La Jolla Half Marathon - Beauty & The Beast

Yesterday, I ran the La Jolla Half Marathon with long-time friend Mike Hird - great, talented guy who perhaps is the most physically and mentally tough guy I know apart from ultra-marathoner Dean Karnazes (who recently ran the Boston Marathon 2X the same day just for the fun of it - the race itself, and separately 26.2 miles TO the race that same day before the event itself).  The La Jolla Half is widely known as being one of the most beautiful -- and toughest -- half marathons in the country.  Two punishing, extended uphill climbs -- the first, Torrey Pines, at the 5 mile mark -- and the second, just for fun at the very end of the course (click on this link to see the course map with elevations).

The good news -- I made it (the picture above is Mike and I after the finish).  Wasn’t easy.  At the risk of giving too much information, I essentially hadn’t run for 4 weeks prior to the race due to an injury (which again reared its head at mile 2).  I snapped my hamstring literally 1 minute before the race while stretching.  Pathetic, I know.  As the race was about to begin, I was left with the decision to bail before even putting one foot in front of the other, or go forward and see what would happen (even though I had promised my family I would stop if I injured myself).

I chose to run.  And I just kept going (the pic on the left is the scene at the starting line).  As I did with each painful step, I thought of Dean Karnazes and something I read in one of his New York Times best-selling books.  Dean’s philosophy is to focus on the pain rather than try to pretend it doesn’t exist.  And, you know what?  It worked.  My focus on the pain kept me focused on each particular moment, rather than thinking about the mile ahead or even the finish.  It was a mental battle, as much as a physical one.  Mike Hird -- a man who will never say “no" to a challenge -- calls this mental game “the little man in your head.”

This time, the little man in my head didn’t win.

And, I’m glad I had that battle.
I’m not alone there.  That’s precisely why the fast-growing tens of millions of “weekend warriors” around the globe participate in endurance events.

(The picture on the left is the downhill from Torrey Pines toward La Jolla at around mile 9 -- notice the paramedic truck on the left?  Glad to say that I passed it by!).