Packet pick-up was at A Snail's Pace Running Shop out in Fountain Valley. Before heading out, I caught the first half of the Champions League match between Man City and Inter Milan. It was a bit of snoozer as Inter was playing a very tight compact defense while waiting for City to make a mistake. So it was just a bunch of passing among the City players trying to break down that defense. The half finished without a single goal.
Man City v. Inter Milan
I arrived a little after 1:30 pm. The parking spots in the front were all occupied, so I drove to the back where there were plenty of parking spaces. They had a few tables out in front of the store to assign bib numbers and to pass out race shirts. Per the usual, Sergio was there volunteering and passing out race shirts. After I took care of that, I went inside to check out the store. They had the Champions League match playing on one of the TVs. I saw that City had a 1 nil lead. Looked like City will complete their treble. On the way back to my car, I bumped into my friend who would be pacing the 2 hour pace group tomorrow.
A Snail's Pace Fountain Valley
Race shirt
Back of race shirt
Wine sip savor festival
Sunday 6/11
Lately, I've been feeling rather unmotivated to run my races. The race was scheduled to start at 7 am and for some reason, I thought getting to the parking lot at about 6 am would be adequate. Last year, I was parked at 5 am. I arrived at the Marine Stadium West at just before 6 am and they were already turning people away as parking there was full up. I thought about just parking along Boathouse Ln, but the shortest way there was blocked off due to construction. I made my way along Appian Way to try and park at Mother's Beach. Along the way, I saw people taking the last of the available street parking. Unfortunately to make things more interesting, they had already closed off the bridge over to Mother's Beach. Eventually, I found street parking on Vista St near Bay Shore Ave. Before heading to the start of the race, I made sure to check to see if there were any posted parking restrictions.
Since my pre-race routine was sort of out the window, I decided to skip eating my pre-race protein bar. It was a caramel nut KIND protein bar. The last few times that I've eaten it before a race, it gave me some powerful burps. Also for this race, I decided to run with regular water and one of the Chargel samples that I had. On my way over to the start area, I received a panic call from my friend. She was parked near Whole Foods Market on the other side of the 2nd St bridge. She was freaking out as she felt lost. I had to talk her through it and have her look at her phone's map to get to Mother's Beach. I used a portapotty while I waited for her. Thankfully, she found her way over to the start.
Parking map
They changed a few things for the race this year. The start wasn't on the bridge this year and Rudy was not the race announcer. This year, the start and finish line was at the same location. For some reason, the race seemed a bit more disorganized compared to last year. It was about 10 minutes before the start of the half marathon and no one was in the starting corral. Also the speakers were super loud! I had to cover my ears as it was practically blowing out my eardrums! I lined up with the 2 hour pacers.
Luis
Starting corral
Pre-race group pic from Robert
Pre-race photo from Robert
The race started at about 7 am. I stuck with the 2 hour pace group, but I could do so for only the first 2 miles. The pacers were going a tad fast for my taste. My legs just didn't feel like I could maintain that pace for another 11 miles. I backed off on the pace and started running around 9:30 - 10 min miles. However the humidity was quite high, so I ended up taking walk breaks every half mile. I was running just enough to stay ahead of 2:20. My shirt was pretty drenched with sweat by the time I was finished! I took my last walk break after reaching mile 12.
Pic from Robert: Coming off the bridge from Mother's Beach near mile 11.7
Finish: 2:17:47
Click here for my Garmin data.
Finish line
After crossing the finish line, I received my finisher medal and a bottle of water. I continued down the finisher chute and saw my faster friends off to the left side. I grabbed a can of ESSENTIAL AMIN.O. ENERGY + ELECTROLYTES sparkling hydration drink before joining them. There was a kiosk there where they were taking photos. Before exiting the chute, I grabbed some snacks.
Finisher medal
Post race photo
My friend and I eventually made our way into the Wine Sip Savor Festival. Even if we were not drinking, we still needed to show our IDs. Another thing that changed this year was that they had tacos from Taco Surf instead of In-n-Out burgers. The choices were carne asada, chicken, pork, or fish. I got their carne asada tacos with green sauce. They were okay, but I would prefer a burger from In-n-Out. I was feeling pretty wiped out from that race, so I tapped out shortly after finishing my tacos. I did wait for my friend to come through the finish line before I headed back to my car.
Post race tacos
Post race tacos, snacks, and drinks
Eviltwin
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