I got ready and left the house at about 4:20 pm. I timed it so that I would arrive at the Starbucks in the Valencia Shopping Center on El Toro Rd when they were scheduled to open at 5 am. After parking the car, I placed my order on the mobile app for my usual drink, grande blonde vanilla latte, before going inside to pick up my drink.
Starbucks
Grande blonde vanilla latte
With coffee in hand, I hopped back in the car and drove over to the demolished former Laguna Hills Mall for the race. Just with prior years, the road to the parking lot next to Nordstrom Rack was blocked. Not sure why they do that every year since it's marked as one of the available parking lots for the race. Unlike others, I didn't bother going around the blockade and opted to just park in the BJ's Restaurant parking lot. I then walked over to pick up my race packet. We had to sign a paper waiver before they would assign a bib number to each participant. I bumped into a few familiar faces. I used a portapotty before heading back to the car.
Bib pick-up
Dexter and Luis
Andrea
At about 6:15 am, I got my stuff ready and headed over to the starting line for the scheduled 7 am start time. I met up with my friend, Albert. While we milled around the start area, I bumped into a couple of my friends that I normally see at all of the races that I run.
Albert
Ginny
Almi
We eventually made our way into the starting corral. I thought it was pretty hilarious that they put the railing around a car that wasn't moved to another location. I supposed that that was a good compromise without having to get a tow truck. They can move the car once the last runner crosses the start line. After the corral started to slowly fill up and with a little over 20 minutes before the start of the race, they had councilwoman, Young Kim, say a few encouraging words to the race participants. I believe the last time that I saw her at a race was back in 2023 for a 5k that supported Title IX over at the Nixon Library.
Someone didn't move their car
Start line
Councilwoman Young Kim
It turned out that the course was ready a bit early, so they started the race about one minute early. Per the usual, I ran the first 5k a bit fast as I always get pulled along by those running in the 5k. Once I made the right turn onto Alicia Parkway, I eased off on the pace as the rest of the course would be full of rollers. After turning right onto Pacific Park Dr, we made another right onto Woodfield to head down to the Aliso Creek trail at about mile 5. Most of the next 3 miles would be downhill until the turnaround point at about mile 8. The remaining 5 miles would be a gradual climb up to the finish line over at the Laguna Hills Community Center. At about mile 9, the 1:55 pace group passed me. I knew that they had started behind me, so I asked one of the pacers if they were ahead of schedule. He said that they were not because they were factoring the course being about ¼ mile long. I stuck to running my own race which was about 9 min miles for the rest of the way. Fortunately, that was good enough for me to start picking off a few runners here and there. I caught my friend, Eric, at mile 11. Boy, that short little steep climb near the final stretch felt steeper and longer with each successive year that I run this race! Once again, I found it strange that the 1:55 pacers were nowhere in sight when I crossed the finish line.
Finish: 1:54:48
Click here for my Garmin data.
After running poorly in my last 2 half marathons, I was happy just to finish in under 2 hours. One of the main factors that had contributed to my recent poor performances had been the weather. I just do not run well during the summer months when the weather gets warm and humid. Even the slightest bit of humidity was all but inevitable to derail my races. I made sure to keep my heart rate at around 140 bpm so that my legs wouldn't cramp up.
After receiving my finisher medal, I waited at the finish line as I knew that my friend, Eric, wasn't too far behind me. We got a quick selfie before continuing on in the finisher chute where we got some post race snacks and drinks. I need to make a more conscious effort to stop taking junk food at the end of the races. Just because they're giving them out, doesn't mean that I should take them. I should just stick to taking fruit and water.
Finisher medal
Finish line
Eric
Post race goodies and drinks
After that, we went over to the expo area to pick up our race shirt. I thought the design was pretty simple and clean which I prefer. However, it was made out of the cheaper rough polyester. I still prefer that they would go with 100% cotton or better yet, a cotton blend. We swung by the perimeter of the beer garden where we saw Mitch. He had been in there for a while since he ran the 10k this year. I believe he was just passing time until In-n-Out was open.
Race shirt
Back of race shirt
We then went our separate ways. Per the usual, I headed over to near mile marker 13 to wait for my friends as well as to cheer on my fellow runners for that final stretch. It was also where my friend, Andrea, was cheering for her WeROCK runners. There seemed to be fewer half marathon runners this year so I was able to catch most of my friends. Once my friend, Albert, had come through, I headed over to the finisher chute to meet up with him. After we were both ready to go, we headed up the hill to the Laguna Hills High School to catch a bus ride back to our cars.
Lea
2:30 pacers
Marcia
Kim
Gina
Maricris
Albert
El Chucky
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