Seaside Marathon Race Review

It was a mad rush to get out of the house in time to make it to packet pick up before 3:00. It is only a couple of hours drive, but my husband (coach) and son had track practice in the morning. We did make it. The packet pickup was easy, and I actually spoke to the race director.

We stayed at the Amanzi Hotel. The hotel doesn’t look too particularly impressive from the outside, but the rooms are actually very nice. The beds were comfortable and the pillows soft. There was a microwave and a coffee maker in the room. I loved the two separate sinks in the bathroom which is great for a family traveling together. Additionally, there were free cocktails in the evening, and my husband said that there was plenty of hot food at the complimentary breakfast.

I wanted pasta for dinner, but I couldn’t find a close Italian restaurant, so we settled on a restaurant in walking distance of the hotel. The food wasn't very good. I'll just leave it at that. Normally, I would have had put more thought into dinner, but I just decided to run this marathon a couple of days before, so I hadn’t scoped out restaurants. I didn't eat as much as I thought I should have eaten.

I, also, didn't pack as much as I would normally pack for breakfast. I didn't even remember to pack an extra goo to take right before the marathon. In the morning, I like to stop eating or drinking everything three hours before my last bathroom stop. Since, I planned to leave the hotel at 6:30, that would normally mean a 3:30AM food/drink deadline. The race director assured me that there were plenty of porta potties. Since I wasn’t racing, I figured that I didn’t need to be completely strict. I got up at 4:00AM. I had a bagel with cream cheese, a banana and orange juice and coffee. I got back in bed and slept a little more. My intent was to wear a vest, and bring my phone so my husband could track me, but when I put on all the gear, in the morning, I just couldn’t do it. Why spend $130 for support and wear a vest? I just loaded up my pockets.

I knew that it would be cold at the beginning. I intended to wear sleeves, but I forgot them at home. I had brought gloves that I really liked (instead of throwaways) because I thought that I would have my pack to put them in. I have Raynauds (circulation problem) which means that I had to wear my gloves. I didn’t want to ditch those particular gloves, but I figured I would if I absolutely had to. My husband was able to drop me off pretty close to the start. When I got out the car, it was COLD! I was freezing. Everyone was obviously cold. Runners were taking refuge in the gear check trailer. I just started walking in big circles. I was really nervous that I would be cold for 26.2 miles. Surely, there would be a headwind for half the course. A lot of people had on a lot of clothes. I began to question my shorts and short sleeve shirt decision. I started talking with a guy from the East Coast. He tried to reassure me that I would be fine, but you know those people from the East Coast are beasts. I’ve lived in California for over thirty years. The last thing that you can believe an East Coaster about is when they tell you that it isn’t that cold. He was wearing a tank top and shorts and he looked completely comfortable. I hoped that he was right, but I didn’t really believe that I was going to warm up all that quickly.

Sure enough though, as soon as I started running, I felt fine.

I had to use the very first porta pottie. I think that it was at the 1.5 mile. No tissue was provided, but I had my own. The one piece of advice I give to anyone running any race distance is to pack your own tissue in a sandwich bag. The course was out and back. We pretty much went 6.55 miles down the coast and turned around. Marathoners did the loop twice. There were a lot of beach views, but for two solid miles (four for the marathoners), all you had for a view was a wall of RVs on one side and the highway on the other. The course really wasn’t flat. It was better than flat. Just slight rolling hills that were just enough. There is one real hill. It is about a mile before the turnaround/end of the half marathon.

I ran between 8:30-8:50 for the first 15 miles. I felt good. I could have run faster, but I wanted to run at a long run pace. From miles 15-22, I ran between 9:00-9:45. It was getting hard. I could have run faster, but I was getting tired. From miles 22-26.2, I ran between 10:00-11:00. I had planned to actually walk after mile 20, but my body was hurting. I wanted off the course and walking would have taken too long. I guess if I had really wanted to, I could have run faster, but I was working hard for that 11 minute mile. I was surprised by my mile 22 melt down. I planned to walk, but I thought that I was going to feel a lot better. Clearly, I have to work on my endurance. I have 8 weeks. I hope that is enough.

My nutrition plan was to stop at every aid station for water and to take a Maurten gel every 4 miles. I must have screwed that up somehow, because at the 20 mile mark, I ran out of gels. I must have gotten confused. I didn't have any nausea or GI issues, so it was fine, overall.

I wasn't cold at all while I was running, but as soon as I stopped running, I was cold. My husband and my son met me at the finish. They brought a bag of dry clothes, but I didn't want to change in the porta potties. There were tacos at the finish and the were positively delicious. After I devoured the two free tacos, my husband went and bought me two more.

The only thing disappointing about this race besides the miles of RVs blocking my view was the medals. The finishers medal was by no means medal. It was cheap plastic and not at all worthy of a marathon medal. I got 4th overall and first AG, but the AG awards weren't available. Evidently Corona virus shut down the Chinese factory. My problem isn't with the delay in the AG medal. Unforeseen stuff happens. It is with the cheap plastic crap being passed off as medal. Luckily for me, this wasn't my first and it won't be my last chance at some cool bling.