The thing with running a race year after year is that you really have an intimate outlook of the race. You know where every valley and peak is. You know how you’ll feel at specific points of the race. You know where you should be at the beginning to avoid the crush of the starting crowd. You know when to pull the trigger to finish strong.

Going into the race, I knew I would be able to put out a solid effort just based on my overall fitness, but I didn’t have no real expectations. Besides, with it being my first time doing this race, I don’t have any history with it. Luckily, I got a chance to ride the bike route once a few weeks prior. It felt comfortably hard and not as bad as I thought. I’ve ran the run course dozens of times prior so I know that part very well. And for the swim, with it being in a harbor, I knew it would at least be calm waters early in the morning and the water temp will be whatever the water temp wants to be.

“Well this is going a lot better than a couple of weeks back!” I thought to myself as settled into the first few miles of the 25th Rock n Roll San Diego Half Marathon. My previous half marathon two weeks prior was trash

We’ll deal with what we got, put our best foot forward and give it all we got! I know it’s not gonna be a great race – I hadn’t ran more than three miles in the past two weeks. Lungs felt somewhat heavy with a suppressed dry cough. Body felt weak. As I get to the top of the hill around mile three, turn right and head toward the beach, I finally know how this race is gonna go. And it’s not gonna be pretty.