Surf City 1/2 Marathon Report

I picked the Surf City Super Bowl Sunday 1/2 Marathon in Huntington Beach as a break from the boredom of early season, low heart-rate, base training and to check on the progress in my running base. I was going to run harder than normal for this time of the season and see if I could break my personal best of 1:40 for the 13.1 miles. I did not sign up for the misery of a wet, cold, windy, puddle-jumping contest...but that's what race day brought.

I woke up early to a windy rain pounding on my window and went on with breakfast, stretching, and other prep with the attitude of "all I can control is my own actions - do the best you can with what race day provides."

After driving down the 405 and eventually finding a place to park, I braved the rain and wind in a small tent by the start line waiting for the gun. At this point, it was COLD, probably under 50 degrees with the rain coming in sideways. When it's like this, you are actually really looking forward to running and getting your body temperature up and your muscles loose. There's really nothing worse than the cold, stiff moments waiting to start.

Finally the gun went off and we raced north on PCH. I got off to a solid start without much traffic and held a 7:15 per mile pace for the first 4 or 5 miles. I was able to hold this pace through the hilly section away from the coast and turned towards the final 4.5 mile stretch south on PCH towads the finish well ahead of my PR pace. I was happy to find myself keeping a solid pace and feeling strong. With a good finishing kick I finished in 1:34:46, nearly a 6 minute personal best!

I am really pleased with this result and how much it reflects the progress I have been making with my fitness. To have such a success come under such awful conditions made the results even sweeter.

Next weekend I am off to Palm Springs for a century ride. I will keep the heart rate low and just try to add to my cycling base - I won't be going for any speed records!