After eating lunch, I made the roughly 2 hr drive out to Ventura. I exited the 101 freeway at California St and turned right on Santa Clara St. I parked in the parking structure near that intersection. From there, I walked over to the race packet pick-up located a couple of blocks away at Mission Park.
Downtown Ventura map
I thought the park was a nice venue. I picked up my race bib, race shirt, tote bag, and some goodies. In addition to vendor booths, they had live entertainment.
Packet pick-up
Race shirt
Race swag
Entertainment
Race schedule
After I was done, I then hopped in my car and drove over to the nearby Chick-fil-A to eat an early dinner before heading to my motel for the evening. Using the mobile app, I ordered two Chick-fil-A sandwiches and an unsweetened iced tea. Also with the app, I scanned the table number, so the food was brought out to me once it was ready.
Early dinner
Since I'm not a Spring chicken anymore and not wanting to drive back and forth so many times in 1 weekend, I booked a room at the nearby La Quinta Inn just off of the 101 freeway at the Victoria Ave exit. They gave me a small care package during check-in which contained a bottle of water and Grandma's oatmeal raisin cookies. It was more than an adequate room for the one-nighter.
Check-in goodies
La Quinta Inn Ventura
I spent the remainder of the evening watching the Yankees vs. Astros ALCS game 6. The Astros ended up winning the game with a score of 6-4 with a walk-off 2 run home run by José Altuve off of a change-up from Aroldis Chapman. They won the ALCS series 4-2 and will go on to face the Washington Nationals in the World Series.
Yankees vs. Astros ALCS game 6
Astros win ALCS series 4-2
Super Saiyan!
While watching the game, I laid out my flat runner for tomorrow's race.
Flat runner
Sunday 10/20
I checked-out of my room and left for the race at about 5 am. I parked the car in the same parking structure as yesterday. From there, I walked to the bus pick-up located over at the Ventura County Fairgrounds and Event Center parking lot. The buses were loading up at the Southwest corner of Harbor Blvd and Figueroa St. For the half marathon, the bus dropped us off near where Baldwin Rd and Old Baldwin Rd meets. They had a long cache of portapotties along Old Baldwin Rd. The starting line was further down the road.
Portapotties near the start line
Start line
As the start of the race approached, I got into the corral where I bumped into a few familiar faces. My goal for today's race was to finish around 2 hrs, preferably under. I wasn't quite confident that I would be able to finish in under 2 hrs as I had just run the Long Beach Marathon last weekend. My legs definitely did not feel fresh.
Natalie
Ruiz family
Once the race started, I made sure not to go out too hard especially since there was a little bit of climbing during that first mile. Everything was going pretty well through the first 10k. Then the usual discomfort in my right arch and ankle appeared. Since I had the Marine Corps 50k coming up next weekend, I had to be careful to not make the issue any worse. I slowed down the pace and took walk breaks here and there to help alleviate the discomfort.
Early in the race
I was cruising along as I reached mile 10, but I sped up a bit in the last couple of miles to make sure that I finished in under 2 hrs. Even though the pace wasn't that much faster, it felt like I had to work a bit harder than I wanted as the day had warmed up.
Finished just under 2 hrs
Finish line
Finish: 1:59:37
Click here for my Garmin data.
Even though it was a net downhill course, there were enough rollers thrown in to make it a little bit more challenging. I'm also getting a bit older, so long stretches of downhills really take a toll on my aging body especially my lower back. This was my first time running this race and I liked it. I ran it only because I had decided on taking on the LaceUp Challenge this year which involved running all 4 races in their series (Orange County, Ventura, Palos Verdes, and Riverside).Relive 'LaceUp Ventura Half Marathon'
After crossing the finish line and getting my finisher medal, I got a bottle of water and made my way over to the post-race area inside Mission Park where I got in the waffle line. I'm used to the food trucks at the LaceUp race series, but this was a good alternative. In addition to waffles, they gave us fresh fruit. They're so much easier for me to eat right after running a race.
Finisher medal
Post race waffles, fruits, and other goodies
After I finished off the food, I used one of the portapotties before heading back to my car for the drive home.
No comments:
Post a Comment