1 May 2016 - OC 1/2 Marathon - Orange County, California

Here is another race report. I am really trying to keep my fitness levels at being able to complete a half marathon. After January's epic Disney event, I have found my motivation to be slowly waning. This is a race I signed up for sometime last October as I knew that I would be needing some motivation to run around this time.





















I literally flew 12 hours from Berlin, Germany...drove to the Orange County Fair Grounds and picked up my race packet. Then, I went back to my apartment and fell asleep. At 3 am I awoke, not because of a race, but because I had mad jet lag. Sometimes life works out in my favor. I drove back to the fairgrounds. We bused us from the fairgrounds to the starting line near Fashion Island.

I love the starting line of a race, so much great energy. Of course, once again, I made one of the worst race mistakes...I took off too fast. This made for a painful first few miles. The views of all the million dollar homes in Newport Beach were enjoyable. I also loved the view of the Newport Bay and Balboa Island.

I managed to finish and am always happy to complete the distance. However, my time of 2h 52m was way off my time of 2h 35m I had in Puerto Rico. I have shifted back to a 1m run/walk instead of the 2min run/1min walk I did in PR due to some IT band pain...the symptoms have disappeared, but so has my faster time.

This is my 12th half marathon since I started running these types of events. Including 5 Triathlon Sprints, 2 full marathons and a few other challenges, my collection of race "Bling" is starting to make for a neat wall decoration. This marks my 5th year of doing my best to stay physically active.

At the end of May I will be in Scotland for my next Half Marathon! Really excited about that one.