Huntington Beach Surf City Marathon

I DID IT! I REALLY DID IT!! I ran my first ever 1/2 marathon on Super Bowl Sunday, February 1, 2009.

After what felt like an intense training period preparing for my race, I felt ready to compete. The night before the race, Mom and I cooked a large pasta dinner and I gorged myself to very near the point of sickness. I laid my clothes out and got my timer chip put on my shoe and we were off to bed. We had an early morning and a long run ahead of us.

My shoes and my time chip.

Bright and early the day of the run. Mom, Ron and I had to get up at 4:00am to get on the road by 5:00am and make it to Huntington Beach by shortly after 6:00am. Not wanting to eat to much before the run, I put down a small yogurt and keep my eyes open for an open coffee shop. Much to my dismay, nothing was open that early on a Sunday morning.

Getting some serious stretch time in before I take off.

Having never participated in such a large race before we had no idea what traffic would be like. Let me say this, with 18 thousand runners alone, not including all the spectators, traffic was heavy. The extra time we had allotted ourselves to park and go get coffee, ended up being used to park. Again, much to my disappointment, no coffee for me. By the time we parked and took the shuttle bus to the start line, we only had several minutes before my wave took off.

I've got Rhianna on my i-pod and I'm ready to get this party started!!

Mom and Ron were SUPPOSED to come and meet me near mile marker 10 on the map, (only mile 6 in my run). Check out this link to see a map of the course: http://www.runsurfcity.com/Course_Information/HalfMarathonCourse.cfm

However, much to my disappointment, they weren't there. They later told me that after getting themselves some coffee and checking out all the festivities, they realized they'd never make it down there and get back in time to see me cross the finish line. Lucky for them I was still on quite a high by mile 6. I was feeling good and still had a spring in my step. Fast forward to mile 8. I started having some major side cramps and had numerous waves of nauseous. Not one for backing down, I told myself, I'd be a real loser to slow down now and besides, how cool would it be if I could say I puked running!! I've never done that before! I've read in numerous running magazines that some extreme runners, going for 1st place, have been known to crap their pants in order to not lose anytime . I can't say I'd ever go to those extremes, but..... Anyways, when times were getting though, I said to myself, "Kara, you slow down now and you're a quitter." "I AM NOT A QUITTER!!!" I would yell out loud. This got everyone else running next to me to start yelling it out loud also. I felt like a drill Sargent leading my troops into battle. "I AM NOT A QUITTER!!!" "WE ARE NOT QUITTERS!!" "I AM NOT A QUITTER!!!" "WE ARE NOT QUITTERS!!!" Okay, so maybe it didn't play out exactly as I'm telling it, although, looking back on it, we could have used some pep rally action to keep us all going. Honestly, what did keep me going was looking around and seeing all the diverse people running for one reason or another. At one point, during a slight uphill climb, I passed a man with no legs in a wheelchair. I remember saying a small prayer on how fortunate I was to have both my legs intact and working properly. And it was such an inspiration to see the guy working so hard. It wasn't until the downhill slope when he came cruising past me that I cursed him under by breath. Ha Ha. NO! I'm kidding, but I sure would have liked to have hopped a ride. Obviously I didn't, I just ran and ran and ran and ran and ran and ran.

Don't be fooled. If you look hard enough, you'll see me in my pink tank top on the left side of the photo. In fact, look at my feet and it looks as though I'm about ready to trip myself. Mom completely missed me going by. She said she was looking for my white stocking cap. Ron told her that by mile 13 I was not going to still be wearing my stocking hat. She refused to listen and missed me going past. When Mom e-mailed me this photo she enclosed these words, "I got you!! Just zoom in multiple times and you can tell its you!!" Silly Mom! I love you!!

Having just crossed the finish line. My legs felt as though they might collide under me, but I've always got time for my fans.

Mom did a good job capturing a moment of pain.

Trying to stretch the pain away. Also waiting on the race results.

Me, still stretching, and my #1 fan!!

Finding enough strength to show of my medal.

Always enough energy for a fun photo!!

So yea. It was tough. What I thought was a grueling training process leading up to this race, my Mom, ever so nicely pointed out. "Kara, you've only been running for the last month." Phooey!! Why'd she have to point that out?!? But she was right. What felt like a lifetime of training really only amounted to a months worth of "training." Training amounting to whatever felt good for the day. My goal for the run was 2hours, 10 minutes. My actual time was 2hours, 13 minutes, 46 seconds. I was estactic!! Out of the women I placed 2333 out of 6533. Not to shabby. For all my statistics go to www.runraceresults.com Select the half-marathon race and I was bib 8037.

This certainly won't be my last run!! I had way too much fun!! I'm alreadey looking forward to signing up for a marathon. Let me know if you'd be interested in running with me!!

Love & Peace!!