Castle to Coast 8.2 Mile Race (7:23 pace)

The Castle to Coast 8.2 Mile Race in San Simeon, California, was my first race in nearly 3 months after my hip injury. I raced the Antelope Valley Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving, but I haven’t been traveling to races in the last few months. Why? Honestly, I didn’t feel ready, and my hip injury put me into a funk that I can’t really seem to get out of.

I haven’t felt the same since coming back, and I’m just hoping to string along a good marathon training cycle for Los Angeles. I’ll have a longer post at some point soon, but I’ve also been dealing with congestion and being tired all of the time. When I went to my primary care doctor (who is great), she said I probably had COVID about two months ago, and they’ll do some bloodwork to confirm. Thankfully she prescribed me some stuff, but it doesn’t make it easier.

Before the Castle to Coast 8.2 Mile Race:

We drove up the night before to San Simeon. It’s about a 3:30 drive, and we made some stops, including in Paso Robles, and got there around 6. I was pretty tired and fell asleep almost immediately. The Castle to Coast 8.2 Mile Race was $40. That seems almost unheard of in these days of races, but there was no chip time, no bib, no medal, and no t-shirt. You could buy a t-shirt if you wanted.

We found the website and directions kind of confusing. Do you start at the castle? Do you start at the park? Finally, we figured it out. It’s point to point, so you have to either take the shuttle back or run/drive back.

They advocated getting there early, but when we arrived at 6:30 for the 8 am race, the gates were closed to the park. There were other people waiting, so I knew we were in the right spot, but we couldn’t get into the park until 7:15. I didn’t think there was any way we would start on time, and we ended up starting at 8:15. Not a huge deal. I ran a 1.3-mile warmup. I thought about doing more, but 1.3 felt right, and my plan was to run the 8.2-mile course back. I ended up not having enough time with hotel checkout, so ended up running 5 miles after, which was good enough.

For fueling on an almost 15-mile day, I had a bagel with Nutella for breakfast (my usual breakfast), Maurten 160 during the race, and a Maurten gel at miles 5 and 10 for the day (which was around mile 3 and at the finish of the race). I have mixed thoughts on Maurten liquid and I think I like Ucan better, but I’m TBD.

Castle to Coast 8.2 Mile Race:

The Castle to Coast 8.2 Mile Race is small. Maybe around 200 people run. When the gun went off, I found myself right in a groove. I didn’t feel great, but I felt good enough. We ran on the shoulder for most of the way, and it was borderline scary to have cars whizzing by you. My ultimate goal was to run under a 7:30 pace, but I wasn’t really sure if I could hold that.

I ran a 7:11 first mile and thought wow, maybe I can. The Castle to Coast 8.2 Mile Race is one of the most scenic and beautiful race courses I’ve ever done. As we headed into the second mile, I noticed that it was a little hilly, and I ran a 7:16. I also noticed there was some headwind, not a lot, but there was more than nothing.

Mile 3, I ran a 7:14. I thought, wow, maybe I could average 7:15, but that was quickly shut down at mile 4 when I ran a 7:23, and I just didn’t feel great. From there, I felt like I was holding on. I haven’t been doing a lot of long speed work since my injury, and I felt it.

Mile 5 of the Castle to Coast 8.2 Mile Race was my slowest, and I ran a 7:32. Two women flew by me like I was standing still. I was somewhat defeated but just tried to go with them (or as much as I could). I ran a 7:30 next mile. The last two miles are in the State park. I thought we would go down a steep downhill for a fast finish (I don’t know why I thought Castle to Coast meant you were going to run from a mountainous castle downhill to the coast. The course just had rolling hills the entire time). But the downhill finish never came. There was a small downhill, but nothing crazy. I finished mile 7 in 7:28 and mile 8 in 7:25.

Finally, when I could see the Castle to Coast 8.2 Mile Race finish line, I just sprinted as hard as I could (around a 7:00 pace). I finished in 60:47.

Castle to Coast 8.2 Mile Race Thoughts:

I’m happy I beat my goal of sub 7:30 pace, although it didn’t feel great. We did have a small headwind, and the course was more hilly than anticipated, so I’m happy with the results for now. I’m hopefully looking forward to turning a corner and feeling better with running again.