• May 3rd, 2015
• Newport Beach, California
• Orange County Half Marathon
• Sharon: 2:35:16
• Tim: 2:26:29

40 down only 12 to go.

Happy anniversary to us. May 1st was our 17th wedding anniversary. I love that May Day is both a celebration of spring and a cry for help. Tim took me to a lovely, fancy pants place called Oceana Coastal Kitchen. It was only a couple of blocks from our apartment. Did you know that you can forget how to walk in high heels? It felt like I was walking like a truck driver who dressed up as Barbie for Halloween.

Look – they make Barbie’s shoes in my size

We had a seat with a bay view on one side and a jelly fish tower on the other. The food and service were great but the wine was even more amazing. It was called Silver Oaks and was the best wine I have ever tasted. And I have drunk a lot of wines. On the way home we stopped at Lahinas, the dive bar behind our place, for a mai tai (my favorite drink). While there we saw Nicole, our friendly neighborhood ice cream lady and she insisted we do a shot called Surfer On Acid with her. I hadn’t heard of it either. It’s Jagermeister, coconut rum, and pineapple juice (oh my).

Saturday morning we had a CPR class at 8:30am. I don’t recommend doing a CPR class hungover. After CPR we went home, packed, kissed the cat and drove to our hotel (The Best Western) in Costa Mesa. Because our race started at 6:15am and our bus left at 4:15am we decided to get a hotel, so that we didn’t have to leave the house at 1am. The hotel was only 2 blocks from the end of the race. They were super friendly and had a late checkout as well as a late breakfast buffet for runners. It was one of the best hotel experiences we have ever had.

I saw that this race had a net downhill so I secretly made it a PR target. Well, not so secretly, because I told my friend Marilyn and Tim. So, of course, I did something stupid to sabotage myself. I often want to eat crap food when I am hung over and on the way back to the hotel from packet pickup we went past a Jack in the Box. Yep – suddenly I had to have a Sourdough Jack (no bacon, extra pickles) and curly fries. Why, Sharon!? Race morning both of us woke up feeling like people who rarely eat fast food feel like when they eat Jack in the Box for dinner. Even though I felt awful I still made a vow to try and PR. Is the suspense killing you? I missed my PR by 9 seconds. 9 seconds! I had a 2:35:07 PR on December 28th.

I felt worse before this race then after

One of the things that bothered me about this race was all the petty little ways they tried to make extra money. Not only was there a fee to park on race day but there was a expo parking fee. There was also a fee if you were picking up someone else’s bib. This just reeks of trying to figure out how to squeeze a little more money out of runners. That said, the packet pickup was quick and easy for such a large race.

Race morning our alarm went off at 3:30am so we could catch the bus at 4:15am. We could have caught a 5am bus at the hotel but Tim didn’t trust it because it wasn’t on the official race shuttle list. So besides starting the morning out with Jack in the Box tummies we were also bickering. I’m very suspicious of couples who say they never argue. I suspect they are either lying or don’t communicate at all. We communicated while getting ready for the race, on the bus, and during about the first 5 miles of the race.

You’re not helping

I had a fever and a tummy ache for most of this race and truthfully the race details are a little fuzzy. I remember being grateful that it was cool and overcast. I know the first half went through a ritzy neighborhood because I asked Tim to take a picture of some of the houses.

Besides great houses and ocean views there were some amusing signs and costumes.

2nd race in a row with a dancing banana

The worse part about this race was that it was way too crowded. They didn’t wait at all between waves. Often a race will start bunched up but then spread out. This race was crowded for the entire run. There were even traffic jams a couple of times where we almost came to a complete stop, once under a bridge and once on a bike path. I spent a lot of extra time weaving around people. My Garmin said that I ran almost 13.5 miles instead of 13.1. Oddly enough, I felt better as the race went on and only stopped for a walk break once. I even ran negative splits.

You guys are not funny (OK – maybe you are a little funny)

I really thought I had my PR. I ran as hard as I could! I was so close. At least my consultation prize was chocolate milk. My big takeaway was don’t eat at Jack in the Box the night before a race [or ever – Tim].

Cons

• Assigning a bogus bus time to get people to show up early
• Not having our hotel shuttle on the list
• Parking fee at both expo and event (just greedy)
• Race was way too crowded
• Sponsored by a non-alcoholic beer

Pros

• 6:15 start helped beat the heat
• Scenic course
• Bag checks
• Wearable t-shirt
• Fun course signs and costumes
• Plenty of port-o-pots
• Nice medal
• Chocolate milk
• Looked like a fun after party but we didn’t stay

Just another after photo

I’m not sure if I recommend this race or not. There were some things about it that irritated me (but I was in an irritable mood) like the parking charges, the bus mess up and how overcrowded the race was. On the other hand, it was a net downhill course through a scenic area with an amusing crowd and chocolate milk. Like all big races it was spendy. It looked like it had a good after party with beer and bands but we wanted to go home and left shortly after finishing. If you do this race I recommend staying at the Best Western. You can walk to the bib pickup and avoid the parking fees.

Gangnam Style

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