Surf-n-Santa 10 Miler Recap

It's been a few days since the race, so I've had time to reflect enough to recap it properly. I signed up for this race because I was returning from my deployment to Africa and upon learning my return date, I had to stay in the Hampton Roads a few extra days to handle some personal matters and visit family. The race was scheduled the day after our flight landed in Norfolk and having done one other J&A race in the past, it was a no-brainer to sign up.

I started following a Hal Higdon training plan in conjunction with a marathon plan back in October after signing up, never done a 10-miler before so I was pretty excited. The training conditions were no where near what race day would feel like, Djibouti was always over 85° and the heat index put it near 100° up until mid-November. Everything with the return trip went smoothly, the flight left Djibouti early Thursday morning East Africa Time and arrived in Norfolk at 0200 on Friday EST. That day was the first since July 1^st that I didn't get to run at least a mile, which turned out to be a good thing. After getting through customs and getting to the airport, I waited around until Hertz opened and got out of there. I needed to take care a few things after getting the rental: a haircut, holiday shopping, lunch, and a real beer were all in order.

The expo was at the Virginia Beach Convention Center, it was small but very well organized. They handed out the customized bibs with built in timer, a reusable tote bag, a santa hat, and a long-sleeved hooded shirt for the 10-milers, 5Kers got a short sleeve tech T. I didn't stick around long, the hotel was right next to the convention center and I needed to get a shower. Afterwards, I just relaxed, had a few beers, got everything race ready, and went to bed around 10:30.

That was best night of sleep in 6 months, was up around 0630 to have a bite to eat and get ready. Here's the fun part, the day before it was around 75° and all I had as far a running gear was meant for hot weather, this race wasn't on my radar when packing for Africa. Needless to say, the race day temperature was 45°, rainy, and winds gusting up to 25 mph. I did have the foresight to order some arm warmers before leaving Africa, but they were useless with the rain. The race kicked off in front of the convention center and headed down 19^th street towards the Oceanfront. The course turned on Atlantic Ave with a brief stint on the Boardwalk. The course headed back towards the convention center where the 10 mile and 5K course split off, we headed back down 19^th towards the beach again, but this time we ran Atlantic Ave all the way down to Rudee Inlet. This was at the 5.25 mile point and where the suck began. The next 2.5+ miles were on the Boardwalk in the rain with a 20 mph head wind, which you can see reflected in the lap splits below. I was having abdominal cramps a good portion of the race and this didn't help. The route turned back to Atlantic shortly after passing the King Neptune statue on the beach then turned back down Atlantic until finally running back to 19^th towards the convention center, where the finish line was inside.

I finished in 1:22:18, which is by far the best pace I've had for a longer distance, it's amazing how much easier it was to run after training in horrid conditions for months. Unfortunately, my entire body was numb when I stopped, could barely open the bottle of Gatorade they handed me. They also had water, fruit, and some other snacks. My first goal was to find a place to sit and thaw out a little. They had Sam Adams as the beer sponsor and we were allowed three, barely got one down because it was so cold. After that, back in to the cold to head back to the hotel and get cleaned up and ready for lunch with family. The results were posted in real time and I finished 232 out of 1893. No complaints from me, looking forward to getting even faster for the next one. It was a great race, just wish the weather had been a little nicer. Now it's time to get ready for the ½ Marathon on January 26^th!