Race Recap: Silver Strand Half Marathon (aka G gets a PR!)

That’s right, folks: G nailed a half-marathon PR of 2:04 at the Silver Strand Half Marathon on Sunday!

When we signed up for the race a couple of months ago, we had a few criteria in mind:

1. We wanted a race that didn’t require overnight traveling (since we have a few of those coming up).
2. We wanted a distance that would fit in C’s overall training plan for the Surf City Marathon in February 2014, and a distance that would fit into G’s ultra marathon training program.
3. We wanted to run somewhere we hadn’t explored yet (the 13.1 miles between Coronado Island and Imperial Beach).

Silver Strand fit the bill perfectly! The race expo/packet pick up was held at Road Runner Sports, and we managed to purchase a few apparel items as well. Then we enjoyed a pre-race meal at Il Fornaio near our house on Saturday night, and got to sleep around 8:30 p.m. When the alarm went off at 4:15 Sunday morning, we were ready to go!

Road Runner Sports hosted the race expo.

During the registration process there was the option to pre-pay for parking at Silver Strand State Beach, which we were happy to do since we’re new to the area and not familiar with parking on Coronado Island.

Gorgeous moon view as we boarded the bus at Silver Strand State Beach.

Once we parked, buses shuttled us to the race start at Sunset Park just north of Hotel del Coronado. It was a little chilly at the start, but we walked around the beach and park a bit to stretch and stay warm.

Sunrise shot of the race start at Sunset Park.

We decided to run our own races, so G made his way to the 2:00 pace group, and C lined up with the 2:15 pace group. Silver Strand had a “skate” category, which was pretty cool to watch! The skaters started ahead of the hand cyclists, wheelchairs and runners. At 7:30, the air horn went off and the race began! The first mile or so wound from Sunset Park to California Highway 75, and from there it was a straight, flat shot all the way to the finish line near the Imperial Beach Pier Plaza.

While the temperature was perfect, the sun was bright. We both acknowledged that a hat or sunglasses would have helped immensely (something we’ll keep in mind for all future daylight saving time race starts). The water/aid stations were a little farther apart than we are used to, but we really appreciated the generous offering of energy bloks in a couple of spots. Those, coupled with the energy gels we had, carried us through.

Finishers! We celebrated with a walk on the Imperial Beach pier.

G has been training with Cardiostrong fitness beverage for a couple of weeks, and drank about 16 oz of it just prior to the race. He’s been experimenting with the timing of taking the product: pre-, post- and intra-workout, and has been very happy with the results so far. While it’s still a little early to tell (read: he plans to train with it for several more weeks), he’d like to think it’s no coincidence that he ended the race with his best half marathon time yet. Stay tuned for his review of the product in the next few weeks!

C didn’t hit her best time, but she was very proud of her overall performance and is targeting the Carlsbad Half Marathon in January for a PR.

We both took today as a rest day, and are ready to get back to our training schedules tomorrow. We’re in the middle of setting 2014 running/fitness goals, as well as building out our race schedule for next year. Although we’ve only been blogging a few months, it’s become a great motivator and accountability tool to us both!

Have a wonderful week,

GnC

How about you?

Did you race last weekend? If so, where? Tell us about your experience!