I got ready and left the house at about 5 am to time it so that I would get to Redlands right at 6 am which was the time that packet pick-up was scheduled to start. Along the way, I was passed by several cars going at least 100 mph. For me, these early morning drives to races have been a game of guessing whether the drivers in the cars around me are either sleepy, drunk, or high on drugs.
When I exited Eureka St and headed south, I saw that the road was closed off at Redlands Blvd. So I made a left turn onto Redlands Blvd followed by a right turn onto Orange St to get to Citrus Ave. I was going to park in the not-so-well maintained lot next to Frontier Communications. I missed the turn at 4th St, so I made a u-turn at Eureka St. Once I entered the lot, I took a loop to find a decent parking spot. All of the stripes were completely faded, so I ended up parking at the most eastern end just to be away from other cars.
Prior to coming to the race, I was wondering why parking locations were changed for this year as I saw that people were still parking over across the street at the zombie Redlands Mall. Eventually, it'll be torn down and redeveloped into the State Street Village.
This year, packet pick-up was instead at the AK Smiley Public Library. I bumped into my friend, Rachel, at the table to pick up my race bib. After we got our race shirt and goodie bag, she told me that she was staying at an Airbnb about 2 blocks away. Then we came across Ryan who was going to be pushing a wheelchair for Team Hoyt. After that I went back to my car to get out of the chilly morning air.
Back of race shirt
Race shirt
Goodie bag
At about 6:50 am, I got out of my car to go use one of the portapotties as well as to catch the start of the 10k race. Although the 10k was scheduled to start at 7 am, the race announcer delayed it a few minutes as he noticed that there were still stragglers crossing the street and getting into the starting corral. After the bulk of the participants went through, I headed back to my car to get ready for my race.
10k start
I stopped by my friends' car along the way to the start line. I ended up starting with them near the front of the corral. I came into this race thinking that I would have a good race. The past 2 weekends, I had run shorter races. However, they were both on hilly courses. Unfortunately, the hills on this course weren't any easier. I tried to take advantage of the downhills, but my legs felt heavy from all of the climbing. I started feeling some soreness in my right hip near the end of the race. Then with about 1.5 miles left, I completely bonked. I just had no energy left. I practically had to walk it in, but I did manage to muster up a jog to the finish line.
Start line
Sherry
Finish line
Finish: 2:16:45
Click here for my Garmin data.
After crossing the finish line, I bumped into my friends that had finished ahead of me. After taking a couple of selfies, we walked over to the tables to get some orange juice and orange slices. My legs felt pretty trashed, so I ended up sitting at a nearby bench to recover a bit. I eventually got a second cup of OJ before heading out. My friends invited me to breakfast over at the Septembers Taproom & Eatery. I was feeling pretty crappy, so I told them that I would be a maybe.
Tracy
Finisher medal
Karen, Ryan, and Dan
Post race orange juice
I headed back to the finish line to see if one of my friends was there. Along the way, I came across a little girl scout selling cookies. That is smart to sell those cookies after a race! I asked if she had any of those new raspberry cookies. She told me that I would have to buy those online. Bummer! I didn't find my friend, so I started heading back to my car. The more I walked, the better that my legs felt. I dropped off my handheld bottle at my car and put on my jacket before heading over to use one of the portapotties.
Seeing this reminded me of those hated Gooners!
I saw that the Septembers was pretty close nearby, so I decided to walk over. When I got there, I didn't see any of my friends inside. The skies looked pretty gloomy so I decided to head back to my car and drive it over. Once I returned, I still didn't see any of my friends there. I parked my butt on one of the benches near the entrance to start texting my friends. Luckily, my friends who were former Redlands locals were only a few minutes away. My other friends had gone back to their hotel over in Loma Linda to get cleaned up. We weren't seated right away since the waitress told us that they were slammed this morning. She asked us if we could wait until 11 am as the next shift will be starting then. I guess that they're not used to the influx of hungry and thirsty post race runners wanting food and drinks. We were given some water while we waited. Once we were seated and had time to look over the menu, we had to flag down a waitress to put in our orders. It turned out that they thought we were already taken care of since we had water at our table. Anyway, I ordered my usual favorite breakfast meal, their NY steak and eggs. I got the steak medium rare and my eggs cooked sunny side up. The steak and eggs were good, but the hash brown grease tasted a little weird. Also, I don't like my toast that burnt. Otherwise, it was a good meal with friends.
Septembers
Breakfast menu
NY steak and eggs
Steak medium rare
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