Allison's Big Toe

Official Race Review: Camarillo Half Marathon 10.3.10

Official times and distance: 2:16:22 / 10:25 average pace / 24th in age group out of 54 women 20-29 yrs.

First off, I want to say a huge thank you to everyone out there on Tumblr, Twitter, and Facebook who encouraged me and read my blog posts throughout my sixteen-week ChiRunning training program in my Vibram FiveFingers.  Also, to those of you who noticed the logo on my shirt while running the race on October 3rd and who took the time to slow up next to me and thank me for my blog or comment on my shoes, I want to truly express my gratitude for making my race so fun! I felt propelled along by all your well-wishes.  It was a joy to see two other women besides me (no men that I saw) wearing FiveFingers for the half marathon.  One young lady—wish I knew your name—was wearing the same color green and gray KSO shoes that I had on.  She was quite a bit faster than me and said she’d been wearing them for a year, but this was also her first half marathon in them.

You can check out a map of the race course at the link here to follow my mile-by-mile debriefing.

Mile 1: Started out fast along Pleasant Valley, under 10 min/ mile. Sooo hard not to. Had 2-3 people ask about my shoes or say they liked reading my blog.  Really exhilarating.

Mile 2:  R turn on to Las Posas and then L on Cawelti. I tried to slow down and not get caught up in the crowd.  It was a very humid morning, and the run down Cawelti was stagnant with not much breeze.

Mile 3: Continuing down Cawelti. It was great to see my dad and sister cheering periodically beside their tandem bike.

Mile 4: R turn on to Lewis was welcome for the change in wind direction, and the run by the entrance to California State University Channel Islands was very pretty.  My hip flexors started to hurt about this point. I introduced my run to the video my husband was filming as he rode beside me.

Mile 5: Up the bridge leading up to the HWY 1 on-ramp.  This was the only hill in the course, and could hardly be called a hill, but I got to practice my ChiRunning uphill focuses of swinging my arms up to my chin.  Tried to relax hip flexors, but they were more sore than they should have been. I had never experienced hip flexor soreness with FiveFingers in the past, and realize now that I was probably holding back too much on my lean.

Mile 6 (halfway!): Ran along a closed-off farm road whose asphalt was quite uneven and a little less comfortable for the FiveFingers than the smoother asphalt had been. I tried to run on the painted center line.

Mile 7-8: Turned R back on to Las Posas to work up to Pleasant Valley. This was the hardest part of the race for me, mentally.  I knew I was more than halfway through, but I was tired, and everything was hurting by now, my inner legs by the ankles (think of the muscles that flex when you try to stand on one foot barefoot), hip flexors, calves, tendon on top of my big toe. Really helped to have family cheering me on here, and seeing some of my high school students along the race course volunteering. I had my husband take one of my water bottles and ride over to an aid station to fill it up because I was running low. Cheating?  Hmmm…maybe, but I pretended I was an ultramarathoner with a whole truckload of supplies following me and attending to my every need.

Mile 9-10: L on Pleasant Valley Rd. Tried to pick up the pace a little as I was sinking in to the 11 min / mile range a few times here.  Still quite tired.

Mile 11-13: Caught up to a girl I had been trailing for awhile.  She and I started talking and realized we had gone to high school together at Camarillo High School and had both graduated in 2000.  Her pace of around 10:30 was pretty consistent with my own, so we ran together into the Camarillo airport section of the race for a couple miles.  At 2 hours, a runner passed me and asked what time it was; I said 2 hours, and she said No, I’m running the full course. I said, Oh! Well, it’s 10:00am. And she took off.  Her form was the most perfect I’ve seen in person. Her feet kicked up behind her in great alignment, no feet splaying out or inefficient arm movement.  She was going so fast to have been at mile 25 three hours into her race.  I was in awe, and it inspired me to get a little more energy after the turn around at mile 11.5.  I gave my water belt to my husband on the bike because I didn’t need it anymore, and he encouraged me to hunker down, stay focused, and go for it.  I leaned from my ankles, lengthened my stride, and brought my pace down into the low nine min/mile range, at times moving into the 8. 

Mile 13.1:  I saw two girls as I rounded the corner to the finish and immediately decided to sprint ahead of them.  It was all mental, as my body was definitely telling me it was time to slow down.  I sped up even more and passed them. As I crossed the finish line, I got a medal from one of my students who was volunteering. Made it!

Recap and improvements for next time:
1. I’m glad I brought all my own electrolyte replacements and water.  The race course was poorly stocked with water.  I don’t usually consume much caffeine at all, but the “Gu” gels I bought had caffeine in them because they were the only ones left at the store.  After the race, I kept saying to my family, “Wow, I feel so perky! I must be in really good shape!” Then I realized I was just on a caffeine high.  Haha! Maybe I’ll use those again next time.

2. The soreness in my calves, inner legs at ankles, big toe on right foot, and hip flexors was quite intense the next day, but the day after that it was all but gone. 

3. After watching the videos my husband shot of my form, I can see I wasn’t leaning enough from the ankles the whole race, and my strides were too short.  I was letting my feet strike ahead of my hips, and I know that’s why my hip flexors were sore. When I sped up at the end, my form was much better.  I think I was focusing too much on keeping a straight back and knees bent for the barefoot form, and neglected to fully give in to the ChiRunning technique.

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