the surf city half marathon.

The Surf City Half. Marathon in Huntington Beach, CA was hands down one of the best races I've ever done. If not the best. I went there to enjoy the race, soak up the views, and run next to my sister. Check and check. 

 *pre-race waiting. i have never waited SO LONG for a race to start, we waited and waited and waited..... deep breath...and waited. therefore we took pictures.*

*the starting line area*

I'm insanely proud of my sister for running her first half. I'm so happy I got to run along with her for it. She did so fantastic, it isn't easy to travel and be touristy the few days leading up to run your first big race. She gets mad props. Not to mention it was much hotter than we were expecting, the California sun wasn't something we were ready for considering we are in the middle of winter here in the heartland.

While this was one of my favorite races to date, I battled some pretty wicked sickness the first 5k of it. I thought I was going to have to drop out. I was bummed that I had to run up to my sister and tell her to keep going without me. Then text my family and let them know where my sister was, when she would be passing them, and gave them all manner of annoying instructions to give to her. And tell them that I may or may not drop out, would be awhile, and that they needed to wait for me.

I limped my way through stomach pain to a curb, plopped down, and proceeded to get sick. This was after round two with the porta-potties. FUN!! When I mentioned I would vomit all my beachy raciness when I got home, well... I guess I wasn't lying. I sat there thinking "I came all this way, waited all these years to do this race and dammit I'm going to do it."

 

*hamming it up for race pics clearly runs in the family, my sister at mile 4.5, is she not the most precious thing ever? the answer is YES.* 

*taken while walking along in pain, i figured since i was walking i should go ahead and take some pics, because, uhhhhh, pretty views!* 

So I got up and kept walking along in pain and misery. All while thinking, "wow the ocean is so pretty." With my stomach cramping like mad. I. Was. Sick. So I kept sucking down water, walking along, holding back the tears hoping I would start to miraculously feel better. That the junk would pass, aderenaline would kick in and I could run to catch my sister. And wouldn't you know right after the 5k mark that exact thing happened. And I caught my sister around mile five! I felt perfectly fine the rest of the race! It was crazy. Of course that didn't last, in fact today is the first day since the half that I actually don't feel puny.

Other than that glitch, the race, the views... all of it was fantastic and I had so much fun. So for now, I'll let the pictures do the talking!

 *we ran by 'balancing manny' from the ellen show. he ran the entire half with that watermelon on his head. he was so nice, i talked to him for quite awhile and he was such an amazing sport about getting his picture taken.*

 

*mile 11 views*

 

*happy at the final stretch, not so scenic*

 *a more scenic view of the finish area* 

*FINISHED and happy!*

*getting our official surf city pics at the end of the race. my sister is so adorable and tinsy, i just want to pick her up and put her in my pocket! LOVE! i also love our matchsies sparkly pink headbands!*

 *helping celebrate running a first half? next to the ocean? yes please! hopefully this picture brings my sister enough joy to convince her to do the long beach half with me.... because, just... HAPPY. and because basically it is going to happen. whether she likes it or not....*