LA Chinatown Firecracker 10k 2020

Saturday 2/15
Race packet pick-up wasn't scheduled to start until 10 am, so I spent the morning watching a couple of EPL matches. In between matches, I went out for a short run around the neighborhood. I ended up leaving the house at about 9:15 am. I don't like driving into the Downtown area, so I usually drive out to the Sierra Madre Villa Station to take the Metro rail. For a while I took the rail from the end of the Gold line at the APU/Citrus College Station until they started charging for parking. As I was nearly at the exit for the Metro station, the sedan that was ahead of me swerved twice, first to the left and then hard to the right where it almost crashed into the car in the next lane. It was possible that the driver spilled hot coffee or something as it resumed driving straight. I wasn't going to wait around for an encore, so I quickly changed lanes and went around the car. Once I had parked the car, I used one of the machines to add value to my TAP card. Originally I tried to add value on the website, but for some reason it was only allowing me to add passes and not monetary value.

I arrived in Chinatown a few minutes before 10:30 am. It was a short walk from the Metro station. Per the usual, there were quite a few participants from the 20 and 40 mile bike ride finishing up their morning ride. When I went to pick up my race bib, not only was I asked for a picture ID, but also the email that showed my name and bib number. I'm guessing that they've had problems with dishonest people picking up other people's bibs. Included in the race packet was the usual drawstring bag, Minute cilantro & lime instant Jasmine rice, a small bag of Cheez-It Grooves, and a nice cotton year of the rat race shirt.

Race shirt

Race swag

After I got my race packet, I got in line to pick up my carbo-load snack. That term was a bit of an oxymoron as it's just a small to-go container of noodles and a fortune cookie. I found a spot near the Nike tent to eat my little snack.

Carbo-load snack

Noodles

Fortune

After I was done with my snack and read my fortune, I walked around the Chinatown Central Plaza to check out the different vendor booths as well as my annual visit to the Bruce Lee statue. Most of the booths were either informational or selling stuff. There weren't much freebies being handed out. I did pick up a few of the sample sized Power Crunch bars.

Bruce Lee

After that, it was time to head home. While waiting for the next train, I noticed from the platform that just beyond the parking lot across the street, there was a lot of construction taking place. It would appear that they are still in the process of gentrifying the area with new buildings going up.

Chinatown gentrification

On my way home, I stopped at the McDonald's to pick up lunch. I placed my order on one of the kiosks. Using the mobile app, I got a QR code that was good for a large iced coffee for 99 cents. I added the standard 2 for $3 deal to get a McDouble and a McChicken sandwich.

McDonald's

Later that evening, I laid out my flat runner for tomorrow's race. Normally I would either wear a Dodgers shirt or a Chinese New Year themed shirt, but this time I went with whatever was handy and looked comfortable. It was the 10k shirt from Disneyland Paris that featured the characters, Pain and Panic.

Flat runner

Sunday 2/16
The opening ceremony was scheduled to start at 7 am. I timed it so that I would get there around that time. As I was about a few miles to the exit for the Metro station, I saw that the other side of the freeway was shutdown by the highway patrol. From what I could see, a car had rolled over in a major accident. Later in the evening, I saw in the news that the accident was caused by a wrong way driver.
Once I had arrived, I first used one of the portapotties located on College St before heading over to the start line area. They were setting up to light the firecrackers. I settled on the North side of the start line hoping that any wind was blowing South. Prior to the lighting of the firecrackers, they had the traditional lion dance by the Immortals lion dance team.

Start line

Dr Sun-Yat Sen

Ready to light the firecrackers

The firecrackers were lit at about 7:30 am and boy were they loud! Unfortunately I didn't have any ear plugs and the smoke was headed my way, so I walked about a block North to get away from it all. After it died down, I headed back to the start line to catch the start of the 5k run at 8 am.

Doggy

5k start

1st male 5k

Doggy runner

Watching the 5k while staying warm

1st female 5k

Buster

Then after the 5k walkers departed at 8:30 am, I made my way into the start corral. It was a bit chaotic as the 10k race was scheduled to start at 8:45 am. There were 5k stragglers still starting their walk. I'm still a bit baffled as to why there's a separate start for the 5k walkers. They really should just start them with the 5k runners, in the back if they don't want them to get in the way of the runners.

10k start

Per the usual, it was super congested during that first mile as year after year, walkers push their way to the front. Having run this race multiple times, I made sure not to go out too hard during the first mile as the first half was all uphill. I made it a goal this year to run as much as I could on that climb. For the most part, my pacing was much better this year, but I still had to walk a few times as I was starting to overheat. Once I hit the peak, it was a nice long stretch of downhill. It felt nice to clock a sub 7 min mile. There was one last climb as the course wrapped around the Southern end of Dodger Stadium along Stadium Way towards Bishop Rd. After turning back onto Broadway, it was less than half a mile to the finish line. I tried to run as hard as I could to get in under 50 minutes, but I went over by a few seconds.

10k finish

Finish: 50:05
Click here for my Garmin data.

After crossing the finish line and getting a beautiful finisher medal, I headed down the finisher chute where I was given a small bag of Cheez-It Grooves, fortune cookie, apple, banana, and a bottle of water. I had brought with me a small plastic bag to carry the post race goodies. I hung out at the end of the finisher chute near the corner of College St and Broadway to wait for my friends. It was pretty cool that I got to see a couple of my friends that I have not seen in a while. I was able to catch up with one of my running friends. It was sad to hear that his mom had recently passed away.

Post race goodies

Finisher medal

After I found my friend to whom I usually give my free beer ticket, I headed over to the Metro station to take the light rail back to my car.

Palm Desert Half Marathon 2020

Sunday 2/9
The final race instructions had stated that race packet pick-up would start at 5:30 am, so I left the house at about 4 am. I made good time on the freeway and arrived at the City of Palm Desert Civic Center Park at about five minutes before 5:30 am. Having run this race last year, I knew that the packet pick-up location was in the gazebo, directly North of the Dreamer. Along the way, I decided to use the park restroom first before things got busy. After picking up my packet, I headed back to my car to get out of the chilly morning air.

Race bib

As the 7 am start of the race approached, I exited the car to look for the start line. It was in a different location this year. It was moved West a bit, closer to the road leading out to San Pablo Ave. My friends and I had to kind of guess since the race organizer hadn't set up the start line arch yet. The start of the race was delayed for a few minutes. The race announcer did let us know that due to the coronavirus over in China, the finisher medals unfortunately did not arrive in time for the race. There would be no finisher medal waiting for us at the finish line. :(

Half Fanatics

The Flash!

I've been making an effort these days to not run any more doubles whether it's a pair of half marathons and definitely not a double full marathon. However late last year, I had decided to make a push to run my 200th half marathon at the Nike LA 13.1 on April 5th. So here I was running a second half marathon in as many days. It just so happened that I ran this race for the first time last year and it was also a half marathon double.

Going into the race, I had planned to take regular walk breaks after reaching each mile. However I felt really good during that first mile, so I kept on running. After seeing my pace for that first mile, I made sure to pull back on the pace for the second mile. After reaching mile 2, it was a steady climb up to mile 5. That climb wore out my legs as I didn't have much for that long downhill stretch on Gateway Dr down to Dinah Shore Dr. That was followed by an uphill climb up Portola Rd. I had to take 3 extra walk breaks during that 8th mile. From there it was mostly downhill to the finish, but I was pooped. I was much relieved after making the right turn onto Magnesia Falls Dr which got me to mile 11. There was only 2 out-and-backs before entering the park for the finish line. Just like last year, I was dealing with leg cramps. I saw a couple of my friends quickly gaining on me which kind of motivated me to try and keep on moving. Although I was able to hold them off, I wasn't able to come in under 2 hrs.

Rounding the last corner

Finish line

Finish: 2:00:30
Click here for my Garmin data.

After the race, I met up with my friend and got some post race goodies which included tortilla chips, breakfast burrito, fruit, and a small bottle of water. I was hoping for some free ice cream from the truck, but it wasn't free.

Post race goodies

No free ice cream :(

After we were done with our food, we headed back to the last corner to wait for our friends and to cheer on runners. It was nice to enjoy the great weather while meeting some nice looking doggies and checking out some of the statues inside the park. 

Doggies

Mr. Thompson

Amador representing Team Red, White, and Blue!

Dreamer

The drive home took a bit longer as the Waze app notified me that there was heavy congestion on the 60 freeway due to a major car accident. I got around it by taking the 10 freeway and cutting back down the 15 freeway to the 60.

T9 Mermaid San Diego Half Marathon 2020

Friday 2/7
As soon as I got off of work, I hopped in my car for the long arduous drive down to San Diego. Since I wasn't too keen on making an extra early morning drive on race day, I decided to head down there today, take care of the race packet pick-up, and stay the night. The drive took a little over 2 hrs. The packet pick-up location was at the Northern end of the South Shores Park parking lot. In addition to my race bib, I received a nice quality race shirt, a small sturdy tote bag, and a title nine catalog. I used one of the nearby portapotties before hopping back in my car.

Race shirt

Tote bag

Title nine catalog

I started heading over to my hotel. I decided to pick up dinner at a Chick-fil-A in Clairemont which was along the way. When I exited the 5 freeway at Balboa Ave, I noticed that there was a geyser up ahead. Yikes. It would appear that someone had struck a water hydrant. That's not a good way to start the weekend for someone!

Geyser

Once I had arrived at the Chick-fil-A I got in the long line for the drive-thru. This particular location was unique as there wasn't an indoor dining area. You can walk up and place your order but they only have a small outside patio seating area. As with any other Chick-fil-A, I placed my order via their convenient mobile app. Once I got up to the ordering kiosk, I just had to give them my name. On this visit, I ordered a Cobb Salad with grilled nuggets, a Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich, and a medium unsweetened iced tea. I used my reward points to get the salad and sandwich for free. Once I got my food, I hopped on the 163 freeway heading North to check-in at the usual La Quinta off of the Poway Rd exit.

Chick-fil-A drive-thru

The parking lot was unusually full when I had arrived. After checking in and getting my room key, I was able to find a nearby parking space. For this stay, I was given a room in the building at the far Southern end. After putting my bags down, I turned on the TV and ate my dinner. Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace was on. I really enjoy watching the light saber duels that involved Darth Maul. That alone was enough for me to sit through the boring pod race and the trade dispute between the planet of Naboo and the Trade Federation.

Yoosa should follow me now okie day?

Dinner

Cobb salad with grilled nuggets and avocado lime ranch dressing

Before going to sleep, I laid out my flat runner. It wasn't going to be cold enough to warrant a long sleeve shirt, but I decided to go with one of my Tinker Bell race shirts. I thought that the color and theme was more than appropriate for tomorrow's women focused race.

Flat runner

Saturday 2/8
Although the half marathon was scheduled to start at 7:15 am and I had already picked up my race packet, I made sure to arrive early at the South Shores Park parking lot so I wouldn't have to be stressed about finding parking. I left at about 5:15 am and was among the first cars to be parked in the lot at about 5:30 am. I napped in car and went outside to use one of the portapotties. While doing so, I bumped into a San Diego friend that I haven't seen in a while at a race. She was going to pace the 2 hr group. I made it a goal not to be caught by her group.

Course Map

At about 6:45 am, I started heading over to the start line which was located near the cul-de-sac at the end of S Shores Parkway. Before heading all the way to the back, I stopped at the start line arch and watched as they sent off the runners for the 10k race at 7 am.

10k start at 7 am

As I queued up with other runners in the starting area, I bumped into the usual suspects. I got the obligatory pre-race photo with the Latino Heat. It almost seemed as if we called each other to coordinated what we were going to wear!

Latino Heat

Man, what a huge difference it made to have full usage of my lungs. I was finally over my cold and no longer had any chest congestion. I ran the first 2 miles or so with my friend who is in much better shape than I am. It felt much easier to run a couple of sub 8 minute miles, but I knew that I had to back off or else I would be completely wrecked in the later miles. I started taking walk breaks every time I covered a mile. A clockwise loop of Fiesta Island took me to about mile 5. After crossing back over to E Mission Bay Dr, it was pretty a much an out-and-back route before returning for the finish line on the grass inside Tecolote Shores. At about mile 8, I crossed a small bridge over the Rose Inlet. On the other side of the bridge, the road became Pacific Beach Dr which followed with a left turn onto Crown Point Dr. I vaguely remember running through here in one of the older iterations of the Rock n' Roll San Diego Marathon course. The turnaround point was about a quarter mile past mile 9. I thought that I had an off chance of finishing in under 1:50, but I was running on fumes in the last 3 miles as I could feel the calves cramping up.

Near the finish line

Finish line at Tecolote Shores

Finish: 1:53:57
Click here for my Garmin data.

Well, that definitely went better than I had expected. It had taken me over 2 hrs to complete each of my last four half marathons, so it was nice to be on the other side of 2 hrs in this race. It was my first time running in a T9 Mermaid race. It was a smaller race and was well organized. I also liked the course. There were small sections where it did get a bit narrow, but it was never an issue as the size of the field wasn't that big. I will definitely have to keep their races on my radar for the future.

In addition to receiving the traditional finisher's medal, I also received a small necklace that was inside a small pouch. I then met up with my friend and walked over to the post race food area where I picked up an Einstein Bros. blueberry bagel, Grandma's oatmeal raisin cookies, an orange, a banana, and a bottle of water. I ate the bagel and drank some water.

Finisher medal

Back of finisher medal

Finisher necklace

Post race goodies. Not pictured, Einstein Bros. blueberry bagel.

Since we both have the same race to run tomorrow morning, we didn't hang around at the finish area for too long. We started walking back to our cars over at the South Shores Park. The path that we took was also once part of the Rock n' Roll San Diego Marathon course back when the finish line was over at SeaWorld.

Before hopping into my car for the drive home, I first used one of the portapotties as it was a long drive home. I also didn't have enough fuel for the drive home, so I had to pull into the Chevron gas station at the El Toro Rd exit in Lake Forest to fill up the tank.

Fill 'er up!