Chose poorly for my meal the night before - an Italian restaurant that was heavy with the fats (butter, cheese, egg yolk, chicken liver), sleep was a little wonky but by the time I started running, my body agreed to comply. 😂 My partner dropped me off at Crystal Pier in PB; I snapped a quick selfie and off I went around 7:40am. La Jolla was a little tricky navigation-wise, I backtracked once (didn't really need to though, false alarm = extra miles), later found myself running up Pearl St too far and cut across back to Torrey Pines Rd. Probably partly how I ended up with 32.75 miles vs just under 32. All good though! I filled up from the public water fountain at Fletcher Cove in Solana Beach, also used the restroom there. I continued on my merry way into Cardiff then Encinitas. I tried to avoid the lights at one juncture and again found myself running extra to get back to the 101. Moral of the story: study the route beforehand and be careful calling audibles as they might just make you run more mileage.
It got pretty warm by the time I got to Leucadia. I filled up again in Carlsbad at one of the public water fountains between Cannon and Tamarack. That was my last fill - I think I drank around 2 liters total maybe a little less. This is quite a bit of fluid for me, I think the sun was part of the reason. I was happy to get to Oceanside - I lived in O'side from 2007 to 2013 so once I got to La Costa Ave in Carlsbad I was very familiar with the rest of the way to the finish. I pushed a little bit the last 2 miles or so, briefly touching zone 3 HR. I wanted to sneak under 5:10 (which is an arbitrary number) but sometimes you just need a thing to motivate you to move a little faster 🙃
I packed with me 3 Gus and a package of Gu chews, and I used them all throughout the 5 hours. I should have brought more fuel (I feel like this is a theme with me; need to work this out when I attempt a 100 miler in February 2024). I also had started the run with a liter of Skratch in the bottles of my vest.
Post run, I walked over the Camp Coffee for a latte and ham and cheese croissant - so good! I had packed in my hydration vest a long sleeve and my Houdini in a ziplock which allowed me to get at least my upper body out of sweaty things. I then took the Coaster train back from Oceanside to Old Town Station where my partner picked me up.Â
I ran the whole way solo and did not need to resupply with food. I only resupplied water at the two public taps.