I waited until about 9 am to hit the road so that I wouldn't be caught in the morning rush hour traffic. I ignored the onboard navigation and opted to just stay on the 101 going through downtown LA. While there was a lot of traffic in the downtown area, it wasn't too bad.
Outback Steakhouse
About 3 hours into the drive, it was about noon and I was fading a bit, so I exited the freeway at Patterson Ave to eat lunch at Santa Barbara Sunshine Cafe. Per the usual, the restaurant was participating in the AAdvantage Dining program which was what brought me here. It wasn't too crowded, so they seated me in one of the booths. I started things with their coffee. Per their menu, they were serving Green Star organic coffee. Unfortunately, it was burnt and tasted like crap. After looking over the menu, I ordered the New York Steak & Eggs with home potatoes and sourdough toast. Thankfully, the food and service was good. I wouldn't mind coming back and giving the coffee another try.
Green Star organic coffee
Sourdough toast
New York steak and eggs with home potatoes and sourdough toast
A bit overcooked, but not bad
I used their restroom before getting back on the road for the final stretch into Solvang. I pulled into town at about 1:15 pm. I found street parking on Oak St, near 1st St. From there, I walked over to the Solvang Visitor Center to pick up my race packet.
Bib pick-up
Race bib
Participants name wall
Poor choice of font colors
Sample can
Race shirt
Back of race shirt
Tote bag
Bib Boards
Hans Christian Andersen
Wine Festival
After getting back to my car, I drove over to my timeshare rental property. As with the 2 prior times that I've been here for this race, I stayed at the WorldMark Solvang. I was there before 2 pm, but thankfully, my unit was ready. I was assigned to unit #1308. The person checking me in told me that it had a nice view of the mountains from the balcony. The visit with the concierge was okay. He didn't really pressure me to do an owner update, but he did say that they would have me watch something on a tablet. Sounded pretty easy, but I politely declined.
WorldMark Solvang
View from the balcony
For an early dinner, I walked over to the Rundetårn to pick up a pizza at Viking Tower Pizza. I don't normally eat pizza, but they were participating in the AAdvantage Dining program. The restaurant was tucked inside away from Alisal Rd. It was pretty early so the place was empty. I ordered a medium garlic chicken pizza. The guy told me that it would be about a 15 minute wait. I took the time to do a little window shopping. When I returned they were just finishing up and boxing my pizza. I took it back to my room to enjoy. It was not bad, just the right amount of food for one person. It was a good pizza if you like garlic and artichoke.
Rundetårn (Round Tower)
Viking Tower Pizza
Medium garlic chicken pizza
I pretty much stuck to my regular routine for most of my Saturday races. I laid out my flat runner for tomorrow's race and watched some WWE Friday Night SmackDown. Then I took a shower before calling it a night. Man, the Murphy bed was not very comfortable!
Flat runner
Rey Fenix
John Cena
Saturday 5/10
At about 6 am, I left my room to head over to the starting line located next to Solvang Elementary School next to Atterdag Rd. Just as I had arrived at the portapotties, I bumped into my friend, Ginny. We chatted a bit before we started getting ready with our pre-race activities. Once I got the starting corral, I bumped in my friend, Sarah. She was helping out a friend shoot some social media content. I positioned myself next to the 1:50 pacers.
Dolphin bench
The Little Mermaid
Start line direction sign
Start line
Ginny
Sarah
1:50 pacer
The race started as scheduled at 7 am. Having run this race twice before, I knew that the first 7 miles would be mostly a gradual uphill climb. Ambitiously, I started the race with the 1:50 pacers. They dropped me by mile 2. After reaching mile 3, I pulled over for a walk break to let my body calm down a bit. It was already pretty warm and I was just sweating too much! While I covered the infamous Corkscrew Hill fairly well, I just couldn't take advantage of the mostly downhill remaining miles. I was starting to have leg cramps and GI issues, so I pretty much went into jogging mode so I wouldn't soil myself. I took walk breaks after reaching miles 9, 10, and 11 in preparation for the last significant climb up Chalk Hill Rd. Unfortunately, near the end of the climb, I came across EMTs attending to a fellow runner that was lying down on the side of the road. I felt quite glad once the course turned onto Atterdag Rd as the finish line was just up ahead with a final left hand turn.
Finish: 2:03:46
Click here for my Garmin data.
While I was hoping to continue to improve on my finishing time, it was prudent for me to just finish the race as it was a hot day. It was the slowest out of the 3 times that I had run this race, but I finished in one piece, upright, and without soiling myself.
2024: 1:53:07
2019: 2:00:19
After receiving my finisher medal, I took a selfie with it before continuing down the finisher chute where I bumped into my friend, Eddie, who had paced the 2 hour group. We picked up a bag of post race goodies before making our way over to the Hans Christian Andersen bust. After chatting a bit, I excused myself as I needed to head back to my room and use the toilet. Along the way back, I took a quick selfie with my medal in front of the iconic windmill.
Finish line selfie
Finisher medal
Close up of finisher medal
Post race goodies
Selfie at windmill
After getting back to my room, I was finally able to relieve myself of whatever was not wanting to stay in my body. I got cleaned up and put on the Bournemouth v. Aston Villa match. Honestly, I was pretty wiped out by this warm weather half marathon! I kept sipping on electrolyte drinks as my legs were feeling pretty achy from the leg cramps.
Bournemouth v. Aston Villa
Thankfully, my legs were feeling better by dinner time. I had made a 5 pm reservation at The Hitching Post 2. After checking in, I was promptly seated. It was a good thing that I had made a reservation as the place was pretty packed. I started things off with a ginger ale. I ordered a 15 oz sirloin steak with a baked potato and a mixed green salad with blue cheese. I also had the scallops as an add-on. They really know how to cook their steaks here! Normally, the leaner sirloin cut will be dry, but that was a very juicy steak! With inflation, that felt like a pretty pricey meal, but I still thought it was worth it. My waitress was pretty good at her job as she was successful at selling me those scallops. They were good, but a bit overpriced.
Mixed greens salad with blue cheese
15 oz sirloin with baked potato, scallops add-on
Sunday 5/11
I woke up early and checked out of the unit at about 7 am. I drove down to the Five Points Shopping Center in Santa Barbara to charge the car at the Tesla Supercharger. After plugging in the car for a charge, I walked over to Starbucks to get some coffee. I got my usual grande blonde vanilla latte. They had remodeled the place since my last visit. It's so much brighter now. On the drive back, I opted to take the 210 freeway.
Tesla Supercharger Santa Barbara
Starbucks
Grande blonde vanilla latte
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