal via a last minute discount website & gave it a go. We picked up our packets, our bibs & race shirts, on Saturday at Road Runner Sports. Quick & easy.
Sunday morning, we woke up a few minutes late so we left the house about 15 minutes later than we did last year. I ate my Picky Oats in the car, I’m really enjoying the apple version & have eaten them before my last 2 races.
We arrived at the start area around 6:30am, the half marathon started at 7:15am. Since we were a little later than last year we had to park about 3/4 of a mile from the start area. It was chilly out but the sunrise was super pretty!
We got our gear & walked to the start. First stop once we got there was the port-a-potties. There were maybe 10 or so, but one line for them all. I think that there were a lot of newer runners at the race, which is fine & I’m so happy that people are out there running, but it does make for a bit of a chaos in the port-a-pottie situation. There were too many for people to see when the doors were all open & then randoms were not standing in line, just jumping in at the ends because they didn’t realize there was a line.
Once we got done there it was less than 5 minutes until the start! We got our traditional pre-race selfie & then Sean headed to the front while I started a little further back. I have been having some issues with my breathing while running lately and so I didn’t know what was going to happen & didn’t want to really push it.
I started out feeling good, just running easy on our way around Fiesta Island. I saw my friend Henry, from Run619. Henry is 73 years old and he runs faster than I do a lot of the time ;), it’s really inspiring & I hope to be still running when I’m 73.
I took a few photos of the beautiful sunrise over the city & after 2 miles started to run/walk. I was keeping pretty good pace considering and decided to just do that for the rest of the race.
There are 3 races, a half marathon, 10k & 5k. The half & 10k start together but when you get to a parking lot the 10k turns around immediately while the half went for a little longer turnaround. Then the half marathon heads back towards the start/finish where they have a second out and back section.
This section is on the sidewalk so there are a lot of other runners/cyclists/walkers so there was a lot of weaving around people. But that was fine because I was just run/walking so I didn’t really care too much. I saw the lead runner come through, then a few more before I saw Sean, I congratulated him & told him he was in the top 10, I didn’t recall exactly what place he was in but he was definitely in the top 10. From this point on, I cheered everyone on that was coming back towards the finish. It was fun, but I’m not sure how many people heard me since 90% of the people were wearing headphones.
I got to mile 9 and saw that there was a board on the other side so I turned to look at it to see what the distance was to the finish & it said mile 11. I thought to myself, great so about a mile before the turn around.
I remembered from last year that we went over a little bridge, went a little ways out and then turned around. This year, they had a volunteer before the bridge and turned us around there. I think I was at maybe 9.6 miles? And then I got to the 11 mile sign at 10.19 miles.
I kept thinking maybe the signs were off, but I was almost a mile off for the rest of the race & officially finished the race with only 12.29 miles. I know all GPS devices are not created equal, but I also know that we went over that bridge last year before we turned around. But regardless it was a beautiful day & I had a good time.
I finished the race in 2:06, which considering my breathing issues lately was pretty good for me. I only had 2 miles over 11minutes with a lot of run/walking so that’s a win too.
The medals were similar to last year with a little chalkboard for writing your goals.
They gave the best goodie bag I think I’ve ever gotten at a race. Full size container of probiotics & a full size spray sunscreen in addition to a bunch of snacks, which were almost all vegan.
They had a good amount of sponsor tents, we missed the Suja Juice but were able to get huge cups of GT’s Kombucha on tap. This was really cool, they had kombucha on tap on a van & I tried a new to me flavor that was amazing!
All in all we had a great morning, I was able to get another 13 miles for the Lululemon 40/80 challenge, I’ve only got 5k left!
I’d run this race again, it’s a nice low-key event with great support & sponsors.
