Long Beach Half Marathon

I completed the Long Beach Half Marathon yesterday. The race course was nice and scenic. It started and ended at the Long Beach Convention Center with a portion of the course going along the beach. You could hear the waves crashing during portions of the run. The beginning of the course was a multi-lane road, so there wasn't the bunching of runners at the start of the race that normally occurs. Which is nice because you don't have to deal with looking for ways to pass the slower runners in front of you or catching elbows.

I had a goal of finishing the course in 1' 40", but my eyes were bigger than my stomach on this one. My finish time was a resectable 1"45", but I'm still disappointed that I didn't meet my goal. I ran w/ the 1' 40" pace group for 8 miles, but then I started to fizzle out. This was around the point that the course was on the beach path and in direct sunlight. At this point I should mention the temperature at the start of the race was 77 degrees and the high was in the 90s. I thought to myself as they were pulling away, "okay, just as long as you can see them and I'll be able to at least beat my PR of 1'43". However, I began to slow down more and eventually I couldn't see them anymore. Then I used "just don't let the 1'45" pace group beat you" mantra to keep myself motivated to finish the race. For the record, I did beat that pace group. Barely, but I still beat them none the less.

They did have a nice finishers medal and this was my final race of the Beach Cities Challenge, so I received a special medal for that accomplishment.

Long Beach Half Marathon finishers medal

Beach Cities Challenge medal. The clam shell open and closes.