Run for your Beads 5k

I always love this run because it's around my neighborhood. These are streets I'm always running, so I know the terrain quite well. But.. since the run is held in Jan/Feb, it can be very cold. We were blessed with lovely running weather, starting out around 41 degrees.

Josh and I rode our bikes down to the race start at the Farmers Market. I felt silly wearing my tutu on my bike!

Pre-Race

The race starts out up hill and ends down hill. I wasn't paying attention to my pace, and then around mile 1.5 we got to a hurricane stop. I felt the need to stop since it was a Mardi Gras themed race. But, the hurricane was nasty, so I handed it off to Josh. Ended up walking a tenth of a mile. DOH. Looking back, why did I do that?? It was even on a flat.

My favorite part of the race is running through Anheuser-Busch Brewery. It's straight up hill, but it's always memorable.

AB Brewery

We had some nice down hill segments, and then off to the finish. I know I always look horrible in my race photos... and here I just look like a big dork. That tutu was really hard to maintain, it kept wanting to creep up! Drrr.

Race Finish

This may be my last time running in a tutu.

Anyways, super happy with my results... even though I walked for that disgusting hurricane. I didn't even notice how fast I was running.  I should have paid better attention to my pace.

Hurricane No Bueno!

And we got to celebrate with better tasting hurricanes at the finish!

Post-Race Hurricane

Surf City Half Marathon

I've been wanting to run this race because of the surf board medal... so cool! My friend Andrew lives in Huntington Beach and invited me out for the race. I signed up nearly 3-4 weeks before the race with not a lot of training.

To get to the race start, Andrew and I biked 7ish miles. We also biked to the expo the day before, and ran a fast (for me) 6 miles on the Friday before the race. Needless to say... My legs were pretty tired at the race start.

At the race start.

There were some things I loved about this race, and some things I absolutely hated. I loved: the medal, the shirt, the shopper bag, and the beach.  I hated: the course... It was just so boring and monotonous.  And the sun.... there was no shade!!! It was okay until mile 8 when we had to turn around and run into the sun. I was super hot and miserable.

Running on hot pavement.

I felt so drained, so then I started to walk/run. I just wanted to be done. The last 5 miles were painful, but I got it done. This is what pain looks like...

Suckfest.

Anyways, I finished the half in 2:21:31. Not a PR, but happy with my time considering my lack of training. Also happy that I placed 503/1257 in my division. And, the best part... I got my medal and a California Dreaming medal since I also completed the San Francisco Half Marathon, score!

Worth the pain...  ??