Surf City Marathon - Or Wet and Wild Adventures

OK, the picture above was taken on Saturday morning, 24 hours before the Marathon in Surf City, Huntington Beach, California. I didn't get a chance to take a picture on Monday morning, but it was a typical sunny, warm, California day. Unfortunately for everyone, the race, the inaugral Surf City Marathon (replacing the former Pacific Shoreline Marathon), was run on the Sunday - And This was more typical of a winters day in Ireland, in fact, to be honest, we don't get days quite like that at home either!

Let me start at the beginning... Last year I was aiming myself to run a Boston Qualifier at Philadelphia, but came down with PF and had to curtail my training in October. As I really wanted to make Boston this year as I celebrate my 50th burpday in March, I looked for an early marathon where the weather would possibly be conducive to running the 3:35 I needed, and plumped for Surf City in California, I mean, It Never Rains in Southern California!

What added to this being special was the fact that a large group of friends from Kickrunners were going to be there too, and a fair number of them are in the pic above.

In the build up to the race, I was aware that I hadn't done enough training to merit a crack at 3:35, but as I had paid my airfare, booked the hotel, I was going to fly a 24000 round trip and have a great time. I was planning on hooking up with Elizabeth, a fellow Kickster, who was planning a 3:50 crack at her own Boston qualifying time, so the plans were made to run together, along with another friend, Joe. All in all there were 5 of us running the full marathon from the group, with the others planning on running the 5K and 1/2 marathon - although there lies another story for some :).

I flew in on Friday, a few delays meant I didn't get in until 8pm, so went for dinner on my own and tried to have a reasonably early night, trying to adjust my body clock rapidly. Saturday was bright, sunny, and warm, if the race would have been run then, it would have been perfect. The expo was busy, easy to navigate, and the Crocs bag a welcome gift, along with the long sleeve technical shirt. We gathered around outside as new arrivals appeared, and I was delighted to meet Amy, one of the race organisers, who has been following this blog, and eventually we all wandered off to Wahoo's for Fish Taco's, taking over most of the restaurant.

After a return to the hotel, Joe and myself drove over to Brian and Becca's condo, or honeymoon retreat, for the pre-race gathering. What a blast, and I have to confess it's the first (and I'm guessing last) time that I turned up to a party with Kitchen Towels. A big thank you to all the chefs on the day, and meeting everyone and chatting away for a few hours was a great way to relax the day before the race.

OK, The Race Day!

I woke up at 3:15, looked out and it was dry! Maybe the forecasts were wrong. I went back to bed for an hour, only to woken by the rain lashing against the window - Oh dear! Why were the palm trees bending over at dangerous looking angles? Great, wild winds too, just what we needed.

Joe and I walked down to the start, were soaked before we got 100 yards, and met up with Elizabeth, Nettie and Tim were also around, but the Kick Tent was nowhere to be seen - It was too windy and horrible to even think about putting it up.

We lined up with the intention of running 8:35 pace, and at a little before 7 am, to the backdrop of Wet Sounds, as against Pet Sounds, we were off! The Marathon only had 1000 entrants, so it wasn't too packed and we soon eased into a steady pace, running Mile 1 in 8:38 along the sea front, although we had as much water coming down on our heads as the ocean was showing. Just after Mile 2 we turned off the PCH up Seapoint, and crossed a timing mat at Mile 3 - 25:29 (official time). Elizabeth had to make a potty break not long later and Joe and I pushed on, hoping she would be able to catch us up.

The race turned a few times around here, through parklands, with narrow paths, and great support from a lot of youngsters encouraging us all, despite the rain - they were a highlight of this part of the race. Joe and I were running very easily at this point, and another Timing Mat at Mile 6 had us at 50:42, an 8:27 average pace, and no sign of any wheels coming off. Joe was running very strong, and as we came out of the parklands, back onto the roads, we knew there was the only real hill, at Mile 8, and it came, we buckled down and reached the top, only to blown away with a Force 9 gale , and still it rained!

Just before Mile 10 we turned onto the PCH again, and passed the very appropriately named Bolsa Chica Wetlands - they were! Around this point I felt that my hamstrings had not warmed up at all, and were still very tight, something I would suffer from if I continued at this pace, so I told Joe to head on and keep up the good work, I would ease back and wait for Elizabeth to catch up, she couldn't be too far behind - she wasn't and was going well. I ran with her for a short while, and at Mile 12, another timing mat showed 1:42:31, still averaging 8:33 pace, and I made the half way point in 1:52:40 - I was very happy with that, but my legs were starting to cramp up a little, and still no loosening of the hammies.

It was around Mile 14 I met Tory, who was struggling badly. We walked a little, ran a little, she tried to persuade me to run on, but I couldn't leave a damsel in distress, so I made the decision to effectively end my race, and spend a couple of hours trying to ensure that Tory finished her 13th marathon with company. We turned off the PCH just before Mile 16 and ran along the coastal path for most of the rest of the race, meeting up with Tory's husband and kids around Mile 18, and chatted away, running lamposts, turning at Mile 20 and heading towards home. The running bits got shorter, and the walking a little longer, but we were determined to get to that finish line, so we persevered. The rain actually stopped somewhere along here as well, so not all was lost.

We plodded along, trying to keep Tory going, passing a few people, who then passed us as we walked, then I spotted my hotel, it was only a 10 minute walk to the finish from there, we were nearly done. Those nasty race organisers tried to inflict one last sadistic aside, with a little loop towards the pier and back, with a photographer waiting for us too - so we ran that bit, then climbed back onto the PCH and the finish was in sight. Tory was stuggling, but she gritted her teeth we passed Mile 26 and ran home - all the way she was chanting "Yes I can" - and she could, we crossed the line together...relief was on her face, and Jeff, her husband was thanking me for bringing her home and staying with her - I enjoyed the run with her, and so my final time of 4:31:14 didn't really reflect my own capabilities on the day, but I was happy to have helped, and I have my little surf board medal to show.

Joe ran a PR of 3:42 and Elizabeth made her Boston Qualifying time with 11 seconds to spare, and the beer garden was cold, but a welcome beer all the same. We then returned back to the hotels, before Joe and I walked up to Oggi's and watched the Superbowl with the gang, drank copious amounts of beer and ate pizza's - You can do that when you run a marathon :) - Nettie also made her PR and Tim had to drop out due to injury, but all in all a good weekend for the Kickrunners on Tour.

If I am being honest, I wasn't impressed by the course. Too much isolation along the coastal path, not helped by the awful weather. The fans were very thin on the ground, understandably, and maybe if the weather is better on another day, I would have a different perception of the race. On the plus side, the medal is awesome, the shirt was cool, and the enthusiasm of the youngsters in the park was great to behold. The flatness of the course does make it reasonably fast, at least on a good day - So maybe I might come back and run it again, just to spot the difference, as long as someone can guarantee the weather.