Not since the 2007 Dana Point Turkey Trot 5 months ago, has Val entered and run a road race due an aggravating and persistent groin injury. Today was her “coming out party” and she barely lost a step.

Everything about this event was relaxed and went without a hitch. Val had been diligently training at things other than running in the months preceding, so that when her body said it was ok to race, she would be ready to go.

And ready she was. Val’s expectations were low and was really thrilled to be in this race and wanted to have fun. The Hermosa Beach 5K is a low-key local affair-the perfect first race back, with much of the event run on the beach strand and onto the pier.


Val ran pain free and happy and that was reflected in a time only a minute off her PR for the distance. Not bad at all considering she has only gone for a few short road runs and two of them were with slowpoke named MarkFu!

Val reported some after race pain so we hit it up with Advil and we will find out soon enough if this race was a good idea. But for this day, it was. She did great and we both enjoyed the beautiful, cool sunny morning in Hermosa Beach.

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