Man, I do love races with race day packet pick-up! In the emails that were sent out leading up to race day, it had stated that pick-up wasn't scheduled to begin until 5 am. I timed it to get to the Fontana City Hall parking lot at about 4:45 am just to make sure that I got a good parking spot. I got a spot in the parking lot just off of Wheeler Ave.
It was still dark as I picked up my race packet. On the way back to the car, I stopped to use a portapotty. Before entering one, I noticed that they actually had a portable restroom trailer in addition to a few standard poratpotties. Normally, those trailers are reserved for those that have paid for some sort of a VIP package. Of course, I opted for the nicer trailer restroom.
Race shirt
Back of race shirt
Race swag
After I returned to the car, I shed my outer layers and grabbed my handheld bottle before walking over to the corner of Upland Ave and Sierra Ave to get in line for a bus ride up to the start line near the Applewhite Campground. I believe all of the busses were given a motorcycle police escort which was pretty cool.
Bus ride up to the start line at Apple White Campground
It was a bit chilly up at the starting area, so I was glad that I had my arm sleeves and gloves. It was cold enough that it would've been better had I brought a mylar blanket with me. I milled around a bit before getting in line to use one of the portapotties. I ran into a few familiar faces before making my way over to the creek as everyone seemed to be passing the time by taking selfies there.
Pam and her friend
We know each other through our friend, Casey!
Kent
North Fork Lytle Creek
North Fork Lytle Creek selfie
Leaves of 3, let it be
Making new friends
As the time got closer to the 7 am start and they were done loading the gear truck, we were instructed to make room for the truck to drive through. Then we were walked up to the street for the starting line where I bumped into Ward. It was a pretty low key event so there wasn't even the singing of our national anthem prior to the race start. The race started a couple minutes behind schedule.
Ward
Low key start without the national anthem
I can see why people love running this race when seeking to set their personal best for a half marathon. This course was pretty much downhill from start to finish! According to my Garmin data, there was only some climbing in miles 2 and 5, the rest were all downhill. During the earlier miles at higher elevation, my glasses were covered with moisture as we ran through the thick marine layer. I took it relatively easy from the start and didn't catch my friend Richard until about mile 8 after Lytle Creek Rd went underneath the 15 freeway and became Sierra Ave. Shortly later, a lady with a cough came up next to me and inquired about my pace. When I told her that I was running at about a 7:50 min/mile, she plowed on ahead. I tried to stay within reach of her for the next few miles. I saw that she was running at about a 7:40 min/mile. When the course flattened out a bit after reaching mile 11, I maintained the same level of effort. That caused my pace to drop a bit. The last mile was the flattest mile, so I didn't even break 8 mins for that last mile.
Finish line
Finish: 1:43:44
Click here for my Garmin data.
I was very content with my finishing time. Coming into this race, I would've been fine with running just under 1:50 given that I had the Rock n' Roll San Diego Marathon the next day. I certainly wasn't planning to run under 1:45. As I was taking my obligatory finish line selfie, an older gentleman that finished not too far behind me end up knocking down some temporary wood fencing. I believe he leaned on them thinking that they were going to be sturdy enough to bear weight.
Finish line selfie with medal
Finisher medal
Some of the volunteers came over to help him up, so I continued down the finisher chute. I was given a small bottle of water and a Ziplock bag containing some post race goodies. I think more races should do this to prevent certain inconsiderate people from grabbing too much food or snacks when there are still other participants that are out on the course.
Post race snacks and water
Before heading back to my car, I walked over to the corner of Upland Ave and Sierra Ave to catch some of my friends coming in through the final stretch. I saw Richard come through, but I didn't have my phone ready for a picture. I left after seeing Pam come through. I couldn't stay much longer than that as I needed to head home and get ready for my trip down to San Diego.
Pam approaching the finish line
I took a shower, ate lunch, then got a ride over to the ARTIC to catch a Greyhound bus down to San Diego. My particular bus was operated by FlixBus. Originally, I was planning to drive myself and leave my car there. However with the rampant homeless problem near and around the Santa Ana River Trail, you just never know if you're going to come back to see your car in one piece. Getting dropped off was definitely the better option.
Per the usual, there was a ton of traffic heading down the 5 freeway. There was some sort of annoying alarm sound going off for a good majority of the ride. The driver seemed to not care. Thankfully, it eventually went away. I got off at the bus stop right in front of the UCSD Health La Jolla Trolley Station. I went up the stairs and caught the next blue line train over to the UTC Transit Center to grab a quick meal at Westfield UTC. I decided to eat at Tender Greens as it was one of the restaurants listed on the AAdvantage Dining Program. Eating at participating restaurants earned me miles with American Airlines. I ordered the grilled steak plate with baby greens and roasted potatoes as my 2 sides. Since I had just recently created my rewards account, I was able to cash in my reward for a free iced black tea.
UCSD Health La Jolla Trolley Station
Greyhound/FlixBus bus stop
Iced black tea
Grilled steak plate with baby greens and roasted potatoes
Once I finished my meal, I didn't have time to dilly dally as the race expo was only opened until 5 pm. I took the trolley down to the County Center/Little Italy Trolley Station. From there, I walked over to the Waterfront Park for the race expo. Since running this race for the first time back in 2003, I believe that this was the first time that they had used this park for its expo venue. I would assume that this was a cost-savings move as it had to be more expensive to have it over at the San Diego Convention Center. It thought it was fine, but if it just so happened to be raining, it would've been messy as the field was more dirt than grass these days.
Race expo at the Waterfront Park
The flow of people was routed to head in one direction. The bibs were distributed first as you entered. That was followed by official merchandise and vendor booths. The race shirts were given out at the very end just before you exited the expo. Coming into the race expo, I was still waffling on whether or not I wanted to continue my streak and register for next year's race. Ultimately, I did. The presale for the marathon was $89 ($102.35 with fees). They also threw in the usual "free" cotton t-shirt for registering early.
Bib pick-up
Race participant name shirt
Found my name
Registered for next year's race
"Free" cotton t-shirt for early registration
Race shirt
Disappointing swag
Once I was done with the race expo, I started heading over to the WorldMark San Diego Balboa Park to check into my unit. I was assigned to unit #223. Per the usual, the concierge gave me a check-in care package with a bunch of junk food. When she heard that I was in San Diego to run the marathon, she went to the back to grab me a couple bottles of Gatorade. Without fail, before letting me go, she invited me to yet another owner update. I declined and went up to my room. Although I had reserved a studio unit, I was given a one bedroom unit. They had also left a welcome card and some Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies. At this point, they should be leaving me a red envelope with cash in it. The concierge that worked the next shift called me to see if I would change my mind on attending that owner update. LOL, no thank you.
VIP owners
Check-in care bag
Note and Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies
Welcome note
I was feeling pretty wiped out. Since I had a very early dinner, I really didn't feel like going out for another meal. I did consider getting something from the McDonald's across the street. However once again, there were no good deals on the McDonald's app, so that option was a bust. I ended up eating through all of the junk food. I laid out my flat runner for tomorrow's race before calling it a night.
Flat runner
Sunday 6/2
I woke up early, got ready, and left my unit at about a quarter to 5 for my walk up to the start area. Per the usual, I bumped into several other race participants and walked up with them. Once we had reached the starting area, I broke off from the pack and headed straight for the other Wyndham property, Inn at the Park. I used the restroom downstairs and then waited in the lobby for my friends to show up. We hung out here until it was time to head over to the starting corrals. This year, they were using a taller fencing on the side that was facing the park. The mesh was much tighter so it would be harder to climb. However, on the other side of the corral, it was still the old railing that was fairly easy to slide through.
Friends from Escondido
Doggy
Starting corral
I started the race off with my friend, hoping to pace her through the first 8 miles or so before the course split. As I plugged along on University Ave, I came up to one of the bigger, if not the biggest supporter of the Rock n' Roll Race Series. Even though he had unfriended me on Facebook for whatever reason, I still said a quick hi as I passed him. There's no beef on my side. I understand that some people just can't handle the incessant Disney and food porn posts in their FB feed. :) By mile 3, I was already beginning to sweat more than I would like for it still being this early in the race. I took a walk break. As my friend passed me, I told her that I would try to catch up to her. Since my next mile was even slower, I gave up on that and started easing off on the pace. Eventually, I settled into about a 10:30 min/mile pace. I reached the halfway point at Presidio Park in about 2:07.
Since I was ahead of schedule, after making the right turn onto Morena Blvd, I took a walk break before hopping on the San Diego River Bikeway. This roughly 2.25 miles stretch on this bikeway was a bit of a grind. I reached mile 16 after getting off of the bikeway and going up to the Sunset Cliffs Blvd. I took another walk break to let my legs recover a bit. While walking I saw that my friend, Deo, was not too far behind me. He would catch me near mile 17 on Sea World Dr. We would continue to leapfrog each other until I couldn't keep up with him on the climb up to mile 24. While I was gathering myself on B St for the jog in for the finish line, I was caught by Robert. I had about a 14 minute head start on him and he was still able to catch me on the last mile! Because he showed up, we ended up having a nice speedy run down to the finish line.
I don't listen to music while I run, but this song was playing inside my head
Deo after reaching mile 18
Care Bears at just after mile 21, right before getting on the dreaded 163!
Rang the bell after reaching the top of the 163 freeway
We were almost to mile 24!
The final stretch down to the finish line!
We make marathon running look fun! Thanks for running me in!
Finish: 4:43:09
Click here for my Garmin data.
Well, I did it! The 2 consecutive days of racing completed an informal Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge. The body is such an amazing creation. With some proper training, it will be able to comfortably complete a half marathon on Saturday, followed by a marathon on Sunday. All I had to do was to make sure that I didn't do too much too soon and to supply it with sufficient fuel. I was hoping to run the marathon a bit faster, but still this weekend was a confidence booster for the upcoming marathon double that I'll have in late July at Jack & Jill.
After receiving my finisher medal from Miss Poway and snapping a couple of selfies, I continued down the finisher chute where I received some post race goodies and a bottle of water. Robert needed to head out, but I opted to get in line for some post race photos as I had prepaid for the photo package. After I was done with pictures, I decided to skip going over to the post race celebration at the Waterfront Park and headed back to my timeshare. Along the way, I cut down to A St and then backtracked the race course to cheer on my fellow runners.
We're done!
Getting my medal from Miss Poway
Finisher medal
Finish line photo
Post race snacks and water
Post race medal photo
haha, that was me on the 163 climb!
I thought about sticking around and cheering at the course where runners come off of the 163 freeway. However, I was feeling quite fatigued and the onramp was a parking lot with drivers beginning to lay on their horn. I didn't need that negativity, so I crossed the street and went up to my room. I ended up plopping myself on the sofa. I watched some track and field event on TV. After vegging out for a couple of hours, I finally got myself up to take a shower.
Eventually, I decided to get a late lunch or very early dinner at the Tender Greens over on 1st and Broadway. I ordered a Mediterranean steak salad on the mobile app and walked over to pick it up. Along the way, I had to dodge a lot of homeless people. That was a such a sad experience. I have been coming back each year since 2003 and it only seems to get worse each year! When I opened my bag back at my unit, I noticed that I had forgotten to add utensils to my order. Thankfully, my unit had utensils. This was a very good post marathon meal! Definitely, better than eating at McDonald's! :)
Mediterranean steak salad
Monday 6/3
I packed up and checked out of my unit and headed back to Tender Greens to eat an early lunch. I appeared to be their very first customer for the day. I ordered a grilled salmon plate with baby arugula and seasonal vegetables as my 2 sides. I have been really enjoying my recent Tender Greens kick. They're somewhat pricey, but I really have been enjoying their food. After I was done with my meal, I walked over to the nearby Starbucks across the street from the Santa Fe Depot to get a drink. I ordered a grande white chocolate macadamia cream cold brew on the mobile app before going inside to wait for my drink.
Grilled salmon with baby arugula and seasonal vegetables
Grande white chocolate macadamia cream cold brew
I then walked south on Kettner Blvd to wait for my bus at the stop in front of The Headquarters at Seaport. In all of the years that I've been coming down to downtown San Diego, I have never really checked out the Seaport Village area. It was pretty cool to check out the jail cells and police exhibit as it used to be the old police headquarters. Here's a little history of The Headquarters.
My bus was scheduled for 12:20 pm. The bus showed up just after 12 noon. The driver was a bit eccentric. His English was somewhat broken, but he kept bashing the youth about how they're always on their smartphones, but they aren't very smart. After a while it got awkward. He even got on our case with everyone wanting to bring onboard their carryon bags instead of storing them in the cargo-hold. I told him it was because we wanted to keep an eye on our belongings. He challenged my response and said that it was because we didn't want someone to sit next to us. Sure dude, Greyhound busses are pretty empty these days.
My bus has arrived
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