I woke up super early to catch the Arsenal v. Crystal Palace match that started at 4:30 am. As much as I dislike those Gooners, it was quite impressive to see them convincingly beat up Palace. They were up 2 nil at the half and would pretty much seal the win with a third goal at the 59th minute. Martinelli would pour salt on the wound with 2 almost identical goals during stoppage time about a minute apart from each other. It was utter dominance with their 5 nil defeat of Palace. After the match, I got ready for my morning walk around my neighborhood.
After I was done with my walk, I got ready to drive out to Pasadena to pick up my race packet at the Big 5 Sporting Goods located at the corner of Colorado Blvd and Rosemead Blvd. The other 2 options for pick-up were at the Rose Bowl Stadium gate D and the Big 5 Sporting Goods in Santa Monica. I came to this location as it was the closest. It's always interesting to return to one of my old stomping grounds. A lot had changed in the area, but this Big 5 still remained as one of the constants. Pick-up started at 9 am, so I thought I would miss the rush and come a little bit later. I arrived at about 10:30 am only to find a long line that wrapped around the corner, all the way to Jack-in-the-Box. Parking was extremely scarce for this store, but for some reason, nobody parked at the curb right in front of their parking lot. That's where I parked before joining the line. Although the queue was quite long, it moved fairly quickly. I was inside the store in about 30 minutes. Once inside, it wasn't too long of a wait before I reached a volunteer to assign me to a bib number. As I was headed outside to get my race shirt, I bumped into my friend. I waited for her to get her bib and shirt before we went our separate ways.
Almost there
Stacy
Race shirt
Sunday 1/21
I was actually dreading to run this race especially with the weather forecast predicting rain for today. I brought along with me both a mylar blanket and a poncho. It would be a race time decision with which I would bring to the starting corral. I got ready and left my house at just before 4:30 am. I arrived at the Rose Bowl Stadium area at 5 am via Seco St exit from off the 210 freeway. Even though the left lane was flowing much better, I stayed in the right lane so that I could park in lot F. The left lane was being funneled over to lot I. I preferred lot F as it was right next to the start line and a large cache of portapotties. After I found a decent parking spot, I relaxed a bit and ate my usual pre-race protein bar.
Lot F
At just after 5:30 am, I got out of my car to use one of the portapotties. I then returned to my car to grab my handheld bottle and headed over to the Rose Bowl Stadium to check things out. I was wearing my wearing my long sleeve Disneyland Half Marathon shirt and a pair of waterproof gloves. It didn't feel all that cold to warrant the mylar blanket. I bumped into my friend after taking an obligatory picture of the famous stadium.
We used a portapotty one last time before we slowly started heading over to the starting corral. They had 4 volunteers guard the start line. I guess the timing mats were already turned on and they didn't want anyone crossing it. We positioned ourselves near the 7 min per mile pace sign. There was a lot of room between that sign and the starting line. We weren't going to get up too close to the line and impede the runners that will be running closer to 5 mins per mile.
Start line
Eventually, the usual suspects started showing up. With less than 15 minutes before the start of the race, I took a few selfies before turning on airplane mode and putting the phone away. Since it wasn't raining and not too cold, I took off the gloves and shoved them into my pocket. Eventually, they instructed all of the race participants to move up and fill in the empty spaces.
Dan and Karen
Ely and Stacy
Marcia
The race started a couple minutes after 7 am. I took off with the runners ahead of me. Boy, it felt good to get the legs moving. It actually felt easy. Once we got out to a wider section of Arroyo Blvd, I moved over to one side of the road so that faster runners can get through. I peeked at my watch and saw that I was running at a 6:50 pace. That was when I knew that I had to take my foot off of the gas as there were some climbs just up ahead. Even with me backing off of the pace, I covered that first mile in 7:34. I paid for that early indiscretion during the second mile. Not too long after making that left turn onto California Blvd, I took a walk break as it was one of the steeper climbs. I needed to let my HR calm down a bit. I started running again, but about a half mile later, I took another walk break before the right turn onto Colorado Blvd. My friend, Robert, who started a minute or so behind me caught up to me. I tried to hang with him, but he was moving a bit quicker than me. I had to let him go before the right turn at Arroyo Pkwy. The short out and back had us go down to Cordova followed by a right turn onto Green St. We stayed on Green St until the right turn on Lake Ave for an out and back down to San Pasqual St. I noticed that I was starting to catch up to my friend. Normally, when he passes me, the next time I see him would be at the finish line with him waiting for me. I'm sure that the only reason that I caught him was because he had a run a half marathon yesterday. I decided to take a walk break before I overtook him. Once I resumed running, I made a right turn back onto Green St. The next right turn on Wilson Ave was the final out and back down to Cal Tech, just a little past San Pasqual St. During the run back up to Green St, I finally passed my friend. He would return the favor shortly once I reached Green St and took another walk break. From there, what remained was a run back to the Rose Bowl. We leapfrogged each other on the way there. Whenever there was a decline or if I took a walk break, he would pass me. I would pass him when there was an incline. I took my last walk break during mile 11 as I was heading north next to the all familiar lot K. I had done many training runs here with my Team in Training charity group back in the day. I knew that there was a little over 2 miles to the finish line on the other side of the stadium. Just as I was ready to empty the tank, my calves threatened to cramp up. After I resumed running, I basically synced up with my friend. We decided to just run it in together.
And we're off!
Last mile with Robert
Final stretch with Robert
Crossing the finish line
Finish: 1:53:28
Click here for my Garmin data
I did not pace myself very well for this race. However, I had just gotten over a bout with the Disney crud. It was great to have my lungs back to about 100%. Now I just need to remain patient with getting my legs stronger so that I could eventually build up my endurance to cover a full marathon. Even though I had been getting more speed back, my right hip was still having issues with downhills and cambered roads.
Finish line
After getting our finisher medals and taking the obligatory post race pictures with it, we continued along the finisher chute. We were given a mylar blanket which I used to carry all of the post race food and drinks. The Siete potato chips were good! It was my first time eating them. I will have to make a mental note for the next time I go to the market. Upon exiting the stadium, we both noticed the banner that listed all of the legacy runners. We kind of wished that runDisney would have done the same for us last weekend.
Finisher medal
Back of finisher medal
Post race selfie with Robert
Post race professional photo with Robert
Post race snacks and drinks
Legacy participants
Robert wasn't feeling too well and wanted to leave, so I walked with him back to our cars. It would turn out that not only were we parked in the same lot, he was only about 4 cars over from me! After I dropped off all of the post race goodies at my car and put on my jacket, I went back to the Finish Festival area to see if there was A Snail's Pace Running Shop tent. I was supposed to meet up with Bob Morris, the Open/Masters Chair for USATF So Cal Road Running Committee. I did not see their tent there. However, lo and behold, I bumped into a guy that was wearing A Snail's Pace jacket just near the entrance of the beer garden. It just so happened that it was him. He was just about to check to see if I had finished the race and I was just about to email him. I was picking up my first place 45-49 AG award for the 2023 USATF So Cal Road Running Grand Prix. It would turn out that I had also come in second place 45-49 AG for 2022.
45-49 AG 2022, 2nd place
45-49 AG 2023, 1st place
After picking up those 2 AG awards, I met up with my friend. It took a while for us to find each other as the post race area was a bit of a zoo with so many people. We chatted a bit about our races before we started heading out. On our walk back to our cars, we came across a LA Superior Court Judge, Craig Mitchell. Back in 2012, he founded the Skid Row Running Club to help people overcome alcohol/drug abuse. He is now one of the candidates that's running for LA County District Attorney. He has my vote and I certainly hope that he wins. Since the current DA, George Gascón, has been doing a very poor job, I would be happy with someone else taking over. It was already quite sad to see what had happened to San Francisco when Gascón was their DA. We don't need LA to suffer the same fate.
LA Superior Court Judge, Craig Mitchell
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