Today, I ran a the Santa Cruz half marathon in 1:28:32 (6:45 min/mile).

This is a new PR for me on the distance by 1 minute and 21 seconds. It pleases me a lot because I have been training very hard running 2,100 miles in the last 365 days.

Also, Santa Cruz is my favorite half marathon so it is nice to run a PR there again like I did in 2010. The course is really nice, the race well organized, and the field size is great to make it enjoyable without feeling suffocated.

New this year was the presence of a pacer team. I ran most of the race 100-200 yards behind the 1:30 pacer. I had not really managed to stick with him early on but having him as a target was good enough as it motivated me to keep on running hard even when I ended up alone. And then later, on our way back W Cliff Dr, I finally overtook him with a bit more than 2 miles to go as I was down to a 6:30/mile pace.

The table above says I finished 24th for the marathon (there was a 5K and 10K as well) but once you add back the 6 overall winners, 3 male and 3 female runners that all ran faster, then I actually finished 30th.