Surf City Bandit - Kinda!

Last year I ran the Surf City Half Marathon for the first time and had an incredible race ... and a PR!  (More on my blog: Surf City USA: Awesome!) I didn't sign up for the race this year (I have a really full race calendar) but was planning on coming up to watch the race since my friend Christina would be running and finishing off her California Dreamin' series. I really hadn't planed on running this race and  although  I considered it a few times, by the time I seriously thought about it the race was sold out. I took this as a sign that I was meant to be a bystander .. a role I fully enjoy! (See my post "The Marathon: Cheering On a Friend")

Race Anxiety
For those of you that know me,  you know that I'm a major stress case. I stress out about life, about work, and about running. My stress has led to a few bad races, and I'm convinced that performance anxiety has a real, physical effect on me. I'm so focused on PR-ing at almost every race, which makes every races a stressful situation. Ack! I  need to calm down! I started running because I enjoyed the challenge! Somewhere along the way though, the competition with myself got the best of me. A few weeks ago I ran the Carlsbad Half Marathon and had a terrible race (More on my blog: Carlsbad Half Marathon Race Recap), even though I had trained really hard. I chalked this race performance up to nerves, and wished I had another chance to try to race and take it easy. Well ... be careful what you wish for!

 

Last week a fellow GOTR coach posted on facebook that she wasn't going to be able to run in the Surf City race because she was injured, and she was looking to sell her race bib for a discount. Huh?? Hmm... tempting. I wanted to run Surf City, I'd be in town anyways watching Christina, and I'd love to run at a discounted rate. I thought about it for a few days but couldn't commit. I wanted to run the race, but didn't like running unplanned, felt guilty running under another person's bib per their no-transfer policy, and didn't want to run without getting credit for the race under my name. As the race date approaches I thought about it more, and then finally posed the moral portion of this decision to dailymile and facebook. I was shocked to see that the feedback was unanimous - DO IT! And so I did!

 

Running the Race

I told my friend Mary that I'd run in her name and mentally committed to the race. One complication though - I was going to be bringing my dogs with me to Orange County. This wold be their first trip to a hotel. Eek! Luckily the Fairmont Hotel allowed dogs, but I hadn't planned on leaving the dogs alone for so long. If I ran the race the dogs would be alone for about 4 hours.. could they make it without disturbing the other guests?? Oh well, I risked it!
 

Race Day

On race morning Christina and I got up at 5:30am, made coffee and breakfast, and then drove to the start line. I rank courses based on my preferences of: a flat course, easy access to the start and finish, an enjoyable course, and crowd support along the way. This course scores top ratings on all fronts! The hotel had a free shuttle to the race that left at 6am. Um, no thanks! We were only 8 miles away and the race didn't start until 7:45am! Last year I drove to one of the satellite parking lots and parked on the street there. This was the plan for this year, but as we got closer to the lot we realized we could actually park right near the start line on the street. Right around 7am we parked within a mile of the start line and we were ready to go. SCORE!

 

We walked to the start line and check our gear, hit the bathrooms (in the host hotel right by the start - SCORE!), and headed to the start line. As far as ease of access to the start line this race wins top stars! We wish each other luck and parted ways and headed to our corrals.

 

The Race

I felt a bit weird inside at the start of this race. I hadn't planned on racing, felt weird racing under someone else's bib, was excited to be doing this race again, was nervous about trying to have a good race after a bad race, and was just happy to be out and running by the beach. I think I totally psyched myself out at the Carlsbad Half, so while I wanted a PR at this race, I also wanted to just enjoy a race for a change. I decided to just go with the flow enjoy the race, not worry about a bad finish time, and heck - if i did finish poorly, who cares? It wasn't going to be recorded with my name.
 

I felt great starting off the race! I glanced at my watch a couple times and was alarmed to see a 8:00 pace. This is what got me into trouble in Carlsbad! I slowed down a bit and was happy to notice a 8:15-8:30 pace. Over the next few miles I'd check my watch periodically to see my current pace, but made a point not to look at my overall time. Mile after mile passed by, and I was happy to see that I felt good the whole way.
 

As we approached miles 6, 8, and even 10, I was thrilled to realize I felt good! No stomach pains, no chest pains, nothing! I was just enjoying this run.
 

Unlikely Course Support

Off topic, but my mom doesn't support my running. She is actually in direct opposition to it, which makes me sad. She has a crazy misconception that my running is a negative aspect of my life, it is ruining my joints,  will lead me to an early knee replacement, its an unhealthy obsession (huh??)., etc She is unable to understand the positive things that running gives me, and has been nothing but negative towards my marathon career over these past few years. She lives in Huntington Beach a few miles from the course, but also owns a  rental property on the PCH which the race course would pass. 

As I ran through mile 2 and approached her condo, I wondered if there was a small chance that she would be there. Well, as I got closer I was shocked to see a figure on the balcony that looked like her. As I got closer I realized. OMG! There's my mom on the balcony talking to someone! I started screaming MOM!! MOM!! and waving as I ran by. The person she was talking to looked at me and eagerly pointed me out to my mom. I could tell she couldn't see me as she scanned the crowd, and my mad screaming and waving was futile. :o(

As luck would have it though, this was an out and back course, and I would be running by the same spot around mile 11. As I approached her condo on my way back, I looked to the balcony to see if she was still there. Sadly it was empty. I plugged on as I passed the condo and a little bit later the runner next to me  said "Hey! someone is trying to get your attention!"  (I was totally oblivious with my blasting music.) I looked over on the street and there was my mom!! She was waving her arms and yelling my name with a big smile on her face! I know this doesn't mean that she accepts my running career, but seeing her smiling at me during  a race was a great feeling. I smiled and waved back, and then charged on to the finish.

Approaching the Finish

As I approached the finish line I had no idea what my finish time would be. I had been diligent about not looking at my overall time on my Garmin, but figured from the paces I had glanced at that I would place okay. There also weren't any clocks along the course so I really had no idea what time it was. As I closed in on the last mile I gave it one last push, soaked in the cheers of the crowd and raced across the finish line. As I crossed the finish line and stopped my watch I was amazed to see that I had set a new PR .. without even really pushing! It blows my mind that I can run with no pressure and do better than I can when I'm pushing myself. Argh!

I had a rush of emotions! I was so exited to have a new PR! I was mad because I had run '"easy" and hadn't gotten an even better PR.  And, I was mad that this new PR wouldn't be recorded under my name. But,... I was happy that running had shown me yet another life lesson. You never know when you're going to surprise yourself with a good performance, even when you're not trying.
 

After the Race

After the race I had a mix of emotions. I was happy but tormented. So typical  me! I went to  the bag check area and got my stuff, and then headed over the meeting location that Christina and I had designated. This turned out to be a bad choice of spots, but luckily we still found each other anyways. After the race I also bumped into a few people I knew. A fellow GOTR coach and one of my fellow SF Marathon Ambassadors Page (Who BTW won SECOND in her age group - omg kick ass!) who was with Chic Runner.

 

Christina and I headed back to the hotel to change and shower, and then headed out for my favorite post-race fuel - Mexican food! A Rubio's lunch later, ( my dogs were amazingly good on the patio) and it was time for me to head home to San Diego.

Super Todd

I was in a bit of a hurry to get home because I wanted to get to my friend Todd's birthday/Super bowl party before half time. I arrived at Todd & Christine's house right as they were putting candles in the cake, with the half-time show starting in the background. Perfect timing! I'm the furthest thing from a sports fan and was nervous to be attending a Super Blow party.  Luckily about 1/2 of the attendees seemed to have zero interest in the game. Whew!
 

There was a ton of great food at the party, and to do my part I made my  "world famous'"spinach dip and also decorated a brownie cake to look like a sock monkey. There was catered Indian food a the party along with lumpia from the Newmans neighbors, chips and dip and other snacks, and this *incredible* broccoli slaw salad that Christine made. (I may have made two trips to the slaw bowl)
 

The party was a lot of fun and I'm happy for my Wisconsin family that the Packers won.
 

Next Up

My next race will be this coming weekend! I'm going to be running the Mermaid Run half marathon this Saturday, and the San Deiguito half this Sunday. Two races in two days? I know, crazy. Long story .. more for another blog post.