Big Beach Half Marathon

One of this year's destination races was the Big Beach Half Marathon in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The morning of the race we got ready in Laura's parents' condo. I had packed a couple of neon green shirts and threw one on.

Almost everything about the race was perfect — nice weather, scenic course, well organized. The post-race offerings were amazing. There were the traditional offerings of orange slices and bananas, but there was also a box lunch of a large wrap (Laura got ham, and I got veggie), gumbo, chips, and a cookie along with two beer tokens (we only used one each).

I also had a great time running the entire race with Laura. It was awesome being able to chat with her for the race.

While almost everything about the race was excellent, it didn't all go well.

Around three miles into the race we went by a pace group. "Nice job 2:50," I cheered. Normally I get at least some smiles a waves, but instead I got confused looks.

As we passed another pace group, some said, "Are you a pacer?" "No," I said. "Just the same color shirt."

After this happened again, we figured out what was happening. I was wearing a shirt from when I paced City of Lakes Half Marathon. Not only was it the same color as the shirts the Big Beach pacers were wearing, it also said "pacer" on the back.

Once we'd made that connection, I turned my shirt around backwards and ran the rest of the racer with the "pacer" sign on front to reduce the confusion to other runners. 

I blame my wardrobe faux pas on getting dressed at five in the morning and not planning my race kit beforehand.

Still, it was an awesome race, and Laura, who's going to run a half marathon in every state, checked Alabama off the list. I'd definitely do this race again.