Santa to the Sea- Race Recap

It took me a week to find a small amount of spare time to write this post, so I apologize in advance for whatever this turns into.

Sunday morning we arrived at the buses around 630am. The thermometer in the car showed 35 degrees, however our phones showed actual temperature- 35, real feel- 29. For Southern California, that's cold.
 

Looking back, the weather was perfect. Saturday morning brought rain (and a lot of it) and Monday morning brought high winds. A cold start to the day is pretty good conditions considering what it could have been. 

We got to the start line about an hour before the start of the race. We walked around, dropped off our toy for donations  and talked to some members of the running club we used to run with. 

 

 

 

It wasn't long before the race began. We began our intervals and kept a good pace early on. We had agreed to 30:1 intervals and it worked out really well. I always feel weird when we first start out because everyone is so close together and the constant starting and stopping can be frustrating for the people behind you (as well as the spectators telling you to keep going and not to give up before you even reach mile 1). 

It opened up around mile one and we began leap frogging with a few of the other runners using intervals. The constant beeping of the interval timers was both funny and confusing.

Rachel told me early on that she wants to work on speed for our race in March in San Diego. A doable goal and something to work towards. 

It didn't take long for us to realize that we were both running hard and strong. We were consistently running around a 12:30 minute mile. We both knew that if we continued at that pace then Rachel would PR. Once I realized that, it became my goal to cross that finish line under 2:49:57 so that we could celebrate the PR.

 

 

 

 

The rest of the race was pretty uneventful. We maintained our pace, took extra breaks if/when needed and pushed each other to finish.

This race is really meaningful to me. Besides being my first half marathon race from two years ago, it was also one of those races where you realize that you enjoy doing something you thought you hated. Something that used to be a chore is now something you want to do all the time. 

Plus it was the first race of my Santa to Santa goal. The first of 13 races in 13 months. The race that will both start and end my current running goal. 

As soon as we reached the beach I knew that we would be able to finish when we needed to and with time to spare. This gave us a chance to slow down and save our energy for the finish line when we got close enough.

We finished in 2:46:05. Just about four minutes faster than our first time running the race, and fast enough for a PR for Rachel. I think I was more excited to be able to run with her for that reason alone rather than because it was race one of thirteen. 

 

I will always be grateful to my sister for running with me. I don't know what I would do without her. She is the only reason why I found my passion for running and one of my main support systems in regards to my running goals. She pushes me and keeps me going. Without her I don't know where I would be. On top of that, I have an amazing family who is there at the finish line waiting with cameras to catch us finishing and to cheer us on. That support (on top of the support during training) is beyond amazing and I will be forever grateful that I have them so that I can go out and push myself and my goals a little further.

 

 

Race #2 will be here before I know it. January 5th is just around the corner. Those training miles aren't going to run themselves! Rain or shine, wind, heat or cold.. No matter what it brings, I'm ready to run!