Grace D. Plunk: Long Beach Half Marathon 2017 Results

Hello! I ran the Long Beach Half Marathon this morning! And I’ve been following along with the Chicago Marathon and a few other races I saw mentioned on Instagram. Let me know how you did!

Report in on your Run or Race on @RunEatRepeat Instagram (on my daily Run Report for 10.9.17) OR share a link in the comments below.

13.1 Notes from the Long Beach Half Marathon:

1. Before I went to the race expo I did a mini-meal prep. Well, if making a huge batch of salsa chicken counts as ‘mini meal prep’.

2. I hit up the expo yesterday. It was the most gorgeous day! I didn’t need any running gear or fuel so I was in and out fairly quickly.

3. On the way home I hit up Trader Joe’s for carb-loading essentials. (And some non-essentials like rose and Pumpkin O’s cereal.)

4. When I got home I discovered Vegas knocked over the trash!! He found the package from the chicken! Busted.

5. I spent the evening meal prepping to run… and by that I mean eating multiple meals in preparation to run.

6. Then I set my alarm for bright and early! And I woke up bright and earlier than my alarm was even set!

I did the usual pre-race stuff… iced coffee / Spark / cereal / bathroom / sunblock / selfies…

7. Surprisingly getting to the race was easy breezy! I don’t know if less people ran the LB marathon / half marathon this year or if the route I took was that much better than before but there is usually a lot of traffic AND it’s hard to find parking race morning. This morning it was super easy.

I hit the bathrooms and got the start line with about 15 minutes to spare.

8. The LB race is flat in my mind. I always think running at the beach means it’s super flat. I picture the bike / walking paths along Long Beach and Santa Monica and Huntington Beach – those are all super flat paths that go on for miles (and I love it)!

But there are some hills on this course. There are a few overpasses in the beginning and there are a few turns too.

Tip: Stay alert while running around sharp turns or windy paths – sometimes other runners will try to run the tangents or cut over and not see you or bump into you.

9. It was nice and overcast for most of the race. Someone said it was a little humid but I didn’t notice.

10. There is a donut hole stop around mile 10. I never stop here because I’m usually trying to get into the zone at this point. Oh, and when I’m running a full marathon I usually do fuel every 5 miles so I would usually already be eating the fuel I needed.

Tip: I usually do Margarita Shot Blocks at Mile 5 & Mile 10 and Clif Mocha Gel at Mile 15 and then decide when I want to do at Mile 18-20… it depends on how I’m feeling.

11. I wasn’t feeling GREAT today. I didn’t feel bad necessarily… I just felt kinda slow and heavy. And I felt out of breath – as in out of shape and like I normally feel like walking up stairs. This could be from a few different things…

Possible reasons I felt out of breath at the race:

a.) I’m out of shape.

b.) I’m in shape but was tired.

c.) An alien kidnapped me and stole one of my lungs last night while I was sleeping.

d.) I overthink things and this is all in my imagination.

e.) I was going too fast for my current fitness level.

f.) No one cares, stop making lists.

g.) I’m a sleep walker… but I walk to the local liquor store and buy a pack of cigarettes in my sleep.

h.) I need to re-freaking-lax

i.) I was tired or not recovered from my last run.

12. Run and done!

I finished with a time of 1:45: 41 and 8:04 pace. (Unofficial – official times will be released by tonight per their website.)

13. After the race I went by the Beach Cities Challenge Booth and got my special medal.

You get an extra fancy medal (it’s both extra AND fancy) for running all 3 of the Beach City races. This includes: the Surf City Marathon & Half / Orange County Marathon & Half / Long Beach Marathon & Half. You can do the full or half marathon – just have to do all 3 in a row.

(Surf City is in Huntington Beach and Orange County runs through Newport Beach.)

It’s a HUGE starfish medal that opens like a locket!

.1… Then I headed to the Sole Runners booth. The Sole Runners team is coached by Steve – who has coached new and seasoned runners to do the Long Beach Marathon and LA Marathon for years. But more importantly – Steve and all the SRs are super sweet and fun.

The nicest and 2nd most run out of all of them is Leann! I love her. (The 1st most fun is Steve.)

And I think Leann is the sweetest out of the whole group. She organized the post-run tent and it had so many awesome food and drink options. My kinda victory lap!

Now that Long Beach is done they’ll start training for the LA Marathon. If you’re in the area and want a running group – check them out here – Sole Runners Marathon & Half Marathon Training.