Surf City

This year we ran our 2nd Surf City half marathon in Huntington Beach California.  It takes place on the 2nd Sunday in February (also known as Superbowl Sunday), and while it isn't fun to miss out on all the Superbowl parties, it is SO much fun to run along the ocean.  I love it!  Also, it is a good excuse to make a trip to Disneyland, and anyone who knows me knows I don't need much of an excuse to make a trip to the Happiest Place on Earth.

 Matterhorn is under construction

So we flew to Southern California on Thursday night and then spent a couple of days playing around at Disneyland.  We made the drive out to the Beach to pick up our race packets and stuff on Friday and luckily the line was much shorter for us than it was the year before.  My mom and Matt drove around (since the free parking was full) while me and my dad got our goodie bags and shirts.  The shirts were really fun this year, they were designed to look like a rash guard, very fitting for the Surf City theme.  Since they were long sleeved I had to settle for a men's (or unisex, as I like to say) size.  The girl at the table when I was picking them up tried to change my mind, but the sleeves on the women's shirt are just WAY too short.  Oh well.

When Sunday morning rolled around we woke up super early, ate breakfast, and drove down to the coast.  They have a nice system of buses from the beach parking lots, so we parked far away and hopped on a school bus (which isn't such a small effort for the people in our party, of which I am one of the short ones) and headed to the starting line.  We stood in the obligatory half hour line for the restroom before the race started and watched the ocean as the sun rose.  The waves were more active than I have seen them and it was fun to hear them rolling in.  Matt and my mom took their cameras and set off.  I didn't want to get sand in my running shoes, so me and Dad hung out on the pavement and prepared for the race.

When it was time for us to line up we headed out into the masses.  We stood there and I kept hearing someone saying "Wally".  I ignored it because I knew there wouldn't be anyone at the race that knew my dad.  But finally we turned around and there was my 2nd cousin (at least I think that is what he is, my dad's cousin's son) standing right behind us getting ready to run.  We had tried to drop in on his parent's the day before, but ended up just leaving a note when no one was there.  He was supposed to be on the look out for us, and it was just an amazing coincidence that he lined up right behind us.  so that was fun.

The race started and I sent my dad off, because he is faster than I am.  And I did my best to chug along the race course.  The sun was out and blazing by the time the race started, something I definitely wasn't used to since it was February!  But I had a good time.  I passed a man that was balancing a watermelon on his head for the race.  I am really glad I passed him, how sad would it be if he was able to finish the race faster than me with a watermelon on his head?!?  There was a fun group of people hading out m&m's at the top of one of the hills.  They made me smile.  Overall this race is one of the best put together races I have ever done.  They have so many water stops, and most of them also have sports drink and some kind of food.  Love it.

In the end it wasn't my fastest race, but I finished and I ran most of it (maybe a little walking on the steep hills).  We had time after we finished to walk out into the ocean.  That felt really good on my legs and feet that had sure taken a beating during the race.

After the race we headed back to the hotel where we slept and watched some of the game.  Then it was back to Disneyland for more fun (and to keep our muscles moving so they didn't freeze up).  Monday we had to head home and back to reality, but it was a great trip.