OC Half Marathon 2019

Friday 5/3
Per the usual routine for this particular race, as soon as I got off of work, I headed over to the parking lot near the baseball fields at TeWinkle Park. I always park here and walk over since I wasn't going to give them $9 just to pick up my race packet. Fortunately the nearby gate just North of The Hangar was left open, so I didn't have to walk all the way around.

Across the way from the Pavilion was the OC Legacy/VIP/Marathon Maniacs/Half Fanatics Lounge area. I had arrived at about 3:30 pm, 30 minutes before the expo was scheduled to open. There was already a line of about 50 people waiting. While waiting, I ended up talking to someone who had a kid in the WeROCK program. I always enjoy having random conversations with my fellow runners.

OC Legacy/VIP/Marathon Maniacs/Half Fanatics Lounge

Expo entrance

The expo opened promptly at 4 pm. After first picking up my bib and race shirt, I made my way inside the building for the rest of the expo. Along the way, I looked up my name on the participant names banner. It was a bit hard to read with the very bright sunlight in the background.

Race shirt

Back of race shirt

Participants name wall

Found my name

The first thing I did upon entering the expo was to pick up the OC Legacy gift which was a baby blue cup. It was an okay gift, but it looked kind of cheap. Another perk for being a "legacy" runner was that there were 2 beer tickets attached to the bib instead of 1.

OC Legacy booth

There weren't too many vendor booths that caught my attention. However I did take a can of watermelon sparkling water and a cup of Yooli strawberry farmers cheese. I tried the cheese when I got to the Marathon Maniacs/Half Fanatics booth and it was just plain gross. The consistency was kind of like cottage cheese, but it tasted nothing like strawberry. I had to toss it in the trash.

This was gross!

My friends at the booth noticed that my bib didn't have the Half Fanatics logo on it. They checked and verified that my name was on the Half Fanatics list. Unfortunately they had only brought enough luggage tags for those with the printed logo. I was okay with not having a tag. However in order for me to get into the post-race lounge on race day, I needed to go to the solutions booth to get a sticker placed on my bib. Back to the solutions booth I go. It was near the bib pick-up location. There was a rather long line. Thankfully the line was moving at a decent pace.

Latino Heat!

Solutions

After I got that all sorted out, I went back to hang out with my fellow Maniacs for a bit before heading on home. Unfortunately they had closed the gate that I had used to get in, so I had to walk all the way over to the OC Fair & Event Center Admin Building before I could exit out onto Arlington Dr.

Dexter!

Expo haul

Sunday 5/5
I got up pretty dang early to the make the drive out to Fashion Island. This year, I decided to go back to parking at the starting area. I stopped by the gas station along the way to fill up the tank. I arrived at about 4:30 am. I used to park in the lot next to Muldoon's Irish Pub, but for some reason it was roped off. I ended up parking across the lot near the Wild Strawberry Cafe. From there, I walked over to the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel.

A lot of runners congregate in this hotel before the race because of its proximity to the start line. I came here to use their restrooms and to meet up with the usual suspects. While waiting here, I also bumped into a few friends that I haven't seen in a while. Unfortunately a couple of the restrooms were out of commission so there were longer lines this year. After taking the pre-race Half Fanatics photo, I hurried back to the restroom to use the urinals one last time before heading to the start line.

Latino Heat

Half Fanatics pre-race photo

Start line

The race announcers, Rudy and Fitz!

Johnny and friends

I was trying to take it easy for the most part as I needed to beat my finishing time at the SF Half Marathon in July to earn the California Time Travel Challenge medal. However I still wanted to finish the race in just under 2 hrs. I ended up actually having to work a little bit during the last few miles in order to meet that time goal. It also didn't help that the 2 hr pace group went by me during the last couple of miles. I took my regular walk breaks and trusted in my mid-race time calculations to get me to the finish line on time. I would eventually pass that group during the last mile as they were adjusting for getting there ahead of schedule.

During the race, I was fortunate enough to see a few of my older Marathon Maniacs friends. I saw Joe Reilly around the Back Bay and I saw Dale before we reached the half marathon/full marathon split. It always inspires me that their fast days are long behind them, but they're still out there being active and doing the thing they love!

California Time Travel Challenge

Finish line

Finish: 1:58:49
Click here for my Garmin data.

Relive 'OC Half Marathon'

After crossing the finish line, I got my finisher medal. After having run the half marathon instead of the full marathon for the last two years, I'm kind of liking this event with not having to cover an additional 13.1 miles.

Finisher medal

Further down the finisher chute, I got a bag of goodies. I also got some chocolate milk, QURE water as well as other drinks. It was so much post race goodies that the handle on the plastic bag started to tear. Before heading to the post race lounge, I stopped by the Pavilion to pick up my Beach Cities Challenge medal. I liked the previous shark medal, but this whale medal just looked weird.

Post race goodies

Beach Cities Challenge medal

Closed

Open

I hung out a little bit with my friends in the lounge. I gave away my beer tickets before heading over to the sidewalk in front of the Centennial Farm to catch a shuttle back to my car. It was an uncomfortable ride on one of those orange school buses designed for kids. The bus driver dropped us off on the Northern end of Fashion Island, so I decided to cut through the mall to get back to my car. Along the way, I used one of the mall restrooms to empty my bladder before my drive home.

Double Agents!

La Jolla Half Marathon 2019

Saturday 4/27
I had a late start heading down to the race expo in Del Mar. I liked it when this race used to have race day packet pick-up for free. The expo was located at the Hilton San Diego/Del Mar hotel and was scheduled to open at 10 am. I got there at about 10:45 am while encountering some weekend traffic along the way. Per the final race instructions, I parked in the dirt lot just South of the hotel. There were a couple of people stationed there directing traffic.

One of the cool things that I saw right near the entrance of the expo was a horse that was there for you to sign and take pictures. It was a fairly small expo. After picking up my bib, race shirt, and a drawstring bag, I had to hurry out of there since I had a movie to catch over in Poway.

Race shirt

Back of shirt

Drawstring bag

I watched the Avengers: Endgame at the AMC Dine-In Poway 10. I made it just right before they started the previews. The theater was packed with every seat taken. I had a seat in the very first row so it was rather easy to find. I had the same viewing experience when I saw the Black Panther on opening night. You pretty much had to watch the movie from the fully reclined position. It was uncomfortable at first viewing it that close, but you get used to it. I thought the movie was much better the second time around. I was able to catch things that I kind of missed during the first viewing. Even though I knew the outcome, it was just as emotional the second time through.

After the movie, I drove over to the nearby La Quinta Inn near the 56 and 15 freeways. The motel was a bit tucked in the back. It wasn't quite visible from off of the main road, so you might miss it if you weren't paying attention. After getting checked-in, I grabbed my stuff from the car and dumped them in my room.

Since I didn't have a chance to eat lunch earlier, I walked across the street to eat a late lunch at McDonald's. I placed my order using one of their kiosks. I ordered 2 McDoubles for $3. Also by using the mobile app for the QR code, it allowed me to score a free order of medium fries. Thank you to the Padres for winning yesterday!

Free fries when the Padres win!

McDouble x2 for $3 and free fries

After finishing off my meal, it was time to relax a bit back in my room. While watching some TV, I heard about the shooting at the Chabad of Poway synagogue that took place earlier in the day. Such terrible times that we live in these days. The movie theater that I was at was about 6 miles away.

A few hours later, I went back to McDonald's to pick up dinner. I ordered 2 Quarter Pounders with cheese and a Happy Meal. It was much busier during this visit, so it took a while for my food to come out. When my food finally came out, I was ready to walk out and head back to my room. For some reason, I decided to check which Avengers toy they had thrown in there. It was a good thing that I checked, because they did not include the toy. They were quick to rectify the mistake once I notified one of the employees.

Dinner

Once I plowed through my dinner back at my room, I laid out my flat runner for tomorrow's race. I brought one of my favorite INK n BURN shirts.

Flat runner

Sunday 4/28
I got my stuff ready and headed out to the Del Mar Fairgrounds. I arrived at the same dirt parking lot at about 5:15 am. Even though the race was scheduled to start at 6:30 am, I still like to be there early. I grabbed my stuff and walked over to the fairground via the underpass. Since I was there pretty early, I got first crack at the restrooms. It was nice to be able to take care of the usual morning business with flushing toilets instead of using one of the portapotties.

Restrooms were open

After I was done, I walked around the place to check things out. Most of the stuff remained the same as when I had last run this race back in 2013. They had a stand near the starting line selling coffee. I don't remember that being there.

Morning coffee

I was headed back to the restrooms to use the urinals one last time. As I was headed there, a guy named Adam started a conversation with me because he saw me with my NYC Half Marathon mylar blanket. I guess they can be used as a conversation starter. It turned out that he had also run in the race. We had similar time goals for this race, so we both ended up starting in wave 2 with the 1:45 pace group.

Start line

For this race, I wanted to see how long I could maintain an 8 min per mile pace. The answer was 2 miles. Once I hit that incline at around mile 3, my breathing was getting out of control and I felt like I was overheating, so I decided to pull over for a walk break. I had totally forgotten just how hilly this course was after a 6 year hiatus. I tried to get the legs moving again after the long downhill leading up to the climb up Torrey Pines. That climb was just as brutal as I had remembered it. I remember being able to run non-stop up this section once or twice when I was in much better shape.

Just like old times, I got to see Coach Jimmy as I was running along Torrey Pines near the golf course. He was my coach when I ran a race for Team in Training. He was headed in the opposite direction of the race, so I figured that he was running back and forth, coaching his runners.

My legs had a difficult time handling the long downhill section along La Jolla Shores Dr. I was barely running a sub 9 min mile. It was much easier for me to handle that last uphill on Prospect during the final mile during which I had passed a runner wearing a rather large backpack. He would come sprinting past me on the grassy section right before the finish line. Someone sure lit a fire under his ass! :)

Finish line

Finish: 2:04:29
Click here for my Garmin data.

Relive 'La Jolla Half Marathon'

In the 8 years that I've run this race, I've never really run this race well. I couldn't break 2 hrs, but this was my 3rd fastest time for this course. I think what I ran this day was the best that I could do with my current level of fitness. I have been putting on more weight recently as I had switched to weight lifting to give my legs a break from running. I'm hoping to return to running more miles once my Achilles aren't so tight and sore.

After crossing the finish line, I got my finisher medal. The square medal was okay, but the lanyard was one of the better ones that I've seen in all of my years of racing. I also got a brown paper bag full of post race goodies. I drank the TruMoo and saved the rest for later consumption.

Finisher medal

Post race snacks

Post race area

Along the way over to the shuttle pick-up spot near the corner of Coast Blvd and Ocean St, I walked past the beer garden. I saw that they were serving Ballast Point beer. They brewed some of my favorites when I used to drink beers. I wonder if they or other craft breweries will ever start brewing anything non-alcoholic especially with the current Sober Curious movement.

Beer garden

Before getting in line for the shuttle back to my car, I took one last photo of my medal with the ocean in the background. One of the things that I miss about my undergrad days at UCSD was the close proximity of the beautiful La Jolla Cove! I used to come down here early in the morning to do my QT's.

Beautiful scenery at the cove