Zooma Women's Half Marathon 2009

Yes, you read that right. No, this was not a women-only event, it was women-mostly. When I first heard about this race (from Runner's Edge Coach David, who helped design the course), I went to the website to investigate. When I saw the race shirts had "men's sizes also available," I emailed the race director who confirmed that I could register if I wanted. A race population that would probably be 93% women? Yeah, I had to think for all of about 2 seconds for that one.

That was a month or so ago. Of course, I knew that this race would be two weeks after the Disneyland half marathon, and two weeks before the St George full marathon. I told myself that at either Disneyland or Zooma, I would break two hours. Fortunately (as you know, O Loyal Reader), that happened at Disneyland, leaving me free to take a more relaxed approach to the Zooma race. I (half-) jokingly told my friends that this would not be a PR race, nor even a hard race: this would be a flirt race. I planned to enjoy myself and make some new friends. But even with that, when my friend Keri (who worked registration) told me that there were only 22 men signed up, I figured I might at last be able to say that I had a top 10 finish (in my division, that is).

Before the race, I designed a sign to pin to my back that quoted Shania Twain's song "Man I Feel Like A Woman." I'd kicked the idea around before, and all the women I'd told about that said it was a good call, that it would make people laugh and get some attention. At least, I thought it would make a good conversation starter. This morning, when I connected with my RER friends who were running, they all gave the sign a thumbs-up.

When the race started, I settled into an easy sub-11 minute warmup pace, running with some friends. After that first mile, I increased my speed to around 10-minute pace, planning to hold that for the rest of the run. As I ran, I'd say Hi to some of the women I passed and chat with them for a while. About 3 miles in I struck up a conversation with a young lady from Alaska named Clea. We were going at about the same pace, so I decided to stick with her for a while. We chatted about running half marathons and fulls, where she went to school (she's in Boulder getting her masters), and how often she gets back to Alaska. We ran together for about the next 5 miles, until I (stupidly) did the same thing I did at Disneyland: powered through an uphill and left her behind.

The aid station at the 8 mile point was manned by Runner's Edge. Coach David was there with his megaphone, encouraging the runners as they came up the hill. I was happy to see Al, Jen, Julie, Mike, and many others as I came powering through. It's always a great boost to see friends on a race course.

I then caught up with fellow RERers Leslie and Jamie, and ran with them for a few miles. I enjoyed that, too, as I hadn't really spoken with either of them at great length before. But they dropped me, as they were both feeling strong and wanted to push harder than I did.

After I came back along the course and passed the Runners Edge aid station, I struck up brief conversations with other runners. I also started thinking about where I was in terms of finishing order. I'd passed a handful of the other men running the race, and seen what I assumed to be the first two finishers come tearing past me (before the 8 mile mark). Where, then, was I in relation to them? I started asking some volunteers how many men had passed them before me, and was encouraged when they all indicated that I was the 3rd or 4th one. I wanted to turn up my effort, but I reminded myself that I wasn't going for a PR in this race, that I was taking it slow and having fun. I almost believed it.....

I did slow down to walk along the last uphill climb before the course turned onto MLK Blvd in the last mile. I was still pretty secure in thinking I was going to be the 3rd or 4th male finisher, and decided to cut myself a break. When I hit the level road, though, for the last half mile, I turned it up again to about 10 minute pace. And as I turned the last corner and saw the finish line a tenth of a mile away, I gradually increased my speed to have a nice strong finish. And although my final time was nowhere near my PR (and in fact was slower than my last 3 half marathons), I was satisfied with my results, especially when I saw them posted: turns out I was 2nd in my division and the 4th male to finish overall!

Official Time: 2:13:33
Total Races: 19
YTD Race Miles: 164.1
YTD Total Miles: 990.1
After the race: A woman asked if she could take my picture. Turns out, she actually wanted a picture of my sign!