Surf City Half Marathon

It was a good race! Not a great one, but good. Official finishing time was 3:30:17, a good ten minutes faster than Long Beach, but not the 3:25 I was hoping for.

I left home around noon on Saturday, giving myself four hours to do a few last-minute errands in town (gas, money, wash truck) and drive down to Huntington Beach for a 4 PM check-in at the hotel. Google said it would take 2:37 to get there—which I knew was bogus, because Google doesn't take into account traffic, which is always a factor in the LA area. I figured if I got there early, I'd just park and go to the Expo first and check in later, but as it turned out, I pulled into the hotel at just about exactly 4 PM. Traffic was slow in spots, nothing too terrible, but enough to add a good hour to my transit time. But, because I'd left early, I was relaxed and got there in plenty of time.

Checked in and headed over to the Expo to pick up my packet, for the most complicated and confusing packet pick-up I've ever experienced, but I got my stuff and wandered around a bit, then headed back to the hotel. I didn't bring dinner with me, as I did in Long Beach, thinking that I'm not strictly vegan any more so eating out wouldn't be such a problem, but I kind of wish I had. The hotel restaurant menu didn't appeal to me, so I went out in search of food. Ended up eating a tuna sandwich and a salad at Johnny Rocket, which was good, but I'd had a tuna sandwich for lunch, and didn't mean to have the same thing for dinner!

I wanted to have an early night, but I hadn't made any attempt to adjust my schedule in the week before the race, so I found it hard to get to sleep, and once I did, I didn't sleep well at all. I got up at 5:30 AM feeling tired and queasy, but went ahead and got ready. Had a cup of coffee and a cup of soy milk with chocolate and got dressed. I'd brought long- and short-sleeved tee shirts, and dithered about which to wear—it was cool at that early hour, but I knew it would be warm later, so finally wore the short-sleeved tee with capri leggings. I was glad I did once the race started, but it was chilly standing around waiting for the start! I was also glad there were portapotties right near the start line—with no waiting—so I could make one last stop before the race started.

Start time for the half marathon was 7:45 AM, but it was a wave start and I was in the last corral, so didn't cross the start line until around 8:20 AM. And we were off!

The route took us up the Pacific Coast Highway and back, with one little spur off to the east. The full marathoners also went down and ran along the beach, while we half-marathoners stayed up on the highway. It was a nice route, with the ocean off to the west, and fairly flat.

I brought three GU with me, but I was hungry already when the race started, and wondering if it would be enough. I'd drunk my soy milk early and was already up for 3 hours by the time the race started! But, fortunately, they were handing out Clif Shot Bloks at some of the water stations, so I grabbed those when I could. I've had them before and liked them, so I knew they'd be fine for my stomach. I ate them at I think 3, 5, and 7 miles? I wasn't really paying attention, which turned out to be a problem—I'd gotten used to thinking they'd be available all along the way, but when they stopped handing them out, I didn't realize it right away, I just thought, well, maybe at the next station, until I started feeling tired and slowing down around mile 10. I had planned to eat a GU at mile 11, but I went ahead and had it early and I perked up again right away. I'm sure I lost some time by not eating enough soon enough, but at least I recognized the signs of low blood sugar before it got too bad, and corrected it.

I didn't use the GPS on my running app, and it decided I was finished about a mile before I was actually done, so I just estimated my running intervals for the rest of the race. I knew I'd slowed down so I tried to just run it in for the last quarter mile or so.

After crossing the finish line, I got my medal and had my finisher photo taken, then wandered around a bit, eating an orange and some frozen acai thing and drinking water, then I went back to the hotel to rest and eat a Clif Bar before heading out for lunch. I was tired, but in much better shape than I was in Long Beach! I flubbed my nutrition slightly, but recovered and finished well.

The race results page also gave some split times:
5K pace: 14:52
10K pace: 15:43
10 Mile pace: 15:49

and my overall pace was 16:03. So I did slow down considerably over the race. That's something I need to work on for the next race. Am I going out too fast? Is my walk interval too short? Do I need to eat more? My app doesn't show split times, only totals. I should start timing splits so I can see where the trouble spots are. Maybe I should get myself another sport watch.

Anyway, another half marathon complete! Time to start working on the next one!