After working a half day from home, I threw my bags in the car and started my drive down towards San Diego. I drove straight down to the La Jolla Cove. There was quite a bit of traffic as soon as I got off of the freeway at La Jolla Village Dr. It's been a while since I've driven these roads, but I mistakenly turned early on La Jolla Scenic Dr. Normally, I would turn on Torrey Pines Rd or La Jolla Shores Dr if I were coming down from Genesee Ave. It didn't matter really since it merged onto La Jolla Parkway and then onto Torrey Pines Rd. All roads lead to Rome. The traffic was particularly heavy once I reached Prospect Pl. I turned on Ivanhoe Ave and was able to find street parking. I walk up to Prospect St and then down Cave St/Coast Blvd to head towards the Ellen Browning Scripps Park. It wasn't the most direct route down there, but I got to see some of my old stomping grounds. I've come down here many mornings to enjoy the beautiful scenery while I was going to school at UC San Diego. To most, that wasn't a very smart reason to choose UC San Diego over UCLA. I still beg to differ.
I was able to easily pick up bibs for my friends in addition to my own. However, I did not know their shirt sizes. The volunteers were unable to tell me what my friends had registered for their size shirt. I texted my friend, but she didn't respond until after I had already guessed and went with medium for both of them and left. It turned out to be a pretty good guess as one wanted a small and the other a medium. The volunteers did say that the shirts were running a bit small. The race shirts were vastly improved upon as the graphics were sublimated which will definitely cut down on hot spots and potential chafing!
Packet pick-up
Goodie bag
Race information
Race flyers
Race shirt
Back of race shirt
On the way back to my car, I stopped in at the Starbucks on Prospect St to get a drink. I cashed in some stars to get a free iced black tea with light water and light ice. It was a grande and I was thirsty so I pretty much finished it before I reached my car.
Iced black tea
While getting on the 5 freeway to head up to my hotel, I was waiting for the car next to me in the carpool lane to go ahead and get onto the freeway. The two entrance lanes were about to merge and he was still dicking around instead of going ahead. Eventually, I accelerated to get ahead of him. So many people are clueless idiots on the freeway. Please learn to use the entrance ramp to get up to speed and merge with the rest of traffic!
I pulled up to the La Quinta in Carlsbad near Legoland at just after 4 pm. I got checked in and went up to my room to relax a bit before dinner time. I was assigned room #301. I had booked my room with Wyndham reward points and I was hoping that they would not charge my credit card again. I have high hopes this time as the guy did not ask me for a credit card for incidentals. We shall see.
La Quinta Carlsbad/Legoland
At about 5 pm, I drove over to the nearby Ichitaru Ramen for dinner. There was one other group inside already when I got there. During my time there, I noticed that most people ordered ahead and came by to pick up their food. After looking over their menu, I ordered their garlic edamame and the niboshi ramen. I do love garlic, but boy, that garlic smell was quite pungent when the edamame was brought out! The ramen was made with a fish flavored broth. It was definitely unique compared to the many bowls of ramen that I've had in the past. It sure beats yet another thick and rich tonkotsu ramen that every ramen shop in the southern California likes to serve, but I would not recommend it unless you like a little bit of fishiness. The price of my meal was north of $30 after tip. Damn that inflation! Ramen supposed to be a cheap affordable meal!
Garlic edamame
Niboshi ramen and garlic edamame
Niboshi ramen
Even the spoon was branded!
Back at my room, I went through the race packet, laid out my flat runner, and took a shower before relaxing with the usual Friday night WWE SmackDown! I was fading near the end of the show and was lights out shortly after the show ended.
Flat runner
Your tribal chief!
Undisputed tag team champions
Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa to challenge for the tag team title
Saturday 5/20
I got ready, packed up, and watched the very beginning of the Tottenham v. Brentford match. I was able to catch Harry Kane's goal from a free kick. That would be the only bright spot for my struggling Spurs. They would go on to lose 1-3 against a team that they should beat even if nothing was at stake. I checked out of my room at about 4:45 am. While walking to my car, I came across a couple of people waiting to entering the lobby. It looked like the hotel management had shut down for the night and had not reopened the lobby.
Free kick
Harry Kane goal
I arrived at the Del Mar Fairgrounds dirt lot right at 5 am. I followed the car ahead of me and parked fairly close to the underpass tunnel over to the fairground. I relaxed in my car and ended up chatting over the phone with my friend who was driving in for the race. I'm usually super early and she likes to cut it a bit closer so she doesn't have a long wait before the race. Eventually, I met up with our other friend to give them their race packets while I head over to the start to use one of the portapotties. The setup for the portapotties was unique. It was my first time seeing this type of setup. There was a long cache of portapotties, but fencing was set up so that 2 lines formed from both ends. Instead of having many lines, there were only 2 lines.
From Robert
Start line
Start line from Robert
Mary and Theresa
Tracy and Mitch
I queued up in the corral next to the 2 pacers for the 2 hour group. I tried to look for some of my friends, but I couldn't spot any of them inside the corral. It would turn out that I was among the group of runners to be released in the 4th wave. That's fine with me since I'm extra slow these days. The race started with the 1st wave being released at 6:30 am. I'm guessing that it was about 2 minutes between each wave as my wave started at about 6:36 am.
I was able to stay with the 2 hour group for about 2 miles. Even though we had an overcast sky, it was quite humid! I started taking walk breaks way sooner than I would have liked! Those short steep climbs such as the one at 4th St up to Camino Del Mar were just climbs that I'm currently in no shape to run up! For the most part, I just stuck to running the downhill and flat sections. I would just hike up the uphill sections. Once I approached the 10k mark, the course finally flattened out to the point where I could run. However, I was sweating so much that I had to remove my glasses and run blind until the sweating died down a bit.
Course map
Almost to the climb up Torrey Pines at about mile 5.25
Behind me
Almost up Torrey Pines
It was nice running along the street next to the Torrey Pines Golf Course. After that stretch, it was followed by a right turn once we reached Genessee Ave. I particularly enjoyed this section of the course as we ran next to my alma mater, UCSD. It was my old stomping grounds! Things kept changing to the point where I can barely recognize the campus! As we approached Muir College, I knew that we would be turning right onto La Jolla Shores Dr and be treated to some beautiful ocean views as well as an extended downhill section all the way down to La Jolla Shores Park. I passed a fellow runner that was zigzagging her way down this section. I guess the downhill can be quite jarring to the body if you're not ready for it. My friend Robert caught me near mile 12 as I was making my way along Paseo Dorado. I ran with him for a bit until it started climbing back up to Torrey Pines Rd. Thankfully, that climb up to Prospect Pl wasn't too bad as I still had some legs left. Even so, I had to take a quick walk break once I reached the top as I needed my legs to recover a bit for the steep downhill run down to the finish line.
Almost to the finish line
Finish line
Sweaty mess!
Finish: 2:19:50
Click here for my Garmin data.
Finish line
Man, I was a sweaty mess when I crossed the finish line! A ton of people passed me on that final stretch. If I'm going to run this race again, I'm going to have to wear another pair of shoes that has a bit more cushioning! This aging body is having trouble absorbing all of that pounding to take full advantage of that free speed! Had I known that I was going to finish in just under 2:20, I probably would've just run with my friend who was pacing the 2:20 group.
After getting my finisher medal, I continued on through the finisher chute where I got my post race drinks and goodies. I was fortunate to snag a solo plastic bag at one of the tables to carry everything. I thought Robert was way ahead of me, but he was only 2 people ahead of me. We then bumped into Mitch. We chatted briefly before he had to head back to his nearby hotel to take a shower and check out. Mitch opted for parking near the finish. I headed straight for the line to board a shuttle back to the Del Mar Fairgrounds.
Finisher medal
Post race drinks and goodies
After getting home, I looked up my race history as I was curious as to how I did compared to years prior. I had run this race for 7 consecutive years from 2007-2013. Then I returned in 2019 after a 5 year hiatus. COVID struck in 2020 and it took a while for racing to get back to normal. I guess even though I wasn't very happy with my finishing time, I had finished right where I normally finish. I think the next time that I run this race, I want to be able to easily finish in under 2 hours which I've only done once back in 2009. I was in shape to do so again in 2010, but I came up a few seconds short. I had run in the Country Music Marathon in Nashville, TN the day before. That race was shut down prematurely as lightning and tornadoes were headed towards the race. I had gotten in just over 20 miles for a DNF due to inclement weather.
Past results:
2019: 2:04:29
2013: 2:16:24
2012: 2:21:17
2011: 2:23:27
2010: 2:00:04
2009: 1:56:29
2008: 2:17:55
2007: 2:13:06
For lunch I got the usual #27 charbroiled beef, minced meat & egg, shrimp paste served with rice from one of my family's favorite Vietnamese restaurants, Golden Noodle & Grill. We ate here quite a bit during the COVID shutdown. The workers there know our regular orders quite well!
#27
Bravo to this race for giving participants complimentary race photos! I think all races should do the same. Heck, they can easily just include it when figuring out the race registration fee. Give us the regular standard photos to share on social media and if we want to upgrade, we can then pay for those.
Now, the finish line video was a complete hit or miss, but mostly miss for the majority of runners. There was a small camera mounted at the finish line side railing. Unfortunately, people apparently were not told to not obstruct the camera. It ended up where there's usually someone standing right in front of the camera while that person was waiting for his or her runner to finish. They might want to pick a different location for the camera next time.
Finish line video
Location of the tiny finish line camera
Post race issues
I was having a lot of lower back pain a couple of days after the race. I thought it was because of the pounding from running those steep downhill sections at La Jolla. Then something out of the ordinary happened on Monday (5/22). It felt somewhat better during my morning walk before I started work. However, it all of sudden got worse just as I neared the end of my walk. Throughout the day, the pain worsened. It was more of an intense radiating pain, coming in waves and localized on the right side. When my lower back bothers me, it's usually a dull, constant, annoying, yet tolerable pain. By dinner time, it was so bad that I was feeling nauseated from the pain and could barely finish my dinner. I tried to sleep, but couldn't find a comfortable position. I was tossing and turning until about 2 am when the pain all of a sudden went away which allowed me to finally fall asleep. I would wake up the next day feeling 1000x better! In hindsight, I believe I had passed a kidney stone. The last time I passed one was about 20 years ago. That was kind of coincidentally weird as my friend and I had just been talking before the race about her issues with kidney stones! I guess I was due. Then Friday evening (5/26), the pain returned and disappeared in the same manner. I will need to make an appointment with the doctor to get everything checked out!
No comments:
Post a Comment