I was pretty much set on not running this race because they could not secure a permit to hold the marathon. Their longest distance would be the half marathon. I was also looking to give my sore left ankle some time off. But come Saturday morning, the ankle felt pretty good so I thought I'd give it a go. The expo this year was at the Fuller Seminary. It was a teeny tiny expo. It was kind of disheartening to see a race shrink year after year. I found the registration table and signed up for the half marathon for $114. Then I got in line to pick up my shirt and bib. They were giving out jars of Biscoff spread in the goodie bags. I thought the shirt design was very strange, very similar to that fugly first Stadium to the Sea LA Marathon shirt.
Expo at Fuller Seminary
Race shirt and Biscoff spread
Sunday
I drove out to PCC and took all of the back roads to avoid the traffic. I got to the usual parking lot at about 5:30am. It always helps to have gone here to take some classes back in the day to know the area. It was already pretty warm. After using the portapotty, I sat on some stairs to wait for the start. While waiting, I bumped into a couple of my friends. As we were waiting we saw a small dog in a stroller. How nice it is to be a cute small dog, but what a warm day for a ride. I wore my cotton McDonald's t-shirt to remind myself to just take it easy. I think cotton also helps as a swamp cooler in warm weather.
Doggy getting a ride
The first two miles were ok, but felt awkward. Then it quickly went downhill from there. As we did an out and back on the Suicide Bridge, I was already having to slow down. By the time we got to the Rose Bowl, I was burning up. I had to pull over and walk to cool down. I was able to speed up a little bit once there was some shade. While I was headed on my way out of the Rose Bowl, I overheard a couple of the walkers near the back of the pack comment on my shirt. One said to the other, "why is he wearing a McDonald's shirt?" The other replied, "maybe he was once fat." :) Once we were exposed to the sun again I slowed down especially when we got to the hill leaving the Rose Bowl. Thank goodness they were passing out lots of water and wet towels. After getting through the climb, it was a pretty nice run to the finish if it weren't so hot. I was dumping water on my head and neck. Once I got on Colorado Blvd, it was a start shot to the finish. The McDonald's where I used to eat breakfast all the time while going to PCC was like the Citgo sign at Boston. The finish line was just up ahead.
Finish line is right up ahead
1: 8:22
2: 8:47
3: 8:56
4: 10:38
5: 12:33
6: 14:17
7: 10:04
8: 10:54
9: 11:50
10: 13:02
11: 12:25
12: 11:39
13.1: 11:51
Finish: 2:25:18
Looking at my mile splits. I should've just run the 5k. :)
There wasn't much given out at the finish line by the time that I finished. Water was already pretty scarce. The volunteers were doing the best they could to help everybody out. I always make it a point to bring my own water bottle so I could at least be fine if nothing were given out at the finish. Then I picked up by far the ugliest medal that I ever did see. Granted I don't really run races for medals but please don't give me some ugly piece of crap. I personally think only winners and people on the podium should get anything. I wish more races would reduce their registration fees and stop giving out participation medals. Maybe participation ribbons... I'm sure they're much cheaper.
Cheapest and ugliest medal out of all of the races that I've run
To add insult to injury, at about 20 minutes after I finished, the finish line announcer informs the finishers that they have run out of finisher's medals. Finishers not receiving a medal would have to email them so that they can order more and send them out. I would later hear that the volunteers were not well trained and were giving half marathon medals out to runners in the shorter distances. Wow... what a way to go out if this was their swan song. It would also appear that this was the last year for the race director which made sense since he was heavily promoting his other race (Huatulco Marathon) in Mexico.
2 comments:
That's sad... I saw you out there (I was dressed as Sailor Moon at Mile 11). Good job braving the heat and humidity.
Sailor Moon, eh? I don't remember seeing you. Probably too busy trying to survive the heat. :)
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