City to the Sea Half Marathon Race Recap
Disclaimer: I received a free entry to City to the Sea as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews! Last weekend I traveled down to San Luis Obispo for the City to the Sea Half Marathon. It has been a little while since I have run a half marathon, but it was time. I seem to keep getting slower and slower with my times and have been really frustrated. My training, my diet, my schedule, everything has just seemed off.
The last few months I have been training in the mornings for at least three runs a week and recently hired a coach with Ekiden Coaching. All of these things helped during this race.
Pre-Race
My parents drove down to watch me and cheer me on during this race. It's always fun to have family come along, so that right there was a good start! We drove down the day before, picked up my race packet, checked into our AirBNB and then went for a walk along Pismo Beach before having dinner at a tasty vegetarian restaurant.
I went to bed early and woke up Sunday morning ready to race. My dad dropped me off at the start, about 30 minutes before the race began. I had just enough time to run into the other BibRave Pro's running the race and take a quick selfie!
Elizabeth and I at the start of the race.
The Race
The race itself was great. The weather was perfect, 50-60's at the start. And the course consisted of a lot of flat ground and fairly gradual rolling hills. I am a big fan of rolling hills because my legs don't suffer as much from the repetitive pounding in the same motion.
We ran through the city of San Luis Obispo, down side roads, along the freeway for a bit, then turned onto a local trail and finally finishing the last few miles with views of the coast and the beach. I really liked finishing right near the ocean and having views of the coast during those final miles.
The race finished at Dinosaur Park, Pismo Beach. I was able to finish in 1:55:39. I haven't been able to run my sub-2 hour races in a while, so I was so happy to see this finish time! Part of this I contribute to my training and coach, the other part I contribute to the weather and the great course. Everything about this race felt right.
Pampered at the Finish
City to the Sea provided great swag. The race shirt was super soft and actually cute (though you want to size up ladies!), they provided a huge finisher's medal, Running Warehouse cup and breakfast burritos for all finishers. There were also venders, massage areas and foam rolling stations. I felt super pampered and appreciated.
A big thanks to my parents for all the support! Who knows, I just may be back here next year for another chance at tackling the City to the Sea course!