Surfside Half Marathon

So on Valentine's Day was the big day. I had been training for the last 6 months for this day and to tell the truth, I was a little scared. 13.1 miles is really a long way. Surfside, TX is a little beach town. I think it is the only official marathon/1/2 marathon to be run on hard pack sand. When I thought about running on the beach, I pictured, Chariots of Fire. I pictured the sun shining off the water, some white clouds in the sky, the surf lapping on the shore. I pictured a soft breeze coming off the water that kept me cool while I was running. That isn't exactly what I got.

My mom was in town and stayed in with kids so Scott and I could go down the night before the race. Scott works late so I went down with my 2 friends who were running with me, Rishelle and Melissa. We went down and picked up our packets and checked in. We had a good pasta dinner as well. It is amazing how much fun it is to go to dinner with a couple of friends without the pressure of having to pick up kids or get home to our husbands. We went to the hotel after that and Scott was waiting for me. We got a good nights sleep and then we woke up early and went down to the beach.
This is before we knew what we were really getting into. I have to admit it was pretty exciting as we waited for the race to start.
Then the race started. The weather was pretty good. It was over cast and foggy. It was warm and I didn't think much of it. We ran 2 1/2 miles down the beach and then turned around and headed back. By the time we reached the spot where we started the wind started to really pick up. Then it started to sprinkle a little bit. I wasn't that worried. It sprinkles all the time in TX and doesn't do much else. The scenery was beautiful. It looked like this the whole way. The only time I was not happy about running on the beach was when I came across a very potent smell. I couldn't figure out what it was. It smelled like death. Then a little while later I saw a dead dolphin washed up on the shore. That explained it. It was death. And I kept going. The wind got really hard to deal with and I was about to throw in the towel when I finally saw Melissa heading back the other way. She said the turn around was just a few hundred yard ahead. I was never so happy to see a bunch of cars in my life. After I the turn around, mile 9, it got a lot easier and I thought that I was going to actually make it. I did really well, mentally, until I hit about mile 12. Then the torrential down pour started. I couldn't believe it. I didn't want to run in the wind but the rain was horrible. The only good thing was the wind was at my back so the rain was hitting my back. At least it wasn't hitting me in my face. By the time I saw the tent at the finish, I was soaked through.
I was so happy to see Scott waiting there at the finish line, I almost started crying. I actually finished the 1/2 marathon. I can honestly say that I am glad that I did it but I don't think that I want to do that again.
I survived. I did it. It was painful but I did it. If it hadn't been for Rishelle and Melissa, there is no way that I would have been able to make it. We did it ladies.