Palm Desert Half Marathon 2020

Sunday 2/9
The final race instructions had stated that race packet pick-up would start at 5:30 am, so I left the house at about 4 am. I made good time on the freeway and arrived at the City of Palm Desert Civic Center Park at about five minutes before 5:30 am. Having run this race last year, I knew that the packet pick-up location was in the gazebo, directly North of the Dreamer. Along the way, I decided to use the park restroom first before things got busy. After picking up my packet, I headed back to my car to get out of the chilly morning air.

Race bib

As the 7 am start of the race approached, I exited the car to look for the start line. It was in a different location this year. It was moved West a bit, closer to the road leading out to San Pablo Ave. My friends and I had to kind of guess since the race organizer hadn't set up the start line arch yet. The start of the race was delayed for a few minutes. The race announcer did let us know that due to the coronavirus over in China, the finisher medals unfortunately did not arrive in time for the race. There would be no finisher medal waiting for us at the finish line. :(

Half Fanatics

The Flash!

I've been making an effort these days to not run any more doubles whether it's a pair of half marathons and definitely not a double full marathon. However late last year, I had decided to make a push to run my 200th half marathon at the Nike LA 13.1 on April 5th. So here I was running a second half marathon in as many days. It just so happened that I ran this race for the first time last year and it was also a half marathon double.

Going into the race, I had planned to take regular walk breaks after reaching each mile. However I felt really good during that first mile, so I kept on running. After seeing my pace for that first mile, I made sure to pull back on the pace for the second mile. After reaching mile 2, it was a steady climb up to mile 5. That climb wore out my legs as I didn't have much for that long downhill stretch on Gateway Dr down to Dinah Shore Dr. That was followed by an uphill climb up Portola Rd. I had to take 3 extra walk breaks during that 8th mile. From there it was mostly downhill to the finish, but I was pooped. I was much relieved after making the right turn onto Magnesia Falls Dr which got me to mile 11. There was only 2 out-and-backs before entering the park for the finish line. Just like last year, I was dealing with leg cramps. I saw a couple of my friends quickly gaining on me which kind of motivated me to try and keep on moving. Although I was able to hold them off, I wasn't able to come in under 2 hrs.

Rounding the last corner

Finish line

Finish: 2:00:30
Click here for my Garmin data.

After the race, I met up with my friend and got some post race goodies which included tortilla chips, breakfast burrito, fruit, and a small bottle of water. I was hoping for some free ice cream from the truck, but it wasn't free.

Post race goodies

No free ice cream :(

After we were done with our food, we headed back to the last corner to wait for our friends and to cheer on runners. It was nice to enjoy the great weather while meeting some nice looking doggies and checking out some of the statues inside the park. 

Doggies

Mr. Thompson

Amador representing Team Red, White, and Blue!

Dreamer

The drive home took a bit longer as the Waze app notified me that there was heavy congestion on the 60 freeway due to a major car accident. I got around it by taking the 10 freeway and cutting back down the 15 freeway to the 60.