› 2006 Pacific Shoreline Half Marathon (or 5K Run...)
Race date: Sunday, February 5, 2006
Are we there yet?
Words usually heard by parents of 10-year olds sitting in the backseat of the car five minutes into a four-hour drive. Well Sunday morning, it was two late 30-somethings sitting in grid lock So Cal traffic wondering how long it would take to go the two miles to the start line of the Pacific Shoreline Half Marathon in Huntington Beach.
Rebecca and I are both type-A girls who generally like to be on time (going places with Wade doesn’t count). We got up at 5am, ate our pre-race breakfasts and were on the road by 6:20 for a 7am race start. Plenty of time when you’ve got a pre-paid parking pass and the race start is literally two miles from your front door. Or not…
We finally pulled Rebecca’s bright green “Bio Bug” into a parking space around 7:30ish. The lot we thought we were parking in was full and we were directed to an alternative lot, 2.2 miles further from the start. We got out and ran to the starting line, nothing like being 55 minutes late. We passed countless half marathoners (identified by the fact that they were either wearing their “finisher’s” shirts – bad idea before a race starts – or had “half marathon” bib numbers on). None seemed to be overly concerned that they missed the race start. Can you imagine if you were getting ready for The Dirty Half Marathon here in Bend and were stopped in bumper-to-bumper traffic all the way from Galveston and Mt. Washington to the Phil’s Trailhead and had to park at Skyliner Sno Park and run to the race start? Gives you a good visual about where we were.
We got to the starting line in time to watch the first half marathoners finish, breaking a long standing record. Very motivating! Since we were already dressed for a run and with a timing chip already on our ankles, we decided to participate in the 5K run that was getting ready to start. The run was an out-and-back and completely flat course along the ocean. We figured the with nice 2.2 mile warm-up we just had, an anaerobic 5K and a cool down back to the car would give us a decent seven mile run for the day. Plus, we were running along the Pacific Ocean so who really cares? There were about 2000 people doing the run with us so it was quite festive. We were just going to enjoy the day. This was definitely more of a “fun run” for most folks participating – women with lipstick on, folks with cell phones and digital cameras, cotton t-shirts…not exactly the hard-core racing crowd.
I was trying to remember if I’ve ever done a 5K run – I don’t think I have. They are really hard and painful. I think I’d rather do a marathon than kill myself in a 5K again, honestly. Trying to mentally switch from a “nice long training day along the coast with my good friend Rebecca” to “all out sprint for 3.1 miles” is a tough mental transition. What did we do before iPods? A little Cake and Outkast kept me running! Rebecca pointed out that when we were just past the one mile marker, the lead runners were already on their way back. The winning 5K time was 15 minutes and 17 seconds! I was pretty proud of myself for finishing in 24 minutes and 33 seconds, good enough for 5th out of 209 women in the 35-39 age group.
In the end, the race was really just an excuse to get down to Huntington Beach and visit Rebecca. The great thing was that with a 3.1 mile run instead of a 13.1 mile run, we got to spend a little more time hanging out!
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