Santa Clarita Half Marathon 2018

Saturday 11/3
Per the usual, after watching some of the early morning English Premier matches, I drove out to the Santa Clarita Half Marathon race expo located at the Westfield Valencia Town Center. It was pretty much on the other side of the freeway from Six Flags Magic Mountain. I had not been there in many years, so I had definitely forgotten how long the drive was. The logistics for this race was really easy. Everything was located at the mall. There were plenty of mall parking right next to everything. I found a spot and walked over to the expo area. It was quite busy as I had gotten there just as the runners were coming in for the 5k and 10k races. I picked up my race bib on one end of the expo and was directed to the other end for my race shirt. I also picked up the race packet for my friend who was busy running more races elsewhere. Since it was pretty crowded, I decided not to stick around and started heading home.

Race shirt

Sunday 11/4
I timed it so that I would arrive at about 6 am, about an hour before the start of the race. It was pretty smooth sailing until I was about an exit or 2 from where I needed to exit. Caltrans had shut down all but 1 lane. Nice. Good thing I always make it a point to get to races early, so it didn't really delay my arrival too much. Once I had arrived and parked, I went over to use one of the portapotties. They had brought out some of the fancier ones that I've never seen at the hundreds of races that I've run. First, they had light indicators on the door handles to tell you which ones were occupied. Second, they had fans inside to circular the air. Third, the toilets flushed! Fourth, there were sinks inside for you to wash your hands!

Fancy portapotties

After taking care of business I went back to my car to relax a bit before heading over to the starting line. My friend texted me to let me know that he was running late and to meet him at the starting line with his bib. I then grabbed my stuff and walked over to the starting line which was located just underneath the pedestrian overpass over on Magic Mountain Parkway. I waited for my friend on the median just across from the Chick-fil-A. He would show up just under 10 minutes before the start of the race. That's cutting it very close! :)

Pre-race with Latino Heat

Course map

Finish: 1:49:02
Click here for my Garmin data.

Relive 'Santa Clarita Half Marathon'

Right before the start of the race, the announcer said that for this year, the course had been changed a bit to give us a better course. I know some of my friends in the past had complained that the course was absolutely boring. I thought that this year's half marathon course was pretty nice. Although I might not be the best to ask since there are very few races that I do not like.

Anyways, I was glad that I was able to keep things together well enough to finish under 1:50. After the last 3 weekends, I was starting to think that I was stuck in a 1:53:xx rut. I knew that I had a better chance today since the courses for the past 3 weekends were significantly hillier than today's course.

After getting my finisher medal, a banana, a Kind protein bar, and a bottle of chocolate milk, I made my way over to my car to put my stuff away. I then used one of the portapotties before hitting the road for the drive home.

Finish line

Medal and post race food

Rock n Roll Los Angeles Half Marathon 2018

Saturday 10/27
After watching a few of the early English Premier League matches, I got ready to head out to the LA Convention Center for the race expo. I drove out to the Sierra Madre Villa Metro Station to catch the light rail. I took that into Union Station where I transferred over to the Purple/Red line getting off at 7th St/Metro Center. From there I transferred to the Expo line for a quick ride down to the Pico Station. It was good to see that most of the construction was near finished, so I was able to take 12th St over to Hall A of the convention center.

The packet pick-up process was once again very well streamlined. However the expo itself was pretty disappointing and pathetically small. I saw a few cost saving measures in place which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. For one, the race shirt was no longer printed on a Brooks or another branded shirt. It was just a generic black tech shirt. Since I'm not a fan of polyester "tech" shirts, I couldn't care less. There weren't very many vendor booths compared to years prior. They certainly didn't need to rent that much space at the convention center for this race expo.

Race shirt

One thing that was out of the norm was that they were not taking pre-registrations for next year's race. I inquired about that at their booth and the rep basically told me to wait for an email when registration is open.

Slightly modified course for this year

Expo haul

Sunday 10/28
I timed my drive out to the Sierra Madre Villa Metro Station so that I would get there in time for the first train at about 4 am. As I got to the turnstile, there was a poor guy there that wasn't aware that the light rail doesn't run 24 hrs. I'm not sure how long he had been waiting there. He was wanting to head Eastbound on the Gold line and asked if I knew if the train was coming. I told him that the first Westbound train was at about 4 am, so the one for Eastbound should be there shortly. I took the same route as yesterday.

Once I had arrived at the Pico Station, I walked over to the starting area and started heading over to the gear check area at LA Live. I noticed that it was quite foggy, just the perfect conditions for a Halloween themed race! Before checking-in my bag, I used one of the nearby portapotties. Then on my way over to the starting corrals, I bumped into someone I knew. After chatting for a bit, I used another portapotty to empty out the bladder one last time. I bumped into the usual suspects while waiting in the starting corral. It was also great to see a couple of friends that I haven't seen in a while.

Start corral

The race started at about a quarter after 6 am. Per the usual, we headed South on Figueroa St. This year we didn't run as far South in years prior as we never got to the LA Coliseum. Instead we made an u-turn at Jefferson Blvd at about 1.5 miles in. After that it was a very gradual uphill climb up to Wilshire Blvd. I didn't feel too much zip in my legs as this was my 3rd half marathon in as many weekends. Before turning West onto Wilshire, we ran up a block for a short little out and back. We would then stay on Wilshire for about 4 miles before making an u-turn. Since we didn't run to the Coliseum, we had to make up the mileage here as we ran all the way out to Rimpau Blvd with the turnaround at about 8.25 miles into the race. My legs were feeling pretty spent for the return trip up to Figueroa. During the last couple of miles, I had to pull over for a quick walk break here and there as my legs were cramping up. My legs couldn't do much once I finally got over the 110 overpass and it was just a downhill run to the finish line at LA Live.

Finish line

Finish: 1:53:12
Click here for my Garmin data.

Relive 'Los Angeles Rock n Roll Half Marathon'

After crossing the finish line, I got my medal. I liked this year's design as it was clean and simple. I saw a couple of my faster friends taking pictures off to the side. After saying hi, I continued down the finisher chute picking up some post race drinks and snacks.

Finisher medal

Closeup of finisher medal

Post race snacks and drinks

While I was hoping to have finished closer to 1:50 or below, I was happy that I was able to maintain a good effort throughout the majority of the race. I was also pleased that I was able to maintain consistency over the last 3 races, finishing all of them in 1:53:xx.

Once again they had the post race festivities and gear check up on the top floor of the West Lot parking structure. We had to climb a couple flights of stairs to get there. After I got my gear bag and chatted a bit with one of my good friends, I gave away my beer ticket before heading out.

Latino Heat

I started my walk up to the 7th St/Metro Center via Figueroa St. I bumped into a few familiar faces along the way. Eventually I stopped at the corner of Wilshire Blvd and Figueroa St to cheer on the runners. It was pretty cool to see some of the costumes that people wore. There were a bunch of skinny Care Bears out there! One of my friends was dressed up as the Snapchat pizza prayer bitmoji. One guy was dressed up as the Monopoly guy. When I pointed that out, he gave me a property piece, Reading Railroad. I guess that's one way to keep the race interesting and interact with the spectators. I waited until I saw one of my old running friends run by. After that, I walked over to the Metro station to catch a ride back to my car.

@blingwhore as pizza prayer bitmoji running with one of the Care Bears

Number of finishers:
This year: 4,796
2017: 7,290
2016: 10,173

After seeing that downward trend of finishers, I'm not very hopeful that there will be a race next year. If there is, it will be their 10th year. If not, I wouldn't mind, because it would free me up to run one of my favorite marathons, the Marine Corps Marathon.

Craft Classic San Diego Half Marathon 2018

Saturday 10/20
Once again I spent most of the morning watching English Premier League matches. I didn't start getting ready until I was done with the match between West Ham United and the Spurs. Once I was ready, I first stopped in at Albertsons to buy water and some snacks for the short weekend trip down to San Diego.

Snacks and water

Then I stopped at Reef Tropical Fish in Anaheim to buy new fish for the aquarium at work. After stopping by work to drop off the fish, I started heading down to San Diego. I came across so much traffic, more than I had anticipated. I didn't come across any accidents, so I wondered where everyone was headed?

Black ghost knife

I was pretty hungry when I finally rolled into San Diego, but first I stopped in at Road Runner Sports to pick up my race packet before going to get food. The process was simple and quick. After getting my bib, I went inside the store to get my race shirt and a pint glass. They were actually giving out beer samples which I forego since I don't drink anymore. After using the restroom, I drove over to the nearby Mitsuwa Marketplace where I bought a chicken rice bento and a plum flavored rice ball. I found a spot in the food court to eat the food before driving out to my hotel.

Race shirt

Back of race shirt

Green Flash pint glass

Chicken rice bento and plum flavored rice ball

For this one-nighter, I stayed at the Homewood Suites by Hilton San Diego-Del Mar. It was located off of the 5 freeway just South of Carmel Mountain Rd coming down Vista Sorrento Pkwy. The person at the front desk that checked me in to my room was very nice and friendly. I had a room on the ground floor. It was very spacious and everything was clean.

I relaxed a bit in my room waiting for the NLCS game 7 to begin. Unfortunately they didn't have the FS1 channel on their TV, so I had to use their WiFi to stream the game on the Fox Sports app. About midway through the game, I drove out to the nearby McDonald's to grab dinner and to cash in one of my winning game pieces. I used the game piece for a small strawberry banana smoothie. This McDonald's was a bit weird as the parking lot for the shopping plaza was practically empty. The inside of the restaurant was also pretty empty except for a couple of customers and 2 employees. They even had signs at the counter suggesting that you order from one of the kiosks. I placed my order via the mobile app. It took what seemed to be forever for my small order of a McDouble and a cheeseburger to come out.

Strawberry banana smoothie

McDouble and cheeseburger

I listened to the game on the radio on the way back to my room. I ate my food while watching the rest of the game. I also took the time to lay out my flat runner for tomorrow's race. It was such a relief to see the Dodgers handle the Brewers rather easily after 6 tough games.

Dodgers win NLCS game 7

Another trip to the World Series

Flat runner

Sunday 10/21
I got ready and left the hotel at about a quarter after 5 am. Per the race instructions, I drove out to the parking lot near Green Flash Brewery by entering from Genetic Center Dr after turning North from Mira Mesa Blvd. The parking lot was pretty empty as I was among the first ones there at just before 5:30 am. A few of us were looking for the pick-up spot for the shuttles. We followed the line of buses and finally found it on Top Gun St. The bus dropped us off at Camino del Sur just off of the 56 freeway. The start area including the portapotties were all along Torrey Santa Fe Rd. After using one of the portapotties, I decided to go wait inside the nearby Circle K as there was a little bit of a chill in the air.

Start line

As the start of the race approached, I went back outside and got into the starting corral where I bumped into one of my fellow Marathon Maniacs. She's also a frequent racer that I get to see at a lot of my races.

Pre-race photo with Maricris

Having run this race before, I knew that the first half along the 56 freeway would be fast. While this section of the course was somewhat undulating, it was mostly downhill. I made sure not to overdo it as there would be plenty of long climbs during the second half. I did okay with the two small climbs at miles 7 and 8, however I totally forgot how long that climb was at mile 10. I only made it about halfway up the climb when I started laboring with my breathing even though I was barely jogging. I decided then to just walk it. By the time I got to the top, my legs were done and I was running on fumes so I couldn't really take advantage of a short downhill section. The final climb up to Top Gun St and to the finish line was every bit as cruel as I had remember it to be!

Finish: 1:53:01
Click here for my Garmin data.

Relive 'Craft Classic Half Marathon'

Besides that one long walk break while climbing up Sorrento Valley Blvd, I ran a pretty good race. Coming into this race, I wasn't sure that I could finish in under 2 hrs as I was pretty wrecked when I ran this course during their inaugural year in 2016. It felt bad enough that I did not return last year.

Finish line

After getting my finisher medal/magnet, I picked up a couple of snacks and a banana before heading over to the Adidas Solarboost VIP lounge. In order to get inside the lounge, I had to RSVP for it back in late August. I also had to be wearing a pair of Adidas to gain entrance. They had someone there at the entrance checking for your name on a clipboard and your shoes. They had a nice spread of desserts and fruit which I did not partake. I instead opted for one of their chorizo burritos. They were also giving out massages which I also did not do.

Finisher medal

Adidas Solarboost VIP lounge

Post race snacks and chorizo burrito

Snack spread in VIP lounge

I didn't stay in the lounge too long. Shortly after finishing the burrito, I left the lounge and walked over to the beer garden to give it a quick look. It looked to be much more organized and less chaotic this year. I was about to head back to my car when I recognized the voice of the race announcer. I stopped by to say hi to my friend before leaving.

Green Flash beer garden

My friend, the race announcer!