It was a windy morning, but sooo beautiful...The wind turned out to be a fantastic tailwind. It was sunny with puffy clouds and the sun was at our backs. I can't think of a more beautiful run than this! IT took us 37 sec. to cross the start..the run was not chip timed, but we were doing this just for fun, so it didn't really matter. The first mile we spent dodging people, trying to get out of the crowd. I think we started too far back for our pace. Mile 1 was 8:26, about 30 sec. off what we planned on for this fun run. Mile 2 was 8:19. we both felt strong and ready to continue on with that pace. Mile 3 included the small hump in the bridge. It probably took us about 2 minutes to climb the slow, steady incline...going down with that tailwind was fun!!! our pace was 8:03...I don't think so! No way were we holding that with the bridge in there. Mile 4 was uneventful, but I could tell Jonathan was losing a bit of steam. I was just feeling awesome. we clocked a 9:45, so I'm quite certain their measurements were a bit off. Miles 5 and 6, I kept zoning out, and had to slow down 9 or 10 times and wait for Jonathan. I was feeling soooo good, the weather was soooo beautiful with the breeze, mix of sun and clouds. my legs felt strong, my lungs felt strong...I sort of felt like a caged rabbit, and really just wanted to take off. One guy was running next to me, like right next to me, for mile 6, like he was racing me...I kept dropping back to wait for Jonathan. Miles 5 and 6 were 8:53 and 8:45 respectively...I picked people to catch just ahead of us and we caught them one by one...then, we hit mile 6, with .8 to go...Jonathan told me to go ahead, he'd try to keep up...I took off, and finsihed strong, with a time of 6:11 for the last .8. Not blazing, but not only did I pass the guy that was trying to duel with me so did Jonathan! HA! Jonathan came in just about 10 seconds behind me.

Nothing. We wanted to run this for run, and it really was...none of the racing pressure I usually put on myself. I had pure fun...a very freeing experience. It was a great boost for my running confidence - I feel I will be ready in 2 weeks to do my oly with comfort and ability.

stretched, grabbed a free beer and walked the very long walk back to the car...drove back to the hotel, got another quick shower, then went out to lay by the ocean and pass out in the sun...had some shrimp and calimari at the raw bar on the beach, then drove back the 2 hours home.


I loved this race...I will do this as long as it exists and I can get in. It would make a great weekend for people to spend with the family, as I'm sure many of the racers did. The volunteers were numerous and upbeat and wonderful...more water stations than I needed, and several of them had sponges, which were quite lovely. This was one great race! We didn't stay long post race. You had to take a bus back to the start, where they had water, beer, gatorade and music. We didn't have much time left on our getaway, so we decided to head back to the hotel and take advantage of the few hours of down time. Next year I'd love to go down with a group and make a weekend out of it.