City to the Sea Half Marathon Race Review & Recap

Everyone!

I ran the City to the Sea Half Marathon over the weekend, and I must say, it was glorious.

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook (if you don’t, you should),

you probably already know…

 I took home another shiny new PR!

(A special thanks to PaceBands for providing me with the 2:12:30 band I used during this race… it was SO HELPFUL.)

No, this is not an overall PR, but considering I started the year running a 2:19 Half Marathon…

I am grateful to be where I am now.

The race just so happened to fall on my birthday, so it was an awesome present to give myself.

Seriously.

The race started at 7 AM in downtown San Luis Obispo.

(which was a treat because I live down the street)

It winds through the Bob Jones Trail

(my favorite place to run)

and ends at the Dinosaur Caves in Shell Beach.

(a few cities over)

Yes, I know, it’s a gorgeous finish!

Because it has been ridiculously hot (think 101 degrees HOT) lately,

I was stressed that I was going to see a repeat of Shoreline, but luckily that didn’t happen.

As you can see from the elevation chart, the first 5 miles are pretty much downhill,

Which was awesome.

I started out holding a 10 minute mile pace, and told myself I would back off around mile 6 (at the first hill) if I started feeling tight.

I hit the first large hill and chanted to myself, “I eat hills for breakfast”!

Which really helped me get through it.

After getting through the first big hill, I arrived at the part of the race I was really looking forward to…

The Bob Jones Trail.

I always feel really peaceful and fast on this trail, so I attempted to use this nostalgia to my advantage.

It worked!

I felt great and was holding my pace.

And thennnn, the 2nd large hill came at mile 10.

It felt never-ending!

However, this was where my hill training came into play.

Yes, I was tired, but I refused to walk.

I passed a lot of people during that section of the race, which was an awesome feeling.

Miles 11-13 were a big beautiful blur.

I loved running next to the ocean and it provided a little breeze that was definitely needed.

And in typical RatherBeRunnin’ style, I sprinted to the end.

Finish time: 2:11.18

If you ever have the opportunity to run this race, I highly recommend it.

It’s a small town race, but it is well managed, has great scenery, and a fantastic finish!

-RatherBeRunnin’

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