Race Report: Great Race of Agoura - Pacific Half Marathon

Signed up for the trail race, the Cheseboro Half, but the National Park Service shut the trail down because of the recent rain and thick mud so we were all switched over to run the Pacific Half Road 1/2 Marathon. I was hoping to wind up on the podium but got 7th overall out of 1,676, 3rd AG. Felt good about my time of 1:19 (PR) though considering there was 1,400 feet of climbing. 


Race website has a cool video here with clips from all the races.


Christian Hesch won the race with a time of 1:10, I kept up with him and the lead pack for the first half mile or so, but quickly realized that these guys were way out of my league, total studs.  2nd place was only 6 seconds behind him, and 3rd only 40 seconds behind him.

Got a lift to start with the Salinger's, always fun to run w/ Andy, I think he ran it in 1:32. Saw Mike Becker (2nd place at  Bandit 50k), he won AG in 1:26, saw Christian Chiappe at start too, he was just out for an easy run since he's competing at the Oceanside 70.3 this weekend, good luck Christian!

Tried out a new pair of Drymax socks today, the Running Lite Mesh socks.  Loved 'em, no feet issues at all.

I definitely slowed down a lot on uphills and got passed on 'em, but passed people on downhills.  I didn't expect this.  I consider myself a good climber out on the trails, I guess that doesn't exactly translate to running fast up gradual slopes on the road.

Hard to run a 6min mi for 13 miles!  Not used to running at that pace, but it was fun to mix things up a bit. 

SPILTS: 

1: 5:58 
2: 5:53 
3: 6:15 
4: 6:49 
5: 5:12 
6: 5:53 
7: 5:48 
8: 6:04 
9: 6:12 
10 6:10 
11 6:10 
12 6:06 
13 5:55 
last .1, 4:47 


Here's a shot of me looking tired at the end:

The guy behind me to the right was about 30 seconds ahead of me for the last 6 or 7 miles... I felt bad passing him in the last half mile, but not bad enough to not do it.


My buddy Andy and his daughter Audrey both got 4th place in their age groups, way to go Salingers!

I tried a different flavor of FLUID recovery drink after the race today, chocolate...mmmmmmm.  Tastes like the hot chocolate powder mixes, definitely hit the spot after the race.


Now it's time to train for Leona Divide!  I did have a lot of fun running a road race for a change, but running longer distances on the trail is more enjoyable for me, and I think I'm more cut out to run slower, up and down mountains on trails rather than run fast on the road... we'll see!