As soon as I got off of work, I hopped in my car for the long arduous drive down to San Diego. Since I wasn't too keen on making an extra early morning drive on race day, I decided to head down there today, take care of the race packet pick-up, and stay the night. The drive took a little over 2 hrs. The packet pick-up location was at the Northern end of the South Shores Park parking lot. In addition to my race bib, I received a nice quality race shirt, a small sturdy tote bag, and a title nine catalog. I used one of the nearby portapotties before hopping back in my car.
Race shirt
Tote bag
Title nine catalog
I started heading over to my hotel. I decided to pick up dinner at a Chick-fil-A in Clairemont which was along the way. When I exited the 5 freeway at Balboa Ave, I noticed that there was a geyser up ahead. Yikes. It would appear that someone had struck a water hydrant. That's not a good way to start the weekend for someone!
Geyser
Once I had arrived at the Chick-fil-A I got in the long line for the drive-thru. This particular location was unique as there wasn't an indoor dining area. You can walk up and place your order but they only have a small outside patio seating area. As with any other Chick-fil-A, I placed my order via their convenient mobile app. Once I got up to the ordering kiosk, I just had to give them my name. On this visit, I ordered a Cobb Salad with grilled nuggets, a Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich, and a medium unsweetened iced tea. I used my reward points to get the salad and sandwich for free. Once I got my food, I hopped on the 163 freeway heading North to check-in at the usual La Quinta off of the Poway Rd exit.
Chick-fil-A drive-thru
The parking lot was unusually full when I had arrived. After checking in and getting my room key, I was able to find a nearby parking space. For this stay, I was given a room in the building at the far Southern end. After putting my bags down, I turned on the TV and ate my dinner. Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace was on. I really enjoy watching the light saber duels that involved Darth Maul. That alone was enough for me to sit through the boring pod race and the trade dispute between the planet of Naboo and the Trade Federation.
Yoosa should follow me now okie day?
Dinner
Cobb salad with grilled nuggets and avocado lime ranch dressing
Before going to sleep, I laid out my flat runner. It wasn't going to be cold enough to warrant a long sleeve shirt, but I decided to go with one of my Tinker Bell race shirts. I thought that the color and theme was more than appropriate for tomorrow's women focused race.
Flat runner
Saturday 2/8
Although the half marathon was scheduled to start at 7:15 am and I had already picked up my race packet, I made sure to arrive early at the South Shores Park parking lot so I wouldn't have to be stressed about finding parking. I left at about 5:15 am and was among the first cars to be parked in the lot at about 5:30 am. I napped in car and went outside to use one of the portapotties. While doing so, I bumped into a San Diego friend that I haven't seen in a while at a race. She was going to pace the 2 hr group. I made it a goal not to be caught by her group.
Course Map
At about 6:45 am, I started heading over to the start line which was located near the cul-de-sac at the end of S Shores Parkway. Before heading all the way to the back, I stopped at the start line arch and watched as they sent off the runners for the 10k race at 7 am.
10k start at 7 am
As I queued up with other runners in the starting area, I bumped into the usual suspects. I got the obligatory pre-race photo with the Latino Heat. It almost seemed as if we called each other to coordinated what we were going to wear!
Latino Heat
Man, what a huge difference it made to have full usage of my lungs. I was finally over my cold and no longer had any chest congestion. I ran the first 2 miles or so with my friend who is in much better shape than I am. It felt much easier to run a couple of sub 8 minute miles, but I knew that I had to back off or else I would be completely wrecked in the later miles. I started taking walk breaks every time I covered a mile. A clockwise loop of Fiesta Island took me to about mile 5. After crossing back over to E Mission Bay Dr, it was pretty a much an out-and-back route before returning for the finish line on the grass inside Tecolote Shores. At about mile 8, I crossed a small bridge over the Rose Inlet. On the other side of the bridge, the road became Pacific Beach Dr which followed with a left turn onto Crown Point Dr. I vaguely remember running through here in one of the older iterations of the Rock n' Roll San Diego Marathon course. The turnaround point was about a quarter mile past mile 9. I thought that I had an off chance of finishing in under 1:50, but I was running on fumes in the last 3 miles as I could feel the calves cramping up.
Near the finish line
Finish line at Tecolote Shores
Finish: 1:53:57
Click here for my Garmin data.
Well, that definitely went better than I had expected. It had taken me over 2 hrs to complete each of my last four half marathons, so it was nice to be on the other side of 2 hrs in this race. It was my first time running in a T9 Mermaid race. It was a smaller race and was well organized. I also liked the course. There were small sections where it did get a bit narrow, but it was never an issue as the size of the field wasn't that big. I will definitely have to keep their races on my radar for the future.
In addition to receiving the traditional finisher's medal, I also received a small necklace that was inside a small pouch. I then met up with my friend and walked over to the post race food area where I picked up an Einstein Bros. blueberry bagel, Grandma's oatmeal raisin cookies, an orange, a banana, and a bottle of water. I ate the bagel and drank some water.
Finisher medal
Back of finisher medal
Finisher necklace
Post race goodies. Not pictured, Einstein Bros. blueberry bagel.
Since we both have the same race to run tomorrow morning, we didn't hang around at the finish area for too long. We started walking back to our cars over at the South Shores Park. The path that we took was also once part of the Rock n' Roll San Diego Marathon course back when the finish line was over at SeaWorld.
Before hopping into my car for the drive home, I first used one of the portapotties as it was a long drive home. I also didn't have enough fuel for the drive home, so I had to pull into the Chevron gas station at the El Toro Rd exit in Lake Forest to fill up the tank.
Fill 'er up!
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