O.C Half Marathon Recap

So I am pretty sure it’s time to go shoe shopping My favorite type of shoe shopping!!! These shoes have lived a very good life- running in 2 half marathons, 1 10K, & 3 5K ‘s. I really don’t know what happened to my stride over the past 4 months, though. The heels of the shoes looked like my nonexistent dog chewed them out.. at least I can pretend that I have a dog!

My compression sleeves worked out great!

My left calf has been screamin’ at me for 2 weeks now, so the whole running a half marathon was making me nervous. For the first time since I started running half marathons, my pre race confidence was shot & I was so scared that I wouldn’t reach my PR goal of under 2hr and 29min. But, I knew that I had to run this race. For 2 reasons~

1) Because I ran the Long Beach Half & Surf City Half, completing the O.C Marathon meant receiving this nifty little HUGE medal! It was SOOOOO heavy, my goodness! Don’t they know that you are placing this medal around people’s necks who have just exerted enough energy in 2 hrs. to last a week?! But it was still awesome

2) The second reason is, because I am stubborn- plain and simple. When I set a goal, I have to achieve it- even if it means breaking my leg. Fortunately, I did not break my leg! (Yeay!)

My dad and I were up by 4:10am this morning to stuff our tummies with waffles and peanut butter and drink our 4oz. coffee. When we arrived at the exit to our destination, there were SO many cars! We trudged through the rest of the journey for about 30minutes worth of cars. Gotta love ginormous marathons! (Not ) I told my dad that, next year, all my races I run will be super small, hipster races.

The race itself was great!

Miles 1-6: My dad and I knocked OUT those miles! We had a great conversation about life (like usual) & ran the first 6miles in 56minutes! What?!?!!?!?

Disclaimer- The following may make you uncomfortable if you don’t like to talk about pee…

Then, my bladder got in the way. For the first time EVER, I had to use the restroom!! Usually I know the right amount of liquid to drink before a race so that I’m hydrated, but don’t have to make a pit stop. So, when I felt the need to pee, I freaked out! I decided that I would push through.. the last.. 7.1 MILES… without peeing.

Mile 9: Yeah… that didn’t really work. There were porta potties screaming my name at every mile marker. I couldn’t stand it anymore! So, I told my dad I would run ahead of him and use the next pit stop. This slowed our race down by a minute! Gr…. I will seek revenge on my bladder!

Mile 9-11: It was SUCH a windy, incline-y course! It was almost as if there were two DIFFERENT races! I trudged through it with my dad, but we starting feelin’ it.

Mile 12- finish: I ended up separating from my dad for the last mile and change and I booked it to the end. I didn’t run my kick as fast as last time, but it was still about 2 minutes faster then my average mile of 11:20min- so that’s cool.

My time was 2:28:45!!! So WITH the bathroom break, I still PRed! YEAY!

My dad PRed too! He finished his race in 2:32:01! He felt SO much stronger & had an awesome kick at the end!

The O.C Half Marathon was a big success! I am so happy that I pushed through the pain. It helped A LOT that I went to a massage therapist before the race. For the next two weeks, I have decided to focus on strength training and yoga until my calf feels better.