• May 9th, 2015
• Long Beach, California
• Beachmania
• Sharon: 2:31:15
• Tim: 2:40:10

41 down only 11 to go.

I hope you are all sitting down for this next sentence. I won this race! This is the first time I have ever won a race. This is also the first time I have beaten Tim at a race (during this project). I also set a PR for this project. Unfortunately, I have to follow up my badass sentence, “I won this race” with the not so impressive details. This was the smallest HM we have ever done. There were only 4 people in this HM and 6 in the full marathon. So I beat Tim (who had to walk because of his afib) and 2 women who were running their first half. I’m still pleased with myself.

Last week I was so annoyed at missing my PR by seconds that the week leading up to this race I didn’t drink and the night before the race I made a yummy vegi curry. I never want to run on Jack in the Box fumes again. Charlie Alewine puts on small, low key events around the LA area. This is the second race of his that we have done. He is a great guy and within driving distance although we did have to get up at 3am. for the 6:30am. start.

I love flannel shirts (this is a new development)

At this race we met an amazing ultrarunner named Ed Ettinghausen, otherwise known as the Jester. At one point in time he had the record for the most marathons (135) in a year. He has the current record for the most 100 mile races in a year (40). Next weekend he is running his 100th 100 mile race! Even though it was next week he gave us a commerative wrist band. Thanks Ed.

Good luck on 100×100 – You’re awesome

He was a really nice guy and a great talker. He ran with me and Tim for the first half and with Tim for the second half. He was doing the full marathon, so this was just a short run for him. He was partially responsable for my PR because he ran just a bit faster than I usually would but he had such great stories and was so interesting to talk to that I didn’t want to let him get away.

Check out this guys story

This was the perfect race for me. The weather was cool and overcast. I find that I have a hard time running in direct sun. When I used to run in Tucson I thought 80° was perfect, now I prefer it around 60°. Most beaches, that have paths, have one multiuse path. This beach has a bike path and a pedestrian path for walkers and runners. The footpath had an elastopolymer base like a track. It was an amazing running surface. I was beyond impressed. There was a stunning ocean view as well as amusing people watching for this entire race. Charlie had an aid station set up at the start. This was an out and back course done twice for the HM so there was essentially only one aid station, however, the course had bathrooms and water fountains. Because I was talking with Ed the first loop went by really fast. The 3 of us pulled into the aid station. Ed hit the bathroom while Tim went to pay for parking. I filled my water bottle and took off because I was focused on getting a PR. I kept expecting them to catch me but they never did. I found out later that Tim had an afib episode and Ed walked with him, which I thought was really cool. I guess they had almost caught me when Tim’s heart started racing.

Not everything about this race was perfect. That would be boring. There was a bike race that started at 8am that morning. Because there are separate bike and running paths it wasn’t really a problem except at one intersection where I needed to cross and bikes just kept streaming past. I finally just went weaving around annoyed bikers. If I hadn’t I would have been standing there for 20 minutes.

I only stopped to walk once around mile 11, although I did stop for longer than I should have when I filled my water bottle at the aid station. I thought my distance was going to be a bit short but my Garmin hit 13.1 miles the exact moment I touched Charlies table.

Don’t I look proud

Cons

• Bike race made the road crossing dicey

Pros

• Fun, low key event
• Beautiful course
• Great to meet “the Jester”
• Reasonably priced
• Nice Shirt
• Nice medal (and trophy)
• Amazing running surface
• Free Photos

Smallest HM ever

I highly recommend checking out Charlie Alewine races, especially if you live in the LA area. All of his races are relatively inexpensive events with scenic courses, nice medals and a t-shirt without sponsor logos all over it. You might even win a trophy. Tim got 3rd place at the last race of his we did. We are having a hard time finding a race near us on the first week of June so I think we are going to this one again. The t-shirt isn’t even the same every time because he has different colors. Both times we have done a Charlie race the vibe has been great. He is a really nice guy putting on quality races every weekend.

See you next week

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