This past weekend I ran the 40th anniversary of the Long Beach marathon/half marathon. I had originally signed up for the full marathon last year afte running CIM (recap here). I felt like I made a breakthrough with last year’s CIM in terms of fueling and training properly and figured that I would like to try my hand at another full and go for another PR. With lots of changes in early 2024 and then a significant drop in mileage in the summer I elected to drop to the half marathon distance. I’m very glad that the race organizers allow a drop down in distance without any additional fees. I emailed the race folks and they seamlessly changed me from the full marathon to the half marathon. Leading up to the race my long run was 8.5 miles. With this being my 23rd half marathon, I knew in my mind that I could run it and felt reasonably confident that I could finish and still have a decent time. My very first half marathon back in 2010 was just shy of the 2 hour 30 minute mark and since then I’ve had a goal to continue a sub 2:30:00 streak for as long as possible.

Race Expo: The race expo was held on Friday and Saturday before the Sunday race. The location was on Marina Greens, a grassy area by the start and finish line by the Long Beach Port. I elected to find some parking in the nearby neighborhood and walk about a half mile to the pickup (otherwise you could park across from the expo but would have to pay – along with wait in line with all the cars trying to get in). I was also scoping out where I might be able to park on race morning (again to avoid paying but also waiting in line to get into a parking lot/structure). After getting my race bib and shirt, I walked through the expo area. There were many tents set up with all the usuals (official race gear, various food/drink vendors like Zico, protein powder/drinks, snacks, Yakult, etc). With the shirt we received a tote bag which came in quite handy and I must say that my expo haul was a lot better than most of the ones I’ve attended. I tried a sample of some protein drink and it left a bad aftertaste (I can’t recall what company it was though).

The night before the race I had my usually pizza dinner.

Race morning: The race organizers earlier in the week had altered the starting times for the races due to projected hot weather for race day. Originally the forecast had stated it would hit 90 F on race day (actual temps ended up being high of 84 and low of 62 . The organizers moved the marathon start from 6:00 am to 5:30 am and the half marathon start from 7:00 am to 6:30 am (with wave starts). I woke up around 3:06 am on my own (had set the alarm for about 3:30). I had some toast with peanut butter and jelly and peanut butter and honey. Also before leaving, I downed a glass of UCAN energy powder. I had experimented with this for the 2023 CIM race and seemed to sit fine with my tummy.

Getting to the start: My plan was to leave a little over an hour before race start to give me time to park and walk to the starting line (I had anticipated that driving would be about 20-25 minutes and then walking another 5-10 minutes). What I didn’t foresee is that many many other people had the same idea as me (finding free street parking). I circled and circled looking for places and slowly made my way further and further away from the starting area. I was getting frustrated and started thinking that maybe I’d just give up and go home and call it a day. But I gave it one final circle and saw a spot that was just big enough for my car. I parked and started making my way to the start line (it was about a mile total) alternating between jogging and walking because it was starting to inch closer to 6:30 am (I also really had to pee since I had drank that big glass of UCAN before leaving the house). Luckily I arrived and hopped into the porta potty line and managed to work my way up to the starting line for one of the wave starts around 6:50 pm.

The race: The race started on Shoreline drive and the first 6 miles of the race had us running through the Long Beach Waterfront area. Within this area are the Long Beach Arena, Performing arts Center, Aquarium of the Pacific, Hotels, shops, harbor (sail and motor boats). This is also near where cruise ships often leave from. The weather at the race start was overall something I enjoyed – it was quite foggy and remained overcast during the entirety of my race (I think the sun ended up coming out later in the morning after I was done). The first mile was along some flat streets and overall fairly crowded. I settled into an easy pace. Just past the first mile we made a U turn and headed back the way we came. We hooked a right before mile 2 and climbed up and over the Queensway bridge.

On the other side we wound our way under the bridge for miles 3 and 4 and then headed back over the bridge. We passed by the Aquarium of the pacific and then wound through Shoreline Park along the water.

I then made my way back by the start/finish line area but closer to the water and headed on out along the paved beach path (starting around the 6.5 mile mark). My race plan was to consider the run-walk method which I have employed in both longer training runs and a few races. For this race I had set my watch to remind me for a run/walk ratio of 5 min/45 seconds. I did not end up listening to my watch for every single one of those intervals but kind of strategically employed it throughout the race – looking at my stats I think I ended up with about 13 walk breaks (some were not during the watch’s recommendation but for the aid stations. I suspect I crossed the halfway mark around the 1:08 time frame. This put me in good position to get another sub 2:30 time. Overall I felt good – legs weren’t too tired, breathing/heartrate seemed to be good. Running along beach was cool – the actual beach was empty and it was still overcast.

We crossed over the pier area (which had an incline and decline) and continued to make our way east along the beach. Our turnaround to head back to the finish area was in the Belmont Shore/Naples area. I used to come down to this area as a kid to go kayaking in the canals. The turnaround brought us onto Ocean Blvd which was lined with many spectators. Throughout the race there were pockets of people playing music (much of it was hip hop which I could get down to). I had my Aftershokz on but didn’t end up turning them on until about mile 10 for some added motivation. At the mile 10 mark I told myself to start picking up the pace since overall I was feeling good – I still did a few walk breaks at the aid stations. For mile 12, 13, and the final 0.1 I really pushed it – my garmin states I was sub 10 min/mile pace during this last effort. The preceding 11 miles I averaged around 10:10-10:26 min/mi. I sprinted to the finish in a time of 2:15:01.

Finish line: The finish line area was quite crowded as you would expect – there were 2 separate finishes (one for the half and one for the full). I had brought a plastic bag with me since I know often you can get goodies (water, choco milk, bananas, etc) at the finish but don’t have a way to carry it. Another guy actually stopped me because he had pulled out his bag and was like “time to go shopping.” I collected some water, coconut water, banana, protein bars and then continued towards the finish area/expo. There were so many people crowding the exit that I elected not to even try to go to the finish line festivities area (you could get a free beer after finishing). Instead I pushed my way through the crowds and crossed the street to the parking area and then weaved my way back onto the street area and walked back to my car.

Gear/nurition: I ran the race in my Saucony Endorphin Pro 3s. I used this for my last full marathon. I also used 2 Maurten gels during the race. I had a Gu watermelon energy gel as well but didn’t end up using it.

Final thoughts: Overall I thought the race was well organized in terms of packet pickup, course selection, etc. My biggest critique is probably the aid stations. At some of the aid stations they weren’t ready for the crush of runners and actually had cups lined up on the tables that had yet to be filled with water. Luckily some other tables did have water and electrolytes ready but it still required stopping, searching, etc. I didn’t get too much chance to explore the starting area since I was running late and needed to use the porta-potties but it appears that there were decent lines at most of them (and then there was a hidden one that didn’t have much of a line but I didn’t see it until I was almost to the front of my line so didn’t want to chance it). I felt good after the race with some soreness that day and actually felt minimal soreness the next day. By Tuesday I made it out for a recovery run and felt good overall. That does tell me I wasn’t “racing” and putting in hard effort for the race but that was never my intention for this race.

Total time: 2:15:01 (10:18 min/mi)

-StewsCat