I registered for the Surf City 10 run back in January of this year. However, I had a few other races in the mean time so those races forced me to start training for this race earlier than I usually would. You can check out the number of miles and time spent running each month in the screenshot below. There were a few months where I almost hit 100 miles! But it was hard enough as it was to even run those miles, with so many other obligations and responsibilities. I started running consistently in January as a New Year’s Resolution and am happy to have been able to maintain that schedule pretty regularly. I basically forced myself to wake up around 6am every day and just get out of bed and run. Those first few weeks were the hardest because it was still wintertime and it was pitch black and freezing cold (think 40 degree temps). Most days I just wanted to stay in bed where it was nice and warm. But I knew I would have regretted not going for a run that day, so that didn’t happen often. As the months went by and the sun started coming out earlier in the morning, it became less of a drag to get up to run. The summer was nice because I was able to just get out of bed and go for a run in the shorts and t-shirt I slept in. And because I was up earlier in the morning, I avoided the afternoon heat.
Most people like to train in the conditions that they will be racing in. And a few months ago, they announced that the Surf City 10 will actually be a night time race. I’ve never liked running in the mornings because my body is never truly awake, so it takes me a few miles to loosen up and get comfortable. Whenever I ran after work, my pace would be significantly faster. It was most likely because I was awake all day and had food in my body from lunch. But when you race at night, you do want to be careful about what you eat just before the race (I guess it’s the same for a morning race). I remember when I ran the Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas half marathon a few years ago, I had to avoid the buffets that morning and afternoon because I knew I would have been too stuff to run later that evening. The start of the Surf City 10 is at 6:30pm which is perfect timing to be running just before the sun sets. It’ll be hard to not stop and take a photo of the sunset, but I may have to just enjoy the view and remember that moment.