On my way home, I swung by the expo at the OC Fair & Event Center hoping to do a quick packet pick-up. It opened at 4 pm and I was there about a quarter after 4. When I got to the Santa Ana Pavilion, there was a very long line that snaked back a forth a few times. They were controlling the influx of the people into the expo. It certainly helped to keep the place from being overcrowded and the volunteers from being overwhelmed. We had to fill out and sign a waiver in order to pick up our bibs. After getting my bib, I got my shirt. It looked okay, but the quality was really cheap. It was good seeing my friend, Dexter, who was there as a volunteer. After that I went to go visit the vendor booths. I remembered first to buy a parking permit for $8. It would be $10 on race morning. There wasn't much to see or purchase so I left after saying hi to my friend, Alberto, who was passing out info cards at the Malibu half marathon booth.
Super long line getting into packet pick-up
Parking at the finish for $8
5/6 Saturday
I would be running this race as a WE ROCK charity runner. If you want to know more about WE ROCK (We Run Orange County’s Kids) and what the non-profit charity is all about, go here. Unfortunately I was unable to secure a shirt, so it would be the standard Marathon Maniacs shirt for race day!
Flat runner
5/7 Sunday
As I was getting ready to go to the race, I heard the sound of light rain. I seriously thought about taking a DNS and not running this race. One last check of the weather forecast showed that the chance of rain would be about 20%. Anyways I got to the race at about 3:30 am. The race instructions had us take the 55 South exiting at Fair Dr. Then the road signs instructed us to turn right at Mesa Dr. Once parked, I got on one of the buses headed to the starting area. It was a bit chilly and windy, so I was glad that I had worn my arm sleeves. From the drop off spot at Fashion Island, I headed straight for the Marriott. I found the restroom with the most number of stalls to take care of my morning bowel movement. After taking care of business I met up with an old church friend. We caught up a bit before I left to go meet up with my fellow Marathon Maniacs for our customary pre-race photo.
Marathon Maniacs
Photobomb!
Start line
No pain, no beer!
The race was dry until we started running. Then it started to sprinkle. Then the sprinkle turned into rain. Then the rain got progressively harder during the next couple of miles where it was a downpour. I would hear later from my friends that it hailed while they were waiting to run the half marathon. Instead of waiting in the corral, everyone went to seek shelter! For the first 10k, I ran pretty well under control. Then by mile 8 as the course went around the Back Bay, I felt the fade setting in. The pace dropped, but I kept plodding along. What really was bothering me was the tendinitis in my left ankle. I felt it during last weekend's run and it flared up earlier this time. Between miles 10 and 11, we ran up a steady incline up Irvine Ave from Santiago Dr. I started noticing that there were many snails all over the road. Most of them were on the right side of the road. I tried my best to not step on them. As I was jogging along, I heard the sound of whistles coming from behind me. They were course marshals on their bicycles warning us that the elite half marathon runners were quickly approaching. We were instructed to give them the left side of the road. I also heard a basketball being dribbled. I knew that that had to be Marathon Mitch. I pulled over to take a picture of him which came out rather blurry since the lens had gotten wet from the rain. He certainly has been running much better lately.
Marathon Mitch
The second half of the race was very slow going. I had anticipated it being difficult, but I still had a hard time dealing with it. I had to walk a good majority of it, because I wanted to make sure that I didn't really mess up my ankle with the Tinker Bell races and Brooklyn Half Marathon coming up.
It's an alien, but it looked like death was looming over me at Area 21!
During the last few miles, my friend caught up to me to take his usual sneak attack photo. His photo captured just what kind of a rough day I was having. As Kevin Spacey's character in Horrible Bosses had said, "you can't win a marathon without putting some band-aids on your nipples!" :) Out of the 186 marathons that I've run, this was the first time that I got bloody nipples from chafing. Originally he was going to run it in with me, but he went on ahead to try and finish under 5 hrs.
"You can't win a marathon without putting some band-aids on your nipples!"
During the final mile or so, a guy with a gimpy stride came up to me and we leapfrogged each other. We ended up encouraging each other to push just for a little farther. However my left ankle was really bothering me, so I was taking a lot of walk breaks. Every bit of me just wanted to walk it in. Once I made it onto the fairgrounds, I convinced myself to run it in.
Finish: 5:15:16
Click here for my Garmin data.
After I crossed the finish line, I slowly made my way over to the volunteers that were handing out the finisher medals. I didn't notice it until I got home, but I liked that the medal had a cool design on the back with a nice description of The OC! I waited a bit for my fellow runner that was struggling with me. I wanted to congratulate and thank him for talking to me and motivating me to move forward. Afterwards I picked up some drinks and post race snacks before limping over to the Santa Ana Pavilion to pick up my Double Dog Dare medal. After my little fiasco at Walt Disney World, I wasn't about to forget about an extra challenge medal. Right before going inside, I bumped into a couple of my faster friends. We shared our race stories for a bit and I gave them my beer ticket before I parted ways with them.
Finisher medal
Back of medal
Post race snacks
Double Dog Dare
For this race, I carried two handhelds both filled with Tailwind. For the most part, it worked well. I didn't have to take salt, gels, or blocks. Still there is no magical replacement for being out of shape. I'm still only in shape for about 10 miles. So it doesn't help to put in high octane fuel when you're driving on flat tires. :)
I made it back to the car and started packing up my stuff. There was a bit of a wind gust and it blew one of my plastic bags away. That was not fun chasing down the bag with my gimpy legs especially since it went underneath a nearby car. After that, I changed into the clean and dry race shirt before heading home.
Later that evening my family and I went out for dinner to celebrate my dad's birthday. Since sushi is my dad's favorite food, we went to our favorite local sushi restaurant, Ninja Sushi. This was the perfect recovery meal for me since it was mostly protein.
Birthday dinner for dad
No comments:
Post a Comment