I woke up early to catch the Chelsea v. Plymouth FA Cup match at 4:30 am. For a while, it looked as if Chelsea was trying to give the match away. Plymouth had a chance to equalize when they got a penalty, but Ryan Hardie's kick was saved by Kepa. Chelsea ends up winning 2-1. I thought it was going to end up like Man United's major upset loss yesterday to Middlesbrough in penalties. Another match at 4:30 am was with Kidderminster v. West Ham. That one also had the potential for an upset if it weren't for a late equalizer in stoppage time by Declan Rice. Then they avoided going to penalties and possible embarrassment when Jarrod Bowen scored just as the extra time period was almost over, winning 1-2.
After my usual morning walk around the neighborhood, I relaxed a bit before heading out to Huntington Beach to pick up my race packet for tomorrow's half marathon. Also before heading out, I placed an order for lunch at Slapfish with a pick up time of 11:30 am.
When I arrived at Huntington Beach, I parked along the curb on Beach Blvd, just north of Sunrise Dr. I used to park here on race day, but ever since a few years back they started putting up no parking signs and designating that curb for runner drop off on Sunday. At least I could still park here for free on Saturday for the expo. I normally park in the beach lot to pick up my packet, but the website information was pretty specific in mentioning that it will cost money even on Saturday to park in that lot. So here I parked just to be on the safe side.
Street parking along Beach Blvd
It was about a half mile walk over to the expo. Everything was starting to look more normal with the COVID restrictions being relaxed. After picking up my bib, I went through the tent area and picked up my race shirt outside. It was a polyester long sleeve race shirt this year with a nice clean simple design. Then adjacent to the race shirt pick-up, I picked up my Longboard Legacy shirt which was a thin cotton long sleeve shirt. Since it's thin and made of cotton, it's definitely a keeper for me.
Expo ahead
Bib pick-up
Race shirts
Long sleeve race shirt
Longboard legacy shirts
Longboard Legacy long sleeve shirt
Then across the way was the booth where they were taking registrations for next year's race at a very low price. It was $70 for the half marathon with the Longboard Legacy discount code. After I took care of that, I started heading out. Along the way, I searched for my name on the participants name wall. It was sorted alphabetically by first name. Normally, the names are sorted by last name. After finding my name, I walked past the VW buses. Some of the customizations were really cool!
Register for next year
Participants name wall
They went by first name
Expo haul
After I got back to my car, I drove over to Slapfish to pick up my lunch order. I had arrived about 20 minutes early, so I informed the employee that I was there in case they had my order ready early. They had just started on my order and were able to get me my order about 10 minutes ahead of the scheduled time. The Surf n' Turf burger with side salad was for me. The rest was for my family. My burger was pretty awesome as even though it was pretty pricey, they did not skimp on the lobster and shrimp. My family loved their food as well, so this might become a regular annual spot for us.
Mediterranean Sea salad with grilled mahi mahi
Shrimp avocado salad
Lobster tots
Surf n' Turf burger with side salad
Valentine's day offer
Sunday 2/6
This year, I made sure to get to the parking lot early enough so that it would be easier to enter the beach parking lot at Beach Blvd. Also, I wanted to get there early enough to make the Marathon Maniacs pre-race photo scheduled for 6:10 am. I got arrived and was parked at about 5:15 am. I covered myself up in my mylar blanket and made the walk over to the Hyatt Regency. I hung out in the lobby to get out of the early morning chill as well as to use their restroom. At about 6 am, I walked across the bridge to take a group photo with my fellow Maniacs.
Marathon Maniacs pre race photo
After the photo, I made my way over to the starting corrals to see if I could catch a few of my friends that were running the marathon. I was able to spot my friends, Albert and Joe. It's always inspiring to see people much older than me still out there running marathons! After I watched the marathoners start their race, I headed back into the Hyatt Regency to wait for the start of the half marathon.
Albert!
Joe!
Start of the marathon
As the race start grew near, I tied my mylar blanket around my legs and headed back out. A lady nearby told me that that's quite a fashion statement. Haha! Maybe she hasn't seen runners wearing a trash bag to stay warm! Once I got down to the street level, I headed into wave 1 to wait for the start of the race. While waiting, I noticed a runner wearing a Dele Alli Spurs jersey. He must be a true Spurs fan since Dele has been struggling mightily as of late.
Wave 1
Starting corral
COYS!
The half marathon started at 7:45 am. Me being an idiot when it comes to coaching myself, I thought it would be okay to run as if I didn't hurt my left calf 2 weekends ago. I started the race running 8 minutes per mile. Hey, at least I didn't run any sub 8 minute miles, right? I did notice that I didn't have much power on the inclines, so I started mentally preparing myself to back off on the pace before I hurt another body part. I bumped into my friend, Madison, at about mile 4 just at the top of a climb after making a left turn onto Edwards St. I ran around her and her friends until about mile 6 as we made the right turn onto PCH. I knew that there was no way for me to sustain that pace, so I finally backed off on the pace. At about mile 10, I spotted Dexter. Even though he was still headed out on PCH, he turned around and jogged with me just to get a selfie. The last 4 miles were a grind as I couldn't even run sub 10 minute miles! I really wanted to walk that last mile, but I knew that I was cutting it close.
Dexter at about mile 10
Finish line
Finish: 1:59:08
Click here for my Garmin data.
I was happy that I was able to eke out a sub 2 hour half marathon, but man, I need to take some time off for my left calf to get better. It was unwise of me to start the race as if I was at 100%. Nonetheless, overall it was still an enjoyable Sunday of running.
After getting my finisher medal, I continued on through the finisher chute where I picked up a bunch of post race snacks and drinks. For the Power Crunch and Bob's Red Mill bars, there was a sign that read, "1 per runner." I asked one of the volunteers if that meant 1 bar per runner or 1 bar of each flavor per runner. The volunteers weren't sure, so I took one of each flavor. Some of those around me didn't bother asking and just grabbed as many as they can hold. Hopefully, they had enough for those running the marathon. Before heading out, I stopped in the tent to pick up my Beach Cities Challenge medal. This year's challenge medal was a round ray.
Finisher medal
Post race snacks and drinks
Beach Cities Challenge medal
Beach Cities Challenge medal opened
Per my usual post race routine for this race, I walked over to the Hyatt Regency once more to get cleaned up a bit before heading back to my car. Along the way, a guy that was either a hotel employee or an event attendee asked me how I did in the race. He thought that I was around 25 years old. 25 was a few decades ago! Asians don't raisin! :)
During the walk back to my car, I ended up walking near another half marathon finisher. A lady asked him how far was it to the finish area. He told her about half a mile. I told him, "man, it sure feels a bit longer than half a mile after running a half marathon!" He would go on to tell me that he was going to run his very first marathon at the upcoming LA Marathon. He also told me that as of today he couldn't imagine having to cover another 13.1 miles, so he plans to do the run-walk method for LA. I assured him that that was a smart plan especially for his first marathon where his goal was just to finish.
After I got back to my car, I drove up to Buena Park to pick up lunch at Portillo's. I've been wanting to come here, but never got around to it. It was sort of along the way home. During the drive up, I placed my order on their mobile app to cut down on the wait time. Unfortunately, the lady that was handling the mobile orders didn't put the orders out on the pick-up shelf. Instead she kept them behind the counter in the food warmer. I didn't know to ask until someone else came up to the counter and asked for his order. The mobile app just directed people to pick up their order at the shelf. Oh well, next time I'll know to ask instead of waiting. My order was for the usual 2 Chicago dogs and a large chocolate malt shake. When I got home, I was kind of disappointed and surprised when I unwrapped each dog and noticed that they didn't use the Chicago style neon green relish. It's just not the same! :(
Chicago dog x2 and a large chocolate malt shake
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