surf city wash

If anybody had come out to run the Surf City Marathon expecting typically great Southern California weather, they would've been sorely disappointed. Not only was the sun not out, but the wind and rain were in full force. I don't think I've been out at a race yet with worse conditions than we did this Sunday.

Well, I had originally planned to walk the 5K for this event, but unfortunately, my lallygagging did not help, and the event sold out on me. But undeterred, I still went to the race to support my brother, Rhodri who was running the half and his wife, Karen who was doing the 5K. There were OCTR runners at the race too, though I only saw Wendy and her kids, Jake and Tiana.


Perhaps I should've stayed in bed. If there ever was a day to sleep in, this would've been it. The storm joined the thousands of runners at the race. Gale force winds forcing the rain to fall horizontally ruined my umbrella. I was soaked and cold and I did not even run.

There were three events for the race–the full marathon which started at 6:50am, the 5K at 7:15, and the half-marathon with the first wave at 7:45. My brother and I waved Karen off for the 5K start, then moved to the half-marathon start. I moved to the front of the pack to get a better view of the runners where I saw wet albeit excited and jubilant runners. Was that a pang of envy I feel because I'm standing here on the sidelines?



Karen, who finished her race by the time the half-marathon started joined me in search of dry and warm conditions. We retreated to the comfort of the Waterfront Hilton sipping coffee and drying off our clothes. A little over two hours after he started, Rhodri finished the race. Because we were wet and cold, we just got into the car and drove home instead of enjoying the expo and post-race activities.

That's ok though. There's always next year and the next race.

Grab an umbrella and check out the photos here.