Humbolt Redwoods Half Marathon

So last weekend I ran the Humboldt Redwoods Half Marathon! I grew up in Southern Humboldt and I thought is would be so fun to run a half marathon at home! Boy I wasn't disappointing! It was super fun and the course was beautiful. I convinced my three siblings to do it with me and that made it even more special.

This is my race report! The course is very flat over all with some minor grades and a couple of small overpasses. I had to walk up one overpass about 50 yards or so and that was it. Sooooooo my 3 siblings and I hit the course together and only stayed together for about .5 of a mile. Tommy my 26 year old brother had not even run a mile in preparation for the race! He drank beer the night before and went to bed late! Yeah he beat me! I am not bitter at all:) My younger sister Isla had trained a little but not much more then Tommy, also went out the evening before and did great in the race! Unfortunately for her at mile 11 she couldn't take the shin splints anymore and mom saved her from the course! Great job Isla 11 miles is nothing to sneeze at! Oh and poor Nina! She is one tough cookie let me tell you! She ran with me for the first couple miles and then went on ahead since she is fast! She has been struggling with her IT Bands and feet four years and they were no exception on race day. She ran the first 10 or more miles before she couldn't run anymore! At that point she was determined to finish even though her leg kept trying to collapse on her! She carried on and she even ran the last 200 yards to the finish! I passed her at mile 10.5ish and she was walking almost as fast as I run at that point! I am soooooo proud of her and I hope she does another half when we figure out those inguries! I think she needs to challenge Tommy again because she can soooo beat him! Oh and he needs it! So I ran my steady pace the entire race, I enjoyed the trees and found people to talk to! It was awesome. I finished in 2 hours and 18 minutes and beat my goal by 5 minutes. I am soooooooooo happy with how it all turned out. It was an amazing experience to be on the race course with my family! My mom kept driving to different spots and cheering us on! I will cherish this forever:) So if your thinking of doing this race my only complaint was the post race food. There was no protein at all and the fair was sparse. By the time I got somewhere that I could get a meal I was feeling pretty crappy. So if you do the race you may want to pack a sandwich to eat in your car post race:)