Run Surf City Marathon - Race Recap

♠ Posted by Paul Naylor at 7:01 PM

The 2015 Surf City Marathon is now in the books! This race was a reminder as to why I don’t run the full marathon distance all the time, yet still glad I participated. This is by far not my last marathon, I still have to run Boston.

This was one of the best scenery races I’ve ran, especially the time spent running through Huntington Beach Central Park. Running through that park was the best part of the race. The short time spent there was incredible. With the sun rising and showing through the trees and morning mist, truly breathtaking. Seeing so many little kids just there to cheer you on was the coolest thing in the world. They were all over the park, I think every race should do this.

I’m glad that California is now checked off my list of ‘50 races in 50 states’ goal, moving towards my dream. I was first motivated by the finisher medal for this race, but many other things now are motivating me to come back next year. I would come back just for the chance to run through the park again.

I'm coming off an injury that had me sidelined for a few months. I haven't been able to train as much as I wanted to for the race, but I've already signed up, so I had to run. I never doubted that I could complete the race, I have ran full marathons before, just been a few years since my last marathon(2010). Only 13 training runs since early November due to my ankle injury, and I felt it through out the race.

At times, my legs would cramp up to the point where all I could do is stand in place until I could start walking/running again. The pain in the legs was really setting in with six miles to go, I didn't feel that I ‘hit the wall’, just painful due to not being able to train for this race.

All I could think of during the last 6-8 miles was how bad my legs hurt. My cardio felt great, I did not feel out of breath or had a high heart rate. I was mentally and emotionally sharp too, my legs were just done with the day.

It took a lot of digging to get my legs to keep moving. I admit, I had to walk a lot during the race. I ran as much as I could, but many times my legs would just [stop]. I felt I could had endured the pain to keep a running pace, but my legs would cramp up and was forced to stop, rest then start walking until I could start running. With as much pain as I was having, the thought of throwing in the towel never came to mind. I knew I was going to cross the finish line, even if I had to take the entire allotted time(6.5 hours) to finish the race.

At mile 18, I felt really jittery, I was running out of gas, the pre-race food had been spent. Another reason for the great support from the race is that they had many food and water tables throughout the course. I soon got to a table and grabbed four granola bars and a banana. Took a few moments to get my energy back.

It was a great feeling to not have to worry about running for a long while before you get to the next water station.

Every step was earned, I think that many who run the marathon understand that completely.

When running the marathon, you see what toll its takes on runners that you don’t see a lot in the half-marathon.


Things I remember from the race:

-Very humid being being along the beach

-I got sand in every crevice without being in the sand

-First time being part of a race with 20,000+ participants

-The most well organized race I’ve been a part of

-I loved how many water stations there throughout the course

-There was a Jr. High school band playing in the park

-There were two firefighters running for the Firemen's foundation, they were in full gear for fire fighting, including the tank, [much respect].
-Legs really started cramping constantly with 10 miles to go, til the end of the race.

-The medical support staff was amazing, there were rapidly helping runners needing assistance.

-I’m only going to lose one toenail as a result of this race, pretty exciting.


Feels great to have the race done!


Someone made a sea turtle in the sand for Run Surf City


A look at the Expo.


Its been a long time since I've been to the beach.

Huntington Beach is Amazing, the atmosphere was energetic, the support went above and beyond, and the incredible weather topped everything off. I've been asking myself throughout the race if I’ll ever run this race again. Now the race is done, I think it’ll be crazy not to run this race again. And I’ll be coming back for the full marathon.