{"id":522,"date":"2016-02-07T20:48:11","date_gmt":"2016-02-08T01:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.runkevinrun.com\/?p=522"},"modified":"2016-02-09T14:56:35","modified_gmt":"2016-02-09T19:56:35","slug":"surf-city-marathon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/?p=522","title":{"rendered":"Surf City Marathon"},"content":{"rendered":"

I awoke up this morning oddly anxious and concerned about running the Surf City Marathon. I don’t know if it was because the race organizers had made such a big deal about the parking situation and as a result I set my alarm for 2:30 AM. But I just had this weird sense of anxiety. Turns out it was warranted.<\/p>\n

The run itself proved… challenging. My stomach felt like I had taken a detour to LV-426. That’s the planet in ALIEN (1979), home to the face hugger egg that ultimately causes all hell to break lose on the USCSS Nostromo, courtesy of a chest bursting dinner for John Hurt.<\/p>\n

Suffice it to say, I was NOT feeling great as I pounded the miles. It was a very pleasant chilly morning in the low 50s that saw temperatures rise with the sun to close to 75 degrees at the finish. So suffice it to say, part 2: It got hot.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_7588\"<\/a> \"IMG_7586\"<\/a> \"IMG_7595\"<\/a> \"IMG_7596\"<\/a> \"IMG_7597\"<\/a> \"IMG_7604\"<\/a> \"IMG_7606\"<\/a> \"IMG_7618\"<\/a> \"IMG_7620\"<\/a> \"IMG_7621\"<\/a> \"IMG_7623\"<\/a> \"IMG_7635\"<\/a><\/p>\n

However, I actually had a pretty decent clock time. I can only imagine how I might have been able to do had I felt better. But as it is, I wound up with a 3:34-ish finish time, which given my anxiety and stomach churning, I’m pleased with.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_7636\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On top of that, Kerry Groce cheered me on around mile 15 as he passed mile 7 or so on her half marathon route (the half marathon started an hour or so after the full as well). It was a bit of an odd four lane course — the full and half went one way on the PCH, then turned around, then the full marathoners went onto the boardwalk beach path for another out and back parallel to the first out and back on the PCH. I’m not quite sure I’m explaining that right but maybe the course map will be worth 1000s of words and make it more clear:<\/p>\n

\"RunSurfCity_marathon-map\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Even better than that, I was able to meet up with Jean Groce and cheer Kerry into her finish. They made a big deal of my waiting around but it was literally five minutes of me standing with Jean at First and PCH looking for her — not a long wait at all. On top of that, anytime you can cheer on a friend or family member, you really should take the opportunity. Kerry did great — she was, as I said in this text chain, flying.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_7674\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Adding to the fun, we were able to snap a few finish line photos. I don’t mind running solo as complete strangers are usually very supportive of runners. But it is awfully nice to have people there at the end. I’m getting spoiled as my Mom and now Jean and Kerry have been at almost every marathon I’ve run this year. That’ll change next week for the LA Marathon but I’ll make do… if I can struggle through a feeling of an alien’s attempt to burst out of my chest, I can run from the stadium to the sea on my own.<\/p>\n

Words of Wisdom: If you have a chance for people to cheer you on or if you have a chance to cheer on others, it’s kinda the same thing as having a chance to ride a mechanical shark — just say, “Yes!”<\/p>\n

\"Medals<\/a>
Medals that I overheard someone describe as, “What is this? A Surfboard for ANTS?!”<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A Noir-ish Finisher Photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"We<\/a>
We asked this guy to take our photo at the finish; he nailed it.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Words of Wisdom Corollary: One of my personal rules (well, it’s more of a guideline than a rule) is that if you have a chance to get your photo with a giant mascot character, you take it… even if you’re not 100% sure what they’re a mascot for.\u00a0 I think this dog was for a Puppy High Rise Living Quarters AirBubBnB style thing but, again, not really clear.\u00a0 I just knew he was a good dog.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_7639\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I awoke up this morning oddly anxious and concerned about running the Surf City Marathon. I don’t know if it was because the race organizers had made such a big deal about the parking situation and as a result I set my alarm for 2:30 AM. But I just had this weird sense of anxiety. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[59,205,84,202,203,204,206,201,200],"class_list":["post-522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-anxiety","tag-cheer","tag-city","tag-issues","tag-mascots","tag-rules","tag-squad","tag-stomach","tag-surf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}