LaceUp Orange County Half Marathon 2018

Friday 9/7
I love to travel, but it's always nice to take a break every now and then. This weekend didn't involve any traveling. It was a local half marathon in the city of Irvine. The race packet pick-up was held at the Mike Ward Woodbridge Community Park located just North of Alton Parkway in between Lake Rd and Creek Rd. That was rather convenient, since it was only about 10 minutes from where I work. The whole process was very well organized. You could tell that they knew what they were doing. They even set up a couple of cornhole games in case you're not in a hurry to go anywhere. The race packet was pretty standard: race bib, race shirt, and tote bag.

Packet pick-up

Bib

Shirt

Tote bag

Saturday 9/8
Since the race was fairly small and was scheduled to start at 6:30 am, I planned to get there at about 5:30 am. I had to stop by the gas station first since my tank was pretty empty. The start and finish of the race was at the same location as the expo. The parking lot was just beginning to fill up as I rolled in. After I found a parking spot, I got my stuff ready and walked over to use one of the portapotties before it got too busy. They had the portapotties over on the grass and I hate walking on wet grass! After I was done, I milled around the starting area and it wasn't long before I bumped into somebody that I knew. I'm always racing and he's always pacing.

Start line

As the start of the race got closer, all of the runners pretty much just gathered near the starting line. The race announcer was saying a bunch of last minute reminders, but it was hard to hear her since the speakers weren't particularly loud. It also never registered to me that that was my friend who was the race announcer! I thought she was still in Europe having just recently completed the UTMB ultra-marathon!

I've run a few races in Irvine and I must say that this was one of my favorite courses. For the most part it was flat, but there were a bunch of rollers aka underpasses. The race started with us crossing the bridge over to the San Diego Creek Trail where we turned left. We ran along that trail until it became the Peters Canyon Trail. We got off at Warner Ave and headed East turning North on Harvard Ave. I was wearing an older pair of shoes and by around the 3rd mile, it was irritating the pinkie toe on my right foot. I'm sure a blister had formed as it was quite annoying and somewhat painful. At Deerfield Ave, we hopped onto the Harvard Side Path and then got on the Walnut Trail. We took that all the way to Jeffrey Rd followed by a left turn on Irvine Center Dr heading East. At about mile 7 or 1 hr into the race, the left glute was pretty tight as was the hamstring, so I knew I had to back off on the pass before it went all the way down to my foot. We then made a right turn onto Valley Oak Dr heading South. After crossing Barranca Parkway, we turned left onto the San Diego Creek Trail for an out-and-back that almost took us to the 133 Freeway. It was good to see the other runners out on the course during the out-and-back. After running past Valley Oak Dr, we headed over to Jeffrey Rd where we crossed over to the other side of the San Diego Creek for a short out-and-back. Then all that was left was pretty much the last mile back to where we started at the park.

Yea for free race photos!

Finish: 1:54:24
Click here for my Garmin data.

Relive 'Lace Up OC Half Marathon'

I thought I ran a very smart race with what my legs were able to give me. I think this time I was able to back off on the pace early enough that I could still run those 9 min miles and get in under 2 hrs. As I'm starting to feel much better, I have to be careful not to do too much too soon.

After getting my finisher's medal, I bumped into a couple of my friends. One of them was running the relay. After chatting for a little bit, I had to move on to grab some bananas and a bottle of water as my legs were starting to cramp up. I started walking to the post race celebration area while eating the bananas. Along the way I picked up a Kind peanut butter protein bar. I then picked up a Lexus water bottle. I was wondering why they had a water bottle tag on my bib.

Finisher medal

Water bottle and Kind bar

After that I got in line to see my race results. While in line, I ended up talking to a runner that was from New York because I recognized her shirt from having run so many NYRR races. If I remember correctly, she was originally from San Diego, but now lives in NY. We talked a little bit about doing the 9+1 program to get a guaranteed spot in the NYC Marathon. She applauded me for taking on that task from the West Coast and also told me that she has friends in New Jersey that wouldn't even drive over to do the 9+1. Before heading back to my car to go home, I gave away my beer ticket.