Carlsbad Half Marathon – First Race Back

The Carlsbad Half Marathon is a fun race.  I would have to say that any race run along the beach on the west coast is a race worth running.  The Shoppes at Carlsbad, where the race starts and stops however is not fun or worth visiting.  On the positive side of things, the rain, which had been coming down in sheets for most of the winter stopped for just a short while so we could run this race.  And, for that, I’m very thankful.  Running in the rain fun when you’re 8, not so much when you’re old.

The Hike In

I wanted to make life easy for my wife Amy who had graciously dropped me off at the race.  So, I picked a spot that was convenient for her and hiked the rest of the way in.  A bit of bad planning on my part left about three-quarters of a mile to go.  Not a big deal but it would have been nice to be closer.  I also found myself at the race “far too early” per usual.  I did find a lovely hill with a number of trees that served many of us race goers as urinals.  If you have been to one of these races and seen the lines for the porto’ potties, you’d understand!

The Race – The First Race Back

I ran this race in 1:53:01.  This is not a good time for me.  However, this time does tell one hell of a story.  I was in the habit of running 5-10 races per year for many years.  Then, we decided to move to San Diego.  This is the first race back after a 19 month retirement.  Frankly, even though my time sucked, it was good to be back at it.

The race itself was reasonably fun!  The northern most section of the race is an area of the coast I don’t run through all that often so that was unique and fun.  You’d think that since the race is essentially on the water you would not have that much elevation change but man, there are some hills there!  Or, perhaps that is just an old man complaining after not running a race for 19 moths and doing minimal training.  Could be either one.

Great race, love Carlsbad, lets do it again soon.