Santa to the Sea Half Marathon race report

Submitted by Heather Stewart @captainstewie

I may be a slow runner, but MAN this year went by fast…
Here’s a little rundown:

• 1 5K Mud Run
• 1 Sprint Triathlon
• 1 10 Miler
• 2 10Ks
• 5 5Ks
• 10 Half Marathons

Plus I chaired a 5K/10K that raised over $20,000 for young adults fighting cancer.

All I can think of is that Flock of Seagulls song…. “And I ran….I ran so far away!!!” I ran in Dallas, Dublin and Disney. I ran my badunkadunk off! (Well, it’s still there, but….)

Last Sunday I did my last race of 2012: The Santa to the Sea Half Marathon!

This race starts on the East side of the 101 freeway at a Giant Santa statue and goes, you guessed it, all the way to the ocean, ending up at Channel Islands Harbor.

I was prepared. (Nothing says “training run” like running a half marathon the week before your half marathon.) I was well-rested (I walked to Christmas lights on Saturday night and went to bed early.) I was confident…many people told me this is the race to get your mojo back! And MAN I needed some mojo! My last two races have been “MEH?”!  Lots of walking, feeling heavy and slow. This one I was ready for.  I knew I could perform well.

We went to the starting line, checked our bags and got ready to take off!
Mile One: Feeling good, taking it easy, did my intervals!
Mile Two: Feeling good, taking it easy, did my intervals!
Mile 2.25: Garmin decides it’s full and stops tracking me.  All I have is “current pace.”  I decide I will walk at every mile marker for 60 seconds (it turns into 6 orange traffic cones).
Mile 3: I see my friend Shannon from the Do Life Website.  We’ve done a couple races together now! She’s doing awesome and looking GREAT! We were running pretty fast together.  I decide to do an interval of walking, she keeps running. I lose her somewhere at the Mile 4 water stop.
Miles 4-6: Not bad, keeping my pace at a good place, feeling good. This running with no Garmin thing isn’t so bad.
Mile 6.5: I HATE THE PEOPLE RUNNING THE RELAY (because they’re done :-)).
Mile 7: I have to pee…lose about 90 seconds.
Miles 8-12: Uhhhh, this is familiar!  Old Town Oxnard (July 21st- Oxnard Salsa Dash!) and the strand (April 1st- Ventura Half of the Harbors).
Mile 12: Okay, so this whole time I was gunning for people… “You’re next ‘Pony-tail lady’” and if ‘Pony-tail lady’ starts running I’d think, “That’s right, you’d better run, I’m coming for you!” This happened with V-back man,  Blue Shirt Girls 1 and 2, Heart-Shaped Glasses and Stripedy Sock Lady! Stripedy Sock Lady was my nemesis. She would walk, hear me coming and start running! ARRRRGHHHHH!!!  She finally pulled away at Mile 13 and I was soooo mad!

But, fourth FASTEST TIME!  2:48:56….Still trying to PR, but considering how poorly I’ve been running this was a great race!

Beautiful weather, awesome volunteers AND they do a “Neighborhood Spirit Contest” where as you’re running different neighborhoods bring out bands and people cheering and water tables to help motivate you. You get a survey via email when you get home and you vote for your favorite neighborhood! (BTW, My vote went to #3, Balloon arches, marching bands and I got a High 5 from Santa himself!) All in all a great race!


On Sunday December 9th I
Ran 1st for me: Last Race of the Year and a fast time!
Ran 2nd for my family: They’re always with me!
Ran 3rd for Peace, for my joy of running and for Sgt 1st Class Darren Linde