One of my good friends, Coach K, was on ABC7 news with Kristel Alliaume, the marketing director for Surf City Marathon. They were there to promote We Run Orange County's Kids and the upcoming race on Sunday. It's always cool to see someone you know on TV!
Coach K and Kristel Alliaume on ABC7!
Saturday 2/4
My friend and I got to the expo at about a quarter after 10. This race had a new organizer starting last year. For the most part, things have relatively stayed the same, but I did notice a few changes throughout the race weekend. A couple examples were the race shirts and the race graphics were changed. The race shirt was a bit more normal. The shirts from the last several years prior to the exchange were just too weird and way out there for my taste. Most of them I've only worn once to change out of my race clothes or they've gone straight to the donation bin. So that for me was a welcomed change.
Expo mile markers
Before going inside, I looked up my bib number and filled out a waiver form. After picking up our bib, we went to pick up our race shirt and bag. Apparently we both went to the wrong table. It was a good thing that we both checked out our shirts and noticed that they were for the half marathon. After exchanging our shirts for the correct shirt, we made our way over to the next table to get our Legacy Club shirt. This year they weren't giving out legacy stickers to put on our finisher medal.
Race shirt front side
Race shirt back side
Legacy club shirt front side
Legacy club shirt back side
We went through the rest of the expo and visited all of the vendor booths. The vendors seemed to be giving out more samples this year. We ran into our friend on our way over to signing up for next year's race. We actually had to get in line to wait for an open tablet to sign up. It was $85, but with processing fees, it came out to $93.22. I'm not sure why I signed up. Old habits die hard. I'm not a big fan of the marathon course. We did get a sandal shaped bottle opener key chain for signing up.
Jen at Expo
Husky!
On the way out, we came across a pretty cool collection of VW vans. It was pretty neat to check out some of the customization. It was then time to go get some lunch. Instead of walking all the way down to Main St, we decided on checking out what was available at Pacific City, an outdoor collection of stores and restaurants. It must be fairly new, because both of us don't remember it being here last year!
We eventually ended up at Bear Flag Fish Company located at the Eastern end in what was called, Lot 579. After looking over the menu, I ordered a 12 oz cup of their clam chowder and their seafood salad with wild salmon. Man, that was one of, if not, the best clam chowder that I've ever had. The salad came with fresh greens, edamame, cucumber, tomato, and ginger sesame dressing. The flavor combination of the salad was really good. Although I found it weird that they didn't use shelled soybeans.
12 oz clam chowder
Wild salmon salad
Back at home, I went through the expo haul. I got more samples than the usual expo these days. Later that evening and before calling it a night, I laid out my flat runner to make sure I had everything for tomorrow's marathon. Before I picked up my bib, I thought about running it as Batman or Superman. However I personalized it with the word, steaks, so naturally I went with my Team Beef shirt. :)
Expo haul
Fit Toniq
Flat runner
Sunday 2/5
At about 5 am, my friend and I showed up to the same parking lot at PCH just West of Beach Blvd. While it was free for the expo, it was $15 to park in this lot on race day. At about 5:30, we made our way over to the Hyatt Regency to use their restroom. We waited there until about 6 am for the Marathon Maniacs pre-race photo on the beach side of the Hyatt Regency pedestrian bridge.
Pre-race Marathon Maniacs photo
After the group photo and saying hi to a few Marathon Maniacs that I haven't seen in a while, we started heading over to the start line. Along the way we stopped by the tents for various clubs and groups to say hi to our friends. All of my friends that were running the marathon sort of all gathered around waves 2 and 3.
We support our furry friends, beef, and donuts!
I started in wave 2 which was released about 2 minutes after wave 1 started. Since I started near the back of the wave, it was quite crowded in the first couple of miles. A female runner and I were running at about the same pace, so we were able to cut through the crowd on the left side of the course. I would run with her through about the first 5k or so until I took my first walk break.
The course took me out to Huntington Central Park where I ran through most of the park including running around Talbert Lake. I was able to catch up to my friend who is a much better runner than me. I ran with her through almost mile 9. I planned only on running the first 8 miles hard, so I backed off on the pace before making the right turn onto PCH. Shortly after reaching the turnaround on PCH, I reached the halfway point. I tried to run here and there, but the inside of my left ankle was starting to get really sore. I think it was good old tendinitis. I believe that I have been doing too much too soon. I was able to spot some of my friends on the out and back, so I pulled over to take a few pictures of them when they passed me. I was also recognized by one of my old high school friends. It took me a second to recognize him.
Marathon Mitch
Cortney
The Jester!
Another fellow Marathon Maniac
Charlie!
At about mile 16 or so at 14th St, I made the dreaded u-turn onto the bike path. From that point on, I started taking extra walk breaks to see if that would help with the ankle soreness. At about 18.5 miles, I stopped at the beach restroom that was next to Pacific Kitchen. Both the restaurant and restroom had been painted black and turquoise. That was one of the primary reasons why I decided to make that pit stop. Those colors definitely made the place stand out. Just about another half mile up the bike trail was the now infamous beer & bacon station. Since I'm no longer drinking and I tend to limit my pork consumption, I had to skip this fun station! Shortly after, I saw my friend who was pacing her friend on a BQ attempt.
Beer & Bacon station
Jen!
The turnaround on the bike path went all the way to the Warner Ave roundabout this year. It has never been that far in the 8 prior years that I've run this marathon. Bonus distance! Those last 5 or so miles were such a grind. Normally I could muster up some quicker miles knowing that the race was almost over, but the left ankle would not have any of it! At least I was entertained by the shark band. At about mile 25 at 11th St, I hopped off of the bike path back onto PCH for the final dash to the finish line. Near the final stretch, I found a couple of my friends there spectating and cheering on the runners.
Band out on the course
Please put me out of my misery! :)
Finish line
Finish: 5:00:16
Click here for my Garmin data.
After crossing the finish line, I got my medal. While I preferred the old wooden surfboard medals, I thought that this year's medal was a nice medal. I liked it more than last year's picture frame medal. While the medals for this year and last year were not the traditional wooden surfboards, they did include a wooden surfboard as part of the design.
Finisher medal
After getting my medal, I got a box of water, a Bai drink, a mylar blanket, and a very green banana that was about 1 week from being ready to eat. I got in line for a finisher photo and made my way through the rest of the finisher chute which ended at the chocolate milk booth.
Boxed water
Bai
Well, I was hoping to have finished under 5 hrs, but I guess that was close enough for a course that was most likely almost a half mile longer. Since my legs were cramping up a bit, I waited by the chocolate milk booth for my friends to finish. While waiting, I drank my milk and met a fellow Team RWB runner. I thought her bedazzled hat was pretty cool! I would find out later that we had a lot of the same friends on Facebook!
Team RWB!
After the race, I checked and went over my records. I saw that 2018 will be my 10th consecutive year of running the full marathon and the 12th consecutive year that I've run a Surf City race. In either case, that's a long streak for me. Only my 14 year streak of running the Rock n' Roll San Diego Marathon is longer for me. Maybe I will take a break from both races soon, so I don't always feel the pressure to keep running them every year! :)
Surf City Marathon
2017: 5:00:16
2016: 5:30:27
2015: 4:34:01
2014: 5:06:44
2013: 4:49:58
2012: 5:17:04
2011: 5:20:44
2010: 4:57:12
2009: 4:37:59
Surf City Half Marathon
2008: 2:17:30
2007: 2:05:54
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