Coronado 15k Race Report

I had a good time today running the Coronado 15k. For those of you unfamiliar with California geography, Coronado is an island off the coast of San Diego with about 26,000 residents and a lot of Navy ships. I’m staying in a hotel near the San Diego Convention Center, so I had to come up with a reliable and cost-effective way to get to the 7 a.m. start. Unfortunately, since it was the 4th of July it required getting up at 4:30 so I could get ready and walk the half-mile to the bus stop to get the one and only bus that would get me there on time – actually, about an hour early.

I can tell you there aren’t many people standing around at bus stops in singlets, shorts and bib numbers on a holiday weekend at 5:30 a.m. in downtown San Diego. There were, however, a couple of other runners on the bus when it arrived, so it was all “hail fellow, well met” after that.

I expected to see the 3,000 frighteningly fit runners in the start area. Even the old ladies look like they could crush your spleen. San Diego weather is so perfect you rarely have an excuse not to run. What I wasn’t expecting was how friendly everyone was. Total strangers started conversations with me about PRs, the route, and what pace I expected to run. A charming German woman practiced her English on me while I explained the old school, run-down-the-chute-in-order-and-tear-off-the-bib-tag-to-hand-in-at-the-finish timing system.

I brought a Clif Bar to while away the hour and then lined up at the start in the middle of a baseball diamond. The weather was wonderful… mid 60s with a steady ocean breeze. We started on time, but almost immediately bottle-necked for almost the entire first mile. But it had little overall effect on my race.

Mile 1 – 9:27
Mile 2 – 8:34
Mile 3 – 8:47
Mile 4 – 8:40

I’m pretty sure the second mile marker was a little off, so those last three splits are actually more even than they appear. The crowded start insured I didn’t go out too fast, so I was pretty comfortable.

Mile 5 & 6 – 17:28 (8:44 average)
Mile 7 – 8:33
Mile 8 – 8:31
Mile 9.3 – 11:12 (8:36 average)

Everything was exceedingly smooth, my splits were negative, but I didn’t exactly set the world on fire. I ran it at about the same pace as my last 10-mile training run. No better. No worse.

There was no chip time, but my watch read 1:21:12 at the finish, an 8:42 pace. I finished 473rd out of 1204, and 35th out of 60 in my age group.

So I’m neither thrilled, nor disappointed. It was “fine.” Time to start bumping up the distance when I get home.