2013 Surf City Half Marathon Race Recap. Beach Cities Challenge completed!

Race Date: February 2nd, 2013
Start Time: 7:45 a.m.
Distance: 13.1 miles
Location: Huntington Beach

This was my final race in the Beach Cities Challenge. The rules are that you complete, in consecutive order, any combo of full or half marathons at the Surf City Marathon, the OC Marathon and the Long Beach International City Bank Marathon and you get an extra beautiful medal. Since they extended the Beach Cities Challenge one year, the finishers where given the option to choose between two medals.  The 2012 medal features a big surfboard. The 2013 medal weights 3/4 pounds and just looks great on you! :)

2012 and 2013 Beach Cities Challenges Medal

This was a very special series for me. I signed up for the OC Full Marathon in the very last minute, on a Saturday at the expo around 5:00 p.m ( less than 12 hours before the race) after finding out that there were not more spots available for the OC Half Marathon. I remember being excited and nervous at the same time.  I've just had ran the RnR Madrid Full Marathon 12 days before and I wasn't sure if I was ready to run another 26.2. This turned out to be a great decision. I PRed at this race ( 4:32) and became a Marathon Maniac ( #5389) the next day. You can read more about it here and here

The next race was the Long Beach Marathon. I originally signed up for the half marathon but my friend Tessa texted me at the expo and convinced me to upgrade in the very last minute. I closed my eyes and handed my credit card to the Solutions Desk staff member after talking to my encouraging husband. I fell in love with this race. It was a beautiful course unlike the second half of the OC Full Marathon. I also enjoyed running with my friend Tessa who is way faster than me. My finishing time was 4:33, my second fastest. You can read the recap here. 

The third race was the Surf City Half Marathon. I am kind of glad that the full marathon was sold out. Otherwise, I'd have probably upgraded in the last minute again :)

This race was also important to me since I got injured running it in 2011 and it had become my nemesis. I remember back then it was very cold, foggy and I couldn't run pass mile 9. I experienced the painful plantar faciitis and finished in my worse time ever. I was worried that this would happen again this year. Because of this, I decided to run conservatively, at least until mile 8. This time around it was really hot but I didn't care.  I ran and smiled, ran and smiled, ran and smiled non-stop until I crossed the finished line in  2:11:39.  Not bad considering I ran the Goofy Challenge ( 39.3 miles ) and the Tinker Bell Half Marathon two weeks before. 

After the race, I picked up my Beach Cities Challenge medal, met my friend Caro and headed to the gear check tent.  This guy comes to me and asked me "Can I take your picture? You are the first Marathon Maniac I've seen with the new Beach Cities Challenge medal". I replied "Yes, why not?" I take a closer look at him and said out loud "OMG, it's Steve Yee, the founder of Marathon Maniacs and he is asking me for a picture". He laughed. Perfect way to finish this Beach Cities Challenge series!