Tag: running

It’s early Sunday morning and I’m here in Newport Beach at the starting line for the OC Marathon. This is my first big running event and it’s very exciting to be here! It was dark when I arrived and was one of the first here but now it’s dawn and many more of the estimated 13,000 runners are here.

I’m only doing the half marathon but at 13.1 miles, it’s still longer than any distance I’ve ever run at once. Now the PA system is up and running and now U2 (always suitable for epic inspiration) is blasting out of the speakers.

I’ll write more later but this is awesome stuff! I can feel some major energy and exciting brimming and in half an hour, I’ll literally be off and running!

As some of you know, I’m going to be running the OC Half Marathon next month, so I’ve been training the last couple of months and getting into shape for it. A few weeks ago, I found out that there was a 10K (about 6.2 miles) happening just down the street in Seal Beach, so I figured it would be great practice for the half marathon. After all, I’ve never run in any organized run before!

As it turns out my dad was planning on doing it too, but walking the 5K (about 3 miles) version. So it was really fun and cool to do this with my dad!

I wish we had some pictures to share, but all I have is this picture from the staging area, about 10 minutes before the start.

It was a real rush, especially the start when you’re running amidst thousands of other runners. The energy is really overwhelming, and you just end up running hard! I ran it in 52 minutes and 13 seconds, which equates to an 8:25/mile pace over the 6.2 miles. For me, that’s fast – definitely the fastest I’ve ever run over that distance.

I saw my dad about a quarter mile before the finish as he was wrapping up his 5K, we actually finished within a few minutes of each other. It’s so cool we both got to do this event together.

So, OC Half Marathon, here I come!