44th Annual Beach to Bay comes to a close

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Thousands of people travel to Corpus Christi every year to take part in Beach to Bay and new participants join each time.

“It's my first time doing it,” first-time runner, Lissa Buitron said. “I've always wanted to do it. I'm an avid runner and this has always been on my bucket list.”

She said although she can cross this off her bucket list not everything went according to plan.
She was still recovering from pneumonia and didn't get to adequately train because she just got out of the hospital.

“I recently had surgery so I had to start all the way from ground zero with my running again and that was a hard point for me, but this absolutely brought my spirits back up,” she said.

Buitron wasn't the only one who wasn't in ideal running condition.

“I don't know expect myself to be in the hospital after this because I haven’t trained either,” first-time runner, Natalie Sanchez.

She said she filled in for a co-worker last minute.
Her motivation for completing the race?

“My motivation is you got to go to the bathroom at the end,” Sanchez said. “You really do.”

On the flip side, runner Kevin Baez has been training for this race intensely.

“We just run every day non-stop, occasionally we take a day off to rest our bodies, but it's usually just lower mileage,” he said.
Baez ran the first leg of the marathon and finished first.
He said while running through the sand wasn't easy...the whole experience was rewarding.

“It was amazing just seeing a bunch of people out here cheering you on,” he said. “It feels really good.”

Baez's team, Alamo City Running Club finished second place overall.