After eating lunch, I started heading out to Long Beach to pick up my race packet. As I got to the 57 to 22 interchange, the freeway traffic came to a standstill. I don't normally head out this direction, but I've never seen it this bad. It looked to be a combination of construction and a 4 car pileup. I arrived at the Marine Stadium parking lots at about 1:30 pm. After finding a parking spot, I walked down to the parking lot at the boat launch ramps. Those that run the Long Beach Marathon will be very familiar with this area. It's the little out and back at around the halfway point.
Marine Stadium
When I got to the pick-up location, I bumped into my friend, Andrew. He would be pacing the 2:25 pace group tomorrow. In additional to getting my bib and my race shirt, I was also given a drink card for the post race Wine, Sip & Savor Festival. I didn't stick around too long to check out the few vendor booths as I had a 10k race to run later in the evening.
Bib pick-up
Race shirt
Wine, Sip & Savor Festival
I left the house shortly after 4 pm to head over to Dodger Stadium. Traffic wasn't bad until I got into Downtown LA. It took a while getting into Dodger Stadium via the Sunset gate, but I was there plenty early at 5:10 pm. I was parked about midway between lots 2 and 3.
Parked at Dodger Stadium
Once I arrived at the pick-up location, it was a zoo. It was as if COVID was a thing of the past! After picking up my bib, I then got in line for my race shirt. Thankfully, the line for medium was really short. The bulk of the lines were for large and bigger. We were given a black tote bag in addition to the shirt. I asked the volunteer that gave my shirt where I needed to go for the bobblehead. He told me that I had to go inside the stadium for my bobblehead. There were signs directing people to the bobblehead pick-up spot, but there were a ton of people. Even so, it was fairly easy to see the line of people waiting to get their bobblehead. The line moved fast once there were enough people realizing that they didn't need to stop at the first table.
Bib pick-up
Race shirt
Back of race shirt
$20 gift card
Mookie Betts bobblehead
After I got my bobblehead, I used the nearby restroom and started heading back to my car. At first I tried to cut through the merchandise store, but they had the doors leading outside locked. I ended up having to go through the same way that I came in. I bumped into my friend, Luis, on the walk back to my car.
After getting back to my car, I dropped off my stuff and chugged the bottle of water that I had brought with me before heading over to the start line to watch the start of the 5k which was scheduled to start at 6:10 pm.
5k start
5k wave A start
After wave A went through, I headed over to the finish line to use one of the portapotties and to wait for the winner of the race. Once, he came through, I headed over to the course where the runners were coming down from the Academy gate. I was only able to spot one of my friends. I stayed there until the race announcers called for the 10k runners to start lining up inside the starting corrals. I hung out with my friend, Luis, inside corral A.
5k winner
Natalie
10k starting corral
Luis
The 10k started on time at 7:10 pm. I might have run the first mile a bit too fast. Both Achilles were still tight, but I was able to move fairly okay. I ran that first mile in about 8:05 which felt to be closer to 9 minutes. Every time I take time off of running, it throws off my internal pace perception. I took my first of many walk breaks shortly after reaching the first water station. My friend caught up to me as we turned left and headed up to the Academy gate. I ran with him until we made the turn onto Academy Rd. I took another walk break as there was a short climb and I was beginning to overheat. I was able to get some sustained running as we made a left turn onto Stadium Way for a short out and back down to Scott Ave. After getting back to Academy Rd, it was another out and back up to Elysian Park Dr. After getting back to Academy Rd, we made a left turn and headed back to Dodger Stadium via Academy gate. After getting a peek of the finish line, we would run along the perimeter of the parking lot for another climb up to almost the Sunset gate before turning towards the finish line. The last climb would be up to the top of the stadium before it was all downhill to the finish line. It felt good to be able to open up the stride and run at a faster clip for that final stretch.
Freddie aka "Cliff Torres"
Finish line
Finish: 1:02:30
Click here for my Garmin data.
After crossing the finish line, I got my finisher medal and a bottle of water. Man, that was a hot run! I was a sweaty mess after that little romp around Dodger Stadium parking lot and the surrounding vicinity. I headed inside the stadium to take my cooldown lap around the warning track.
Finisher medal
Cooldown walk around the warning track
After taking that lap around the stadium warning track, I headed back to my car. Along the way home, I stopped at Chick-fil-A to pick up a late dinner. The place was pretty busy, but not quite as busy as the Krispy Kreme next door! At first, I tried to go inside to get my food, but they had a sign on the door that said that they were only open for drive-thru. I placed my order on the mobile app for a market salad, a cup of chicken noodle soup, and a frosted lemonade. Then I hopped in my car and got into the drive-thru lane.
Late dinner from Chick-fil-A
Market salad
I woke up in the middle of the night with a little bout of diarrhea. Maybe something in my dinner wasn't too fresh. That seems to happen more often with salads. Oh well, it wasn't too bad and I guess I'll be a little bit lighter for tomorrow's race. :)
Sunday 8/14
During my early morning drive out to Long Beach, along with 2 other cars, we came across what appeared to a 3 car wreck that had just happened fairly recently. The wrecked cars were stopped in the lanes with hazard lights on. I veered into the empty carpool lane to give the other cars room to get around the wreck.
I arrived at the parking lot at about 5 am and was parked in the lot just before the road was roped off for VIP parking. While waiting in my car, there were many cars that kept driving down to that lot even though it was full. Why weren't those volunteers stopping them?! For some reason, every car that realized that that lot was full decided to do their Austin Powers u-turn in front of my car!
Once again, knowing that it was going to be yet another hot race, I chugged a bottle of water before I started heading over to the start line area. Shortly after using one of the portapotties across the way from the finish line, I ran into the usual suspects. It was nice to bump into an old friend from the old Runner's World forum days. He was pacing the 1:50 group. Shortly after we took the obligatory Half Fanatics pre-race photo, I headed over to the starting area at the Appian Way Bridge.
Foggy morning
Preview on the final stretch
Latino Heat
Charlie Pro pacing 1:50
Half Fanatics
Start line
Rudy!
Andrew pacing 2:25
I started the race with my friend, who was pacing the 2:25 group. That pace was just too uncomfortably slow, so I started running around a 9 minute per mile pace which still felt slow. The race started with the course heading southeast along Appian Way for a short out and back. I plodded along until I came up to the 2:05 pace group as the course veered onto Bay Shore Ave. I made sure not to pass that group. I took my first walk break after reaching mile 2. I was already getting very sweaty so my glasses was sliding down my nose. Shortly after veering onto 54th Pl, I crossed Ocean Blvd and hopped onto the Shoreline Way beach path. It would be about a 2.5 mile run out to the turnaround point at 8th Pl. It got quite warm with no shade out on the beach path. The path was also crowded with non-racers, so I couldn't wait to get off of that path as we retraced our way back. The 2:25 pace group caught me at about mile 9 as we headed out on Appian Way for a short out and back for the 2nd time. I stuck with that group until we came back to the bridge.
2:25 group
The last 3 miles were a complete grind as the overcast had burned off and the temps had gotten quite warm! We headed northwest along Appian Way before turning right on 3rd St and making our way onto the Long Beach Bikeway Rte 10. Then it was a right turn onto Boathouse Ln for a 1 mile out and back loop. I could smell the In-n-Out burgers from across the Marine Stadium! It was nice to finally make that left turn onto Paoli Way for that final half mile stretch to the finish line.
Finish line
Finish: 2:31:54
Click here for my Garmin data.
After crossing the finish line, I got my finisher medal, a bottle of water, a banana, a bag of Famous Amos cookies, Welch's fruit snacks, and a granola bar. Normally, my stomach doesn't really allow me to eat food until a few hours later. However, I knew that something was off. Instead of heading home right away, I went looking for something salty. I decided to go get an In-n-Out burger, but the bouncer said that I needed to be wearing an ID check bracelet even if I wasn't planning on drinking. After I got that taken care of and gotten my burger ticket, I headed over to the In-n-Out trucks. I tried to order a Double Double, but the lady told me that they could only do cheeseburgers, so that's what I got. We were given a number to wait for our order. I picked up a bag of Lay's potato chips and said hi to my friends that were waiting nearby. As I was feeling a bit dizzy, they held onto my number for me while I looked for a place to sit down and eat those chips. I went back to my friends to get my number. Although I felt a bit better after eating those chips, I was still feeling dizzy. I got into the shade and propped myself up against a table. After my number was called, I grabbed yet another bag of chips to go with my burger. I found an open chair and some shade before eating my food. My electrolytes were definitely depleted! I felt much better after putting away that burger!
Finisher medal, post race food
Complimentary In-n-Out burger for race participants
Cheeseburger with onion
As I was eating my burger near the festival entrance/exit, I noticed that the security wasn't allowing anyone to take home any beer, including unopened cans. I'm not sure about the reasoning behind that policy, but it was as if they would rather have people leave, feeling inebriated. I bumped into my friend Charlie on the way out and a had a brief chat before we went our separate ways. On the walk back to my car, I saw my friend, Natalie, approaching the finish line. Also on the way back, I came across and nice looking Tesla with a custom paint job. The photo doesn't do it justice, but the purple accent looked really nice and I always prefer a matte finish.
Natalie approaching the finish line
Nice custom paint job
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