San Diego Beach & Bay Half Marathon Recap!

I would like to start out by saying this race was AWESOME!  Oh my gosh, I have always dreamed of running a race along the ocean and the beach and I did just that on Saturday!  I wasn't actually planning on running this race, but at the last minute someone in my MRTT group could not go and I was able to do a bib transfer into my name! So kudos to the race director for having that option available for me!  And since my husband had a friend visiting from Minnesota, I was not able to go the the packet pick up the day before the race. Once again I relied on my MRTT group and someone was able to pick up my race packet for me. She just needed a signed waiver and a copy of my ID from me. So another kudos to the race director for allowing others to pick up someone else's race packet. Woohoo!  

My day started at 3:30am because my ride down was picking me up at 4:15am. I made my self some coffee, peanut butter toast and grabbed a banana for the car ride.  We also picked up two other ladies on our way down.
We arrived to the sun runner parking lot around 6am. It was a quick 5 minute walk to the starting line where our friends were waiting for us.  I quickly pinned my bib on and then dropped by backpack off at the gear check.  I had to pack a bag because I was going to stay at the beach after the race.  After that I had enough time to use the bathroom twice and then I got in line. I was in wave #2. They placed us in waves according to our pace.

Here I am all ready to run!!  As far as my shoes go, this was the last race I wore them for. They will now just be my short distance running shoes. 

Once we took off we ran along the road right behind sea world and around mile 2.5 I started to see the bay again. Isn't is so pretty with those tall trees? There were just a few boats out in this part of the bay that morning.

Around mile 3 we crossed over this bridge with more beautiful views!

And finally around mile 4.5 we turned the corner to see the ocean!  And I could smell it right away! Oh it was so awesome!  And around mile 5 I ate my first GU.  I really think GU helps me during my runs. It gives me the little boost that I need.

We ran up Mission Beach until we hit mile 6.5 then we had to run just a little on city streets and trails before we were back next to the bay again. 

I was actually doing great running, I had kept the 2 hour pacer in my sight for a long time. I think it wasn't until mile 8 that I lost sight of her.  That is also when I had to tell my legs to shut up because they started to get heavy.

Around mile 8.5 we came down around a point and I swear I could see the finish line. Of course I still had almost 5 miles to go so I thought that was just cruel.  

Around mile 10 I felt the urge to pee, so I stopped at a bathroom and not a single drop came out. I couldn't believe it, I swear I could have went. This is when the 2:10 pacer passed me. I couldn't believe that I was ahead of her the entire race.  My PR for a half marathon is 2:14. However, one more potty break with no result set me back even more. I finally finished at 2:21. It is not more worst time for a half, but surely I wished I could have done a little better. I try to not be too hard on myself considering I took three full months off running and just started running again in the end of March when we moved out here.

This race was so beautiful and flat! I will totally do it again next year! I would highly recommend it to anyone! They had a post race party with beer and of course there were lots of vendors there too with samples and information. Not to mention we did get a really nice tech tee and I love the finishers medal!

This was the actual course and I loved it!

After the race Mike and his friend Mark came down and met me at the beach. They did some SUP at the bay and then we spent the rest of the afternoon at Pacific Beach. It was a great day!

I am running a Memorial day 5k next monday and will recap that next week!

Jessica