Logistically speaking, this is one of my favorite races. I could show up on race morning and pick up my race packet before the start of the race without having to pay a convenience fee. However, as I get older, these early morning drives are getting harder and harder! In the weeks leading up to the race, I was tempted to get a hotel for a one nighter, but in the end my wanting to save money eventually won out.
So, I got ready and left the house just before 4 am. The roughly 1.5 hours drive out to Palm Desert was uneventful. However, every time a car came up from behind and passed me, I wondered if they were either drunk or sleepy. Some of them flew past me going at least 100 mph, while others could not stay in their lane. I arrived at the Civic Center Park a few minutes before 5:30 am. I parked in my usual spot and ate my breakfast protein bar. I then headed over to the gazebo area to pick up my race packet. Before I got there, I ducked into the restroom to take of the usual morning business. Apparently, I ate too much of something the night before as it was BM #3 for just this morning! After I was done with that, I looked up my bib number, got my bib, and my race shirt before heading back to my car to get out of the morning chilly air.
Race shirt
At about 6:15 am, I went back to the restroom to use the urinal one last time before I started getting ready for the race that was scheduled for a 7 am start time. It was a beautiful red sunrise which always reminded me of that saying, "red sky in the morning, sailors take warning!" That meant rain was on its way. Thankfully, we never got any rain and had great running weather. On the way back from the restroom, I made a detour over to the Desert Holocaust Memorial. There's just no words for such heinous atrocities committed by evil men.
Beautiful sunrise
Desert Holocaust Memorial
With about 10 minutes before the start of the race, I walked over to the starting corral. I found some familiar faces as we got settled in the starting area. After some last minute instructions from the race director and quick selfie, we were ready to run a half marathon!
Start line
Start line selfie
The legs started off feeling pretty good. However, my chest still felt somewhat congested as I'm still coughing up clear phlegm. The cold that I had picked up shortly after having COVID was sure taking its sweet time clearing out of my respiratory system! The race started with us running out to a right turn onto San Pablo Ave. Then it was a left turn for a quick out and back towards College of the Desert before coming back to San Pablo Ave where we headed north. We then made a left onto Castellana towards Monterey Ave. We would then make a right turn onto Monterey Ave where we would head north for almost the next 4 miles. Even though I was feeling much better energy wise this morning compared to last weekend's race, I stuck to my plan of taking a walk break after reaching mile 2. I knew that I needed to conserve my energy as the first half of the course was mostly a gradual climb. Shortly after making a right turn onto Gerald Ford Dr and reaching mile 5, we made a left turn onto Gateway Dr. This was a nice stretch of downhill, but I didn't pick up a whole lot of speed as I encountered headwinds. Just after reaching mile 6, we made a right turn onto Dinah Shore Dr which was back to another gradual climb up to Portola Rd. I was feeling somewhat gassed after reaching mile 7 and turning right onto Portola Rd. During my walk break, I thought that now would be a good time to pull out a sample pack of GummiShot Energy Gummies and eat 1 gummy. I continued my slow jog up the gradual climb. It wouldn't crest until I reached Frank Sinatra Dr. I tried to get my legs to run faster during the gradual descent, but I could barely keep my miles under 10 minutes. During my walk break after reaching mile 10, I took a second gummy. Having run this race a couple of times before, I knew that I had to just hold it together until the right turn at Magnesia Falls Dr which would be about mile 11. Then all that was left for the last 2 miles would be a long out and back to Monterey Ave followed by a short one just beyond the park before we enter the park for the final stretch to the finish line.
Coming in for the finish. Pic from Dan
Finish: 2:03:13
Click here for my Garmin data.
Finish line
Finisher medal
After crossing the finish line and getting my finisher medal, I chatted a bit with my friend that practically dragged me to the finish line. Although we had leapfrogged each other for 11 miles, I just couldn't keep up with him for those last 2 miles. Our next race together will be the LA Marathon. He encouraged me by telling me that I should be ready for that race next month with my performance today. After snapping a photo, I said my goodbyes and headed over to hang out with my friends from San Diego who had finished a few minutes ahead of me.
Ely and Brad
We got some post race snacks and a tiny bottle of water. We then found a table to sit down to eat our food. Eventually, it got a bit chilly, so we moved into the sunlight which was somewhat fleeting. Per the usual we talked about our races, the food that we ate the night before, and what our next race was. It was just your typical runner talk.
Post race snacks
Shortly after finishing our snacks, we went our separate ways. They went to go take some pictures and I went to go use the restroom one last time before the drive home. Even though there were more cars on the road compared to my drive in earlier this morning, the drive home wasn't too bad. It ended up only taking about 10 minutes longer.
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