Per the usual, after watching some of the early morning English Premier matches, I drove out to the Santa Clarita Half Marathon race expo located at the Westfield Valencia Town Center. It was pretty much on the other side of the freeway from Six Flags Magic Mountain. I had not been there in many years, so I had definitely forgotten how long the drive was. The logistics for this race was really easy. Everything was located at the mall. There were plenty of mall parking right next to everything. I found a spot and walked over to the expo area. It was quite busy as I had gotten there just as the runners were coming in for the 5k and 10k races. I picked up my race bib on one end of the expo and was directed to the other end for my race shirt. I also picked up the race packet for my friend who was busy running more races elsewhere. Since it was pretty crowded, I decided not to stick around and started heading home.
Race shirt
Sunday 11/4
I timed it so that I would arrive at about 6 am, about an hour before the start of the race. It was pretty smooth sailing until I was about an exit or 2 from where I needed to exit. Caltrans had shut down all but 1 lane. Nice. Good thing I always make it a point to get to races early, so it didn't really delay my arrival too much. Once I had arrived and parked, I went over to use one of the portapotties. They had brought out some of the fancier ones that I've never seen at the hundreds of races that I've run. First, they had light indicators on the door handles to tell you which ones were occupied. Second, they had fans inside to circular the air. Third, the toilets flushed! Fourth, there were sinks inside for you to wash your hands!
Fancy portapotties
After taking care of business I went back to my car to relax a bit before heading over to the starting line. My friend texted me to let me know that he was running late and to meet him at the starting line with his bib. I then grabbed my stuff and walked over to the starting line which was located just underneath the pedestrian overpass over on Magic Mountain Parkway. I waited for my friend on the median just across from the Chick-fil-A. He would show up just under 10 minutes before the start of the race. That's cutting it very close! :)
Pre-race with Latino Heat
Course map
Finish: 1:49:02
Click here for my Garmin data.
Right before the start of the race, the announcer said that for this year, the course had been changed a bit to give us a better course. I know some of my friends in the past had complained that the course was absolutely boring. I thought that this year's half marathon course was pretty nice. Although I might not be the best to ask since there are very few races that I do not like.Relive 'Santa Clarita Half Marathon'
Anyways, I was glad that I was able to keep things together well enough to finish under 1:50. After the last 3 weekends, I was starting to think that I was stuck in a 1:53:xx rut. I knew that I had a better chance today since the courses for the past 3 weekends were significantly hillier than today's course.
After getting my finisher medal, a banana, a Kind protein bar, and a bottle of chocolate milk, I made my way over to my car to put my stuff away. I then used one of the portapotties before hitting the road for the drive home.
Finish line
Medal and post race food
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