Surf City Half Marathon

Surf's Up! Surf City has always been my warm-up race for the year. We stay at a friends place in Newport Beach and it quite often is a family weekend trip. I never have much intentions other than running a good race and trying to improve each year. However, the night before I started thinking about how much improvement I can make. In 2018, I ran with a goal of sub 7min pace. However, I had the 24 hour flu just three days earlier and my body was still extremely fatigued. I went out too hot and by mile 4 had to slow down. It was the first time in a long time that I actually had a time that was slower than a prior year. Understandably it makes sense after being so sick that the time would not be up to par.

However, I was playing with my training app, Final Surge, and input a few of my personal best times and it creates a goal time that is achievable for a half marathon. It indicated I should be able to do a 1 hour 28 minute time. I've ran this time before, but on a downhill course. Surf City is extremely flat. I decided, why not give this a go.

The first 1/4 mile is always a challenge. For some reason athletes line up at the front and decide to walk 100 feet into the race. After avoiding tripping a few times I finally got into a rhythm. Watch was set on pace which is rare as I am very heart rate based in my training. The goal pace was 6:50. The first two miles I was right on target. I ended up next to a few college students that had a good rhythm going and I stayed with them. Next mile 6:40 pace. Oof. I was starting to hurt and wonder why I was going at this pace. As we approached the turn and the small hill around the neighborhood an older gentleman passed me. I thought my day was over. He was running really smooth. However, I am really good at hills and with hardly much effort I caught up and cruised past him on the uphill. Adrenaline shot through me. I looked down and was holding steady at 6:45 pace and felt invincible.

As we hit PCH around mile 6.5 I could tell I had a small tailwind. I decided to ease off a little and take the ride. I knew the final 3.5 miles would be right back into it and I would need all the energy I could to get to the finish line. As I turned and progressed until mile 11 I felt good, holding pace. Then....

Side cramp. Oh no! I don't train on Nuun products and I think it was kicking in. I slowed down and started to grimace and rub the side. Pace slowed to 7:45. Not good. Not good. We started to go up a hill. This caused a slight change in my stride. The pain eased. Now to crank it up the hill. I reached the top, pace back to 6:45. Home stretch - time to rock!

I tried as much as I could to crank it up to a faster pace but I was wearing out. I could see the wife and kids up ahead. I shifted over to give them their high fives. I have to make sure I give each one a high five or I face the angry child upset that they didn't get their high five the rest of the day. Success! Less than a mile to go. Charge!

Crossed the line just above 1hour and 28min. Mission accomplished. There was limited fatigue. I had some water, grabbed some snacks and walked through the finish line. I had more in me. This is good. My training is working. Time to meet up with the family and get back to the beach!