I was not excited to run the Mountains 2 Beach Half Marathon, if we are being honest. I originally signed up for it before getting the stomach flu and regular flu. The regular flu, especially, wrecked me three years ago. This year, it wrecked me about as much. Which, funny enough, three years ago was the last time I ran M2B. Throw in a marathon less than a month before, and I wasn’t expecting big things. But I am stubborn and signed up for the race, so I was going to do it, darn it. I do like M2B Half Marathon, but were there better years to do it…of course. The flu+marathon recovery the month prior didn’t lead me to think: wow today is the day I’m finally going to run under 1:30 in the half again. To be fair, there were a number of halves I’ve done in the last 7 months that I felt like I was “so close” to running a sub 1:30 but something went wrong.
- I was likely sick during the Richmond Half Marathon.
- The headwind at Las Vegas Marathon.
- I just felt like garbage at the Mesa Half.
- Little did I know at the Napa Half, I actually had the stomach flu.
It felt like there was always something.
Before Mountains 2 Beach Half Marathon:
The day before the Mountains 2 Beach Half Marathon was my 10-year wedding anniversary. That was more of the focus, and we left for the race later, but it all ended up working out. Packet pickup was mostly easy, and we celebrated with good ole Olive Garden the night before. Over the last two years, I’ve become more of a fan of Olive Garden… anyway.
I tried to go to bed early, but there was some sort of party happening next door, and they were loud until the wee hours of the morning. My sleep was not great, and the 3:30 a.m. alarm came early. I was so grouchy, but I actually woke up not feeling too tired and just got ready. I met Brittany and we left for the race buses. We parked in a downtown Ventura parking structure and got on the bus around 4:30. It was very uneventful and just how I like it. We actually arrived fairly early with no bathroom lines. We did about 0.8 miles of a warmup and then headed back. From there, we just hung out, and then the race started just after 6:10.
My goal for the Mountains 2 Beach Half Marathon was to run faster than 1:34 (which I ran three years ago, a month after the flu). To be honest, I felt like it was a 50-50 shot. Three years ago, I was shocked I ran that fast.
Mountains 2 Beach Half Marathon Race:
Gear used:
- ASICS Metaspeed Edge Paris
- Bandit Running Apparel
- Swiftwick Socks
- Tailwind Endurance Fuel (2 scoops in the bottle)
- Maurten Energy Gel (caffeine 100)
I actually thought the Mountains 2 Beach Half Marathon race was bigger than it is. There were maybe 2,000–3,000 people at the start. Immediately, we were off and the 1:30 pacer flew by me.
I told myself: Hollie, you need to calm down.
Between the flu and running a marathon, today of all days is not the day you should hang with the 1:30 pacer. I’ve run a series of half marathons lately all between 1:30:50–1:32. I’ve known I’m in sub-1:30 shape, but I just haven’t had the right day. Between COVID, stomach flu, and flu over the last six months that all seem to manifest around running half marathons, it’s been an unfortunate string of events.
The first mile of the Mountains 2 Beach Half Marathon, I hit in 6:53 exactly. I felt okay, but also like I was working hard. I was about five seconds behind of the 1:30 pacer. The next mile I stayed there, although I could see the 1:30 pacer pulling away. We went up a small hill and I ran 6:54.
I noticed there was a guy filming an entire crew’s race in front of me. At first, I thought he was part of the race but quickly realized he was not. He stayed off the course for some, but with cars coming, he did come on the course. I didn’t see him cut anyone off, but he was weaving in and out, which is super disruptive to runners to begin with. He would stop, whiz by, weave in and out, and it made me uncomfortable. What if he had fallen? He was there for 100% of the race, and there is no need to have 100% of your race filmed. At the end, I heard the announcers announcing something like: “oh wow here comes a man on a scooter, filming”? I wish they would have said please don’t do this on the course.
From there we were welcomed with a downhill and I ran 6:36 and 6:37. I felt like I was catching the 1:30 pacer, but they were still 5–10 seconds ahead. I was just running my own race, and I’ve always known sticking with pacers is not really for me anyway.
The Mountains 2 Beach Half Marathon became more of a grind for me. I realized that at mile 5, I was still feeling decent and maybe it could be my day to run fast. It was around then I decided, you know what, I am just going to really try and run fast and not give up on myself. So what if it doesn’t seem like the right day for it? I ran a 6:41 mile 5 and 6. By the time I knew it, I was at the halfway point in 44:10. I took a Maurten 100 caffeine.
I kept thinking, that’s a 1:28:20 on a good day. I knew miles 10 and 11 of the Mountains 2 Beach Half Marathon are pretty rough (hill-wise), and I likely wouldn’t run the same pace.
We entered the running path and it became kind of congested with runners and occasionally 10kers (which made the guy filming more frustrating). I ran a 6:39 mile 8, which was probably too fast and made miles 9–13 slightly harder.
At mile 9, I told myself less than 30 minutes. I ran a 6:43 mile 10 and then 6:56 mile 11. The hills at mile 11 are not great. (I mean really, who wants hills at mile 11 when you’ve barely had any hills?) But I kept focus and really pushed it. I was really proud of myself for keeping it under 7-minute pace because whew did that hurt.
As we entered the out and back at mile 12 and then seeing the finish line around 12.5, I could tell it was a grind. I had about four minutes to go 0.65 and it felt like it was going to be close. When I saw I had only three minutes to get to the finish line, I thought there is no way I’ll be there before 1:30. I kept pushing and finally I saw the clock click 1:29:30 when I was close. I powered to the finish (and boy, it was not pretty) and ran a 1:29:40. My first sub-1:30 half marathon since the Santa Barbara Half Marathon.
Mountains 2 Beach Half Marathon Thoughts:
I knew I needed a lot to go right for me to break 1:30 again. The weather needed to be decent (and it was at Mountains 2 Beach Half Marathon, about 50–60 and foggy). I needed to feel decent (and I did, although I didn’t feel amazing), and the course needed to be fast (Mountains 2 Beach Half Marathon is a fast course).
So it just lined up for me on the day. I don’t think the Mountains 2 Beach Half Marathon race course is scenic, but it is fast. I still can’t believe I broke 1:30 again in the half, because it’s felt like this goal has been there forever.
I’m looking forward to running shorter stuff this summer.
You can see Strava here and all race recaps here.
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Questions for you:
Have you run the Mountains 2 Beach Half Marathon?
What is your favorite half marathon?