This weekend was an absolute blast. Officially, Surf City Half marked my 12th half marathon and the first race of the 2013. Excitement was in the air and seriously… who doesn’t love going to sunny destinations?

The weekend started off on Friday afternoon as Joe and I headed over to Sea-Tac airport. As soon as we got past the security check, I grabbed a few essentials like water and snacks. On my way back to the Virgin America terminal where Joe had been waiting, he waved me over quickly and pointed out Conan O’Brien. YES! The red-headed Conan. I never see “celebrities” of any sort, even when traveling, so this was awesome. I felt like such paparazzi.

Once we touched down into LA, our good friends Jay and Lindsay picked us up back to their place in Playa del Rey to finish packing up the Jeep. Of course, hunger called me and, as no California trip is complete without it, we headed over to In ‘n’ Out for a juicy burger and fries. Carboload me up, please.

After the In ‘n’ Out goodness, we headed over to Huntington Beach (about 40 minutes south of LA) to the house we were renting for Surf City weekend. This house was awesome:

• 3 floors
• 6 TVs (three in the living room… umm.. yes)
• Shuffleboard table on the 3rd floor
• Rooftop hot tub and fire pit
• 4 blocks walking to the beach

On Saturday morning, bright and early, I got up and walked about 1 mile from the house over to the Surf City race expo, located right off the beach on the Pacific Coast Highway across from the Hilton. On my way to the expo, I came across a cute cafe called Jan’s Health Bar and proceeded to order a very refreshing, freshly-juiced Carrot Ginger OJ drink. I’d highly recommend this place based on what I saw on the menu and the awesome 4.5 star Yelp reviews. Fresh, healthy, and delicious.

At the expo, I was very excited to finally meet Sarah, my Oiselle teammate and name twin. It’s always so much fun meeting teammates, new friends, and get to hang out in person! Photo borrowed from Sarah’s Instagram. 🙂

Have you gotten your Believe I Am Training Journal yet? If no, I recommend you check it out. It’s an awesome training tool and it’s also another awesome creation from Lauren Fleshman, professional runner, Oiselle teammate, and Picky Bars founder.

After walking around the expo with Sarah, we met up with Monica (Run Eat Repeat) and Sarah (Skinny Runner), both awesome bloggers and speedy runners. Again, so awesome meeting new like-minded runner friends! Picture borrowed from Sarah’s (Skinny Runner) blog.

By noon-ish, it was time to head back to the house as the boys were up and Lindsay was on her way back to Huntington Beach after having run The Color Run 5K in downtown LA. Check out the crazy hair post-race! (Picture borrowed from Lindsay’s FB)

The view of the beach on the walk back to the house:

Joe, Jay, and I were super famished so, after stopping at a place for more shuffleboard table wax, stopped at a restaurant called Big Belly Deli in Newport Beach. Their motto is “building better bellies.” How could we pass that up?

Big Belly Deli did not disappoint. The sandwich I ordered was insanely huge. I could only finish half.

After digesting a bit, we played some more shuffleboard and hung out on the rooftop. Of course, through out the day I was chugging my favorite hydration of choice, Nuun. The pink is Fruit Punch. Delicious.

Before I forget, here’s a shot of what I picked up at the expo: a couple of my favorite Gu in Chocolate Outrage, another SpiBelt since I forgot mine at home, Body Glide, and my first ever BIC Band per the recommendation of Sarah. The Gunmetal color was awesome. After having worn it a few times since then, definitely give it two thumbs up! No slippage, fashionable, functional, and comes in so many awesome colors and designs.

For the pre-race dinner, we headed over to a highly-rated Italian restaurant near where we were staying: Cucina Alessa. We all agreed that the food was fantastic! By the end of the dinner, all four of our plates were completely cleaned. I had their gnocchi. So, so good.

After dinner, I called it any early night while the rest of the group headed out for some Main Street fun. I had an early wake up of 5am to eat, so definitely needed some rest.

Coming up: race day and the day after fun. 🙂