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13 March 2016 – Puerto Rico Half Marathon

Here is a race I have wanted to participate in for a few years. It goes by the marketing phrase “run in paradise”. This year I finally got my opportunity. I arrived the day before and enjoyed the usual awesome weather…I thought to myself that the next day would be equally as nice.

I stayed at a hotel about a mile away from the race start so at 4am I woke up, put on my running gear, and started towards the starting line. Before I left I snapped this photo which I shall lovingly call “What was I thinking?”.

The race started at 5am. For the first 4 miles it was kind of nice. Then it started raining and didn’t stop for the next 2 hours. Some people wiped out hard on the tile in old town San Juan because the rain made the running surface super slippery. I about ate it twice myself. Overall it was a nice tour of San Juan, though I felt bad for the marathon runners.

In the end I did cross the finish line. Here is my stolen finisher pix that I will not be paying $70 for. Dear race photographers, each photo is worth about $5 dollars to this consumer, when you start selling them at that price you will probably start making 15-20$ per race from me.

Someone’s dog also got a finisher medal. Ha ha ha!

I am really happy with this race. I was trying a new pacing strategy. Many of you know I like to use the Jeff Galloway method. At Disney 2 months ago I ran 1 min and walked a minute. Over the last few months I have been training at a 2/1 ratio in an effort to get faster. My ultimate goal is to finish this distance sub 2 hours. My current PR was set in 2014 at the Dayton River Coridor Half at 2h 21m in which I ran that entire race.

Post race, I waddled back to my hotel for a shower and breakfast. Funny thing: I was worried about missing out on the free breakfast at the hotel and didn’t think about how my race would end around the time breakfast was starting. After an hour rest at the hotel, the Island of Puerto Rico returned to its normal state of beauty, just about the time I didn’t have any more running to do.
I rewarded myself with a Mojito and some Fish Tacos!
Until next time (Hasta Luego)