One other interest that I have besides running is watching Broadway musicals. Today I ventured out to the Hollywood Pantages Theatre to see Frozen. Although I had enjoyed the movie, I wasn't expecting to enjoy this one too much as I'm not exactly among their target audience. Since it was a 2 pm afternoon show, I decided to take the Metro light rail for a good portion of the trip. It's quite convenient that the Hollywood/Vine Metro station was right across the street from the theatre.
I arrived early enough to grab lunch before the show. For this trip, I decided to get a burger at the Shake Shack across the street. I ordered my usual meal, the Double ShackBurger and crinkle-cut fries.
After I was done inhaling the delicious cheeseburger, I decided to check out the Funko store next door since I still had time before they would let us inside. It was a neat place to check out as you're not obligated to make a purchase. In this day and age, it's always nice to be able to do something fun without having to pay a single cent!
Spider-man
Black Panther
Thanos
Toy Story
Mos Eisley
Rick and Morty
Harry Potter
The Little Mermaid
Elsa and Olaf
"Must go faster!"
After I was done exploring the entire store, it was time to head back to the theatre as they were about to open the doors. I noticed that there were about 10 little girls dressed up as Elsa for every 1 that was dressed up as Anna. I much preferred the character Anna. Per the usual, after getting a playbill, I bought a t-shirt. This was one of the better designs that I've seen! I'll definitely have to wear it at the next runDisney race!
Frozen Playbill
T-shirt
I must admit that I thoroughly enjoyed this musical! It was very well done! I enjoyed it way more than the movie. The characters' personalities were more developed in this musical than it was in the movie. The special effects were also pretty neat to watch!
It took about 2 hrs to get back home. Even though I took public transportation for about half the trip, traffic was still a pain in the butt to endure. After dinner, I laid out my flat runner for tomorrow's race. I didn't put too much thought into my wardrobe choice. I just went with the race shirt from last weekend's race.
Flat runner
Sunday 12/15
Along the way to the race, I stopped at a Chevron gas station to fill up the tank. Don't you just love paying $4 per gallon for gas? When it's time to replace my current car, I really should look into getting a car that doesn't recommend super unleaded gas or maybe even a car that runs on alternative fuel.
The final race instructions had us enter the Pomona Fairplex at gate 9 off of N White Ave. Unfortunately it was $12 for parking. I'm glad that they were able to accept credit cards, because I hate having to carry cash. I had arrived and was parked just shortly after 6 am. Since race packet pick-up wasn't scheduled to start until 6:30 am, I relaxed a bit in my car before heading on over.
It was still kind of dark when I made the walk over to pick up my race packet. It was also a bit chilly. I'm not sure when I was last here, but there were some interesting things that I came across long the way. One of those things was a pretty cool dinosaur photo op.
The race packet pick-up process was quick and easy as they assigned you a race bib number on the spot thereby eliminating the need to look up bib numbers. Things were even quicker if you had the QR code that was given to you when you registered for the race. They also gave out a nice festive red race shirt. This one might be a keeper!
Race shirt
As I was gathering my stuff and getting ready to head over to the start area, the Latino Heat just so happened to walk by. Since Yoda was in my trunk, I thought he should join us in the selfie.
"Do or do not! There is no try!"
Over at the starting area, I saw Rudy performing his race announcer duties. It's always great to see him at races!
Rudy!
Before actually heading into the start corral, I waited at the designated spot for my fellow Half Fanatics to show up for the obligatory pre-race photo. The ones that showed up were just your usual suspects! After the photo, I went over to the start corral and positioned myself just behind the 1:45 pace group.
Half Fanatics
Start line
The race started promptly at 8 am. The first mile was fast as it was all downhill. That was followed by a 2 mile gradual climb to the Auto Club Raceway for a short out and back on the race track. The course then exited the track at Puddingstone Dr as it ran along the northern perimeter of the Brackett Field Airport. That led into a scenic and undulating loop about 5 miles long around Puddingstone Lake in Bonelli Park. After that loop, the course headed back to the Fairplex along the southern perimeter of the Brackett Field Airport via McKinley Ave. After a turn on Fairplex Dr and entering at the Puddingstone Dr entrance, there was only about 1 mile to go for the finish line. I could actually see one of my friends up ahead, but I was running on fumes at that point to even have a chance at catching him.
Finish line
Finish: 1:55:55
Click here for my Garmin data.
I enjoyed this course especially the loop around Puddingstone Lake in Bonelli Park. It was my first time running this race and I was pleasantly surprised by the great organization and enjoyable scenic course.
After getting my finisher medal and a bunch of other post race goodies, I made my way over to the post race area. There I found an empty table and chair where I met up with my friends. I thought that the best item that we received was that bag of Sunsweet mango!
Finisher medal
Finisher medal and post race goodies
I didn't stay too long after the race as I was feeling a bit wiped out. So after trading our race stories, I headed back to my car for the drive home. It was a bit confusing exiting the parking lot as I was pretty much on autopilot. I was following the car ahead of me that was clearly lost. Once I had stopped following that car, I was able to find my way out. :)
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