Monday, February 7, 2011

Surf City Half Marathon - The Report

Mary got a cool photo of Bret Michaels
As a triathlete, It's hard to write a race report about a running race because there is only one sport to talk about.  Specifically, there is no swim, and the swim is always good for at least one solid paragraph of self deprecation.  But today it doesn't matter, because the cool story has little to do with my race.

Rather, it starts Friday when TRI714 picked me up and we headed down to the race expo to pick up our race numbers.  Craig is also a member of OC Velo, so it was nice to get a chance to hang out with him lycra free.  Craig ran the half marathon.  After the race he told me he had some trouble with blistering and thus finished a little slower than he had hoped.  But I guarantee he finished with his head up high, because that's the kind of guy he is.  Good job, Craig.

Saturday I went back to the expo, this time to meet up with Racing Dawn and Chris K.  I'd never met Dawn, online or otherwise, until yesterday.  Dawn's got a cool story - she's been running a marathon a month, and had flown in from Salt Lake City with her husband to bag another one.  She finished in 4:25...how awesome is that?

After coming off an injury, Chris K chose Surf City to qualify for Boston.  After 18 weeks of hard training, he did just that with a time of 3:29.  Legend status has been achieved.  I actually think the hardest part for him will be thinking of a new blog name.  Maybe we can help out - www.bobsgymhoneys.com is available.  Shall we take up a collection so we can buy the URL for him?

But the coolest part of the story?  It was all the tweets, blog comments, and Facebook wall posts I got after the race.  Many of you where following my progress online.  I didn't expect this.  But picking up my Iphone to see tons of congratulatory messages BEFORE I even posted anything was simply awesome.  Thank you.


As far as my race went, I'm very happy with it.  I play-listed two hours worth of Social Distortion on my Ipod.  My bib number allowed me to line up just behind the elites so I started with the gun.  And then I enjoyed every second of the race.  I'd been publicly saying I wanted to come in under 1:45, but privately I was gunning for a sub 1:40 finish.  So when I saw that the 1:40 pacer was just ahead of me around mile nine, I dug just a little deeper, passed him and maintained the pace to the finish.   Final time - 1:39:14.

What a great weekend.

43 comments:

Matty O said...

Awesome job man!!! Solid performance :)

Your running has realllllllly gotten fast over the past year. I hope you are happy with your results.

Keep up the good work, it is really looking like a good year for you already!

Raegun said...

Well done, Patrick!

Emz said...

so. freaking. awesome.

slightly jealous Dawn got to meet you.

the
arm
warmers . . .

love. them.

I'd like a post with your playlist please.


parsnips. [if you get "snipers", I get parsnips]

Jill said...

Well done, Sir Patrick!

NO way you are running with me in S2S, I have been slower than snot in my post-heel injury return; I'll see you a good hour after you're done.

Teamarcia said...

Smokin fast Batman! Congrats!

DRog said...

Nice run! way to go, you did great, and sounds like an awesome weekend!

D

Tough Chik said...

Great job Patrick! That is an amazing time and to meet your goal must feel great!

How was the expo? I bowed out this year due to the Super Bowl (big Steelers fan, sadly today).

Shawn said...

Nothing better than beating your goal...great job man!!

Christi said...

That is a rockin' performance!

Rae said...

Fabulous job! Congrats!

Unknown said...

Congrats Patrick!!!

KovasP said...

Oh so YOU'RE the Patrick Mahoney everyone keeps talking about. Now I just have to figure out who that Chris K dude is.

Kate Geisen said...

You did great. I'm so impressed! Way to go! :)

Anonymous said...

Great job!! Congrats on your finish and hitting your secret goal! :)

KovasP said...

Number one bad boy
who's to blame
Number one bad boy
Ain't that a shame
Yeah, right

Jennifer said...

Wow, you did great! But yikes, Bret Michaels has some smokin' hot legs! He he.

Tri-James said...

Glad you got your fantasy goal (I do that too).

Emz said...

Pomegranate.

Adrienne said...

Nice job! Sounds like it was an exciting weekend and I love that you "dug deep" and pulled off a 1:39 in the end there. Way to go.

Emz said...

Rutabaga.

Social Distortion - noted.

TRI714 said...

you kicked it's azz and looked great doing it !! Good job homie, I was proud of you. Thats my friend, thats my friend!! Awesome..

Pahla said...

Awesome, awesome race!! Congrats!!

Ulyana said...

congrats!!!! THAT'S AWESOME!

Unknown said...

Kick ass finish time!! You killed it! I can't believe I didn't see you! Were you on the sidelines?

Don't even tell me how horrible my face looked at that point, I'd rather not know. I'm already dreading the race photos, eeek.

I am so sad I didn't get to meet up with you guys! I had that scruffy little dog with me and my phone was dead or I would have emailed you. I was looking for a bridge but I didn't see one. ???
Then some guys in a truck passed and yelled "HEY!" at me, so I thought it might be you and Chris K. It wasn't.

It's okay, we'll be BFFs at S2S. :) You are a bad ass with that finish time. Seriously.

Annie said...

Awesome finish!

Caroline said...

congrats on your great race! happy for you about getting YOUR real goal!!!

Jason said...

Just an awesome job and big congrats to Chris K. I've got 50 cents to contribute to the new URL but it has to be www.bobsgymhoneys.com.

You also, as I said, have given me a new goal for my 1/2 mary in two weeks. I think I can go sub 1:40 as well.

Molly said...

wow, that's fabulous. Congrats!

ajh said...

Awesome time! How great that you met your secret goal! Love your new suggestion for Chris K's blog title.

Unknown said...

Fabulous Racetime! Congrats

Amanda@runninghood said...

Nice job to you! Isn't is great to have such an amazing group of people supporting you?! I think that this running blog (well, the motherhood part is kind of waning) is one of the best things that has happened to me as an athlete. So much support, inspiration and encouragement. Love it. Great to read your race recap Patrick!

Unknown said...

Radical! Way to go! Cool you had your bloggie friends with you!

Unknown said...

Great race man! Sub-1:40 is excellent!

Unknown said...

I would love to run a 3:30 with you! For some odd reason, I have zero desire to run RNR San Diego. Is that bizarre? Maybe because I live here and I think the course skips all of the best parts of San Diego.

Lets do a destination race!! Skyline to Sea is going to KICK MY ASS.

Chris K said...

I think Kate meant for that last comment to be on my Blogs. Now that we are blood brothers, we are easily taken for the other.

What can I say that hasn't already been said. It was a great weekend. We both kicked ass. That pretty much sums it up. My new goal is to get a 1/2 Mary PR below yours.

Johann said...

Well done Patrick! I love it when a goal comes together. Now I'll have to take up speed work again as my half PR is 1:41.

Petraruns said...

NICE finish time... There's a goal for me to shoot for...

Caratunk Girl said...

Great job Patrick! That is awesome. Cool pick of Brett M, I hardly recognized him without his face planted in a pair of fake boobs.

Shannon (IronTexasMommy) said...

Awesome job!! What an amazing race time! You rock! Brett Michaels is going to be playing at the Dallas Rock N' Roll Half Marathon here in March. Kind of cool that he's actually run in one...

Anonymous said...

That's really Bret Michaels? Anyways, I wish I knew you were running Surf City because I was there too. Congrats on your outstanding race!!!

Barbie said...

You can 60th out of a staggering amount of men in your age group. WOW, congratulations that is absolutely awesome.

Glenn Jones said...

Outstanding Patrick!

Katie said...

A little late, but Congrats!! That is a great pace :)

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails