The only other race I had done before the 10K was the half marathon I did was last summer and my time there was 2:12.
Unlike the previous one, I paid much more attention to nutrition prior to and during the race. I spent the days leading up to the race focusing on getting in carbohydrates, and spent the day before the race attempting to consume the 2 bottles of Gatorade Endurance. I had to keep telling myself, I wasn't retaining water -- I was "hydrating"! : )
My daughter had a performance the night before the race, so I didn't get to bed as early as I would have liked. Set the alarm, but started waking up every half hour from about 3 a.m. on.
Got up around 4:30 and immediately had my breakfast: 2 strawberry frosted PopTarts -- swilled down with the remaining Gatorade.
Met up with Jill, Mike and some of Jill's athletes before the race, for a pre-race pep talk and to take 4 endurolytes before the race.
Felt pretty nervous before the race, especially since the focus was no longer "just finishing". At the start I stayed very far back, and let the mass of people go ahead. This proved to be somewhat disadvantageous for me, because as I was attempting to maintain a 9:25 pace for the first mile, I had a very difficult time getting around people and even coming close to that pace for a good bit of that first mile.
In retrospect, I was also confused about my race plan, despite going over it in the morning before leaving. Instead of running the first 3 miles at 9:25, then having my HR go to 170, I ran the first mile at that pace, and then went to HR 170. (Next time I will tape my plan on my Garmin or have a cheat sheet, like Hamish!!)
I tried to relax and run smoothly, but it took a while until I felt comfortable. Running with the fuel belt bottle in hand and drinking from it on a regular basis is something I still am getting used to doing. I ended up drinking not much more than half of what I had intended to drink. I did take the remaining endurolytes 1 hour into the race.
My biggest challenge was trying to get the HR up over 170 on the last half of the course. Overall I felt fine, no aches or pains, not out of breath, but I just had a hard time moving my legs quickly enough.
By mile 8 or so, my iPod decided it needed a break -- who knows why? This did not help me pick up the pace. Fortunately, it decided to work again a few miles later. Therefore, my anti-blister socks ceased to perform their function and my feet started burning and I could feel an enormous blister forming on the sole of my left foot. (Upon later examination the blister has indeed formed, but does not quite have the diameter I had envisioned, instead of the silver dollar size I was sure it was, it is more the size of a nickel...)
At this point I was becoming quite frustrated at my dropping HR. Instead of the mid to high 170s, I was dropping to the 160s, especially on the downhills, where I knew I could run faster than I was, but just couldn't get those legs to be "fast and light, fast and light".
It became obvious to me that the difference between "just finishing" and reaching a target time, was an enormous one. "Just finishing" would have been easy. When it was clear that I was not going to finish in 2 hours, it was difficult not to become discouraged. I tried to really push it in the end -- I had expected to finish with a heart rate in the high 180s, but I just could not move that quickly.
I don't have the official time, but my Garmin thinks it was somewhere between 2:04 and 2:05. Note: Official Time 2:03:44
I am not disappointed about not reaching my time goal. I feel like I am very much still in the learning process and my time was still quite an improvement.
Seafair Half Marathon, by Doug Thompson
Overall the race went as planned. 
