Surf City Half Marathon

The Expo

Call me a grouch, but what a major clusterschumck! Parking was beyond stupid, with everyone circling the same lot. Made it to the expo tent which was filled with morons who think it is acceptable to stop right in the middle of the aisle just because. Jeez, I can't stand these "it's all about me" types. Those who weren't stopping for no reason were just shuffling along as if they had no destination. I knocked several morons aside so I could get my dang race packet. The moron volunteer at the t-shirt table asked me what I wanted. What do you mean? Duh, I want my t-shirt. Idiot. I couldn't wait to get the heck out of there. Of course, getting out of the parking lot took forever. I headed down to Newport Beach to check into my hotel, the Fairfield. Nice place, but it kinda sucked that there was nothing within walking distance.

The FE

Headed back up to Huntington Beach and managed to find the place OK, but I did overshoot the parking lot and had to circle around the block. Ooops. Met a few new peeps from RWOL, but mostly I prefer to hang with those I already know and love. The food was OK, but I wasn't able to stomach enough to call it a carb-load. After I left, I wanted to stop someplace for more food, but couldn't find anything that looked good. I ended up ordering a quesadilla from room service at the hotel. Not bad, but all that cheese coulda been ugly.

The Race

Due to the rain and cold on Saturday, I made a last minute decision to leave my running sunglasses at the hotel. When the shuttle pulled up near the start, the sun had begun shining and I knew I was in big trouble. DOH! I wandered around and found the bag check and the port-o-potties and just loitered around until about 7:30 when I headed to the corrals. I decided to go with Wave 2 because I wanted to make it back in time to catch the early (10:30) shuttle back to my hotel. Otherwise, I would have had to stand around until 11:30 and probably wouldn't have had time to shower before heading back home.

Mile 1 was a sub-9 pace (oops) so I settled down a little, but still hit the 2-Mile Marker a little fast. At 5K, I had finally settled down to a more sustainable pace and I was feeling great! Then the course headed east and seemed to get a bit hilly. I was concerned about my not-yet-100% hip and my overall lack of fitness, so I slowed down and took this part easy. I passed Maniac Ed looking like he was pretty sore. Headed back west and as I made the turn onto PCH, I saw Wadia struggling with an uphill stretch. A few minutes later, I saw Pony and Roccco running together and looking strong. About a half mile behind them, I caught a glimpse of JHong, but I didn't see him in time to give a shout out. This part seemed never-ending, and I just couldn't wait to the turn-around and head back to the finish. My one and only real walk break came at about mile 10, which was where I had seen Wadia struggling. I decided not to bother to push up that hill! Walked about a 1/2 mile, then kicked it in gear because I wanted to beat my time from last month's 13.1 Los Angeles.

Finish time 2:23:xx which was a 2+ minute improvement over last month. Very happy with that. In fact, I am ecstatic! It is nice to finally be back training regularly. I actually felt good post-race and I think this was the first time I ever experienced the "runner's high."

Getting out of the finish area was pretty much just like the expo, with random stoppers and shufflers. I finally made it to the gear check and got my stuff. I had to jog to the shuttle area and got there just a couple of minutes before my shuttle arrived. Phew!

Oh, and my husband loves the Surfboard bling!