Race Report: Surf City Half Marathon 2008
Janet, Judy & I ran the Surf City Half Marathon in Huntinton Beach this past Sunday. Huntington Beach is about an hour south of LA in Orange County, so we drove down Saturday afternoon to pick up our packets and spend the night.
This was Judy's first race, and we figured what better way to ease her into the sport than a nice run on the beach? The weather was amazing. It looked like this was going to be a great run.
When the alarm went off at 5:30 the next morning, however, we heard the unmistakable pitter-pat of rain. Sure enough, a storm had blown in, and what we'd hoped would be a fun run in the sun turned out to be a bitter, soggy slog through cold wind and rain. An estimated 15,000 runners participated. Many, including us, took shelter in the nearby Hilton resort lobby to keep dry until the last possible moment. With wet runners huddling everywhere, the hotel was trashed, but the staff was kind enough to hand out garbage bags for use as panchos. We were soaked within the first mile, and the rain never let up. We all made it, though, and despite averse conditions I finished in 1:33, my personal best. Perhaps the poor conditions were a good motivator for reaching the finish.
All in all, it was a pretty miserable run. Even if the weather had been nice, the course was a boring out-and-back down the PCH. When I neared the finish and saw the full marathon runners turning around to repeat the same course they'd just completed, I never felt so relieved to only be doing the half. Welcome to running, Judy! If you made it through this, the full marathon will be a breeze.
On our drive home, looking for somewhere decent to have lunch in a series of strip malls and actual malls, we came across, of all things, Z-Tejas. Who knew they'd become a chain? Anyway, we finally our queso fix, just when we needed it most.
This was Judy's first race, and we figured what better way to ease her into the sport than a nice run on the beach? The weather was amazing. It looked like this was going to be a great run.
When the alarm went off at 5:30 the next morning, however, we heard the unmistakable pitter-pat of rain. Sure enough, a storm had blown in, and what we'd hoped would be a fun run in the sun turned out to be a bitter, soggy slog through cold wind and rain. An estimated 15,000 runners participated. Many, including us, took shelter in the nearby Hilton resort lobby to keep dry until the last possible moment. With wet runners huddling everywhere, the hotel was trashed, but the staff was kind enough to hand out garbage bags for use as panchos. We were soaked within the first mile, and the rain never let up. We all made it, though, and despite averse conditions I finished in 1:33, my personal best. Perhaps the poor conditions were a good motivator for reaching the finish.
All in all, it was a pretty miserable run. Even if the weather had been nice, the course was a boring out-and-back down the PCH. When I neared the finish and saw the full marathon runners turning around to repeat the same course they'd just completed, I never felt so relieved to only be doing the half. Welcome to running, Judy! If you made it through this, the full marathon will be a breeze.
On our drive home, looking for somewhere decent to have lunch in a series of strip malls and actual malls, we came across, of all things, Z-Tejas. Who knew they'd become a chain? Anyway, we finally our queso fix, just when we needed it most.
posted by travis at
8:21 AM
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