HB Surf City Half Marathon

January came and went in a blink of an eye! Before I knew it, the HB Surf City Half Marathon came and went too! It was a busy month in January w/ work, training runs, more work, and birthday festivities. I feel like I've been on the go go go and I'm hoping that this is not an indication of how 2011 will turn out. With that said ...

 The Surf City Half was a great success! Race day started w/ a 5:00 am wake-up call. After an eventful family gathering on Saturday, it was a little tough to rise and shine for the run. My body wanted to snooze but my mind was ready to rock this race! My last long run in preparation for the LA Marathon was 16 miles last week, so the 13.1 miles was a little "break" in training. Haha! Who would think 13.1 would be considered a break ... Overall, there were no surprises to the course and many moments of boredom running up and down Pacific Coast Highway. I started out a little faster than I anticipated but it felt good so I kept running at a 8:30 pace. My legs felt great and I was burning the race adrenaline. At the 5k split I was clocking a little over 25 minutes and still feeling strong. This was probably the quickest 5k split in a race I've ran. Around the 6 mile mark I hit a wall - a wall of boredom! The course turned onto PCH and I started questioning myself: How can I only be at mile 6, it seems like I've been running forever! How am I gonna run 18 miles next week? and 26 miles? Do I really wanna continue marathon training? I need a break! ... As my mind was running w/ all this junk going on, I hit the 8.2 mile split clocking 1:10. I did some quick mental math and if I continued to run under a 9 minute pace I could possibly run a PR. Suddenly there was a shift into overdrive and I pounded out the last 5 miles! My competitive nature took over. Running each mile harder to the finish line, I was inching closer to a new PR. Before I knew it, I saw the finish line in sight and like never before I spirited as fast as my legs would allow towards the finish - making sure to smile for all the cameras :) haha! ... Official time 1:54:39!! New PR! Yeah!

 

Today (morning after the race), my body felt like it got hit by a bus and I walked around all day like I was constipated. As painful as it was though, it was worth another overwhelming finish across the finish line :) And when the runner's high wears off in a few days, I'll be lacing up my running shoes for an 18 miler training long run. Just keep running, just keep running ...