Looks like having the race expo at the same location as the Día de los Muertos event and the LA Comic Con was more traffic than DTLA could handle! They were gouging people with parking at about $30 for lots that normally were $15, so I was very glad that I took the Metro. The security team working the Comic Con had no clue where to go for the race expo. They kept pointing me in the wrong direction, so I decided to head over to the entrance near Staples Center which turned out to the be the entrance to the race expo.
Busy day at the expo
After picking up my race packet, I managed to make it through the expo without signing up for any races or buying anything. However I did sign up for a free buffet breakfast at the WorldMark, a Wyndham hotel, near Disneyland. I first spun a wheel where I "won" a free 7 night stay at one of their hotels. I had to put in a $20 deposit for the free meal which I will get back when I show up. Apparently I'll need to listen to 2 hrs worth of a sales pitch for their timeshare in order to get that 7 night stay voucher. I've been thinking about joining the Disney Vacation Club, so I supposed that this would be similar and would be good to see what's available out there.
Once I got home, I went through the expo haul. At first I was trying to decide what to wear for my costume. I didn't feel like running as Superman again this year. Once I looked at my bib, it was pretty clear what I needed to wear. I had forgotten what name I put on my bib during registration. Time to dig out my Batman costume. :)
Expo haul
Flat runner
Sunday 10/30
I had originally planned to take the 4:04 am Gold Line train from the Citrus College Station, but I was there early enough to catch the 3:45 am train. I guess it's always better to be early rather than late. I took it all the way to Union Station where I transferred to the Red/Purple line. I then took that to 7th St/Metro Center where I then transferred to the Blue/Expo line. I got off at the Pico Station at a little after 5 am. Just as I was about to step out of the train, one of those huge flying cockroaches crossed my path. Yikes! I then made my way over to the starting area where it was eerily quiet. They were in the process of setting up the gear check area and the finish line.
Solutions tent
Downtown LA at dark o'clock
I walked around to pass time. I ended up at the starting line to take a picture where I happened to bump into one of my friends doing pretty much the same thing. She was dressed up as Captain America and I was Batman. It was a DC/Marvel cross over! After taking an obligatory picture, I parted ways to hit the portapotties before getting my stuff together and check-in my gear bag. When I went through my bag, I noticed that I had forgotten my visor. I think I could count on one hand the number of times that I had run without my visor during a race. It's practically my trademark. My friends had told me that the visor was how they recognized and spotted me in the crowds.
Starting line
It's Jen!
A couple of my friends and I started in corral 2 which was released about 10 minutes before 7 am. Per the usual, I went out a bit too hard on the first mile for my current level of fitness. It was just a tad under 8 minutes. I knew that I currently only had about a 5k's worth of racing in my legs. Sure enough, I was pretty worn out by the 4th mile after running the loop around the Coliseum. Shortly thereafter, I started taking extended walk breaks. When I did run, I tried to put out a good effort. This year's course was again different from the prior years and it had a lot of rollers. After running back into Downtown LA, we turned left on Wilshire Blvd where we headed towards Koreatown. There were a bunch of zombie walkers out! It was pretty cool to see my friends and other costumed runners on the out and back. I leapfrogged with Fernando, a guy that I see at a lot of races. It's hard to miss the guy, he always brings music with him to the races. He was dressed up as a viking and was having a lot of fun out there! The turnaround spot was a little before mile 10, right before reaching Western Ave. The humidity was high and I felt pretty fatigued and warm due to my not-so-runner-friendly outfit. I kept pouring water on myself to cool off a bit. During the last couple of miles my calves and feet were even cramping up. That usually only happens in a full marathon.
Robert found us!
During the final stretch, I barely had enough in my legs to jog, run, or trot across the finish line without walking. I tried to follow the Team Sparkle runners dressed up as fruits to the finish line, but the cramps slowed me down.
I'm slowly making progress, but I'm reminded that 13 miles is still a long distance to cover! I've lost a lot of endurance as I've have been trying to give my legs as much time off from running.
Finish: 2:18:00
Click here for my Garmin data.
Finish line
After getting a bunch of post race food and drinks, I made my way to the gear check area to get my bag. Then I decided to go meet up with my friend at the beer garden even though I had already given away my beer ticket. This year the beer garden was a bit harder to find and was a bit of walk to get there. It was located behind Staples Center on the top level of a parking structure. I didn't actually go into the beer garden as the line was insanely long. I just waited for my friend inside the tent where they had a very loud concert. Way too loud for my old senior ears! :)
Post race concert and beer garden on the roof
Loud concert
After meeting up with my friend, we both headed out. He headed over to check out the Comic Con and I headed back to the Pico Station to catch the rail home. At the station, I met a guy dressed up as Chewbacca! He must be a pretty good smuggler as I'm not sure how he ended up with two half marathon medals! Kudos to him as it must have been hot as hell running any distance in that onesie!
Chewy at the Pico Metro station!
Post race snacks and drinks
This year was my 7th consecutive time running this half marathon since it joined the line-up of Rock n' Roll races. As you can see, my finishing times have been all over the place. More often than not, I have shown up to this race injured. I had originally planned to continue running this race for at least 10 consecutive years. However now I really want to forego that plan and run the Marine Corps Marathon instead. The two races usually take place on the same weekend. I still have some time before I need to make a decision.
2016: 2:18:00
2015: 2:07:40
2014: 1:47:49
2013: 1:57:16
2012: 2:05:16
2011: 3:21:08
2010: 1:54:33
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