Surf City Half Marathon race recap. Beach Cities Challenge done!

Yesterday I ran my 7th Half Marathon in beautiful Huntington Beach: Surf City Half Marathon.  What a beautiful town! I loved it.  I cannot believe I had never been there before. 

Friday we had THE birthday...more on that tomorrow.
Saturday morning we had Will's basketball game first and then we headed to the Expo for the race.

The Expo was right on the beach.  We were lucky and found a parking on PCH.  I was supposed to meet Patrick there...but someone needed his beauty rest and fell asleep :(

Doing the race Expo with the boys is not the greatest so I didn't stop to check all the vendors and I skipped all the free samplers of stuff that I don't care about anyway.  I got my bib and shirt and a really nice bag.  I love the shirt, on the back at the bottom it says Run Surf City.  I think I would actually wear this one..much nicer than the horrible one I got at the Disney Half Marathon! 

Took a few pictures at the Expo hoping that Patrick would show up (I had no clue he was dreaming of his next triathlon at the time).

 This me texting Patrick one last time...

After that we drove to where Bill would try to meet me on the course so that he could figure out where to park, we were lucky to have had great advices from Patrick for that.  Once we had a good plan for that and also a meeting spot for after the race,  we headed to the hotel and I tried to take it easy until race time.  It is not ideal to sleep in a hotel the night before a race.  Once again I got very little sleep because I slept with my 6 yrs old son and he kept hitting me ALL night.  My sinus were still completely plugged when I went to bed, things were not looking up in that area :(

I got up at 5:30 am.  As soon as my right foot hit the floor I felt the pain from plantar fasciitis...I may have said all the curse words I know in French right then.  I stretch it right away hoping it would calm down a bit.  I got ready and took to shuttle to the race.  The hotel where we were staying was super organized for shuttle and they offered a complete breakfast for all the guests from the Race.  I got to the race around 7 am.  The line for the porta potty was so long I thought I would miss my wave.  I made it to the start right on time.  I thought the start would be crazy like in Long Beach but no.  It went really smooth even with some walkers lining up next to the 2:00 pacer! 

Right from the start I had 3 things against me:

1. Sinus plugged and massive headache because of it.

2. Plantar Fasciitis flare up

3. The freaking sun was out at the very beginning of the race.

Really all I wanted is to be able to run that race and complete the Beach Cities Challenge and I remember thinking just that as I crossed the starting line.  It was hard to breath and I could feel mild pain on my foot at each step.  First 6 miles went OK, I had good pace, if I had kept it I would have had an easy PR.  Bill was supposed to be at mile 4 but when I got there they were not there...I thought he had a hard time finding a parking and he missed me.  The course turns around between mile 4 and 5 and in the turn there they were! I was so happy to see them and that I was still doing good enough to run so no walking in front of my sons!!!

See me waving at them to get their attention?!!

 Here I am telling the boys to be good for dad!!

After that, the course headed back to PCH..it is hard to beat that view of the ocean.   Around mile 6 I saw Patrick who was at mile 10 coming down the other side of the course.  I yelled his name but he is too speedy, he did not hear me!!!  Mile 7 my foot was starting to hurt more and I had more difficulties breathing.   I was also pretty hot.  I could not believe people were in long pants and long sleeves.  My plan was to drink small sips of water often.  It worked for a while but when it got to a point where I needed to drink more my stomach went in rebellion.  Every time I tried to speed up a little I could feel the water coming back up.  This really sucks and it is so frustrating.  My legs were OK and I wanted to try to go faster but I was not able to.   The volunteers were great at all the stations, they had plenty of them also.  This race is very well organized.

The last few miles were not great for me.  I knew I had lost any chance of having a PR long before the end.  I wanted to finish the best that I could and that is what I did.  I kept thinking "No giving up, the BIG medal is at the end of this!"  I saw the kids and Bill right before the finish line, that was nice!  The crowd was fantastic there; a lot of people were lined up at the end.

I loved that race.  The course is beautiful, it is mostly flat.  Nice weather for hanging out but for running I prefer the clouds over the sun. 

I am dissapointed in my time.  I wanted to do well at that race and I did not.

After the race I had to make a stop to the Expo to pick up my Beach Cities Challenge Medal. Now THAT is a Medal! By far the nicest one I have now.  It is huge and super heavy.  Even though I am dissapointed with my race, I am very proud that I have completed the Challenge. 

Back of the medal

Tomorrow I will announce the winner of my book giveaway!

 



Surf City on Dwellable

Back in California and La Descente Royale 10k part pictures

I am back home.
My heart is broken.
It is hard to leave my family, friends and the city that I love.
I don't hate California.  I just don't love it.
I cried a lot yesterday, my head still hurts.

Now I have 124 loads of laundry to do, 243 envelopes to open from all the mail we got, go through A LOT of pictures and many blogs to read!

Today I signed up for this!

I came home sick.  In Quebec, I had really bad allergies, ended up with a massive sore throat, then I lost my voice at my High School reunion. 

I went running today.  Back on the treadmill for the week because the kids are home  so I cannot run outside.  I did 4 miles, hills.  When I got to the gym I saw my pal Vic and he told me that while I was gone someone died while running on the treadmill.  That is so sad and scary.  The guy was a 54 yrs old fireman.  I did not know him.

Race pictures:

I got the email with the ones from the race and I bought some.  Bill did take pics of me at the race but only at the end and a lot of them are of me looking in pain or having dry heaves.

Those are the ones from the race:

Here I started not feeling good as you can see!



Finish line



Those are the ones Bill took:

SIDE ACHE

COULD NOT PUT BOTH ARMS UP

DRY HEAVES

IN PAIN

NOT FEELING GOOD

WITH MY FRIEND SONIA
SHE IS WILL'S GODMOTHER
SHE RAN A HALF UNDER 2 HOURS LAST YEAR.

Half way

I am at the half point of my training plan.  This is is going by faster then the first time.
I had a pretty good week.  I am improving on pace and I ran a tempo run outside and it turned out to be easier then doing it on the treadmill.  I ran  8 miles for my long run.  Last time I did 8 miles was when I trained for my 1st half so it was in January.  Saturday I ran my 8 miles 9 minutes faster then I did in January.  That makes me feel really good about my training.  Also I tried a new fuel and it works for me.  So I am optimistic that my second half marathon will be better then my first and not just in terms of time.

WEEK 6
Mon: 4 miles: 4 miles
Tue: stretch and strength + XT: 30 min elliptical and 15 min bike.  Core workout.
Wed: 3 miles: 3 miles tempo
Thu: Speedwork: tempo 40 min yikes!: Speedwork 7x400m: 5 miles total.
Fri: REST: REST
Sat: XT or 3 miles: 8 miles
Sun: 8 miles: 3 miles
total: 23 miles.

WEEK 7: **Spring Break, I have to change the regular order of my workouts because kids are home, luckily Bill took Mon and Tue off so I was able to run outside! 

Mon: 3 miles: 3 miles
Tue: 4.5 miles: 4.5 miles
Wed: stretch and strength + XT:
Thu: Speedwork:  8x400m:
Fri: REST:
Sat: XT or 3 miles:
Sun: 9 miles: 

Disneyland Half Marathon is sold out already.  Good thing I signed up early.

Yesterday I got an email about THE BEACH CITIES CHALLENGE.

The Beach Cities Challenge is a race series that includes three Southern California marathons – the Surf City Marathon in Huntington Beach, the Orange County Marathon, and the Long Beach International City Bank Marathon. Runners who complete any combination of half or full marathons in all three events consecutively will receive a special Beach Cities Challenge Medal.

I am already doing the OC and Long Beach one and I had planned on doing Surf City instead of Carlsbad for 2012 so I am in for this Challenge!  A fancy medal is nice but I would prefer a discount on registration fees or a technical shirt. 

Looking forward to Thursday...

This is the shirt I wish I could be wearing:

 

THE CATS ARE GOING DOWN....and will cry like little kittens....meow, meow

GO DUKE!