Santa Cruz Half Marathon Race Recap
This past weekend I ran the Santa Cruz half marathon. The race takes place in my local town and captures all the natural beauty of the little California coastal town. The course for the race is actually my usual long-distance path, so it was nice to be on familiar ground. I ran with 3 other friends, all of them running their first half. One was running with a medical condition, so our main goal was just to finish.
The morning started out nice and over cast, perfect for a race, in my opinion!
The start line is right along the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. From there it's an out and back kind of course. We started by running up a steep hill (something I was really dreading) and then on the street along the coast. From there were entered a state park and headed towards back towards the coast.
I only have pictures starting from about half way through the run- I completed forgot about taking pictures!
Running the coastal trail around the half way point.
Heading back along the residential street back to the Boardwalk. The crowd was pretty thin by then- we were definitely taking our time. :)
If you look closely towards the left, you can see the white tents of the finishers area on the beach.
The sun was breaking through as we neared finish.
Something unique about the finish of this race- the last 20 feet or so are on the beach. Leading up to the finish, we run down the same big hill that was at the beginning of the race. It's great momentum for the finish, but a little scary since you're literally flying and then BAM! sand!
We finished in 2:39.
Another great thing about this race weekend- my husband came to visit and he also ran the race. This is the race that he runs for a PR, but he was really nervous about even finishing it since he hadn't run longer distances than 5 miles in a few months. His PR last year was 1:51. This year, with little to no training, he finished in 1:57. WTH?!
I felt bad that he had to wait 40 minutes for me to finish, but he said he enjoyed the post-race bagels (all 4 of them).
Huge improvement on the medal this year!
2013 (left) vs 2014 (right)
We hung out on the beach after just chatting and enjoying the sun.
Congrats to you, your hubby, and your friends!! Also, I LOVE your running capri's, where did you get them? The race course looks beautiful - glad you had a great weekend! :0)
ReplyDeleteI've never been to Santa Cruz. It looks really beautiful. Congratulations on another race under your belt!
ReplyDeleteYay, i'd been waiting for this race recap since you posted a pic of that cool finish line ON the beach! I like how you ran with your friends and you all ran the pace of your injured friend. That is so kind. You still finished in great time too! Congrats to you, your friends, and your hubby on a great race!
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