The Surf City Half Marathon in Huntington Beach is a great out and back course right up the coast. This race is always the morning of Super Bowl Sunday and in this case, Aaron Rodgers was only hours away from his first world championship in Super Bowl XLV. Me on the other hand, I woke up with one hell of a kinked neck because I'm cheap and because my buddy didn't have any pillows for his couch.
Kinked Neck & Run
It's worth noting that my friends Kimmie and Jonathan were kind enough (once again) to allow me to crash on their couch before the race. They lived 3/4 of a mile from the race start so getting there in the morning didn't seem like too big a deal. It is ALSO worth noting that my buddy Jonathan had no pillows but rather some blue goofy back support thing that I used as a pillow. Upon waking up I really wanted to throw said blue back support thing through a window because my neck was killing me! So, that in addition to having to jog to the race start line, which ended up being about a mile, was not my favorite way to start the morning and the race. Off we go!
The Race
The Surf City Half Marathon is exactly what you'd expect from a coastal race. GREAT weather, great views, cool vibe and generally a really fun track up the PCH. It was an out and back with a bit of a loop up into a neighborhood along the way. Fun to run by the campgrounds and watch surfers scurry across the course on their way out to the ocean. Nothing melts the miles away like the Pacific Ocean, in my humble opinion. Finishing with a 1:42:05 with a kinked neck? Not bad. Next race, dirty south!