Half Marathon Coastal Challenge

Hahahaha I don't even know how to describe this.

This was the hardest, hilarious, most hurting day of my entire life!

No exaggeration.

I don't think we really understood what we were getting ourselves into. When I pictured the "Coastal Challenge" I thought of a nicely paved path along the coast with a beautiful view of the ocean. When we showed up, I just cracked up because it was obvious we weren't prepared.

Everyone else was wearing special rock/water shoes and had their laces taped down. They had small backpacks and waterproof ipod cases. Lots of people had gloves on. It looked like they were going into battle!

We registered and asked where the starting line was, and the guy pointed to the water.

What?!

The race was literally ON the coast! You either have to swim, wade, rock climb, scramble, or run through the sand. No pavement in the whole race. So then I asked, "How long do the rocks last for? A couple miles?" He just laughed and said, "Darling, that's the whole race! Better not bring your ipod or it's gonna go yuck. Your whole head is going under!"

Ohhhhh. ok. Perfect. Good thing I've been training on a field of rocks practicing my backstroke.

In a nutshell - I finished the race and am slightly surprised I made it alive. My feet went numb and I started laughing hysterically near the end. It was so hard it seemed like a joke! The race was a mad scramble of thousands of people throwing themselves through the water and bashing themselves on rocks. Hahah it sounds so dramatic but I'm not kidding. The waves pound you and you kind of just stumble around and hope you come out on top. I escaped with only a few cuts and bruises. My mental state was probably more damaged than my physical one haha. One of the sorest parts of my body is my neck. . . I think it's from doggy paddling. so sad!

It only took a quick 3 hours and 3 minutes :) Hahahaha. Longest half marathon anyone has ever run in the whole world. But I came in 24th and finished at the same time as a woman who has been in the military for 12 years! So don't laugh. The first three miles took over an hour because the whole thing was swimming in the ocean or clinging to the edge of the coast. Sorry for the lengthy description. . .I just want people to understand how crazy this whole thing was!

Pre Race

Registration

We ditched our ipods (I was so sad) and vaselined it up! The man at the entry stations told us we would be "sorry souls" if we didn't put vaseline on because "chafing can be your worst enemy"

Starting line. . .just run through the water

and make your way around the corner!

Post Race

The happiest part of the day

scraped legs and sandy socks

went to Denny's to stuff our faces

Don't know if I would ever sign up for that again, but it was totally worth it. And an even better part of the weekend is that I am now allowed to eat as many desserts as I want. Went to the store last night and bought candy and ice cream :) I'm a happy camper!