LaceUp Riverside Reindeer Run 2018

Saturday 12/1
After getting a much needed haircut in the morning. I made the drive out to Fairmount Park in Riverside to pick up my race packet. I parked at the lot that was the closest to the address that was given in the final instructions. The lines were organized by bib numbers. Besides the usual bib, race shirt, and tote bag, I had a choice between antlers or a Santa hat. I went with the antlers. Inside the tote bag were 2 bars and a sample packet of Nuun tablets.

Race packet pick up

Race packet

Race shirt

Sunday 12/2
According to the final race instructions, we were instructed to park in downtown Riverside. From there we would catch a bus to the starting area. The bus pick-up spot was on 3rd St between Market St and Orange St. I parked in the lot 33 parking lot just next to that spot. The instructions weren't too clear on whether or not if parking was free. Just as I was ready to board the bus, I bumped into my friend. He had run this race last year, so he was able to verify that the parking was free.

After the short ride and being dropped off at the park, we made our way over to the area with all of the food trucks to sit down and relax at one of the tables. I started to go through my regular routine at about 30 minutes before the start of the race. I used one of the portapotties and checked my bag at the gear check tent. There were enough portapotties that I didn't have to wait at all!

Ho, ho, ho!

While wrapped in my mylar blanket, I walked around looking for my friends. Eventually I found them right before we took the Half Fanatics pre-race group photo in front of Santa. It was my first photo as an official member of the club.

Latino Heat

Pre-race Half-Fanatics photo

After the photo, I made my way over to the starting corral. My friends were going to take it easy, so I wished them a great race and made my way closer to the front. Even though I was having lower back spasms, I wanted to see if I could run at a decent pace and finish in under 2 hrs.

Start line

The lower back spasms slowed me down as it shortened my stride a bit. The stride also felt very awkward and uncomfortable. Thankfully the back felt somewhat better as it warmed up a bit, but it was still sore for the duration of the race. There were a couple of out and backs, so I got to see a lot of the usual suspects. I was struggling a bit during the last 5k so I had to take a couple of walk breaks. I eventually cramped up, so I had to walk most of the last uphill before heading down to the finish line.

Course map

Yea for free race photos!

Finish: 1:56:00
Click here for my Garmin data.

Relive 'Lexus LaceUp Reindeer Run'

After crossing the finish line, I got my medal and a small bottle of water. I then stopped by the gear bag tent to get my bag so I can free up my hands. After I got my bag, I headed over to the Lexus booth to get a free plastic water bottle. I also stopped by the California Half & Full Marathon race series booth to collect my challenge medal. With this race, I had completed 9 races out of the series. Unfortunately I needed 1 more race to earn the 10 race challenge medal, so instead I had to settle for the 7 race challenge medal. That's good enough for me!

Finisher medal

California Half & Full Marathon Series 7 race challenge medal

Next I went over to the Baby's Badass Burgers food truck to get a cheeseburger. There was quite the crowd there already. It took a while before my food came out. I had to put on my jacket as it was starting to feel chilly. After I got my food, I found a table with empty chairs so I could enjoy my burger. Before I was finished, I spotted one of my friends that also runs a lot of races.

Baby's Badass Burgers

Cheeseburger and finisher medals

After shooting the breeze for a while and meeting new people, I excused myself to go back out on the course to watch some of my friends finish their race. I walked up to the mile 13 marker. I was there in time to see most of my friends run by on their way to the finish line.

Eviltwin, Coconut Boy, and Latino Heat

I then made my way over to the post race area to catch up with my friends. They noticed that I was wearing an extra medal. I told them that they should check to see if they had qualified for a California Half & Full Marathon challenge medal. Good thing they did because they both qualified for a medal. When we made it over to the food trucks, I was spotted by a couple of friends that I have not seen at a race in several years. They had been busy getting married and becoming mothers. Although we're all friends on Facebook, it was good to catch up in person.

Reunion with a couple of my friends

LaceUp Palos Verdes Half Marathon 2018

Saturday 11/17
Per the instructions, they had 3 parking locations for this race: Rancho Palos Verdes City Hall, Salvation Army College, and Point Vicente Interpretive Center. Each of the locations were close enough to walk to the start/finish area at Pelican Cove Park, but they had shuttles going around to pick-up and drop-off people.

After the race was forced out of Point Fermin Park years ago due to several circumstances, I parked over at City Hall when I volunteered in 2011 and last ran the half marathon in 2012. This time, I decided to park at the Salvation Army College. I arrived at about a quarter after 5 am and was pretty much the first car at the middle second lot right in front of the college. There was a larger first lot just off of Hawthorne Blvd and a smaller third lot down the hill towards Palos Verdes Dr. I ate my KIND bar around my car as I enjoyed the early morning scenery. A runner from Italy started talking to me. He wanted to make sure that he was in the right place. As it got closer to the scheduled 5:45 am opening of bib pick-up, I boarded the next shuttle that came around. It would turn out that the shuttle just took us down the hill to the corner of Palos Verdes Dr. From there we walked over to the starting area.

Shuttle

It was still kind of dark when I arrived at the bib pick-up tent. Once I got my bib, a race shirt, and a nice durable tote bag, I went to use one of the portapotties. After taking care of business, I found a chair at a table to sit, relax, and enjoy the beautiful cliff-side views. It was a bit chilly, so I kept my jacket on.

Race shirt

Beautiful views!

As the start of the race approached. I got my stuff together so I could check my gear bag. It would turn out that once I had torn off the gear bag tag, the bib only had two bottom holes. Instead of trying to poke 2 new holes, I ended up wearing my bib upside down with my belt. I wrapped myself with my mylar blanket and headed to the starting area on Palos Verdes Dr. One thing that was confusing about this race was that the 5k race had a separate starting location. They had a volunteer cheerleader there holding a sign, but it wasn't well communicated to the runners.

Start line

Staying warm before the start

The race started about 10 minutes later than the scheduled 7 am start. The 10k race started with the half marathon heading East on Palos Verdes Dr. The first mile was pretty much a steady uphill climb with the turnaround at about 1.5 miles into the race. After a 5 year hiatus, I had forgotten just how hilly it was to run through Palos Verdes! The rollers just kept coming! After the turnaround, we headed the other direction on Palos Verdes Dr. For the most part, the course was off of Palos Verdes Dr as much as possible hugging the coastline which gave us beautiful views! I felt like I was a bit overheating, so I decided that it was best that I start taking walk breaks every 30 minutes to cool down. At about mile 4 we turned left at Via Vicente which turned into Calle Entradero. As we approached mile 5, we run back up to Palos Verdes Dr only for a short stretch turning left at Via Pacheco. That was quickly followed by a left turn at La Costa Ln zigzagging our way to Paseo del Mar. This steep downhill section would in turn be the hill challenge on the return trip. After the 10k mark, we took a left at Via Anacapa and another left at Paseo Lunado which became Paseo del Mar. We would stay on this street until the final turnaround at about mile 8. The run back quickly took a turn for the worse as the road camber was causing discomfort in my left ankle. Mentally I was worn out by the time I reached the hill challenge. As soon as I reached the steep climb, I sort of threw in the towel and decided to walk the whole thing. Part of the decision was made because the 2 hr pacer had passed me. Near the end of the climb, I bumped into my friend who was sweeping the course. She encouraged me to go after the 2 hr pacer. For some reason, that got me going again. I didn't think that my legs would hold up, but I took a salt tab and tried my best to catch him.

I never did catch that 2 hr pacer, but with my chip time, I managed to finish just 2 seconds under 2 hrs. Going into the race, I had thought that I could run about 1:50. Clearly, I underestimated the hills! Also I probably shouldn't have worn this old pair of Adidas that needs to be retired. Come to think of it, it was also giving me left ankle discomfort when I wore it for the Craft Classic Half Marathon 4 weekends ago.

Finish line

Finish: 1:59:58
Click here for my Garmin data.

Relive 'Palos Verdes Half Marathon'

After crossing the finish line, I was given my towel, a bottle of water, and a finisher medal. After walking further down the finishing chute, I picked up a couple of KIND protein bars before going to the gear check tent to get my bag so I could free up my hands.

Finisher medal

Post race goodies

I then made my way over to the beer area and food trucks. There were several food trucks, but I never made it past the first one, Piaggo. I filled out the order form for a breakfast burrito and got in line. When I got to the window, the lady told me that they were out of the burritos, so I got the Gaucho chicken bowl instead. She collected my food tag from my bib. I gave away my beer tag to another runner in line. I then stood off to the side to wait for them to call my name when the food was ready.

Yea beer!

No alcohol beyond this point

Piaggio food truck

Once I got my food, I found a table with empty chairs to enjoy the food. I've never had such good quality food after a race that was included in the race registration! In fact, I just realized that I did not get my food when I ran the LaceUp OC Half Marathon back in September!

Gaucho chicken bowl

On the way out, I stopped by the Lexus car area to pick up a nice little water bottle. They have been giving out some pretty useful items at these Lexus LaceUp races. After running two of them, they certainly have gotten my attention! I also bumped into a couple of my friends that I see quite often at races. After that I started the walk back to my car. The traffic was a bit chaotic at the Crestmont Ln and Palos Verdes Dr intersection. The people directing traffic were employees from Terranea Resort and you could tell that they were frustrated by some of the drivers wanting to stop and ask questions on where to go.

Once I crossed over to the other side, it was a nice winding uphill walk up to my car. Along the way, I noticed that there was a spot that would be a great place to take a load off and enjoy the views!

Nice view about halfway up the hill

Silver Strand Half Marathon 2018

Saturday 11/10
Originally I was registered for and planning to run the Inaugural Heroes 10-Mile Run in Anaheim, but it was canceled and a refund was issued. I actually thought about giving myself a weekend off of racing, but eventually I decided to run the Silver Strand Half Marathon. Coincidentally they also had a 10 miler, but why run 10 when you can run 13.1? :)

After picking up my car from the dealership (dead battery) and gassing up the car, I started my drive down to San Diego. I'm not sure why, but this drive down to San Diego just seems to get longer and longer each time I make the drive. I arrived at Road Runner Sports and found a parking spot way at the back of the store. After filling out the waiver forms, I got in one of the many bib pick-up lines to be assigned a number. After getting my bib, I headed into the store to pick up my race shirt and goodie bag. The guy giving me my shirt noticed my Santa Clarita shirt and made a comment that there is help available for those that run too much. :)

Race shirt

Back of race shirt

After using the restroom, I made my way over to my usual spot at the Mitsuwa Marketplace for a quick lunch before heading back home. Instead of getting a pre-made bento box, I decided to get in line at Musashiya for a hot cooked-to-order meal. I ordered their chicken katsu set. I must say that it was one of the worst chicken katsu that I had ever eaten. It tasted more like regular fried chicken. Perhaps they served me the wrong type of chicken as they had fried chicken as one of the items on their special menu. Oh well, it was still quite edible and the rest of the food was okay. I will definitely think twice before I order from here again.

Chicken katsu set

Sunday 11/11
I timed my drive so that I would arrive at Raema Park at about 5:15 am. I don't think I've driven this far South in such a long time as I was only about 5 minutes from the border. I exited off of the 5 freeway at Palm Ave and drove West towards Imperial Beach. I parked on Elkwood Ave just East of Raema Park right at the corner of 3rd St. I relaxed and waited in my car for a bit as the first bus wasn't scheduled to leave until 5:30 am or 5:45 am. There was a chill in the air as I made the walk over to the pick-up spot on 2nd St. The bus took us over to the starting area at Sunset Park over on Coronado.

I was among the first ones there as the starting line wasn't quite set up yet as it still needed to be rolled into place. I made my way over to the long row of portapotties to take care of business. After I was finished, I wrapped myself in my mylar blanket and found a spot on the curb to sit down and wait. As I waited, I spotted a few of my San Diego friends. They are some of the nicest people that I know. Her brother would be running his first half marathon this morning!

SD friends

Start line

The usual suspects

The race started at 7:30 am after the skate/ElliptiGO and hand-cycle/wheelchair participants started at 7:15 am and 7:20 am respectively. The course was pretty much pancake flat with the majority of it along the Silver Strand Blvd from Coronado down to Imperial Beach. I ran the first two miles just a tad too fast, but the legs felt surprisingly good. Not counting the Long Beach Marathon, this was the 5th consecutive weekend where I was running a half marathon. Going into this race, I just wanted to maintain a 8:15 - 8:30 min/mile pace throughout. At about 8.5 miles into the race, we finally got off of Silver Stand Blvd and started weaving our way towards Seacoast Dr. Coming through mile 10, I got a glimpse of the finish line. I was hoping to keep it together for the last 5k, but during that short span, everything quickly fell apart. I even had to take a short walk break right before the turnaround point. My friend would pass me during the last mile coming down Imperial Beach Blvd. My legs were beginning to cramp up, so I was unable to keep up and have her pull me to the finish line.

Coming through mile 10

Finish: 1:52:19
Click here for my Garmin data.

Relive 'Silver Strand Half Marathon'

As soon as I stopped, my legs cramped up. My friend had just finished ahead of me and was taking pictures with her friend. So after having a brief chat, I had to keep moving to keep the legs loose. I got my finisher medal, a banana and a bottle of water. A little bit further down the finishing chute, they were passing out bottles of Naked juice fruit smoothie. Nice!

Overall I did okay and was pleased with what the legs were able to give me today. I gave myself a chance to run another sub 1:50, but I lost it in the final 5k.

I took my stuff and headed across the street to eat my banana and see if I could catch my friend finishing. I saw him come through and shouted his name, but he was running with music, so he did not hear me. Before heading home, I used one of the portapotties next to the gear bag retrieval area on Elder Ave.

Finish line

Finisher medal

Finisher medal and post race goodies

My legs were still a bit tight on the drive home, so I drank the bottle of Naked juice fruit smoothie which helped. I didn't have enough gas in the tank for the drive home, so I rolled into the Chevron gas station on El Toro riding on fumes. There was a McDonald's next to this gas station and boy was I tempted to go in there for some salty french fries!

Fill 'er up!

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.