Huntington Beach resident grateful to run as Surf City Marathon returns

The Surf City Marathon doesn’t take place on Super Bowl Sunday this year, as it has in years past.

With the NFL extending its regular season this year, the Super Bowl got pushed back, so the marathon comes first. More than 11,000 runners will take to downtown Huntington Beach on Sunday morning, with the marathon, 5K race and half-marathon all happening then.

Huntington Beach resident Tiffany Costello loves that kind of environment.

Costello, 25, will be racing in the half-marathon. She aims for a top-three finish among women competitors. When the postponed 2021 Surf City half-marathon was held last September, Costello finished as the ninth-fastest woman, in 1 hour, 24 minutes and 25 seconds.

Those times are fast for anyone, but they’re especially impressive for a woman who underwent brain surgery last May to deal with epilepsy.

“I feel extremely blessed,” she said. “Looking at me four years ago, I never would have thought I would have done these marathons, had brain surgery, had two or three jobs and working around them. The biggest thing I’m grateful for is having friends and family support me.”

Costello, a former running standout at Tesoro High and Santa Barbara City College, has had epileptic seizures for basically her whole life. She had the surgery as a corrective measure; after a few months away from the sport she got back into running.

She hasn’t had a seizure since.

Costello ran the California International Marathon in 2018, and was just fast enough — with a time of 2:45 — to qualify for the Olympic Trials Marathon in Atlanta in 2020.

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“It was great for me to meet the people that have the same passion,” said Costello, who finished that Olympic Trials race in 2:56:19. “I literally loved being around those types of people all day. That’s why I like going to races two or three days prior, to be in a good environment and atmosphere around people who understand why we train the way we do on a daily basis.”

The brain surgery didn’t derail her. Last year’s Surf City half-marathon was her first race back, and she has ramped up her speed and mileage since then.

Costello said she will have a full array of family and friends there supporting her on Sunday, including her parents Kevin and Annette, her brother and sister. She’s also using the race as a sort of warm-up for the Boston Marathon in April, which will be her third full marathon.

“Running is great, but the most important thing for our family and for Tiffany is that we’re going on eight months without a seizure,” Kevin Costello said. “She’s really going in the right direction, and it’s pretty emotional. She’s worked her tail off.”

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