On the weekend of my best friend’s wedding, I ran the Surf City Half Marathon. (She got married on a Thursday, so it was totally okay!) This is my second year running the race. YES I’ve pre-registered for next year so that I get to be part of the Longboard Legacy club. All you really get is a free legacy race shirt and more beer everywhere. I’m not too hip on beer but I like race shirts! Plus, running this race ensures that I go “home” at least once a year.
I signed up for Orangetheory on New Years Eve with the goal of increasing my performances. Between the Louisiana Half and this race, I cut off nearly 20 minutes. I was super excited and very focused on my race…so focused, in fact, that I only took out my phone twice and that was to check my pace/time.
The day before the race, I picked up my bib and worked the Honey Stinger booth. It was a lot of fun meeting runners, chatting with them about the waffles, gels, and chews. I picked up some awesome treats and swag for working the booth too, which was awesome. My old retail skills really came out during that time. I did feel a sense of obligation since they provided a free race registration for Louisiana, so this was the least I could do to help!
The next morning, I woke up at around 4am. It was so early…earlier than any of our Orangetheory wakeup times. I loaded all of my stuff into the car (rain gear included) and drove to Huntington Beach. The sun eventually broke, but the air was heavy with water. It wasn’t hot, but it wasn’t cool either. I was able to run with a long-sleeved shirt the entire time without really overheating. There weren’t any changes for the route that I could tell…they certainly kept that hill into the residential neighborhood!
I was so very glad to be done with the race, but I was also ecstatic when I learned that I shaved off so much time from my last half marathon. Afterwards, I went to grab lunch with some old high school friends who also did the race. It was a great impromptu reunion!
Amara in Training 