Kelli G.'s Staging Area

We flew in from Sacramento for this much anticipated race. Cute beachy town, overcast day, feeling good! This BQ race claims to be downhill but it sure didn’t “feel” like a downhill race once you’re running it which overall, I believe affected our PR. A bit of a incline in the first few miles and gradually throughout the race. We didn’t get a food/GU station until around Mile 10 which was a issue for me since I’m hypoglycemic and burn whatever food I have in reserves quick! A nice little church group offered us a banana at Mile 8 (which I was SO thankful for). Many parts of the race were scenic which was wonderful, however…. there were some parts that were not so scenic, truck yards and machineries. I couldn’t wait to run alongside the beach but that really didn’t happen until the last mile or so…. (BLAH)! The stationary first aid stations were not clearly marked in my opinion but there were some great volunteers riding around to assist that WERE clearly marked which we flagged down. I think people were a bit bothered by the medals which were the same medal for half and full marathoners…. You run a full marathon, you want everyone to know it! We purchased the VIP tickets which I will say I thought they did a nice job on…. upgraded food, leg massagers and extra swag in a private tented area.