The packet pick up was scheduled to open at 10 am, so I drove out to the Sierra Madre Villa Metro station in Pasadena to take the Gold Line over to Chinatown. The first thing that I noticed when I got off at the Chinatown station was that the Blossom Plaza construction was finished. It looked pretty nice! I then walked up a block over to Broadway.
Gentrification of Chinatown
I was about 10 mins early, but they were okay with giving me my bib, race shirt, and drawstring bag. However the carbo load tables were not quite ready. They had me and other early birds line up against the railing. Just as with years past, it was a small doggy bag container with a small portion of noodles. Besides the noodle, there was not a whole lot of meat or anything. I actually had to add some soy sauce just to get some flavor.
Bib pick-up
Race shirt
Swag bag
Carbo-load
Doggy bag noodles
Fortune
After I was done eating the noodles, I walked around a little bit to check out the vendor booths. There wasn't much that interested me, but I did get a sample can of Yerba Mate. I then hopped back on the Metro Gold Line to head back home.
Bruce Lee statue
For lunch, I ate some more noodles over at the local noodle shop, NOODLEMii. After finishing lunch, I drove down to Brea to watch a new movie that had just been released, Annihilation. I pretty much will watch any movie that stars Natalie Portman. I enjoyed this movie in that it was somewhat similar to Arrival in pacing and story telling. However this movie was much weirder. I think I'll end up reading the book as most movie adaptations don't do the book any justice.
More noodles for lunch
Annihilation
After getting home from the movie, it was time to rest, relax, and lay out the flat runner for tomorrow's race. I decided to go with the appropriate Lunar New Year Disneyland Annual Passholder t-shirt that I had bought at Disney California Adventures during their Lunar New Year Festival.
Flat runner
Sunday 2/25
I got ready and rolled into the Sierra Madre Villa Metro Station at a little before 6:30 am. Once again, I took the Gold Line train over to Chinatown. The day started off a bit chilly so I wore arm sleeves as well as gloves. I arrived at the Chinatown Station about 10 minutes past 7 am. I walked over to the starting area to watch the opening ceremonies which included the lighting of the firecrackers. I made sure to stand far enough away just in case I was standing downwind. The firecrackers were loud!
Lighting the firecrackers
They were a bit behind schedule, so the 5k race started past the published 8 am start time. After the majority of the runners and walkers had crossed the timing mats, I made my way over to the portapotties to empty out the bladder before the start of the 10k race.
5k start line
Before lining up in the starting corral, I hung out a bit with Dexter who was one of the official race photographers. He was also running the 10k. I positioned myself about 2 or 3 rows from the front row. Per the usual, I saw Alberto the barefoot runner position himself in the very front. He's not a quick runner, but he told me that he starts in the front so that people don't step on his feet.
Dexter pulling double duty: official race photographer and 10k participant
10k start line
The race started about 7 minutes after the published 8:30 am start time. I could definitely sense the pent up energy from all of the participants standing around me right before we were released. When we were given the start command, I took off running pretty well. I tried to keep the pace in check as the first half of the race would be a steady climb. I started feeling overheated about 13 minutes in, so I pulled over to the side and walked a bit to cool down. Then at 20 minutes in, I took another walk break as I was laboring with my breathing. Once I crested the highest point of the course, it was good to finally cruise down the long stretch of downhill over the next couple of miles. It was cool to see my friend out cheering during this downhill section. There were 2 more inclines that I walked as my left glute and hamstring both felt really tight. Once I got on Bishops Rd and Broadway, it was downhill all the way to the finish line.
Free finish line photo
Finish: 52:15
Click here for my Garmin data.
This was only the third time that I've run this race and it was my slowest performance. Still I thought it was a fun event and I did the best that I could for today. Perhaps I should work on clearing up some of my niggles and wear a singlet next time to run a faster time. :)
After crossing the finish line, I got my medal, a bottle of water, a banana, and an apple. I went off to the side to eat the fruit while I waited for my friends to finish. I actually saw quite a few people that I knew. I ended up giving away my free beer ticket before hopping on the Metro Gold Line and heading home. While the race was somewhat poorly organized with the course usually on the short side, it was still a great event. I plan to participate each year as long as I physically able and can fit it into my race schedule.
Post race snacks and medal
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