After watching a few of the early English Premier League matches, I got ready to head out to the LA Convention Center for the race expo. I drove out to the Sierra Madre Villa Metro Station to catch the light rail. I took that into Union Station where I transferred over to the Purple/Red line getting off at 7th St/Metro Center. From there I transferred to the Expo line for a quick ride down to the Pico Station. It was good to see that most of the construction was near finished, so I was able to take 12th St over to Hall A of the convention center.
The packet pick-up process was once again very well streamlined. However the expo itself was pretty disappointing and pathetically small. I saw a few cost saving measures in place which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. For one, the race shirt was no longer printed on a Brooks or another branded shirt. It was just a generic black tech shirt. Since I'm not a fan of polyester "tech" shirts, I couldn't care less. There weren't very many vendor booths compared to years prior. They certainly didn't need to rent that much space at the convention center for this race expo.
Race shirt
One thing that was out of the norm was that they were not taking pre-registrations for next year's race. I inquired about that at their booth and the rep basically told me to wait for an email when registration is open.
Slightly modified course for this year
Expo haul
Sunday 10/28
I timed my drive out to the Sierra Madre Villa Metro Station so that I would get there in time for the first train at about 4 am. As I got to the turnstile, there was a poor guy there that wasn't aware that the light rail doesn't run 24 hrs. I'm not sure how long he had been waiting there. He was wanting to head Eastbound on the Gold line and asked if I knew if the train was coming. I told him that the first Westbound train was at about 4 am, so the one for Eastbound should be there shortly. I took the same route as yesterday.
Once I had arrived at the Pico Station, I walked over to the starting area and started heading over to the gear check area at LA Live. I noticed that it was quite foggy, just the perfect conditions for a Halloween themed race! Before checking-in my bag, I used one of the nearby portapotties. Then on my way over to the starting corrals, I bumped into someone I knew. After chatting for a bit, I used another portapotty to empty out the bladder one last time. I bumped into the usual suspects while waiting in the starting corral. It was also great to see a couple of friends that I haven't seen in a while.
Start corral
The race started at about a quarter after 6 am. Per the usual, we headed South on Figueroa St. This year we didn't run as far South in years prior as we never got to the LA Coliseum. Instead we made an u-turn at Jefferson Blvd at about 1.5 miles in. After that it was a very gradual uphill climb up to Wilshire Blvd. I didn't feel too much zip in my legs as this was my 3rd half marathon in as many weekends. Before turning West onto Wilshire, we ran up a block for a short little out and back. We would then stay on Wilshire for about 4 miles before making an u-turn. Since we didn't run to the Coliseum, we had to make up the mileage here as we ran all the way out to Rimpau Blvd with the turnaround at about 8.25 miles into the race. My legs were feeling pretty spent for the return trip up to Figueroa. During the last couple of miles, I had to pull over for a quick walk break here and there as my legs were cramping up. My legs couldn't do much once I finally got over the 110 overpass and it was just a downhill run to the finish line at LA Live.
Finish line
Finish: 1:53:12
Click here for my Garmin data.
After crossing the finish line, I got my medal. I liked this year's design as it was clean and simple. I saw a couple of my faster friends taking pictures off to the side. After saying hi, I continued down the finisher chute picking up some post race drinks and snacks.Relive 'Los Angeles Rock n Roll Half Marathon'
Finisher medal
Closeup of finisher medal
Post race snacks and drinks
While I was hoping to have finished closer to 1:50 or below, I was happy that I was able to maintain a good effort throughout the majority of the race. I was also pleased that I was able to maintain consistency over the last 3 races, finishing all of them in 1:53:xx.
Once again they had the post race festivities and gear check up on the top floor of the West Lot parking structure. We had to climb a couple flights of stairs to get there. After I got my gear bag and chatted a bit with one of my good friends, I gave away my beer ticket before heading out.
I started my walk up to the 7th St/Metro Center via Figueroa St. I bumped into a few familiar faces along the way. Eventually I stopped at the corner of Wilshire Blvd and Figueroa St to cheer on the runners. It was pretty cool to see some of the costumes that people wore. There were a bunch of skinny Care Bears out there! One of my friends was dressed up as the Snapchat pizza prayer bitmoji. One guy was dressed up as the Monopoly guy. When I pointed that out, he gave me a property piece, Reading Railroad. I guess that's one way to keep the race interesting and interact with the spectators. I waited until I saw one of my old running friends run by. After that, I walked over to the Metro station to catch a ride back to my car.
@blingwhore as pizza prayer bitmoji running with one of the Care Bears
Number of finishers:
This year: 4,796
2017: 7,290
2016: 10,173
After seeing that downward trend of finishers, I'm not very hopeful that there will be a race next year. If there is, it will be their 10th year. If not, I wouldn't mind, because it would free me up to run one of my favorite marathons, the Marine Corps Marathon.
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