I got ready and left the house at just before 3:30 am. I arrived at the Palm Desert Civic Center Park at about 5:10 am. Since I was early and it was still about 20 minutes before we were told that packet pick-up would begin, I had my pick of parking spaces. While I waited in the car, I ate my usual protein bar for breakfast.
At about 5:30 am, I got out of my car and headed over to the packet pick-up spot. Along the way, I came across a family of ducks crossing the path just ahead of me. They were moving slow and were probably wonder why there was a person in the park at dark o'clock! It would seem that the volunteers weren't quite ready for us. First we had to look up our race bib numbers, but they still hadn't powered up the laptops. A fellow runner and I powered them up, but it looked like they had not loaded the new bib file. Once that was done and I got my bib, the volunteer was a bit confused as to where the race shirts were. Having run this race before I knew that the boxes behind them contained those shirts. There were other volunteers that were just beginning to open them. After I received my long sleeve race shirt, I used the park restroom before heading back to my car.
Long sleeve race shirt
About 30 minutes before the start of the race, I headed over to the cache of portapotties that was near the car to take care of the last minute pre-race business. As soon as I was done, I grabbed my handheld bottle and headed for the start line. I bumped into the usual suspects taking pictures by the start line.
Start line
The usual suspects
Per the usual, I started that first mile a bit too fast, covering it in 7:39. Near mile 1.5, I made the right turn onto Monterey Ave. Having run this race before, I knew that it would be a very gradual incline up to about mile 5 at Gerald Ford Dr I ran each of the next 4 miles (8:02, 8:24, 8:34, 8:46) slower than the 1 before. The next 2 miles (8:17, 8:22) were quicker after making the left turn onto Gateway Dr as we got a short stretch of downhill. I reached mile 7 with the right turn onto Portola Rd. I thought I had enough to cover the incline up to mile 8, but I had to pull over for a walk break as I was overheating. That resulted in a slow mile (9:47). The next 3 miles would be mostly downhill, but I would start to struggle by the time I made the right turn onto Magnesia Falls Dr (8:55, 8:43, 9:13). Leg cramps were starting to set in, so I took another walk break. As I approached the turnaround at Monterey Ave, a runner next to me was confused as to where to go as they had left up the sign for half marathoners to turn right. I told him, "oh no, you don't want to go that way!" Apparently, all he heard was, "go that way." Fortunately, there was another runner just behind that made sure he didn't. From there, it was just a little more than a mile to go (9:52). I was able to speed up for that final mile (8:37).
Finish: 1:54:18
Click here for my Garmin data.
I was hoping to equal or improve upon my time at the Surf City Half Marathon. However, I was definitely not fully recovered from the Mesa Marathon last weekend. My pace had been slower during my midweek daily walks around my neighborhood. Also, I needed to do a better job at watching my pace during that first mile!
That runner that was confused by the sign near mile 12 was a 72 year old named Ron bib #650. I chatted with him after the race, mostly to apologize for adding to the confusion. He finished ahead of me and won his age group! He was a retired pastor. He told me that this was a training run for the LA Marathon where he wants to run under 4 hours. He told me that he would have some of his church youth members run portions with him in the second half of the race. Before going our separate ways, I told him that I would look for him at the marathon.
After getting my finisher medal, I grabbed a small bottle of water and a plate of random snacks. I was feeling pretty depleted from that race, so after finding a spot to sit down, I proceeded to eat my snacks. I'm not a huge fan of Red Vines or Oreos, but I ate them anyways. I stopped by the beer garden to say bye to my friends before heading out.
Finisher medal
Post race snacks
The Dreamer by David Phelps
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