Race Notes: Denver and Los Angeles Half Marathons

I wrapped up October with two half marathons seven days apart.

The Denver race was first. As usual, I was using the my Garmin 405 GPS to time my run/walk intervals.  I've had the watch for over a year and it's never once worked correctly in a race. After hundreds of runs where the Garmin screwed up, it actually worked in the Denver race. Unfortunately, I screwed up.  The night before the race,  I changed my normal run/walk intervals to give myself a shorter run and a longer walk.  I was having trouble breathing in Denver's thinner air and I figured I'd need to change my run/walk ratio.  I over corrected.  I did need the shorter run, but the longer walk was a waste of time.  The other issue in Denver was chafing of the chub rub/inner thigh variety.  Between the long walk intervals and chub rub, I had a slow day.

Los Angeles was advertised as a fast, flat course.  Lies!  All lies!  It was all hills.  None of the hills were especially steep, but it was unrelentingly up and down.  In more Garmin misadventures, I forgot my Garmin at home.  I was worried about that since I hadn't run without a GPS in several years, but it was fine.  Overall, I was pretty close to my normal race pace despite all the hills and heat.  Not bad considering I didn't have my watch for pacing.

I'm off from racing until December.  I could run the Silver Strand Half Marathon, but I'm going to skip it.  I need a little break.