Review: REVEL Race Series

In 2015, I wrote a review of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series.  Last year, I wrote a review of Mainly Marathons.  Now that the REVEL race series has grown to six races, it’s time for me to write a review of REVEL.

I’ve done three different REVEL races.  I’ve done the Rockies Marathon twice.  I’ve also done the Big Cottonwood Marathon and the Mt. Charleston Marathon.  Each of the REVEL marathons has a corresponding half marathon.  Since I’ve never done any of their half marathons, this review will focus on the marathons.

History

The oldest race in the series is the Big Cottonwood Marathon, which has been an annual event since 2012.  This race starts in the Wasatch Range, at an elevation of 9,696 feet.  It descends through Big Cottonwood Canyon, eventually finishing in the suburbs of Salt Lake City, where the elevation is 4,441 feet.  It quickly gained a reputation as a fast course.

Following the success of Big Cottonwood, REVEL launched the Rockies and Canyon City marathons in 2014.  The Rockies Marathon starts in the Rocky Mountains, at an elevation of 10,510 feet.  It finishes in Morrison (near Denver), at an elevation of 5,802 feet.  The Canyon City Marathon starts in the mountains north of Los Angeles, at an elevation of 5,691 feet.  It finishes in Azusa, where the elevation is only 618 feet.

In 2016, they added the Mt. Charleston Marathon.  This race starts near Charleston Peak and finishes in the northern suburbs of Las Vegas.  The elevation at the start is 7,633 feet.  The elevation at the finish is 2,507 feet.

The fifth race in the series was the Mt. Lemmon Marathon, which was introduced in 2017.  This race starts near Mt. Lemmon, at an elevation of 7,915 feet.   It descends through Willow Canyon, finishing in the outskirts of Tucson where the elevation is 2,725 feet.

July of 2018 will mark the debut of the Mt. Hood Marathon in Oregon.  This race will start on the lower slopes of Mt. Hood, near Timberline Lodge.  The elevation at the start will be 5,620 feet.  The race will finish in Marmot, at an elevation of 862 feet.  The early miles of this route should look familiar to anyone who has run the first leg of the Hood to Coast relay.

What They’re About

You may have noticed a trend.  All of these races start in mountainous areas that are near large cities.  They all descend roughly 5,000 feet from start to finish.  Here’s an excerpt from the REVEL website:

“REVEL races can best be described by two words: Fast & Beautiful. Our events take place in the most beautiful venues available in the areas in which they are held. REVEL races seek to maximize the time our runners spend running in canyons, forests, state or national parks, and so forth. In addition, the downhill nature of REVEL races provides a unique opportunity for runners to achieve personal best times and qualify for exclusive events.”

Make no mistake about it.  These courses are designed for speed.  That’s their principle selling point.  Most people can run much faster on these courses than they can on more typical marathon routes.  Last year, 40% of the runners who finished the Mt. Charleston Marathon qualified for Boston.  The lowest proportion of Boston qualifiers in any of their races was 22%.

They even have signs you can pose with that say “PR” (personal record) or “BQ” (Boston qualifier).

So far, each REVEL race is located in a different state, and the races are spread throughout the year.  Don’t expect to see them arriving on the east coast any time soon though.  They need to find venues where you can descent 5,000 feet within 26.2 miles.

The Opinions Expressed …

As with my other reviews, this is not a sponsored review.  I have no relationship with REVEL other than as one of their customers.  I’m not being compensated in any way for this review.  All of the opinions expressed here are my own.

Running Downhill

Downhill races are fast, but they aren’t necessarily easy.  Running downhill can be uncomfortable if you’re not used to it.  It can beat up your quads, particularly if you’re trying to resist the pull of gravity by “putting on the brakes.”  If you’re overstriding, it can put extra tension on your Achilles tendons.

It helps to do as much downhill training as possible, so you learn how to run downhill efficiently.  These courses have the potential to be very fast, but if you trash your quads in the first half, you could have a slow and painful second half.

While all of these races have a similar net elevation drop, they don’t all have the same elevation profile.  The Mt. Charleston Marathon has the most uniform grade.  The grade in the first half is slightly steeper than the grade in the second half, but it’s never uncomfortably steep, and there aren’t any significant uphill sections.  The Big Cottonwood Marathon, by contrast, is extremely steep in the first half and has a long out-and-back in the second half that could best be described as “rolling.”

The bottom line is that these races have the potential to be very fast, but it isn’t automatic.  You have to come prepared if you want to take full advantage of the descent.

Logistics

These races typically have large parking areas at or near the finish line.  You need to park there in the morning, and they bus you to the start.  Getting to the start on your own is difficult, if not impossible.  There isn’t generally any parking at the start.  There’s usually only one road to get there, and it’s a road that gets blocked off to traffic fairly early.

You can expect to be dropped off about an hour before the race starts.  The bus that drops you off has to turn around and go back the same way it came.  They need to get all the buses off the mountain (or out of the canyon) before the roads get blocked off.

You’ll want to bring an extra layer of warm clothes, but the race will provide gloves and space blankets.  They also provide beverages, and they have an adequate number of port-o-potty’s at the start.

You can expect to finish close to where you parked your car.  If it’s too far to walk, they’ll have shuttles.

When I did the Mt. Charleston Marathon, the Mt. Charleston Lodge opened its doors to allow runners to come in from the cold while we were waiting for the start.  They made a last-minute decision to open the lodge that morning after lots of runners came up to visit the day before the race.  It wasn’t anything that the race organizers arranged.  That was obviously very nice, but it’s not something you can count on.

Weather

Most races start in the morning, when it’s near the lowest temperature of the day.  By the time you finish, it’s closer to noon, so it’s much warmer.  REVEL races have a much larger change in temperature between start and finish.  That’s because of the elevation difference.  For every 1,000 feet of elevation change, you can expect a temperature change of 3.5 degrees Fahrenheit.  If it’s 50 degrees when you board the buses in the finish area, you can expect it to be 32.5 degrees in the start area.

The first time I did the Rockies Marathon, I wasn’t sure how much colder it would be at the start.  I thought it might be below freezing, so I dressed accordingly.  I ran the race wearing tights and a warm hat.  It wasn’t actually that cold.  The temperature at the start was more like 40 degrees.  It was a sunny day, so the temperature near Denver climbed to almost 80 degrees by the time I finished.  In the late miles of that race, I was suffering.

You need warm clothes at the start, because it will be cold, and you’ll be there for a long time.  It helps if you also have some layers that you can shed during the race.  Don’t dress too warm, though, or those last few miles will be hot.  You need to strike the right balance.

Gear Check

There’s always a gear check at the start.  Feel free to layer up.  There will be a truck transporting everyone’s gear bags to the finish area.  Allow enough time to drop your gear bag in the truck and line up at an appropriate position for the pace you’ll be running.  Fifteen minutes is probably enough.

Elevation

You can’t descend 5,000 feet without starting at a high elevation.  Running at elevations ranging from 5,000 to 10,000 feet affects different people in different ways.  Some people get altitude sickness.  I’ve never experienced that, but you can reduce your risk of altitude sickness by making sure you’re well-hydrated at all times.  It’s worth noting that the air is much drier at high elevations, so you have to work at staying hydrated.

I find that I tire faster when I run at higher elevations.  I notice it most when I’m running uphill.  I notice it least when I’m running downhill.  These races are mostly downhill, but there are usually a few places where the road turns uphill briefly.  These sections can be tiring, but they don’t usually last too long.  Where it’s downhill (which is most of the race), the elevation shouldn’t affect you too much.  Running downhill is easy at any elevation.  At least that’s been my experience.

My Own Results

My first REVEL race was the 2014 Rockies Marathon.  I prepared for this race by doing lots of hill training.  I also did other downhill races including the Comrades Marathon (it was a “down year) and the Light at the End of the Tunnel Marathon.  During the race, I told myself to keep my legs relaxed and not resist the hill, even though I was going so fast I felt out of control.  I finished that race in 3:08:46.  That was my fastest time in three years, and it was 15 minutes faster than anything else I did that summer.  I made one mistake.  I wasn’t paying attention to maintaining a fast turnover.  As I result, my stride got too long.  After the race, one of my Achilles tendons started to tighten up.  Despite my best efforts to stretch it, I had a flare-up of Achilles tendonitis.

I did the same race again a year later.  This time I came into the race with a groin injury, so I had to run wearing a compression wrap.  Running downhill was the worst thing for my injury.  The compression wrap made running downhill more difficult, but I still started at a fast pace.  I ran out of gas in the second half and finished in 3:51:50.  It was much slower than the previous year, but it was still my fastest race that summer by far.

In 2016, I ran the Big Cottonwood Marathon.  I already had a Boston qualifier, but I was hoping to get a better time.  I didn’t dress warm enough, and my legs got really cold in the early miles.  I sometimes have circulation problems if my legs get too cold, and I think that’s what happened to me in this race.  Before I reached the bottom of the canyon, I was already slowing down.  Later, when the road leveled off and had a few uphill sections, I slowed down even more.  I finished in 3:53:11, which was similar to the times I was running in flatter races.

In 2017, I ran the Mt. Charleston Marathon.  Of the REVEL races I’ve done, this one had the least variation in the grade.  I did a good job of maintaining a rapid turnover.  I ran much faster than expected, but never had any soreness in my legs.  I finished that race in 3:21:57, which gave me a Boston qualifier with 18 minutes to spare.  That was by far my fastest marathon of the year.  At the time, I was running 3:49 or so on flatter courses.  I had a great race, but it took a toll on me.  Four weeks later, I started to have symptoms of a herniated disc in the middle of my back.  The impact of running downhill probably contributed to that injury.

The bottom line is that I’ve had some fast times, but I’ve also had some injuries.  Running downhill can take a toll on you.

Amenities

REVEL races have all the amenities you would expect to find in races of a certain size.  At packet pickup, there’s a fitness expo, where you can buy shoes, running apparel, and other gear.  They have live runner tracking, so your friends can follow your race.  They have pace groups.  They have enough aid stations, and there’s a variety of post-race food and beverages.  The last REVEL race I did had both pizza and pie in the finish area.

Website

The website for all REVEL races is https://www.runrevel.com.  This website lists the dates and locations of all their races and has pages for each individual race.  This format makes a lot of sense, since these races all have common elements.

Spectators

You won’t see many spectators along the course.  Most of the time, you’re running on a two lane road that winds through a canyon or on the side of a mountain.  You’ll get some enthusiastic cheering from race volunteers at the aid stations.  You also may see some spectators when you run through a town.  The rest of the time, it’s just you and the other runners.

The race organizers pepper the course with a number of small signs with inspirational slogans.  More importantly, you’re treated to some nice views.  These races are more about scenery than cheering crowds.

Facebook Discount

You can get a small discount on your entry fee if you have a Facebook account and give REVEL permission to post to your timeline.  These posts are mostly of the form, “REVEL Rockies is excited to welcome David Holmen to this incredibly fast and spectacularly scenic marathon…”  It gives them a chance to promote their races by letting your friends know you’re doing the race.

At least one of my friends has characterized these posts as spam.  If you have dozens of friends doing REVEL races, you do start to see a lot of these posts.

Race Pictures

Another benefit of letting REVEL post to Facebook is free race pictures.  If you give them permission, they’ll automatically create a photo album and populate it with all your race photos.  That’s how I got this photo from last year’s Mt. Charleston Marathon.

Results Cards

I like races where I can get my official result right after the race.  Some races have booths in the finish area where you can get your results printed on a small slip of paper.  At REVEL races, the results slip looks like a postcard.

A Logistical Nightmare

My general impression of REVEL races is that they’re well-organized.  The organizers know what they’re doing, and they cover all the bases.  They did, however, have a serious problem with the buses at the 2015 Rockies Marathon.

I was at that race.  While we were waiting for the start of the marathon, there was an announcement that the race would be delayed, because one of the buses was late to arrive.  After that bus arrived and unloaded, the race started.  It was good that those runners didn’t miss the start, and it was only a minor inconvenience for the rest of us.

After the race, I learned that there was another bus that never made it to the start.  It was so far behind schedule that the road was already blocked off.  Those runners were delivered to the start of the half marathon instead.  Their only option was to run the half marathon.  If you traveled to this race specifically to qualify for Boston, running the half marathon wouldn’t help.  If I was one of those runners, I would have been upset.

It was worse.  Hundreds of runners were waiting for buses to take them to the start of the half marathon, but the buses were so late that their race had to be cancelled.  The only runners who got to do the half marathon were the marathon runners I mention previously, plus a small number of runners who were dropped off at the half marathon start by friends.

Here’s my understanding of what happened, based on things I read in the days after the race.  I’m also making a few assumptions.  The race organizers contracted with another company to provide a certain number of buses at a certain time.  All of the buses were supposed to be available at the same time.  The transportation company tried to save money by having each bus make more than one trip.  They only provided half as many buses as they said they would.  The round trip time for buses to get to the marathon start and back again was much too long for this to work.  The race organizers understood that.  The transportation company apparently didn’t.

The first bus to return was probably the same one that didn’t make it to the marathon start on time.  They were making their second trip.  The next bus to return was probably the one that got diverted to the half marathon start.  The remaining buses took so long to get back, that they were too late to deliver any of the half marathon runners to the start of their race.

If my understanding is correct, it was the transportation company that failed to deliver the services they were contracted to provide.  If you’re one of the affected runners, you don’t care whose fault it was.  Your race got cancelled.  I read a criticism the next day saying the transportation company wasn’t reputable and had already lost their license.  This article said the race organizers should have known this.

Owning Their Mistake

You never want to see a problem like the one I just described.  Even the best races sometimes have unforeseen problems.  I’m willing to forgive a mistake, but I expect the race organizers to do three things.

1.  They need to acknowledge that they made a mistake.
2.   They need to do what they can to make it right.
3.   They need to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

In the case of the missing buses, the organizers of REVEL Rockies took responsibility for the problem.  They issued an apology the next day and promised the affected runners that they would make it right.  I’m not sure if they gave refunds or if they gave these runners free entry the following year.  I wasn’t one of the affected runners.  All I know is that I there’s still a lot of enthusiasm about this race.  I have friends who do this race every year, so I’m pretty sure I would have heard the rumblings if the organizers didn’t do enough to compensate the affected runners.

Most importantly, I haven’t heard of any other problems like this.  REVEL has been holding marathons since 2012.  They've held races at five venues and are adding a sixth.  As far as I know, the 2015 Rockies Marathon is the only one that had a major problem.  It was an isolated incident, and they made sure it didn’t happen again.

Summary

Would I recommend REVEL races to my friends?  Yes, I would.  In particular, I would recommend them to people who are having trouble qualifying for races like the Boston Marathon, and want to try on a fast course.  I would also recommend them to experienced runners who are good at running downhill and want a race with good scenery.

Those recommendations come with a few caveats.  You need to train yourself to run downhill.  You also need to be aware that these races subject your body to far more impact than a relatively flat race.  Last year, I got my Boston qualifier in a REVEL race.  It was my only Boston qualifier that year.  I ran so fast that I also gained automatic entry into the New York City and Chicago marathons.  I don’t know, however, if I’ll do another.  I have serious concerns about whether my body can still handle the wear and tear.

I’ll say one thing about the half marathons.  The half marathon routes mostly follow the second half of the marathons routes.  In general, the marathons are less steep in the second half, so the half marathons don’t descend nearly as much.  I would not recommend that someone do one of these races as their first marathon, but it might be reasonable do one as a first half marathon.

Race Report: 2018 Surf City Marathon

On February 4, I race-walked the Surf City Marathon in Huntington Beach, CA.  This is the fourth time I’ve done this race, but I ran it the first three times.  I always had fast times when I ran this course, so I figured it would be a good place to try for a new race-walking PR.  The course is mostly flat.  I also knew it wouldn’t be cold.  Hot temperatures were a possibility, but I was willing to risk that.

The first time I did this race, I was able to get a non-stop flight into John Wayne Airport in Orange County, and I stayed at a Doubletree Club hotel that was nearby.  Since then, I’ve flown into LAX, but I still stay at the same Doubletree Club.  They have a race package that includes transportation to and from the race.  They also treat all the runners like VIPs.

When I was pricing flights for this year’s race, I checked flights into John Wayne Airport.  The earliest arrival was in the mid-afternoon.  Traffic driving up the Pacific Coast Highway to get to the expo can be a nightmare, so I was worried I wouldn’t have time to get to the expo.  Instead I booked a morning flight into LAX and rented a car.

When I registered for the race, I saw the option to have my race bib mailed to me for an additional fee.  Had I remembered they do this, I might have taken the afternoon flight into Orange County.  The hotel has an airport shuttle, so I could have avoided renting a car.  I briefly considered rebooking my flight, but decided to pick up my race packet at the expo.  I almost always bump into friends there.

Huntington Beach is on the way from Los Angeles to my hotel in Costa Mesa, so I drove straight from the airport to the expo.  Traffic wasn’t bad.  I got to Huntington Beach in about 45 minutes.  As soon as I got off the freeway, I stopped at a Sonic drive-in for a quick lunch.  Even with that stop, I still got to the expo in about an hour.

The expo is held in a big tent set up in the parking lot at Huntington Beach.

After the expo, I continued to my hotel, which was about 10 miles away.  I had just enough time before dinner to do a short walking workout.  Then I had dinner with my friends Karen and Robert, who do this race every year.

I was able to get to sleep early, and slept well for the first two hours.  After that, I was restless.  I only slept about half the night, but I woke up feeling OK.

The first shuttle from the hotel was for runners doing the marathon.  The shuttle left at 5:30, so I set my alarm for 4:15, to give myself plenty of time to get ready.  As it turns out, I was already awake before my alarm went off.

The hotel started a limited breakfast service at 4:30 for the benefit of the runners.  I saved my Doubletree cookie from check-in, so I could have that for breakfast as soon as I got up.

When I got up, it was 55 degrees.  That was warmer than I expected, and it made it easy to decide what to wear.  This was clearly singlet weather, particularly when you consider that it was going to get into the 70s before I finished.

I decided it was warm enough that I could get by without wearing any warm-up clothes.  The race had a gear check, but I didn’t know exactly when we would get dropped off at the start.  The drop-off point was in front of the Hyatt Regency, so we still had to walk a few blocks.  I expected it would take 30 minutes to get there, which would leave only 30 minutes before the race started.  That’s enough time for a bathroom stop, but I didn’t know if I would also have time to check a gear bag.

I could have worn a Tyvek jacket.  If I didn’t have time to check a bag, I could tie it around my waist.  I’ve done this in other races that I walked, and it didn’t seem to slow me down.  This time, I wasn’t taking any chances.  I didn’t want anything that might slow be down by even one second per mile.  I was going all in on setting a race-walking PR in this race.  For the same reason, I left my phone back at the hotel.  I didn’t want to carry any extra weight.

I was determined to set a PR if I could, but I wasn’t completely confident.  My previous best was 4:58:01, which was an average pace of 11:22.  Most of my winter training has been on a treadmill.  For some reason, I just can’t go fast on the treadmill.  Anything under 12 minutes seems too fast to sustain for more than a mile or two.  Before this race, it had been two months since I last walked a marathon.  It had been three months since I set my PR.  Could I still go that fast?

It was reassuring to remember that I did a 10K race three weeks ago at an average pace of 10:32.  I also reminded myself that I’ve been gradually ramping up my mileage.  I like to be able to point at recent race results, but sometimes you have to trust your training.

I bumped into several friends in the start area.  This is a popular race, so you tend to see the other runners who race frequently.

I lined up in front of the 5:00 pace group, but behind the 4:45 pace group.  There were at least two other corrals ahead of us, so it took about four minutes before we crossed the line.  In the first mile, I was staying a short distance behind the 4:45 group.

Shortly after we got going, I saw Ed Ettinghausen in the middle of the street.  He was holding his “Only 26 miles to go” sign.  I saw Ed several times during the race.  He’s a great ambassador for the sport and really cheers people in this race.  If you don’t know Ed, he’s completed more than 100 races that are 100 miles or longer.

The first three miles were northbound on the Pacific Coast Highway.  I reached the one mile mark in 10:36.  That’s almost as fast as the 10K race I walked in January.  I knew I needed to slow down, so I eased up and let the 4:45 group gradually pull away from me.

In the next mile, I started to feel a cold breeze off the coast.  We were right alongside the beach.  I was suddenly glad that I forgot to take off my gloves before the race started.

In the second mile, I slowed to 11:00.  I was initially disappointed to have slowed down that much.  Then I remembered that this was still way faster than my PR pace.  I eased up a little more.

During the third mile, I heard some music.  It was a recording of “Gangnam Style.”  I like that song, but it seemed out of place here.  I was expecting to hear mostly surf music.

Just before the end of the third mile, we turned right to begin the inland section of the course.  The next seven miles would take us into town and through a park before returning to the Pacific Coast Highway.  It’s the only part of the course where you’re not next to the beach.  As we got away from the cool breeze, I took of my gloves.

I walked the third mile in 11:09.  That was a more reasonable pace, but I was concerned about how much I slowed down.  I didn’t want to keep slowing down, so I picked up my effort.  Over the next several miles, I kept my pace close to 11 minutes per mile.  That was an ambitious pace, but it didn’t seem like it was taking too much effort.

Between miles five and seven, we went through a park.  Up until now, there weren’t many spectators, but there was lots of cheering by kids in the park.  I reached the 10K mark in 1:07:42.  That's only a couple of minutes slower than the 10K race I did three weeks ago.  I wondered if I would regret starting so fast, but it didn't feel like I was working that hard.

The half marathon started at 7:15.  They had a shorter inland loop.  I was about nine miles into the race when the half marathon leaders passed me.  There were several fast runners in a pack.  After they went by, it was about a minute before I saw anyone else.  Then more and more fast half marathon runners sped by me on either side.  It had a subconscious effort on me.  I sped up.

We returned to the Pacific Coast Highway at the same place we left.  Then we turned right to head north and begin an out-and-back on the highway.  Shortly after beginning this section of the course, I reached the 10 mile mark.  I sped up to 10:37 in that mile.

There’s a rule of thumb that if you don’t feel fresh after 10 miles it’s a bad sign.  I didn’t feel fresh at this point, but only because I sped up to a ridiculous pace in that mile.

I was passed suddenly by a swarm of fast runners who filled the road.  It was the 1:30 pace group for the half marathon.  Before long, half marathon runners greatly outnumbered the marathon runners.  I could no longer gauge my pace by the runners around me.  I had to ignore them.

Jon Mahoney caught up to me.  He was running at about the same pace I was walking.  We talked for about a mile.  It helped me re-establish my sense of pace.  I throttled back my effort to something more sustainable.  The next mile was 10:58.  That was the beginning of a long stretch of miles that were in the 10:50s.  It was still an ambitious pace, but it seemed like I might be able to sustain it.

I saw a band that was warming up.  Just as I reached them, they started playing “Pipeline.”  That’s what I needed to hear – some surf music.

Jon and I could see the faster runners already coming back on the other side of the highway.  They were about five miles ahead of us.  I started seeing a few runners I know.  Jon seemed to know everyone.

The breeze I noticed in the second mile wasn’t there now.  It was a bright sunny day, and without a breeze, I started to get hot.

After about two more miles, I reached the turnaround.  Then I started looking for the halfway mark.  I got there in 2:22:13.  That was a new walking PR for a half marathon.  At this point, I was reasonably confident I would break my marathon PR even if I started to fade in the second half.  If not, I had a half marathon PR as a consolation prize.

Now I was noticing some breeze.  It wasn’t much, but it helped.  It must have been at my back when I was going the other way.

I moved to the left, so I could watch for friends on the other side of the highway.  I saw a few people I know.  Eventually, I moved back to my right, so I wouldn’t miss any of the mile markers.

Way ahead of me I could see a cluster of red and white balloons.  That was a pace group.  I knew it had to be the 4:45 group.  There were well ahead of me, but I was still keeping them in sight.  I picked up my effort in an attempt to get closer to them.  I couldn’t reel them in, but I wasn’t falling any farther behind.

We crossed a bridge over a canal and started a long gradual hill.  Whenever I’ve run this course, I’ve had to work hard to stay on pace here.  Walking, it wasn’t as difficult.  I continued to churn out miles in the 10:50s.

I reached the same spot where I heard “Gangnam Style” earlier in the race.  They were playing it again.  Or maybe they had been playing it this whole time.  I saw a guy wearing a PSY mask and doing the dance.  It was goofy, but it energized me.

To my right, I could see faster runners on the bike path next to the beach.  When I reached 16 miles, I knew I would be joining them soon.

When I made the turn onto the bike path, I still had almost 10 miles to go.  Most of it would be a long out-and-back on the bike path.  I was expecting this section to be congested.  For the most part, it wasn’t.  Maybe more runners are doing the half marathon now.  The lack of congestion was a pleasant surprise, but I noticed something else I’ve never noticed.  The pavement was bumpy in spots.  I never noticed that when I ran on this path, but it made race-walking uncomfortable.

I could still see the 4:45 pace group about a minute ahead of me.  I fought hard to gain ground on them.  I couldn’t gain any ground, but I also wasn’t losing ground.  I was on a long streak of consecutive miles that were faster than 11 minutes, even if only by a second or two.

I was closer to the beach now, and I could feel more breeze off the coast.  I really needed that.  It kept me from overheating.

Just past 19 miles, I reached the Beer & Bacon Station.  This is a tradition at this race.  As I went by, I grabbed a strip of bacon and said I would wash it down on my way back.  It was just juicy enough that I could chew and swallow it without needing anything to drink.

Between miles 20 and 21, I reached the last turnaround point.  Then I started looking for the 21 mile sign.  The breeze disappeared.  Now I was really getting hot.  To maintain my focus, I worked furiously to try to catch the 4:45 group.

Mile 22 took 10:51.  Overall, my time was 4:00:02.  To set a new PR, I needed to walk the last 4.2 miles in 57:58 or faster.  A PR was now in the bank.  It was just a question of how much faster I would be.

When I walk at a fast pace, I’m prone to developing blisters on the backs of my heels.  I had a painful blister on the side of my left heel.  I can suppress a fair amount of pain during a race, but this was too painful to ignore.  The only thing that made it tolerable was knowing I was crushing my PR.  I kept pushing the pace, even though it made my blister more painful.

I was sweating like crazy.  I knew I could finish without overheating, but my shoes and socks were drenched with sweat.  Before the race, I lubed my heels with Aquaphor, but the buildup of salty sweat in my socks was creating extra friction.

To my right, I had good views of the shoreline.  Sometimes I heard waves crashing on the beach.  It was a welcome distraction from the blister pain.  I saw some surfers riding a wave.  Every now and then, I got a breeze off the coast, but it never lasted long enough.

When I reached the Beer & Bacon Station again, I drank a small cup of beer.  I had to pause for a few seconds to pick up a cup.  As I drank it, I was already launching back into a fast pace.

At 23 miles, I was disappointed to see I had slowed to 11:01.  That ended a streak of 13 miles that were all under 11 minutes.  I reminded myself that I lost at least two seconds at the Beer & Bacon Station.  I suspended judgement and tried to get back under 11 minutes in the next mile.

Mile 24 was 11:02.  Now it was a trend.  I saw slowing down, although not by much.  I continued to work on picking up my pace.  By now, the 4:45 group was pulling away.  I could barely see them.

I looked ahead and spotted the Huntington Beach Pier.  I knew the finish line was past it, but not by too much.  Every minute or so, I looked at the pier.  It never seemed to be much closer.

Mile 25 took 10:57.  I was able to pick up my pace.  I only had 1.2 miles to go.  With a little less than a mile, I felt a sharp pain in my left heel.  I could only conclude a blister had torn open.  I couldn’t put weight on my left heel.  I had to shorten my stride, so I could plant my weight on the ball of my foot.  If this happened earlier in the race, I probably couldn’t have sustained my pace.  I was close enough to the finish that I could quicken my stride enough to compensate, knowing I only had nine or ten minutes to go.

I got back onto the Pacific Coast Highway.  I wouldn’t know exactly how far it was to the finish until I got to 26 miles.  I couldn’t see the finish line yet.

I was surrounded by runners and walkers who were doing the half marathon.  I weaved my way through them.

Finally, the pier looked closer. Then I reached Main Street.  I was passing the pier.  I saw Ed Ettinghausen in the middle of the street.  He was at 26 miles holding a sign that read, “Only 26.2 miles to go.”  Finally, the finish line came within sight.  I worked hard to get there as quickly as I could.  For a couple minutes, I didn’t notice the pain from my blister.

I finished the race in 4:46:07.  That’s a race-walking PR by almost 12 minutes.  My second half was slower than the first half by 1:41, but that’s not too bad.  Taking the first half at such an aggressive pace wasn’t a blunder.

This race always has cool finisher medals with a surf board design.  This year was no exception.

I was talking with friends in the finish area and mentioned my painful blister.  Then one of them noticed the blood on my sock.  Clearly the blister that tore open was a blood blister.

I stayed long enough to get post-race food and beverages and make a bathroom stop.  Then I walked around to the front of Hyatt Regency to wait for the next bus back to Doubletree Club.  Walking was slow and painful.  Standing there waiting for the bus didn’t feel much better.

When we got back to the hotel, the staff was lined up in the lobby to give us a standing ovation.  They do this every year.  They do it every time one of the buses gets back.  They also gave us each a Doubletree cookie and a cold bottle of water.

When I got back to my room, I took off my shoes.  My sock looked like this.  It was a brand new pair of socks, but this one went straight into the trash.

After I washed my foot, it didn’t look that bad.  It was still painful if I applied pressure, but it was no longer bleeding.  I did my best to clean up my shoe with a towel.

The Surf City Marathon is always held on Super Bowl Sunday.  I like watching the game on the west coast, because it starts at 3:30.  Deb thought it was strange that I was going out of town on a weekend when the Super Bowl was being played in Minneapolis.  It’s not like I was going to get tickets.  If I was home, I would have been watching on TV.

Putting on shoes took a shoe horn and some gritting of teeth.  I didn’t feel like going anywhere to watch the game.  I watched it on the big screen TV in the hotel lounge.  It’s not the first time I’ve done that.

This morning, I had to drive back to Los Angeles to fly home.  I expected to encounter rush hour traffic, so I allowed extra time.  It was slow in a few places, but not nearly as bad as I expected.  Rush hour traffic in Minneapolis is worse.  I got to the airport early, only to find out my flight is delayed.  On the bright side, it gave me time to finish this race report.

My left heel still feels like it's been shredded.  I'm walking mostly on the ball of my foot.  It may take several days to heal.  That's going to make training difficult for a few days, but it was worth it.

Race Statistics

Distance:  26.2 miles

Time:  4:46:07

Average Pace:  10:55   

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  349