Mile 10 split: 8:07 marathon time: 1:18:03
I might have talked myself into fainting like Bryan so much that I made myself dizzy. In a car, when you look at the road on a freeway, you see thin lines as if the highway was recently raked. Well, seeing them in slower motion and on foot does not make it any easier. I was caught in between the option of running dizzily as I was looking down on the freeway or running on the shoulder which is at a slant and could possibly ruin the race of my life. I chose to run in the slow lane, but far enough over that looking lightly to my left would rid my peripheral of the hypnotizing freeway lines. A bit of a struggle, but not nearly as dizzy.
Mile 11 split: 7:22 marathon time: 1:25:26
You’ll notice that I did not say anything about my previous mile time. Not sure exactly what held me back. It was a gradual hill, but not enough to make me run one out of the only two miles over 8 minutes. BUT, if you look at this mile, I think I more than make up for the time. This mile time marks the fastest mile of the race; not bad. It was in this mile (not sure why because this mile is the most uninteresting part of San Diego) that I reflected back on the Dublin marathon. I thought about running through the city streets that Dublin residents probably didn’t give two sh—s about but had me in awe and disbelief. It made me wonder if anyone was running this race with those same thoughts right now. While even San Diego residents can enjoy many picturesque parts of this race, it is definitely not going to be on the southbound 163. Nevertheless, I am sure there are some that did.
Mile 12 split: 7:47 marathon time: 1:33:13
Finally off the freeway, we turned into Fashion Valley where I got to reflect back on my old stomping grounds from my USD days. To the right was the Jamba Juice that I spent many hours of my young life at. Turning left, I was approaching the dreaded mall that was always flooded with frustrating traffic during any holiday season. Doo do do doo, running along, basking in my past, who should appear but one of the best parts of it; Cass! Cassandra Chavez waved and cheered me on, fueling my second wind and energizing me even more than I already was. I waved and kept running on; excited to see such a close (former) teammate.
Little bit about Cass: Cassandra Chavez was one of our top runners at University of San Diego. Each year, she not only improved her performance in each and every race, but she inspired all of her teammates to run like they meant it. Her senior year especially, Cassandra had the best season of her life while overcoming personal obstacles. But she never let those get in the way of her giving it her all, every time. If I had to sum Cassandra up in one sentence, it would be: she gave all of her heart and energy into each and every mile, each and every step, and in each and every person.