Per a Saturday race, I worked the usual half day today. I left for Santa Clarita shortly after eating lunch. When I was packing my shoes, I noticed that one of the rubber pieces was peeling off on the left shoe. Before hopping on the freeway, I stopped at the local Target to buy some Shoe Goo. With that purchase, I was finally able to finish off the last of my Target gift cards.
The drive out to the Travelodge in Sylmar took just about an hour. The hotel looked to be in pretty bad shape from the outside when I pulled up. They were definitely in the process of renovations. There were some sketchy people loitering in the parking lot. I couldn't tell if they were part of the construction crew. I checked in and was assigned room #307. I left my bags in my car and just went up to my room to use the bathroom and to just hang out a bit before heading out to the race venue for the race packet pick-up which started at 4 pm.
Sketchy...
As to be expected, there was a ton of traffic heading over to the Iron Horse Trailhead in Santa Clarita. The parking lot was full, but I decided to just park in one of the reserved spots as I was planning for a really quick in and out process. After signing one of those waiver forms, I got my bib and goodie bag. The bag had a fan and a small towel. Unfortunately, for the race singlet, they were all undersized. The race directors informed us that the supplier had sent them all kid sizes by mistake.
Race packet pick-up
Towel from 2020
Race singlet
Back of race singlet
After hopping in the car, I drove over to the nearby Chick-fil-A to pick up dinner. On the mobile app, I ordered the usual Cobb salad with grilled nuggets, Greek yogurt parfait with granola, and a large Sunjoy. Normally, I would opt for the drive thru, but I decided to just park in one of the curbside pickup spots. After an employee brought the food out to my car, I drove back to my hotel.
Dinner
After finishing my dinner back at my room, I got out the Shoe Goo and glued the piece that was peeling away. I then laid out my flat runner for tomorrow's race. Per the usual, I went with the race shirt from last weekend. I then took a shower before calling it a night.
Shoe Goo
Flat runner
Saturday 6/18
I got ready and checked out of my room shortly after 5 am. The drive over to the race venue took about 15 minutes. I found a spot on the dirt roadside off of Magic Mountain Parkway. Despite what was shown on the website, the parking lot there was not open. Since the half marathon was scheduled to start at 6:30 am, I didn't wait too long in the car. I gathered my race stuff and walked over to the starting area. The start and finish would be at the Iron Horse Trailhead with a good section of the course on the Santa Clarita River Trail.
I dropped the race singlet at the check-in table, as I didn't need a super small singlet. The lady that I gave it to, took my bib number down in case the race directors were going to give a discount to participants that donated their singlets back. That would be a nice gesture, but totally unnecessary. After finding my name on the participants name wall, I then got in line to use one of the portapotties before that line got too long. As the start of the race approached, the Half Fanatics gathered for our traditional pre-race photo in front of the iconic historic railroad trestle bridge that was built back in 1898. We then positioned ourselves in the starting area.
Start area
Participants name banner
Found my name
Portapotties
Start line
Half Fanatics pre-race photo
Dan and Karen
Honestly, I was not looking forward to this race. I knew that with my ongoing Achilles tendinitis issue, that the race will be an uncomfortable one. The race started about 5 minutes after 6:30 am. Although both Achilles felt super tight, the first 3 miles went okay. Shortly after crossing the Santa Clara River on Bouquet Canyon Rd, the tendinitis flared up as the next 2 miles were mostly uphill. I knew that I had to back off on the pace and go into survival mode. The turnaround was at about mile 5. Shortly, after making that turnaround, I saw my friends not too far behind me. They would pass me a few miles later. At about mile 7.6, we crossed over to the other side of the Bouquet Creek via Newhall Ranch Rd. I was beginning to struggle a bit at this point so I almost missed that turn onto the trail. I took a walk break at mile 8 to see if I can get my legs to recover a bit. It was such a grind to barely keep each of those last 5 miles under 11 minutes! Fortunately, I was able to speed up a bit when the bridge and the finish line came into sight.
Finish line
Finish: 2:11:08
Click here for my Garmin data.
This was my very first time running this race. I liked the course and would very much like to return when my legs are closer to being 100%. It's a small race, but the race directors are good at putting on a great race with decent swag.
After collecting my finisher medal and that big ass ring, I made a beeline for the Ben & Jerry ice cream truck! I got a scoop of the Stephen Colbert's AmeriCone Dream. Man, more races should have ice cream at the finish line! I think it would be a better option than beer especially now that I don't drink alcohol.
Ben & Jerry's
Ice cream flavors
Finisher medal, ice cream, and ring
After finishing the ice cream, I went over to the finisher tent to check out the post race food. I took a G2G protein bar and a bottle of water. After using one of the portapotties and saying goodbye to my friends, I walked back to my car. I drove over to the nearby Chick-fil-A to pick up breakfast. On the mobile app, I ordered the usual hash brown scramble bowl with grilled chicken filet and Greek yogurt parfait with granola. Instead of coffee, I got a frosted lemonade. I always crave one after running a race. Once again, I opted for curbside pick-up.
Post race breakfast
After I got my food, I drove over to the nearby Tesla Supercharger station to get a quick charge while I ate my breakfast. The station was a bit busy as it was only 29 cents per kW up until 11 am. After that, it would jump up to 58 cents. Per the usual, the bank of stalls marked with a 250 kW peak charging rate were all occupied. I pulled into one of the open 150 kW stalls. Once I was done with my breakfast and the car was done charging, I started my drive home. It took just a little over an hour to get home.
Tesla Supercharger Santa Clarita
Unfortunately, on my drive home, my friends texted me that their car was broken into where the thief had stolen their wallet. No windows were broken, so these were pros. We were parked in the same area, so I was pretty fortunate to not have anything stolen.
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