WARNING: This post is full of cheese. The uber-cheese that may make you uncomfortable or wonder when my endorphins are actually going to start wearing off. This cheese is courtesy of getting off my ass and digging deep a.k.a. my Surf City half marathon race report.
On Friday I talked about how the work week had kicked my butt, steam rolled over me and almost forced me to forgo my southern California adventure. I wanted more than anything to just stay in bed and do absolutely nothing. However, as part of my 2011 (and 2010!) resolution, I vowed to ensure that I live life to its fullest and not pass up an experience or opportunity that may come my way. Thus, it was off to Huntington Beach I went.
Saturday was awkwardly perfect. I’m not used to traveling by myself or spending an entire day by myself in a new city for that matter. So I set out to explore, visit the expo and find an outfit for my trip to New York next week (more on that later). My early morning flight meant that I would get to the expo and beach as the surfers will still catching waves and the crowds at the expo were minimal (if not non-existent). It was beautiful to say the least.
I saw tweets complaining about the line at the expo, the heat and the horrible parking, but if you want to have a pain free experience similar to that of mine, GO EARLY! Easy parking, no lines, I got the shirt, the bag and the samples that I wanted to all under 20 minutes. After the expo, I let the girl in me reign free: I went shopping, got my nails done, tried Susie’s Cupcakes for the first time and went to dinner with the girls. Don’t judge…it was fantastic.
Let’s skip ahead 12 hours. One bowl of oatmeal, one banana, and one sweet parking spot later, I met up with Danica, Tara and Maritza to get this show on the road. It was race time.
I had set out to simply run under 1:50 as my body was still exhausted and I wasn’t in the mood to give it my all. But when I saw my corral (which is apparently based on time) right after the elites, it hit me. I spent how much money, time and effort to come all the way to southern California and now because I’m tired I’m not going to give it my all? HELLO! Who is this person? It sure as hell wasn’t someone I recognized. I’m always the person that is telling my friends that if you want something, it isn’t going to just come to you, you’re going to have to work for it. So about 120 seconds before the horn blew, I decided that I was going to work for it, dammit.
The marine layer provided the perfect temperature and despite a lack of crowd support, the energy was redolent. Mile one, solid. Mile two, moving quickly. Mile three through five, I can feel my legs starting to rumble and question the speed. Miles five through 13, I started digging. I dug, I dug, and I dug some more.
By no means was this race easy for me. The out and back course was a bit stale and the subtle hills were just enough to give you a run for your money. I felt my body working hard the entire time and it was 13.1 miles of mental motivation. You know how they say that running is 40% physical and 60% mental? This one was more like 90% of full, mental determination.
My heart was pumping hard the entire time and my legs got heavier with each mile. But something within me refused to submit to the pain and instead was propelled forward by the possibility of a new PR. Every step felt like I was digging into my strength to find the speed I need to PR. I literally dug, dug, and dug some more. I dug until 13 miles rolled around and finished the last .1 on pure adrenaline. I don’t know where it came from, but I set a new PR.
13.1 miles
1:31:48
6:57 avg. pace
2nd in my age group
29th female
210th overall
I crossed the finish line with what felt like a ridiculous grin. Added bonus? They have ridiculously cute medals!
People say that sometimes things come “out of nowhere.” While this can be true, I think that we don’t give ourselves enough credit. If you want something bad enough, the only bad ass that’s going to make it happen is you. So get out there and get ‘er done! I hope everyone had a great weekend and don’t forget to tell Danica and Keri congrats on their engagements!
Happy running!
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Day 40: Rest
Day 41: 13.1 miles
I totally agree with you on the whole “if you want something, you gotta do it” rather than let it come to you. However, 1:31 is jaw-dropping awesome after the week you had. Way to go!!
xoxo,
A
AWESOME!!!
It sounds like the race could not have gone any better! 2nd in your age group and a plaque, that is sweet!
I thought that your initial time goal of 1:50 was too high (if you were going to be racing all out), because your training runs were going so well recently. And your previous PR on the SF half marathon course is definitely much harder than the Surf City course which almost has no hills. It just seemed like it was going to add up to a great time – I had a feeling that you were going to break your PR, awesome that it went so well!
And you might want to see if you can figure out your 5K time from the start of the race, you might have broken your 5K PR time as well =)
Ahhhh are you serious? That is an AMAZING race! Congrats on the PR…way to kill it! Love the recap and THANK YOU for the shout out and your super sweet message!
Hey girl!! Just found ya through Keri, and wow this is AMAZING!! You are SO inbelievably speedy!! CONGRATS on your awesome race and PR!
A-MAZING! Way to absolutely kick butt! I knew things sounded a little funny when you resigned yourself to not going after a PR…I’m so glad you had a change of heart! It’s mental battles and determination that will get you through Boston! So happy for you!
Congrats again page! Really amazing race and inspiring to see you pushed through the blah feelings and kicked major a**! I agree with your stale comment about the out and back. I think it was better last year when it was clear and sunny out. Staring out at the water on a sunny day put me in more of a zen zone cruising back and forth. Yesterdays fog march was a bit tedious, and made me glad I wasn’t running the full.
Congratulations on a new PR! You are awesome!!
holy congrats fast chica! that is bad ass rockstar awesome running!
Congratulations!! You are truly inspiring, and I loved that resolution about not letting any opportunity pass you by… Thanks!
crikey pete, congratulations on such an amazing race!!!!
Sounds like a GREAT weekend!!!!
Amazing amazing job on the race! you are quite the little speedy pants you!!
Love all the pics too!
xoxo
Congrats on the PR! That’s so awesome. I love this post. I’m tired and sore from my long run yesterday but I’m totally inspired to go run, and keep pushing to get to 13.1 miles in June!
So these are the patterned version of the tights I was wearing http://store.nike.com/us/en_us/?sitesrc=uslp=#l=shop,pdp,ctr-inline/cid-1/pid-336878
They are nike pro combat gear, and I absolutely love them. They stay up really well. The only time I’ve ever had a problem is when I had a laundry emergency and had to re-wear them, then they slipped a bit. They regulate temperature really well too, I’ve never felt too warm wearing them.
Way to go on the PR! That is awesome! What was your previous best? With a half time like that, you are going to knock it out of the park at Boston!
Congrats on the new PR!!
CONGRATS! YOU did amazing! SO glad you dug deep and put it all out there!! There are those moments where you refuse to submit to the pain and after its all over you don’t know how you did it but you DID!! Such an amazing feeling! Congrats again!!
WHAT!?!?! I AM SO SO HAPPY FOR YOU!!! Girl, you killed that race!! 2nd place…um, can I have your autograph. Gorgeous pictures and you were shooting for 1:50….WOW!! Great job girl!
First of all.. Hi! I’m Angie and I’m a new follower to your blog. Seconldy and most importantly, AWESOME JOB!!!!!!! Wow what a fantastic race you had!!! Congrats!! Seriously that is smokin fast!! You should be so proud! I loved reading your race report. You are so tough!
dang. that is awesome! congrats!
Congratulations!!! Awesome to see how great you did after your previous exhaustion post. I am sure I am not the only one who was a little worried about you.
Nice job!!! Congrats.
Holy congrats! what a nice way to turn that race around. Can’t wait to trail behind you and use you for inspiration at the Oakland half!
OH. MY. GOD, Page. My brain cannot process running that fast for 13 miles. Literally. It’s shutting down as I type this. I’m about to go comatose. Seriously though, this race just goes to show how capable you are. You could really go far with this whole running thing. Dream big!
you are seriously such an inspiration – congratulations on your well-deserved pr!
Awesome race! Way to go!!
You did so awesome out there!!!! Love your determination and drive! Seriously inspires me to push myself even when I am not feeling it, which is most the time lately…hehe
Congrats!!!!!!
Hi Page,
Just found you through Nelly who is a new Follower. I ran Surf City full. What an amazing day, eh? Congrats on a great race. Very impressive time and AG place.
Congrats on the PR! Surf City is my favorite race… I used to live in Huntington Beach, but now live in Boston, so I appreciate your photos – brought back fun memories!
Seriously Page, you are incredible. Congrats on such an AMAZING time!!!!!!!
just stumbled upon your blog from the SF Marathon twitter page, scrolled down and saw that YOU were the one helping pace me for like the last 5 or so miles at Surf City! I was wearing a black top and blasted my ipod. I beat my PR by about 8 minutes and wanted to thank you for the motivation- you totally zoomed past the last half mile!
CONGRATS on your PR!
hopefully can run into you again in oakland!
I loved reading this post!!! It definitely gave me the encouragement to go for my 3:50 goal at Surf City this Sunday and to remember that if you WANT it bad enough you can do it !
Glad you loved HB!