Big Beach Half Marathon, Gulf Shores, AL, January 2023

I can't remember why we decided to run this race. It wasn't a state Jamie or I needed to run in since we ran a marathon in Mobile back in 2012. I think I became interested in it when Toby's brother ran it as his first marathon last year. That's when I first heard of it at least. In summary, it is a great race! Most of the courses are entirely within the Alabama Gulf State park, on asphalt trails winding through native wetlands, Shelby Lakes, and campgrounds, finishing alongside the Gulf beach in front of "The Hangout" restaurant and bar. It's a fairly new race (this was their 9th year), and appears to be growing in popularity every year. Gulf Shores itself is a great place to visit as well. Ok on to the race report...

At first I thought I'd run the full marathon, but after a couple of long training runs I decided to sign up for the half marathon instead. I felt like I was taking on too much trying to build back my base from my summer injury at the same time. Robin decided to come with us, as she did need to run a marathon in Alabama, and Toby signed up for the full because he's on a roll, so why not? Jedonna and Jamie signed up for the half.  

This race has a really unique challenge aspect. There's a 7K race held on Saturday. If you run the 7K and the half marathon you get a dolphin medal (which hangs from hooks on the half marathon medal), and a shark medal if you run the 7K and the full marathon. Of course Toby and Robin wanted the shark medal, because the shark medal was very cool, and Jamie wanted the dolphin medal. Jedonna and I had zero interest. Now if they had had an octopus medal...At any rate this was a great little race held in the park near the expo/packet pick up area, so it's a great way to get in a shake out run if that's your thing.

The expo and packet pick up was OK. Most days these things are "not what they used to be", with much fewer vendors, but they did have a pet snake from the zoo, which Robin and I adored and petted while the others stared with horror. I was really disappointed to see that they didn't have any race gear for sell. As this race grows I hope they add this. Our race shirts were long sleeved tech tops at least.

The weather on Saturday was near perfect. And you know what that means...Sunday's weather was NOT...It was 61 degrees and humid at 6:00 AM. With the hope of rain or at least cloud cover we thought we'd fare well enough, but as we walked to the start, our friend the sun was there to greet us.

It was a bit of a scramble at the start, since we only gave ourselves enough time to check our bags and line up, but the moment of the National Anthem, beautifully sung, was perfect for the setting of intention and gratitude. Oh how I love these big starts!

The first mile of the race is on a pretty wide road, which is good, since both the half and the full started together. Right off the bat I put on my sunglasses, dammit. It was warm, really warm already. The 2:15 pacer was nearby. She was running the pace I wanted to run, but too chatty to get too close to. We were still a bit too bunched up when we entered the park and hit the trail, but it did spread out over the next few miles. I really liked this park! The asphalt trail was in pristine shape! There were some tiny rollers and a few twists and turns, but overall very pleasant, that is except for the wooden bridges. Sigh....I absolutely HATE wooden bridges. And there were a lot of them! At first, just a few shorter ones, but later into the race they seemed to get longer and longer. They were in pretty good shape though, and since we didn't get the promised rain they weren't slippery wet either. And some said it was to protect us from alligators below, so there's that. No, I won't pet an alligator!

We split from the full marathoners on our 8th mile. Even though I was still feeling good and running an OK pace at this point I was SO happy to take the half turn! My clothes were soaked and I had already taken 3 electrolyte pills. Oh I want to point out that they had something on the course I have never seen before! At the water stops they had water in these funky pliable rubber cups that are REUSABLE! They get cleaned and used at another local race. What a fantastic idea! The company is called Hiccup.

After mile 9 things started going sideways, as expected. I tried to make the most of it, but was growing tired of being in the park. It was getting hot in there, and the breeze from the upper boardwalk stretches was starting to feel nice. The worst section (and I believe I can say this for the full too) was where we came off a wooden bridge through a campground of large RVs, no trees, sun beating down, then onto this:

The only real hill on the course

When you came off of this you were finally out of the park, onto Beach Blvd, back to the finish line. Although we were running alongside a somewhat busy road it was nice to be out in the open. It was a long stretch though! Somewhere along here the 2:15 pacer came by, silent and lonely. Sorry, I got nothing for you! I was always looking ahead for that left turn, and it doesn't come until you really are "almost there".  This short little stretch next to the beach was a great finish!

I quickly found the "J girls" and we proceeded to partake in the post race festivities until the marathoners would come in. Toby's brother Darius was on the course giving us Toby updates. Strangely enough there were no chip mats on the course, so we had no idea how Robin was doing. I was worried for both of them, but they rocked the marathon! And they got their sharks!!!

Stats:

Jamie: 1:56, 4th in 45-49

Jedonna: 1:59 1st in 60-64, and the only sub 2 in our age group!

Me: 2:17 lost 5th by 20 seconds. Doh!

Toby: 3:20 1st in 55-59!

Robin: 4:13, 2nd in 50-54

All who placed got awards and beach chairs!

The full marathon medal with the shark!

The marathoners liked the course ok enough. Their route was mostly more of the same, zig zagging through the park some more. Toby actually liked the bridges. He said they were springy. We spent hours at the after party. The Hangout was great! They never ran out of food or beer! 

The next morning we woke up to near 70 degrees and dense fog, conditions even more horrendous for running! To top it off we came home to Dallas just in time to get iced in for 2 days! Oh January and your whacky weather.