Citrus Heritage Half Marathon - Race Review

This past Saturday, January 9, 2016, I participated in the Sixth Annual Citrus Heritage Run (third annual with the half marathon distance) in Riverside, CA. This is my third year doing this race and it is truly one of my favorites! Need evidence? You can read my race reports from 2015 and 2014 - Part I and Part II. Okay, so a couple notes about the race - there is a 5k and Half Marathon option as well as a kids fun run. It is an out-and-back course next to the Arlington Sports Park in the citrus area of the city of Riverside (Southern California/Inland Empire area). The race is put on by the Riverside Road Runners and benefits their youth scholarship fund. We had gotten a significant amount of rain the week leading up to the race, and in their last email to participants they noted that they had an alternate, all-road, course plotted out for use if needed as the regular course (USATF certified) is partially on dirt roads. Thankfully, we dried out enough that they didn't need to go to Plan B, but I was thrilled to know that they had an alternate course in place so that the race could go on rain or shine. Alright, let's talk details!

We were greeted with an amazing sunrise!

Registration

The day of registration cost for the half marathon was $90, and prior to that was $85. I registered fairly early so I think I got early bird pricing. If I remember right I think it was about $80, but don't quote me as I don't know exactly. They have a great event website that includes all the details and is very well organized. Registration and packet pick-up at the event is very easy as well. You just look up your bib number and then stop at the tent to get the bib, then get your t-shirt at a different tent. Super easy and well staffed. I don't think it took us more than 5 minutes to do the entire process and it was very clearly marked and easy to know where to go.

Expo and Venue

I absolutely love this venue for races! It is held at the same sports park that the Hometown Heroes Honor Run is held at so it offers lots of great parking, real restrooms (they also have plenty of port-a-pots too), and a playground to keep the kiddies entertained while waiting. It's also very easy to get in and out of and offers plenty of room to get a good warm-up in. The expo is very tiny, but I really don't care about that anyways. They have several booths, some food trucks, and a DJ getting the participants pumped up and ready to run. I love it just as it is because it is so easy to navigate and never feels overwhelming.

Swag

Participants get a long-sleeved technical shirt. This year the shirt is gray and has the logo on the front. Last year's shirt was prettier and had more detail, but I still really like it and gray seems to be the "it" color for race shirts right now as my friend Sally just did a race that also had gray/silver shirts. There really isn't anything else outside of the shirt, although there are other race perks that I'll talk about in post-race celebration in just a few moments. :)

Sally and I pre-race...freezing our tushies off! LOL Starting temps in the upper 30's/low 40's. Okay, I almost feel guilty saying that 30/40 is cold when I saw plenty of my friends around the country in negative degrees! HA!
But that's SoCal cold...sorry!

Course

I have made no bones before about how nice this course is! I really do love it as it has the perfect mix of gorgeous views, challenging terrain/hills, downhills, and turns to keep it interesting. Beginning at the Sports Park you immediately get a nice downhill to get you started as you run along orange groves before heading into the Historic Citrus Park. This first section has some fairly decent hills and can really kick your rear if you aren't careful. Racers pass by several real restrooms that are open for use during this section, and the citrus park has at least two aid stations. After the citrus park it is back out into the orange groves after off-roading for a little bit. Several miles wind through the orange groves and this terrain makes runners really focus on footing - which I actually like because it keeps me focusing on that instead of how tired I am! After the orange groves it is up a long gradual hill overlooking a beautiful canyon to the halfway turnaround. From there you get the downhill for a bit which is SO NICE before turning towards residential streets to run the final 5k of the race. There are a few more hills on the final stretch and they still throw me for a loop because I just don't have anything left by then. HA! There are a lot of port-a-pots along the course and they have the streets closed to traffic (THANK YOU!!!!). There are a lot of lot of aid stations well stocked with cold water and gatorade, and at the halfway they had oranges (ohemgee so delicious!!) and plenty of GU in lots of flavors to choose from. The volunteers at the aid stations are amazing and have it down to a science as they let you know if they have water or gatorade as you are coming up. Lots of great signs, cheering, and helpful volunteers out on a chilly morning! Two of my favorite things about this course is that there is a section where you pass the front of the pack runners - that is so motivating to just see them flying by; and then there is another section where you pass the 5k runners as they make their way into the citrus park...so much fun to get to "mingle" with the other runners. Plain and simple, I'll say it again, I love this course. It is my favorite half marathon course to date.

Just after the starting line! There's nothing like seeing runners for days ahead of you!! I <3 it!

Medal

The medal is amazing every single year! High quality, perfect size, pretty to look at, fabulous ribbon. Take a look:

I love their medals each year and they are some of my favorites hanging on the medal rack. They definitely get this right every single year.

Here's a picture of me holding it so you can get some size perspective. It's not huge, but it's definitely not tiny either. I would say it is Goldilocks "just right".

My Gear

I wore the following:

Skirt Sports BBF Beanie in Pink Crush (on sale for $9.99 right now and I LOVE IT!!)

Skirt Sports Don't Sweat It Long Sleeve in Razz (I wore the Ambassador top that isn't available, but they have other awesome prints available!)

Skirt Sports Jette Capri Skirt in Poparazzi

Skirt Sports socks (not currently available)

Flip Belt*

Mizuno Wave Rider 17's

Fuel was Island Boost and GU Chomps (I alternated for a total of 4 times fueling during race)

*I'm struggling with a way to carry my new iPhone 6s Plus so I had to break out my FlipBelt. It did fit, with the case on if I really stuffed it in there, but I think I'm probably one of the only people on the planet that doesn't really care for the FlipBelt. I don't know if it's just my body shape, but they say that it won't ride up and will stay where you put it...nope, not for me. I would prefer to wear it around my hips, but it always makes its way up to my waist (usually taking my shirt with it risking flashing people) and that makes it difficult to get anything out of it. That's the other part of my dislike, you have to flip it over to keep items inside, but then you can't get anything out of it without flipping it back over and then you run the risk of items falling out. I lost my body glide during my marathon and a chapstick another run. One final thing I don't like about it is that it doesn't have a waterproof layer so my phone case was all sweaty at the end of the run. Moisture + Phone = Bad Idea. Right? haha The only reason I'm using it right now is because I didn't have anything else that I could use for my phone. If you have any recommendations, please let me know!!

The clothes were all spot on and absolutely perfect. I have zero complaints about anything I was wearing outside of the Flip Belt. Skirt Sports is just the best. I'll have a 2016 discount code available for you very soon!

My Race

You guys - I had a really good race!! Coach Tiffany and I had decided prior to the race that this wouldn't be a PR push and would be an opportunity for me to just get out and run and see where I'm at so we can put together a great plan for my spring races. I knew I wanted to start off nice and slow so I didn't get tight legs/shins like I have in the past, I knew that I wanted to walk through the aid stations and take in some water/gatorade at each as I was not carrying any water on me this time (wanted to see how it went if I didn't carry my own since it wasn't a PR push), and I knew that I wanted to try to tackle the hills stronger than I have in the past. If I needed to walk them I would, but I would definitely try to not let them get into my head. So with those goals in mind, I started off slow, gradually geared up and didn't let the hills scare me. When we got to the first big hill I looked and it and said out loud "I LOVE HILLS!!! I'm going to totally run this thing right now! I eat hills for breakfast!" I don't know what else I said but I pretty much convinced myself up the entire thing and then I got to the top of this hill that I walked the previous two years and wanted to absolutely burst into tears that I DID IT!! I ran it and I didn't even feel like I was going to die. And the kicker? I didn't start walking at the top...I kept running right up the next hill, and right up the next one, and so on and so forth. For 10 miles I ran every single hill and I only stopped to walk through the aid stations. The mental boost from that...I can't even begin to tell you how good it felt.

Sally and I getting our groove on!

I took a brief moment of pause at the halfway point to take off my beanie and throw my hair into a ponytail as I was getting too warm. My gloves came off about 7 miles in. My sleeves rolled up about 8 miles in. haha Okay, so you know I ran strong for 10 miles but I definitely felt the fatigue really settle in at that point and I ended up taking some walk breaks during the remainder of the race. I was really feeling the fatigue in my hips and feet, so I started picking out a spot to run to, then would walk to a spot, and then start again. But I typically get tired much earlier than 10 miles, so I was thrilled. I finally headed to the finish line and kicked it into high gear to sprint to the finish line! I even got another gal to really pick it up because she could see me coming up behind her and she wasn't about to let me pass her! I told her she better get it if she didn't want me to beat her! We high-fives each other at the end of the race. LOL I just love that...the spirit of perseverance. She was a fighter and I salute that! Before I share my finish time for this race, I want to share my previous two finish times first.

2014: 2:53:20
2015: 2:59:01

And this year:
2016: 2:38:55

Guys - that's 20 minutes faster than last year and 15 minutes faster than 2014 on the exact same course!!! A 15-minute course PR!!!!!!!! Am I excited about that? HECK YEAH!!! And what's my overall half PR? 2:42 at the Tinkerbell in 2012. A flat course that I ran before my knee disaster! So not only did I get a 15-minute course PR, I also got a 4-minute half marathon PR. My work with Coach Tiffany is totally paying off. I said in my post on Instagram/Facebook that I don't do it very often as I tend to be very hard on myself, but I'm so proud of my effort on this race. I wasn't going for a PR, but I got one anyways. But more important to me than any numbers was that I ran those hills that beat me every other time. More important is that I felt great. More important is that I fueled and hydrated to plan. More important is that when my watch clicked off the miles I was shocked at how quickly it was going by. I feel like I won a mental battle on this run and that is the absolute most important. I'm gonna ride this runner's high for a while. LOL

Post-Race

The post-race amenities at this one are pretty good. They have bananas, fresh oranges, and Clif bars, full water bottles, and Gatorade along with bowls of chili from Farmer Boys (a local burger joint that is just now expanding to the Los Angeles area). They also had mylar blankets this year and had the beer garden back again. One of the best things about the beer garden? They had belly bars (those are the high tables) and bowls of pretzels on the tables. Nice touch!! (I didn't partake in the beer garden, but a nice gentleman was more than happy to put my ticket to use! hahaha)

Final Thoughts

Did you guys get the idea that I really like this race? *wink* I really do - I love this race. Gorgeous course with just enough challenge, great amenities, wonderful course support, lots of volunteers, great swag in a beautiful location at a perfect time of year. What more can you ask for? Seriously, you won't be sorry if you run this race. Hope that you'll join me in 2017 because I will definitely be back!!

Finally, I will also highlight that this is part of the Run Riverside Challenge series so I got some extra swag this one! Here's all the Run Riverside medals from 2015-16:

And here's all of them from the beginning of this series that began three years ago!

Half Marathon #7 is in the books! Run happy, or dance, or skip, or jump, or whatever, my friends!

One Word 2016

There's so much that goes on to get a year started! I have goals to share, my one little word, my racing plans and calendar...so. much. good. stuff! And when I have all that good stuff, I tend to let my brain get overwhelmed and then just stick my head in the sand and don't share a darn thing. HA! But I realized once I put some brain power into it (what do you know...that actually works) I realized that there was a logical order to the sharing and the first thing is my One Word for this year because that word has informed everything else seeing how its my focus for the year. Makes sense, no?

So let me give you a little background. Back in 2010 my bestie, Rebecca, presented this idea to me that she had heard about of picking a word to be your intention for the entire year. We both really liked the concept and totally ran with it. I picked Peace and she picked Joy. And whoa...if we had known how powerful having a single word could be I don't know that we would have done it! Well, at the very least we both agreed later that we would have been more cautious in choosing. LOL Because we both went through a pretty crazy journey that year and our words were very prominent in that journey. I'm kind of glad we didn't know though because that's the way it SHOULD be...kind of the purpose right? At any rate, by the end of the year we were sold! And we've been doing it together ever since. If you want more information about this, just Google One Little Word (Ali Edwards has registered that one) or One Word Resolution and you'll find all kinds of info about it. I don't know who created the concept originally but whoever it was is brilliant! My words have been:

2010: Peace
2011: Quality (how my little blog got its name!)
2012: Strong (I did the Ali Edwards One Little Word(r) workshop that year - it's amazing - she's amazing!)
2013: Light
2014: Courage (the year I ran my marathon!)
2015: Now

So enough with the history, let's get to 2016's word, shall we? My word for 2016 is: GROW

I usually start thinking about my word for the next year in November and this year was no different. And I usually have lots of different words that bubble up to the surface. Some I even think are really going to be it, but then I roll it around in my brain a little and sometimes the bubble pops and I realize that its' not THE word yet. This year I was doing a lot of reflecting on 2015 because as I mentioned when I was wrapping up my year of NOW, it was a pretty rough year. It ended great and had a strong fourth quarter. But that first 3/4 of the year really took me for a ride. I was thinking about how it really felt like I had been tilling the hard ground with little to no progress, but then I finally got past the hard bedrock, and added enough water to soften it up, that there was finally a breakthrough and some seeds could be planted in fertile ground. I think you probably see where this is going...haha Several words bloomed from there - like nurture, cultivate, blossom but they still weren't quite right and I knew it. And then while driving in the car to work there it was...grow. And it felt so right. So I held onto it nice and tight to see if it would pop, but it didn't. And as I started thinking about what it meant and shared it with my bestie, it definitely became the word for 2016.

It means that seeds planted in 2015 are going to grow this year. I want to grow as a person in so many different ways and I want to continue to grow in my marriage and relationships. I want to nurture and water my soul and pull the weeds that will try to choke my little seeds that are already beginning to search out the sunshine. I'm sure I will also continue to plant seeds that will grow in 2016...new seeds that I don't even know are there yet!

I'm looking forward to spending a year focusing on everything "grow" means to me! I want to see my life bloom and blossom and just be a riot of colors and fragrances that I can't even possibly imagine right now! I want to have an abundance of goodness ready to harvest throughout the year that will sustain me, my family, and all those around me! It's going to an awesome year!!

Bliss...

I had the good fortune of taking a few extra days off of work following the winter break. My intention is that I will get some home stuff taken care of - things that I can't ever seem to find the time for during the year like organizational things, giving the shower and tub a really good scrubbing, cleaning out some drawers and closets of items that haven't been touched in forever...you know, fun stuff like that. HA! I know it may seem silly to take vacation days to do things like this, but for me it does my mental state a world of good to start the year off feeling like I've accomplished some things around the house. The reality is that during the busy holiday season, there just isn't time for it. So now that the holidays have passed I can turn my focus.

Today was my first day at home and it didn't actually end up being what I had intended, but it was absolute PERFECTION. I may have only gotten the home office/workout room organized and cleaned, but it meant so much more more than that! Because what I did was totally kill my workout, enjoy a nice cup of coffee as my reward, get my home office organized/cleaned including finding homes for all the christmas gifts that were scattered around, and writing all my thank you cards.

All this while the rain gently fell outside (at this point anyways, as El Nino finally arrived in SoCal and has been making his presence known most of the day), the candles burned created a calming scent of vanilla and spice, and Spotify gave me wonderful music totally new to me on my Discovery playlist for the week. And the house...the house was at total peace and calm! Joshua was at school, Angelique and Tasha are in Hawaii, Brandon and Pat were at work, and Michelle was upstairs finding her own bliss. It was absolutely AH-MAZ-ING!!! I kind of just kept saying to myself "I can't believe how absolutely perfect today is"...and it was. Absolutely. Perfect. My soul is happy and at peace.

Tomorrow I can scrub the showers and clean the blinds. Today I will be happy to have such a blessed day in quiet reflection and preparation for an amazing year.

Make it awesome, friends!

Training Lately...

I mentioned in my Ultimate Coffee Date post that I reviewed my Believe training journal from the last year and was disappointed by how often I saw remarks like "could have done better" or "ugh, bad week in training", or even "skipped this, skipped this, and skipped this".

I also mentioned that I usually do the same thing every year - I say THIS YEAR I'm going to do a better job! THIS YEAR I'm going to train like a beast. THIS YEAR I'm going to hit all my workouts. But do I? Nope...

It's so frustrating and, honestly, I don't know how to go about breaking out of that destructive cycle. I start a training cycle fired up and ready to totally go Beast Mode all over it and halfway through I'm shortening workouts, skipping the stretching, and that's only IF I did the workout at all. By the end I'm just like Eh - whatever...I've already screwed the pooch on this one anyways. NEXT TIME I'll kill it. Ugh...

So how has my training been going lately? Let's see...

Monday 12/28: Did the 3 miles, but didn't hit the paces Coach Tiffany gave me
Tuesday 12/29: Rested (could have done a Barre workout, but I opted for total lazy instead)
Wednesday 12/30: 3 miles, but walked half of it for no real good reason
Thursday 12/31: Skipped my 3 mile timed workout
Friday 1/1: Light stretching and leg balance exercises
Saturday 1/2: Should have done 6 miles, did 3.3 instead
Sunday 1/3: Light stretching and leg balance exercises

So there's an entire week of workouts and you can see that I pretty much blew off every single one of them in one way or another AND I have a flipping half marathon in 6 days!!!! Seriously...why do I sabotage myself like this?!? I don't get it...I'm actually pretty good about getting my work job done, why can't I apply the same principles to my workouts? Or my healthy eating? I'm pretty much figuring that Coach Tiffany is totally disgusted with me or at the very least is questioning my commitment to my training...as she should be on both fronts.

But I'll keep on trying guys...I'm not going to just quit saying THIS YEAR, or THIS TRAINING CYCLE, or even THIS DAY. I'm going to keep pushing to kill it because perhaps someday I actually will!!! I will give myself credit for something - I don't quit. I keep failing and won't give up. hahaha

Seriously though - I'm all about persistence folks, even if it is persistence at telling myself to be persistent. Someday it's gotta stick, right?? ;-)

One thing I am going to do though is share my training progress a little more. I know it might be boring as hell for some and you have my permission to skip it completely if you so desire. But I need some accountability if I'm going to head into my new training cycle - heck, if I'm going to head into my planned workout tomorrow! - with the right frame of mind of totally killing it. I can do it...I can do it...I can do it. Say it with me now... :-)

Ultimate Coffee Date - New Year Edition January 2016

Happy New Year everyone!! Hope that your 2016 is off to a great start...I've been meaning to spend a Saturday with Confessions of a Mother Runner and her co-hosts, Coco and Lynda, doing The Ultimate Coffee Date for months and months, so I finally figured - hey, when is a better time to do something you've been meaning to do than a new year?? Right? So join me with a warm beverage - doesn't have to be coffee and doesn't even need to be warm - and let's spend a few minutes enjoying each other's company. :-)

If we were having coffee...I would tell you that I had an absolutely amazing holiday season. I indulged pretty much as much as I wanted to, I was lazy when I felt like it, and I may have even taken a few naps and spent a few days in my PJ's all day. It was pretty epic but has left me feeling like a slug.

If we were having coffee...I would be super excited to tell you that I bought myself a planner that I'm so happy to have in my arsenal this year! It's not a super fancy schmancy Erin Condren planner like all the cool kids have, but it's going to work very nicely for me. It's a Me & My Big Ideas Happy Planner and will be a perfect starter planner. I used to use a Franklin Covey and it was great, but I moved away from it to a more electronic to-do system. I want to use my planner to not just be a catalog of appointments and tasks, but to serve as a journal/scrapbook of where I've been during the year. I'm super excited to fill it!

If we were having coffee...I would tell you that I went back through my Believe training journal that I started using at the beginning of 2015 and it was an eye opener. Not necessarily in a good way. Sure, I ran 569.12 miles in 153 activities and that's awesome! I'm certainly happy with that. But what made it an eye opener is that in the journal portion or the check-ins was all the "could have been better; should have tried harder; not as good as I wanted it to be." Lots of coulda, shoulda, woulda's. And if I'm honest and go back and re-read old journal entries or blog posts, I see a lot of the same thing. I would tell you that I'm tired of feeling like I'm coming up just short of the finish line and if I'm being honest with myself I'm DNF-ing on my goals and effort in reaching them. I want to change that in 2016!!

If we were having coffee...I would tell you that I'm running my first half marathon of the year in only one more week! I don't know how, but I swear these things always have a way of sneaking up on me. I plan for them and do workouts to prepare for them and then all of a sudden they just jump out of nowhere and are like HEY! It's time!!! and I'm left saying, But, But...I'm not ready for this!! LOL

And finally, if we were having coffee...I would tell you how excited I am to be back representing Skirt Sports again for 2016 as an Ambassador Captain, and that I'm thrilled to also be a Nuun Ambassador for 2016! I feel like I'm finally nailing down my fueling and hydration on long runs and Nuun is a big part of that so I'm really excited to be a part of the Nuunbassador family. All in all, if we were having coffee, I would tell you that I'm feeling pretty darn good about 2016 and where it might take me!

I've really enjoyed my coffee date with you and I'll see you back here again soon! I still have my goals to share - I came up with some really great ones this year and feel like I'm finally in a place where they won't just get forgotten (thank you, Happy Planner!!) and I will also be sharing my One Little Word for 2016 soon as well. And that one is also a great one that I think will bring me lots of amazing growth this year.

I hope you all had a safe and happy holiday season and that you have kicked off 2016 with some excitement and planning for the future! See you again real soon!

The Time is...NOW - Closing Out My One Little Word for 2015

Ali Edwards does a fabulous job of leading participants through their word each year by creating a scrapbook or journal around their word. If you want more information visit: www.aliedwards.com 

I have shared before how I choose One Little Word to live out each year - kind of an intention or what I want to speak over my life in the 365 calendar days of a year. For anybody that is just joining this party my previous words have been:

2010: Peace (what a doozy of a word that one was!!)
2011: Quality
2012: Strength
2013: Light
2014: Courage

And this past year for 2015 my word was NOW. My Pinterest board for Now really came in handy and I found a lot of inspiration that I was more than happy to Pin and review often! So how was my year of NOW? Did I live my word? Did I succeed in my intentions?

In all honesty, 2015 was actually a pretty difficult year in some aspects, and totally rocked in others. It felt very up and down and in all the ups and downs I tried really, really hard to appreciate each moment I was in right then. Some were way easier than others! haha

I know I had lots of good reasons behind Now and how I wanted to get several things done during 2015. I wanted to be happy with who I was right now and quit focusing on past versions of me or dreaming about future versions. On this part I really do feel like I lived my word. One of the best live life now moments was applying for an ambassador slot with Skirt Sports - and BEING ACCEPTED!! I had absolutely no problem living in that NOW and have spent this past year developing friendships with a lot of wonderful ladies that I know will continue for many years to come.

Another living life now moment was brutally fighting for the success of my marriage. I won't go into specifics, and I apologize for doing the vague thing, but let's just say that I wasn't really sure my marriage was going to make it through this year. It did. It's still hard sometimes and there's still work to be done, but I finally quit waiting for things to change and started fighting for that change. I really feel like this was accomplished through living ALL of my words over the past several years. I couldn't have fought for the NOW without first living with Courage last year, or getting Strong back in 2012, or knowing that I wanted to pursue Quality in 2011.

I also took some NOW initiative and partnered up with my running coach so I could explore where my running could be better right now. I'm still feeling like I was faster a long time ago, but I feel a heck of a lot more like a real runner these days than I ever have before. I had a lot of early mornings pushing hard and pouring sweat on my treadmill reminding myself that I needed to just be in that moment right then and that the hard part would pass soon enough.

It may seem contrary, but I had a NOW moment when I decided to put school on the back burner for a little bit. Yes, I know that being in school would improve a lot of things, but I also looked at where I was right then and there and knew that if I began my next level of study that I wouldn't be able to put the effort into it OR other areas of my life that really, really needed my full attention. Basically I knew that being in school would be great for my future self, but for my right now self, it would have been death. I don't know that I would have survived this year if I had been in school. Over dramatic? I don't think so...I had to recognize that the current me wasn't able to do school, family, and work. So after the spring semester I took a pause and will get back to it next summer.

I enjoyed all the NOW moments of my daughter being pregnant and giving birth to little Gavin in October. I enjoyed all the NOW moments spent with my other 2 grandbabies. I enjoyed lots of NOW moments spent sitting in the sun during lunch hours, or talking with my bestie about unicorn powers, or talking with other good friends. I enjoyed lots of NOW moments watching shows with my daughters and sharing those simple experiences with people I love.

And as we close out 2015, I'm happy to say goodbye to this past year. I feel hopeful for 2016 and where it might lead me, but I'm grateful for all the moments that I experienced this year. Some were oh so hard, and others were oh so amazing...but no matter what they were happening right then and there and I chose to live them!!

I have my word for 2016 all picked out...stay tuned as I'll be sharing it soon! Thanks for the memories 2015...thank you for helping me focus on the life right in front of me...thank you for bringing new people in that have brought so much enrichment to my life...but most of all, thank you for letting me live it. I'm ending 2015 a stronger person because of the experiences you've given me!!

Temecula Half Marathon - Race Report

Waaaaay back at the end of October I was able to participate in the Temecula Half Marathon & 5k held in Murrieta, CA - a local race for me as it is about 20 minutes from my home.

Just a couple of notes about this race before I get into the nitty gritty. I did the Half Marathon, this was my first time participating in this race, and this was the first time the race was held on this particular course. Previous years it was held in an entirely different location. My friend, Sally, ran the race the previous year and had warned me that it was one of the HARDEST races she had ever done as it was extremely hilly. Well, new course this year so I figured it was going to be a little less challenging, right?!? And maybe it was...I will never know as I hadn't done the previous course. I was doing this race to support a co-worker that was doing it as his very FIRST half marathon!! When he decided to do one, he reached out to the rest of us that he knew to be runners, and three of us said we'd be willing to jump in on the half marathon with him. His wife (Rebecca in the picture below) did the 5k along with her sister-in-law and my daughter. So with that out of the way, let's get to it, shall we?

We were greeted with an absolutely GORGEOUS sunrise!!

Registration
The cost of registration was about $80, I believe. I got in before it stepped up in price, however, this race had a registration fee that I couldn't get out off (i.e. It wasn't through Active which I have an Active Advantage membership that waives registration fees on many races). I had a discount code so it brought the total back to what it was originally before the registration fee. If I remember right...I do remember being peeved about the "fee". I really find those quite annoying especially when they are more than just a couple dollars. (Side note: race fees sure are getting EXPENSIVE, no?) The good part is they offered race-day packet pick-up so that's always great. As far as getting all checked-in at the event that was fairly easy to do. It was a little confusing to me as you don't pick up your race bag until AFTER the race, so I kind of felt like I was missing a step before I realized that you didn't get those until later.

From L-R: Me, Co-Worker Jennifer, Co-Worker Rebecca, and my daughter Michelle (the Selfie Queen operating the camera thankfully because I am truly HORRIBLE at it! LOL)

Expo and Venue
The race was held at a sports park in downtown Murrieta and was easy to get to (freeway access about a mile from venue) and had plenty of free parking nearby. They had quite a few vendors that I don't see at a lot of other local races such as Krave jerky, The Kombucha, Larabar, and others. They also had a wine garden with several different vendors. Each racer received two free tickets and more were available for purchase. They had a pretty good set-up and as far as small, local race expos go it was not too shabby. Not the best, but not the worst either.

Swag
This race doesn't automatically include a participant shirt but does offer them for a reasonable price for purchase. What you DO get is a wine glass. I am going to note that I expected the wine glass to be included in the race bag that you get after the race...kind of makes sense, right? So when the race was over and my daughter handed me my bag, I just assumed the glass was in there. Wrong. You had to actually pick up the glass when you got your drink tickets. Well, since I could care less about the drink tickets, I never even went over to that table and completely missed out on the glass. I was fairly disappointed about this. Also, during packet pick-up nothing was ever said to me or my daughter about race bags being available after the race or that wine glasses needed to be picked up at the wine garden. I know they are volunteers, but it would be helpful to provide that info to racers so we aren't left wondering where to go next or what we can expect at the end.

Course
The course, as mentioned above, was new this year. The course, as mentioned above, was known previously as being VERY challenging. The course this year? Super duper challenging in its own right!! Seriously, after doing the Avocado Half Marathon in Fallbrook back in May I didn't really want to ever run another hilly half. Well, too bad, so sad because this was NOT a flat half marathon. Now, mind you, they never billed it as being flat either. I was just wishful thinking. HA! Let's look at just a few pictures of the course:

That doesn't look so bad, right?

Almost to the top of the hill...I think my face says it all...I was not happy.

Oh yeah - that looks like *fun*. :-|

So. Many. Hills! The course began on relatively flat land and remained so for about the first mile before going into gently rolling hills that I think were there for the simple act of lulling you into a false sense of security. About three miles in is where the fun begins! The road began to climb and then turned into a dirt road that was very difficult to run on. The dirt was hard packed and highly cambered with some rockiness that you had to be careful for. In addition, the road was NOT closed so vehicles could still travel it and I really felt for the group of runners that had a truck go by on the dirt road as it kicked up a lot of dust (this is one of those times that it really paid that I was in the mid-pack of the race!). Hope nobody was asthmatic or had breathing issues because that would seriously hinder their ability to get air. The dirt eventually returned to road, and hills, and kept going. I will say that there were portions of this course that were extremely beautiful!! One of my favorite sections was through a tree-lined area that was mostly flat to boot! Check it out:

So nice through here! Take note of the gal in the red tank and skirt and the other in the orange shirt next to her...we'll talk about this some more in a moment.

After that really nice, really pretty section, we headed into a golf course for a short bit. It was also very pretty and was on a dirt trail and towards the end had a vineyard on one side, and golf course on the other. There were people out golfing as it was a Sunday morning so that was kind of a nice distraction. And then another hill came and this was one of the worst! Here's a pic from the top looking down:

Not a great picture, but you can kind of get an idea of this massive hill. Most people were walking it or doing a slow jog at the most.

We encountered a lot of traffic in this section as people were leaving and entering the golf course. They did have a police escort so it was very smooth and didn't cause any problems outside of the sheer amount of exhaust and fumes. The course eventually looped back around and met with sections we had come out on, so we got to do them in reverse. Here's the elevation profile from my Garmin activity:

You get the idea? Hills, hills and more hills...LOL

All in all, the course was challenging, but not bad as it had a lot of scenic portions and was an out-and-back so especially at the end you had a good idea of what to expect since you were on the same part as you were at the beginning. I do wish that traffic had been blocked on the dirt portion at the very least to minimize the amount of dust kicked up into the air, but the course did feel safe even though it was an open course and had traffic throughout. There were port-a-johns at several points along the course with fairly short lines, they had pacers for a variety of finish times, they had plenty of on-course water, but no electrolytes until almost the end of the race, they had some fabulous volunteers out working the aid stations, but they had minimal spectating or cheer sections. But that's okay as it wasn't something that was part of the race package.

Medal
Honestly, the medal was a bit disappointing to me. For being such a challenging race with all those hills, no race shirt, and costing $80, along with the trend for ever bigger and more impressive medals, I was expecting something a little more substantial. Take a look and let me know what you think:

The glitter was a nice touch...

Since I'm holding it you can get a little perspective.

The 5k and Half Marathon had the same size medals, the only thing that was different was the 5k had a white ribbon and the Half Marathon had a black one. Seriously, it's kinda tiny and doesn't have a year engraved on the medal design anywhere and you can see that the necklace portion is a clip on design so I'm guessing they re-use medals that are left over. I can't say for sure, but that's the only reason I can figure they do a clip on necklace (is there an actual name for that part of the medal because if there is it is escaping my brain at the moment! haha). Also, I have to say that even though the race previously was in the Temecula Wine Country, hence the wine bottle medal and grapes in the logo, this year's race had almost nothing to do with wine outside of the fact that you ran very briefly past a few grape vines, and you got a wine glass and free wine at the finish. It wasn't even evident that the race course was in Temecula AT ALL since you start and end in Murrieta. It's possible we may have been in the actual unincorporated area of Temecula for a brief moment, but I couldn't say for sure exactly. I count this race as being in Murrieta. A little misleading, but who cares really. Overall, the medal gets a D grade. They can do better.

My Race
I went into this race totally and completely unprepared (yes, that is a recurring theme in my life...*sigh*) so my plan was to just do the best I could and treat it like a training run. I stuck with the 2:45 pacer for a good portion of the early part. Remember in the picture above where I said take note of the girl in the red tank and black skirt and the girl in the orange shirt beside her? That was the pacer and the other gal that was sticking with her as well. I lost them a few times on hills when I was just dying, but would catch up to them on the downhills usually. I finally lost the pacer for good as I was coming into the golf course and hit that really killer hill. But not long after I crested the killer hill, the gal in the orange shirt (cannot remember her name...sorry!!) had stopped at a porta-pot and then caught back up to me. So we stuck together until the end. All in all, I didn't feel terrible. The weather was absolutely perfect and I ran a lot more of the hills than I did previously. If the gal in the orange shirt hadn't kept me going towards the end though I would have walked a lot more. But we would just pick out a landmark and say "we'll run to there", then we would walk to a new landmark and do the same. It got us to the end, although I will say I wanted to absolutely DIE at the end because as we were getting close to the finish line, and to what my Garmin was saying was close to 13.1 miles, we realized that we were going to run right by the finish line to do one more loop around the park! WAAAAHHHH!!! I seriously was like "this is a cruel, cruel joke you evildoers!!!" The pacer (can't remember her name either...LOL) found us on that final loop and ran us in to the finish. I do know that the course was definitely off and a mistake was made somewhere because my final based off of GPS was 13.32 miles. So just a tad extra, but enough to make a grown woman want to curl up in a ball and just throw a massive temper tantrum. I didn't, but the urge was strong. Here's the stats:

13.32 Miles
2:49:15
Average Pace: 12:42 min/mile
Best Mile: Mile 7 with 10:50 average pace
Worst Mile: Mile 12 with a 14:30 average pace

Post-Race Party
I didn't stick around per the usual so I can't tell you too much. My daughter did visit the wine garden and had a drink, but by the time I rolled back in she was pretty bored and ready to go. I touched base with my co-workers Brian (his first) and Jennifer (her second) and they both had 2:30 or less finishes! Jennifer said she won't do another half for a long time, and Brian said he is done with his running career for forever! I don't really believe that, but this very may well be his only half as he says he prefers the 10k and 5k distances much more and did deal with a lot of knee issues during training. The race did have an awards presentation that I'm sure was awesome.

What I Wore
Skirt Sports Visor in Streak
Skirt Sports 261 Kathrine Tank in Mantra
Skirt Sports Gym Girl Ultra Skirt in Tantrum
Saucony Bounce Trouncer Bra
Can't remember which socks I wore
Mizuno Wave Rider 17's
Nathan Intensity Hydration Vest

All the things I wore were great...I did have some chafing on my arm from the vest, but it was fairly minimal.

Parting Thoughts 
I guess the main thing to ask myself is if I would do this race again. Mayyyyybeeeee...it would have to be pretty compelling circumstances for me to do it again. It was easy for me to get to, the location was pretty good, but the course was challenging. If someone was LOOKING for a challenging half, this would be a great one for them as it definitely delivered there. But the scenic route did help offset some of the things I would have been more peeved about like the crummy medal, the wine glass snafu, and the extra added-in distance. Plus, it's just mean to make people run PAST the finish line after running 13+ miles. Just so mean. LOL It's at a great time of year though although it can still be quite warm...we just got lucky that it was perfect running weather this time around. If it had been hot, I would not be as positive about my experience. As far as race organization goes, it was pretty smooth and I don't have any major complaints. I think there is room for improvement, but really there always is. So even though I may not LOOK for this race again next year, if one of my run friends asked me to run it with them I probably would.

And there you have it! Half Marathon #6 is in the books...