Surf City

On Friday, January 30th, we drove to Huntington Beach for the Surf City Marathon and Half Marathon.  We arrived late Friday but awoke early Saturday to head to the expo and check out Huntington beach.  Here we are pictured above at a restaurant enjoying lunch.  We celebrated Roos' birthday with a cold one!

The expo was small but nice.  We got our stuff and just walked around town.  Of course, we went to the beach.  Connor had a great time playing in the sand and water.

We stayed in Costa Mesa, not far from Huntington beach and we arrived early so we could park fairly close.  I was running the marathon and Roos and Connor were running the half.  I started at 6:50a and they didn't start until 8 a.  It wasn't very cold at the start which was nice.  There is nothing like running the first few miles with feet that feel like blocks because they are frozen!  Shortly after we started a low fog rolled in but the weather remained warm.  Later in the run, the sun came out and it was beautiful  I think the high was in the low 70's.  I guess we lucked out because last year, it was windy and the rain was blowing sideways.

The marathon starts on the Pacific Coast highway near the pier and then cuts inland.  We ran by some beautiful homes and then into Huntington beach park.  For a brief time, I mean brief, we hit a dirt path near the lake and then back on to the path that runs around the park.  By the time we hit the road to head back towards the ocean, the speedy half marathoners were coming in the opposite direction.  When you get back to the Pacific Coast highway you run north, turn, run south, turn, run north, turn, run south and finish up near the pier.  There are alot of turn arounds but it was okay.  At one point, I thought we were at mile 15 but no.... mile 17 - that was a pleasant surprise.

Mile 23 and 24 were tough.  Overall, I was happy with my time.  I had told a few girls I was running with the week before that my goal was between 3:30 and 3:45.  The bad thing about actually verbalizing your goals is you have to come through.  I finished up at 3:36, so within my goal time.  I felt great afterward.  I sat on the grass and waited for Roos and Connor to finish.  

I looked for them out on the course but never saw them.

This was Connor's second half marathon.  His first was Avenue of the Vines in Lodi last May.  He finished up in 3:48 ( it was 105 degrees that day).  

Roos and Connor finished up at 3:18!  They finished looking good.  Connor took 30 minutes off his time.  I am very proud of both of them.  The medal was cool.  This is really the reason we did this event, Roos wanted the surf board medal!

Of course, Connor played on the beach for awhile while we chilled.  We drove home that night.  It was a long drive.

We plan on doing this event next year with my oldest son and daughter in law.  It was a great weekend with beautiful weather.  Who doesn't like running next to the ocean??

Run fun......