Race packet pick-up wasn't scheduled to start until 10 am, so I spent the morning watching a couple of EPL matches. In between matches, I went out for a short run around the neighborhood. I ended up leaving the house at about 9:15 am. I don't like driving into the Downtown area, so I usually drive out to the Sierra Madre Villa Station to take the Metro rail. For a while I took the rail from the end of the Gold line at the APU/Citrus College Station until they started charging for parking. As I was nearly at the exit for the Metro station, the sedan that was ahead of me swerved twice, first to the left and then hard to the right where it almost crashed into the car in the next lane. It was possible that the driver spilled hot coffee or something as it resumed driving straight. I wasn't going to wait around for an encore, so I quickly changed lanes and went around the car. Once I had parked the car, I used one of the machines to add value to my TAP card. Originally I tried to add value on the website, but for some reason it was only allowing me to add passes and not monetary value.
I arrived in Chinatown a few minutes before 10:30 am. It was a short walk from the Metro station. Per the usual, there were quite a few participants from the 20 and 40 mile bike ride finishing up their morning ride. When I went to pick up my race bib, not only was I asked for a picture ID, but also the email that showed my name and bib number. I'm guessing that they've had problems with dishonest people picking up other people's bibs. Included in the race packet was the usual drawstring bag, Minute cilantro & lime instant Jasmine rice, a small bag of Cheez-It Grooves, and a nice cotton year of the rat race shirt.
Race shirt
Race swag
After I got my race packet, I got in line to pick up my carbo-load snack. That term was a bit of an oxymoron as it's just a small to-go container of noodles and a fortune cookie. I found a spot near the Nike tent to eat my little snack.
Carbo-load snack
Noodles
Fortune
After I was done with my snack and read my fortune, I walked around the Chinatown Central Plaza to check out the different vendor booths as well as my annual visit to the Bruce Lee statue. Most of the booths were either informational or selling stuff. There weren't much freebies being handed out. I did pick up a few of the sample sized Power Crunch bars.
Bruce Lee
After that, it was time to head home. While waiting for the next train, I noticed from the platform that just beyond the parking lot across the street, there was a lot of construction taking place. It would appear that they are still in the process of gentrifying the area with new buildings going up.
Chinatown gentrification
On my way home, I stopped at the McDonald's to pick up lunch. I placed my order on one of the kiosks. Using the mobile app, I got a QR code that was good for a large iced coffee for 99 cents. I added the standard 2 for $3 deal to get a McDouble and a McChicken sandwich.
McDonald's
Later that evening, I laid out my flat runner for tomorrow's race. Normally I would either wear a Dodgers shirt or a Chinese New Year themed shirt, but this time I went with whatever was handy and looked comfortable. It was the 10k shirt from Disneyland Paris that featured the characters, Pain and Panic.
Flat runner
Sunday 2/16
The opening ceremony was scheduled to start at 7 am. I timed it so that I would get there around that time. As I was about a few miles to the exit for the Metro station, I saw that the other side of the freeway was shutdown by the highway patrol. From what I could see, a car had rolled over in a major accident. Later in the evening, I saw in the news that the accident was caused by a wrong way driver.
Once I had arrived, I first used one of the portapotties located on College St before heading over to the start line area. They were setting up to light the firecrackers. I settled on the North side of the start line hoping that any wind was blowing South. Prior to the lighting of the firecrackers, they had the traditional lion dance by the Immortals lion dance team.
Start line
Dr Sun-Yat Sen
Ready to light the firecrackers
The firecrackers were lit at about 7:30 am and boy were they loud! Unfortunately I didn't have any ear plugs and the smoke was headed my way, so I walked about a block North to get away from it all. After it died down, I headed back to the start line to catch the start of the 5k run at 8 am.
Doggy
5k start
1st male 5k
Doggy runner
Watching the 5k while staying warm
1st female 5k
Buster
Then after the 5k walkers departed at 8:30 am, I made my way into the start corral. It was a bit chaotic as the 10k race was scheduled to start at 8:45 am. There were 5k stragglers still starting their walk. I'm still a bit baffled as to why there's a separate start for the 5k walkers. They really should just start them with the 5k runners, in the back if they don't want them to get in the way of the runners.
10k start
Per the usual, it was super congested during that first mile as year after year, walkers push their way to the front. Having run this race multiple times, I made sure not to go out too hard during the first mile as the first half was all uphill. I made it a goal this year to run as much as I could on that climb. For the most part, my pacing was much better this year, but I still had to walk a few times as I was starting to overheat. Once I hit the peak, it was a nice long stretch of downhill. It felt nice to clock a sub 7 min mile. There was one last climb as the course wrapped around the Southern end of Dodger Stadium along Stadium Way towards Bishop Rd. After turning back onto Broadway, it was less than half a mile to the finish line. I tried to run as hard as I could to get in under 50 minutes, but I went over by a few seconds.
10k finish
Finish: 50:05
Click here for my Garmin data.
After crossing the finish line and getting a beautiful finisher medal, I headed down the finisher chute where I was given a small bag of Cheez-It Grooves, fortune cookie, apple, banana, and a bottle of water. I had brought with me a small plastic bag to carry the post race goodies. I hung out at the end of the finisher chute near the corner of College St and Broadway to wait for my friends. It was pretty cool that I got to see a couple of my friends that I have not seen in a while. I was able to catch up with one of my running friends. It was sad to hear that his mom had recently passed away.
Post race goodies
Finisher medal
After I found my friend to whom I usually give my free beer ticket, I headed over to the Metro station to take the light rail back to my car.
No comments:
Post a Comment