Per the usual, I didn't make my trip down to Carlsbad to attend the race expo until I was done watching the weekend English Premier League matches. My Spurs have been doing horrible this season. They played to a draw against lowly Watford. I guess that's to be expected with Harry Kane being out injured.
I swung by the usual Chevron gas station to fill up the tank before hopping on the freeway. With the later start time, I ended up being stuck in the usual southbound weekend traffic. It took almost 2 hrs to reach the race expo tent located in the parking lot at the western end of The Shoppes at Carlsbad Mall.
After parking my car, I picked up my race bib. Then that was followed by picking up a long sleeve race shirt, a ¼ zip finisher pullover, and a drawstring bag. As a resident of sunny Southern California, I am not a fan of long sleeve race shirts. It just hardly ever gets cold enough here to require a long sleeve shirt. They do come in handy if I ever need to wear a throwaway shirt while waiting in the start corral of a cold weather race. After a quick sweep of the vendor booths, I was out of there as there wasn't much that caught my eye.
Race shirt
Back of race shirt
¼ zip finisher pullover
Back of ¼ zip finisher pullover
Drawstring bag
After leaving the race expo and hopping into my car, I drove over to the nearby Chick-fil-A for lunch. The parking lot was a bit crowded so I ended up parking in the larger adjacent parking lot and walking over. Per the usual, I found a table and placed my order via their mobile app. The app notified me that I had a free reward good for 8 pc grilled nuggets. Score! Somehow they must have known that I had a race tomorrow! In addition to the free nuggets, I ordered the spicy southwest salad with grilled nuggets and a large lemonade.
Spicy Southwest Salad with Grilled Nuggets, large lemonade, and free 8 pc grilled nuggets
After I was done with my meal, I drove over to the La Quinta in nearby Vista. It was located right off of the 78 Parkway at the Sycamore Ave exit. As soon as I checked-in and got my room key, it was time for me to head to my room and get some rest as I was feeling under the weather. As with most years, I fell victim to the dreaded Disney crud. I haven't been watching any NBA games for quite some time since the game has become unwatchable with all of the touch fouls and inexcusable flopping. However I did catch parts of the Clippers vs. Pelicans game while going through the materials that I had received at the race expo. After laying out my flat runner, I decided to walk over to the nearby Vietnamese restaurant to get some pho. I think for colds, it works better than chicken noodle soup.
Clippers vs. Pelicans
Flat runner
On my way to grab dinner, I was solicited for money by a grungy-looking girl. Dude, with the convenience of Google Pay, I hardly ever carry any cash these days. Hate to make assumptions, but it looked like she needed money for drugs. I got my bowl of pho over at Pho Lucky. The restaurant was pretty empty when I got there at about 5:30 pm. After looking over their menu, I ordered the pho dac biet xe lua which was their large combo with rare steak, well-done brisket, flank, tendon, and tripe. Per the usual I got it without the nasty cilantro. I only like it with basil, squirt of lime, jalapeño, Sriracha, and bean sprouts. It wasn't the best bowl of pho that I've had, but it was decent and did its job.
Pho Lucky
Pho dac biet xe lua
It was pretty dark outside on the walk back to my room. Thankfully I didn't come across someone soliciting for money on the return. Back in my room, there wasn't much on TV, so I ended up watching the Lakers vs. Rockets game before calling it a night.
Lakers vs. Rockets
Sunday 1/19
Even though the half marathon didn't start until 7:45 am, I checked out pretty early so that I could get to the start line in time to watch the start of the full marathon at 6:15 am. I arrived at the mall parking lot at about 5:40 am. I ended up parking a few spaces from one of my old marathon running friends, Joseph Reilly. After a brief chat, we went back into our cars to hide from the chill of the early morning air.
A little past 6 am, I went over to use one of the portapotties and head over to the start line. It was still pretty dark when the marathon started at about 6:15 am. After the last participant crossed the start line, I headed back to my warm car to wait for the start of the half marathon.
While I was waiting in my car, the race crew rolled the start line farther down the road for the start of the half marathon. Apparently the race announcers were having technical difficulties, so Rudy ended up singing the national anthem instead of a pre-recorded rendition by a famous singer.
Half marathon start line
I was hoping to finish in under 2 hrs, but I had recently developed a cough that was producing phlegm. That made it a bit difficult to breath normally while running. It felt somewhat like running at higher elevation. My legs felt okay for the first 2 miles or so, but my breathing was labored. During the little out and back on Carlsbad Blvd, the shoe lace on my right shoe came loose. I guess I took that u-turn a bit hard and tight. It's never happened before as I always double-knot my laces. I pulled over at a bench in front of the Army and Navy Academy to tie my shoelace before continuing. After that little unscheduled break, I decided to just take it easy the rest of the way. I love this scenic course full of rollers. I just wish that I wasn't feeling so crummy. During the last few miles, I leapfrogged with a 16 year old (bib #2979). I was probably annoying the heck out of her as she would pass me during my walk breaks only to be re-passed by me when I resumed running. My friend caught and passed me before we reached the mile 12 marker right before the steep little climb on the overpass across the 5 freeway. After that last short climb, it was a nice downhill run to the finish line.
Finish line
Finish: 2:03:32
Click here for my Garmin data.
It was nice to be greeted by the team of Rudy and Fitz at the finish line. I guess you can say that I run a lot of races since I'm friends with the race announcers. After collecting my finisher medal, I turned the corner and picked up a paper bag of post race goodies. It included a container of microwaveable Minute cilantro & lime jasmine rice. I thought that that was a strange item to receive at the finish line of a race.
Finisher medal
Post race goodies
Near the exit of the finisher chute, I bumped into my friend and her husband. Thankfully I didn't finish too far behind her, so I was able to say hi and get a quick picture. We would be seeing each other again in a couple of weeks at Surf City. Since I had a long drive ahead of me, I used a portapotty before heading back to my car.
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