Race Recap: Space Coast Half Marathon

Race: Space Coast Half Marathon, Big Bang Challenge Year 1

Location: Cocoa, Florida

Date: Sunday, December 1, 2013

Initially I was supposed to run the full marathon for this race, but due to my stress fracture I decided right after attempting Route 66 that it would be best to back down to the half marathon based on my experience in Oklahoma. I contacted the race director about a week before the race and she was able to change my entry. This race was also the first in the Big Bang Series which provides for up to two additional medals if you run the race for 3 years within the next 5 or all 5 of the consecutive years.

Travel Day: Friday, November 29, 2013

For almost all my flights to Florida I fly out of Lubbock or Amarillo. The trip to Orlando was pretty non-descript. Because Cocoa is about 40 minutes from Orlando I ended up taking a shuttle to my hotel arriving at approximately 7pm ET. The shuttles to Cocoa are pretty expensive and it would've been slightly cheaper for me to rent a car from the airport for the weekend. Lesson learned. I met an online acquaintance who was staying at the same hotel and we walked down the road for some Japanese food for dinner before returning to our rooms for the night. 

I hadn't realized how far the Kennedy Space Center, where the expo was being held, was from the hotels. I really could've used a car, but was able to connect online with one of my fellow 50 States Half Marathon Club members for a ride to the expo for myself and my online acquaintance for the next day.

Expo Day: Saturday, November 30, 2013

I woke up a little early and went for a walk on the beach. Although it was overcast it was still a beautiful view...

The view from the beach in front of my hotel.

When we were getting ready to go we met our ride, Dawn, at the front of the hotel and headed out to the Space Center for the expo. The drive to the expo took about 35-40 minutes and it really would've been nice if the organizers had let runners know that it was that far from the hotels or provided shuttle service. 

The expo itself was small and packet pickup was somewhat disorganized. The area designated for pick up was small and cramped and didn't have enough flow to easily move around the tables. The vendors were all right, but the store carrying race specific items was sorely lacking in shirts/hoodies in many sizes.

Race swag

I spent the rest of the afternoon checking in for the Three Little Pigs Challenge put on by Endurance Sports Connection at the host hotel and meeting some new and old friends there. Afterwards I hung out on the beach/pier by the hotel before heading to the race sponsored pasta dinner back at the host hotel (about a 2 mile walk from where I was staying). The 50 States Half Marathon Club also used the pasta dinner as an annual meetup so we did a group photo while there... 

Fifty States Half Marathon Club photo.

My room mate checked in to the hotel after I arrived back from the pasta dinner, she was running a double that weekend, and we turned in for the night for an early wake up on Sunday.

Race Day: Sunday, December 1, 2013

Woke up to a nice, warm early morning. Nothing like the freezing temperature that were happening at home (I could get used to this). Got ready and headed to the lobby with Marissa (my room mate) to catch the shuttle to the starting area...if only they had arranged this service for the expo as well.

Flat Beth (aka race day gear)

Once we arrived at the location we walked around finding gear check, photo ops with Half Fanatics and Sparkle Princesses and I managed to locate my friend Mel, Amy, and a few of her friends. We headed over to the starting area heading to the back end of the corrals to wait for the start of the race.

Half Fanatic/PbRC/#Run3rd group photo.

Marissa and I

Amy, her friend and I

Mel and I

Once the race started I figured that I'd take it easy and just start walking but, as with every race, the adrenaline started and I changed my mind and decided to at least jog the first couple of miles. Less than a mile in I realized that running this race was not going to happen. Both my ankles started to ache and I found myself walking early on. Now, it's not uncommon for me to need the first 2-4 miles to get warmed up and walk off the pain (I'm assuming it was a peroneal tendonitis issue) and then I can at least jog a bit but this time the jogging was far and few opportunities throughout the race due to lingering pain.

I did manage to get a few miles of comfortable walking in between about mile 8 and 11 but the rest of the time there was some sort of pain either from the peroneal tendonitis or from the area of the healed stress fracture. To break up the monotony of the walk albeit on a beautiful tree lined residential course, I had decided that I would get 30 burpees done during the race as part of the Spartan Race 30 Burpees A Day Challenge as the idea of doing 30 burpees in a row after the race was not very appealing. Every 2 miles through mile 12 I did 5 burpees just off to the side of the course. It was funny to hear either something like, "You go girl!" or "She's doing burpees on top of the race?" Either way I finished both the race and my burpees and was so glad that I had downgraded from the full to the half. I knew at the finish that there would've been no way I would have finished a full 26.2 miles. Thirteen point one miles I could push through, but no way for a 26.2.

After the race I walked around a bit, had some free pancakes and ran into Leah and Debbie from SparkleSkirts (the manufacturer of the running skirts I wear almost exclusively), picked up my gear then headed back to the hotel where I met Marissa. I arrived at the hotel and bumped into this lady who had carried my friend, "Flat" Kat, during the race and just had to snap a photo with her.We got cleaned up and headed out to Kennedy Space Center to play the tourist game for a few hours and to keep our muscles moving to help delay any soreness.

Can't believe I found "Flat" Kat at the hotel!

At Kennedy Space Center

I have to admit that going to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) was a bit of an emotional experience for me. I have this deep seeded patriotic streak in me...I mean seriously, I tear up every time I hear Star Spangled Banner being played, and being at this institution had me teary eyed several times. Probably the most moving part was walking through the main display area and reading about the Challenger and Columbia missions and then making my way through the Atlantis exhibition. Seeing the launch pads and some local critters (gators) on site was pretty cool too.

I suck at selfies.

Remember the Robot from Lost in Space?

We spent about 4 hours at KSC before heading out for some Five Guys Burgers & Fries then back to the hotel so that Marissa could start packing to leave in the morning. I did take a walk on the beach and found out that there was supposed to be a rocket launch the next day so I was determined to see that happen although they had canceled the launch on this particular delay due to mechanical issues, I believe.

Leisure Day: Monday, December 2, 2013

Marissa took off in the morning and I went for a 10K stroll on the beach getting my 30 burpees done as I went. I basically just spent the day lounging on the beach or in the room doing much of nothing. Had lunch on the pier and found out that the launch had been canceled yet another day (it ended up happening the next day after I had left Florida). I took a shorter beach walk in the afternoon watching some surfers and families playing on the beach before heading back to the room to pack up for my trip home in the morning.

The sun decided to come out to play on my last day in Florida.

I made a new friend!

Just one random coconut...no others on the beach.

Man o' War? Glad I saw him before I would have stepped on him!

It's a Florida Christmas...

My hotel from the pier.

Blue Heron chillaxin' on the beach.

Travel Day: Tuesday, December 3, 2013

The day had come where it was time to leave the beach. Now, you've got to understand I live where there's a lot of sand...it's called the desert...the beach sand and view is just so much better! I caught my shuttle at 0 dark thirty in the morning (arrived in the dark and left in the dark) and headed back to Orlando International Airport. No major issues traveling home but I was still glad to be back in little podunk New Mexico...at least temporarily.

What did I like about this race?

Nice course, primarily flat. Right next to the water almost the whole time, runs through nice neighborhoods. Pancakes and eggs at the finish.

What did I not like about this race?

Cramped packet pick up, small expo. Expo was way too far out. If I had known I would've rented a car. Lack of shuttle service to the expo. On a better note, the 2015 expo will be at the host hotel where I'm staying for my next go around at this race.

Would I do this race again?

As alluded to above, I plan to do this race for 5 years in a row to earn the extra medals. One of those times I'll do the full marathon but not next year...I'm already signed up for the half marathon.

Official Time:  3:31:35

Race Recap: Costume Party Run HM - Inaugrual Race

Race: Inaugural Costume Party Run Half Marathon
Location: Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, CA
Race Date: Sunday, July 7, 2013

Ummm, yeah, that's the medal...6" in diameter.

Travel Day #1: Friday, July 5, 2013 

Thankfully after last weekend's 16+ mile drive, I decided to do the drive to San Diego (with the husband) in 2 days since it was also an estimated 15+ hour drive. This first day we traveled just over half way from home to Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson, AZ. The drive was uneventful although we did end up leaving about an hour later than planned. I did make the mistake of stopping for gas at a small place about 22 miles east of Tucson only to find that the gas was $4.79/gallon for regular! Talk about sticker shock. I only put in $30 worth (even though we could have gotten away without) because I didn't want to pay for a full tank. This was the most expensive gas the whole trip...even more expensive than in California! 

We rolled into Tucson after about a 9 hour drive at about 6pm and unloaded our stuff at the lodging we had been assigned before heading to Sushi on Oracle, a great little Japanese place that I had the pleasure of going to when I ran my first race in Arizona early last year. I really recommend this place...it's really small so try to get there on an off time. We didn't do anything else aside from chill in the room and sleep. Very quick and uneventful trip to Tucson.

Travel Day #2: Saturday, July 6, 2013

We were up by 5am and on the road around 7am after stopping for some breakfast at Mickey D's. I try not to drive with the AC on but in 100°F+ temperatures I made an exception especially since we were driving through the desert of Arizona. One of my most interesting sights on this trip was the border fence which we could clearly see on different parts of the freeway in the areas of the dunes. It's big and it's long...the last time I drove through here back in 2007 or so it didn't exist so just watching the length of the fence was pretty amazing especially how close it came to the freeway at times.

The border fence in the background.

The beauty of the AZ desert.

We arrived in San Diego at about 2pm and went directly to the expo at Road Runner Sports. It, the expo, was much smaller than I expected and the only goody we received was a funky trucker's cap (not even a tech running cap) with the race's logo. Now, having a race expo at a running store is just plain mean!! I wanted to buy so much but fought off the urge. However, in their "gently used" outlet I did find a pair of Kinavara's that were just half a size too big for me...could have had them (barely used) for $50 if they fit. Bummer! While at the expo I met up with Dianne, a friend from my TinkerBell HM crew, and saw inspirational runner, Misty Diaz, who has Spina Bifida. 

We checked in on MCAS Miramar into their brand spanking new lodging and then headed out to Dave and Buster's to meet up with some TinkerBell HM Facebook Group friends (Linda, Paige, Lyn and Sandy). BTW, don't trust Google navigation to get you to Dave and Buster's San Diego...got us completely lost! We had a late lunch/early dinner with Paige and her family, Linda & Arman, Lyn and Sandy then played some of the games for a while. To my son and FDIL if you're reading this...I have some D & B tickets to mail to you guys! We headed back to the base and made a stop at the exchange to purchase some things that I had forgotten before heading to the room to settle down for the night. We made sure our gear was ready (but I forgot to take flat runner pictures so I took them post race) and turned in so we could be rested for the race.

Race Day: Sunday, July 7, 2013

Since the hubs and I were dressing up as Charlie Brown and Lucy from Peanuts I woke up at 3am to curl my hair. Since I have a natural wave in my hair you'd think it would take a curl pretty easily, but no. I have to use setting gel plus a super freeze hairspray to get it to stick. It took me over an hour to get that done (only to have it fall out almost immediately in the humidity). By 4:40am we were ready to go. We headed down to the car and lo and behold...a flat. The hubs changed out that bad boy and we were on the road at around 5:10am for the short 15 minute drive to the start. Again while Google Navigation got us to Qualcomm's surrounding areas it failed to get us off and onto the road to the stadium. Once we got onto the right road and parked it was about 5:30am. I picked up my new obstacle course race (OCR) medal rack from a friend in the Weeple Army (Russ at Epic Medal Racks) and then headed to the start to find some friends from Half Fanatics and the TinkerBell HM FB Group. We never found them only to learn later that they weren't actually at the start but at the race logo background by the start. Oh well.

Even before the race the humidity was crazy. I've lived in the desert for 20+ years now...I wasn't used to this coastline humidity anymore (grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area). I knew I was in trouble. When the race started it didn't take much for me to start sweating like a pig. I kept things slow for the loop around the stadium parking lot, but even then by the time we hit the roadway I was already sweating bullets. Within the first half of the race I look at the husband (running in a cotton shirt for the costume) with sweat literally falling off his head...not dripping, but pouring off his head. The course was rolling hills out and back on Friars Road. Have I mentioned before that I don't like hills?

The costumes were fairly varied with a lot of Thing 1 and Thing 2's, tourists, Ninja Turtles and others. There were some that stood out like the hot rickshaw guy (pulling a wheelchair transformed into a rickshaw...his real name is Samuel and is now a FB friend), the guy dressed as a large stripper, a 6'9" tall Richard Simmons (his real name is Ray) and a Hi-liter. I had friends who were Wonder Woman, Super Weeple, Ambiguously Gay Duo, Bat Girl, Thing 1 and Thing 2, the Grinch, etc. It was great to see all the costumes out there. I don't normally dress in costume for races (especially one made of cotton) but this time I decided that hubs and I would go full out as Charlie Brown and Lucy.

Inspirational runner, Misty Diaz, who has Spina Bifida.

Jess, the zombie 50's housewife.

Breakfast and stripper all at once!

Dianne and I.

Team Seuss.

Arman.

Blind & deaf inspirational runner and guide.

Tourists.

I don't know him, but he's reppin' Team Red, White and Blue!

Hardest costume to run in?

The 2 Dave's (Weeple Army) as the Ambiguously Gay Duo from SNL.

Hi-Liter.

Sandy was in the zone and didn't hear me calling her!

Hot Asian dude (inside joke), Samuel.

Matt from Weeple Army doing situps, push ups
and squats at each mile.

Hubs and I as Charlie Brown & Lucy.

Post-race flat runner Beth/Lucy.

Paige, Nate and Braden near the finish.

My new OCR medal rack.

As per custom by mile 8 I had started cramping. I had forgotten to pack my mustard packets, which are supposed to work wonderfully for cramping and instead started popping Endurolytes at a double dose, so I waddled the remaining portion of the race. When I tried to run just a 100 or so feet to the finish I couldn't because the cramping would start as soon as I tried to start running. The husband learned the art of the "fake run", you know when you're tired or cramping so you start an easy jog when you see the photographers...My pics doing this actually look pretty good! lol!

After turning in our timing chips, I had to ask how we got our medals because the turn in station wasn't clearly marked IMHO, we received the huge medals. I'd be lying if I didn't say that the only reason we did this race was for the medals. We hung out with Team Seuss for a while waiting for some people to finish and taking some pictures before heading back to the base to shower and head out to get our flat fixed, then a post-race brunch and finally to Coronado Island to look around.

It took us about a half hour of driving around after we were finally cleaned up  to find a tire shop open on Sunday to fix our flat. We then headed over to The Broken Yolk Cafe to meet Paige and her family for brunch. We had originally planned to hit Old Town and Coronado Island, but settled for the Island only because we were both pretty tired. After driving around in the traffic for about 20 minutes we finally found a parking space and walked down to the beach and around the Hotel del Coronado. Unfortunately in my 3rd or 4th trip to the Del (known as Hotel Del by locals) we still managed to miss the tour of the hotel since only one is done on Sundays. After spending $23 on a scoop of homemade ice cream, a chocolate shake and a bottle of Sprite (talk about sticker shock!) we decided to call it a day and headed back to the base.

Coronado Beach

Hotel del Coronado

I ended up doing most of our laundry (thankfully I always pack some detergent since the laundry rooms were out) before dinner time. Dinner just had to be at L & L Hawaiian BBQ because if you know me at all, you know that I do love my Hawaiian BBQ!! The rest of the night was just spent packing and chilling before the long 15+ hour in one day drive home.

Travel Day: Monday, July 8, 2013

Driving into a fierce desert summer thunderstorm...
with bad windshield wipers.

We were up and out the door just after 6:30am after having Hawaiian BBQ leftovers for breakfast. The drive was uneventfull until about a hour or so west of Tucson when a huge thunderstorm hit and pelted us with sheets of water, enough that I had to pull to the side because my wipers wouldn't move any rain away. Talk about scary! We made it to Tucson for lunch and headed to Holloman AFB in New Mexico where we replaced my wiper blades and had dinner. We finally made it home right at midnight. Thankfully a relative calm hit and I stayed up until about 2:30am before finally going to sleep since I had swimming lessons at 6:15am.

What I liked about this race:
Meeting all my new and old friends. The great costumes worn by many people.

What I disliked about this race:
A trucker's cap, really? The expo at a running store...okay, it wasn't that I didn't like the fact it was at a running store, it was just too much temptation. Hills. Two long loops around the Qualcomm stadium parking lot (they're taking away 2 miles of this next year). Humidity.

Would I do this race again?
Probably, yes, but not in any rush to even though the medal is supposed to be a full inch larger next year.