Celebrating 300 Lifetime Half Marathons at the Surf City Half

Natalie Uyeno (HF17314, MM15186, DA3505) – A very special Medal Monday! I completed my lifetime 300th half marathon at the Surf City Half in Huntington Beach, CA yesterday and I got to help friends celebrate some big milestones of their own too! 🥳 I also got to meet the prez, Steven Yee pre-race and a few other Maniacs/Fanatics from all over the country, which was a pleasant surprise!
This race was my 3rd lifetime half back in 2018 and I’m a 7-year legacy runner for it, so it was the perfect place to complete my 300th lifetime half so I could celebrate with lots of friends!
I started out pretty strong, but once I hit the final turnaround to head to the finish, that cold headwind kicked my butt for the last 5-6 miles! 😩 I’m currently battling Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer, which has spread into my ribs and spine. Once the cold chilled my bones, the pain was too intense to keep running, so I had to walk most of those last 5 miles. Although this was a PW for this race by 24 minutes, I still finished!
I was happy to help other friends celebrate their big milestones of hitting their 100th half (Elizabeth Fellows Wade), 100th marathon (
Michael Schwartz), 50th marathon by age 50 (
Charles Eberhart), and getting a BQ on her 20th anniversary of winning the marathon at Surf City (
Tracy Thomas). I was thankful that despite the cold weather, several friends had waited for me to finish so we could celebrate post-race in the beer garden!
Back in 2017 when I was new to running I never thought that I could ever run a half marathon! I’m thankful for all of the crazy Maniac/Fanatic friends that I’ve made through this group who encouraged me to go for these lofty goals!