Inaugural Havasu Half Marathon 2021

Friday 3/26
This race was a late addition to my race schedule. I registered for this race about a month out and was able to use my friend's discount code to get 20% off. I was also able to get a timeshare unit while waiting on the waitlist, so I didn't have to spend too much out-of-pocket to make this last minute trip happen.

Per the usual, after working a half day and eating lunch, it was time to hit the road. I filled up the gas tank at the Chevron gas station before hopping on the 60 freeway. Instead of heading to Las Vegas yet again, this time I was headed to Lake Havasu City, Arizona. Looking at the map, there was a Northern route via the 40 and a Southern route via the 10. For my trip out, I decided to take the Northern route. I had to make sure that I remembered to hop on the 40 instead of staying on the 15 heading North to Vegas. It was a decent drive without the high volume as that drive out to Vegas. It took just a little over 4.5 hours to get there.

For this short trip, I was staying at the WorldMark Havasu Dunes. Out of all of the resorts and hotels around the London Bridge area, this was probably the furthest. However, it did make for a nice quiet location, just the way I like it!

View from my unit

After I got settled in, I hopped in my car and headed out to get dinner. Along the way, I stopped at a Chevron gas station to fill up the tank as it was pretty empty. Wow, they have 100 octane racing fuel here!

Fill 'er up!

After filling up my gas tank, it was time to fill up my stomach with the usual pre-race McDonald's which was a little further down the block. Prior to my arrival, I had placed my order on the mobile app for a "buy one, get one free" deal to get two Quarter Pounders with cheese. Having had several bad experiences with their horrible app, I parked my car to check-in on the app before I actually got in the drive-thru line. I took the burgers back back to my unit to enjoy.

McDonald's drive-thru

Dinner #1: QPC x2

After I was done with my dinner, I sat in my room watching some TV to pass time. Race participants were sent an email informing us of our assigned time to show up at the race expo to pick up our race packet. I was assigned 8 pm. My friend was staying closer to the expo which was held at the London Bridge Resort. He was also assigned 8 pm and messaged me that he was able to pick up his race packet prior to his assigned time. So I hopped back in my car and drove over. Parking was scarce in the parking lot as most people were there to do the same thing. However, I was able to find a spot rather quickly over in the lot on the Northern end of the resort. Per the instructions, the race expo was outside and we needed to follow the sign for the Kokomo Beach Club. Once I found the door, it was a flight of stairs down to the race expo. I saw the very long line for packet pick-up once I walked to the other end. I bumped into a couple of familiar faces while waiting in line. It was good to see people that I haven't seen in over a year like Rudy, one of the race announcers.

London Bridge Resort

Race expo

Packet pick-up line stretched far!

Familiar faces at packet pick-up

After picking up my race bib and shirt, I stopped by Fitz's table to say hi. She was there selling and autographing her book. I already have my copy. I'm only about halfway done.

Race shirt

Fitz!

On the way out, I was tempted to sign up for next year's race at a discount price. However, I resisted since I needed to check my race schedule to see if I already have another race planned for that weekend. With so many races deferred, postponed, or canceled, it has been hard to keep track of everything!

Sign up for next year!

I got a nice nighttime view of The London Bridge. I can't wait to run across it tomorrow!

London Bridge at night

On the way back to my unit, I pulled into McDonald's again to pick up dinner #2. I had a craving for their delicious fries and to my luck, there was a free medium fries offer on their app. All I needed to do was spend at least $1 on some other item. I decided to try out their crispy chicken sandwich. I must say that it was comparable to the Chick-fil-A sandwich, but not quite. I would imagine that if you eat it with Chick-fil-A sauce, it would be almost as good as the real thing! Oh well... McDonald's, in my opinion, still has the best fries!

Dinner #2: Crispy chicken sandwich and free medium fries

Surprisingly comparable, but not as good as Chick-fil-A's

After I was finished with my meal, I took a shower and laid out my flat runner. Before calling it a night, I watched some mindless entertainment on TV. I used to watch the WWE with my younger brother back when it was actually fun to watch. Nowadays, the scripts are poorly written and the acting has been subpar as well.

Flat runner

Some mindless entertainment before bed

Saturday 3/27
I got ready and started heading over to the start area located at the London Bridge Beach. The jog out there was about 2 miles. The sidewalks near my timeshare property were poorly lit. It was actually kind of creepy until I got close to the London Bridge and saw other runners heading over to the start. Right as I got there, I was recognized by one of my friends. I guess it wasn't very hard as there's not too many people showing up to run a half marathon while wearing a McDonald's t-shirt :) However, it took me a second for me to recognize her especially with the face covering and I'm used to only seeing her in Seattle. As the start of the race approached, we were directed to line up next to the pylon corresponding to our bib number.

Start line

Starting position

My goal for this race was to finish in under 2 hours. Judging from my recent races on relatively flat courses, I knew that I was in shape to run about 8 miles comfortably at that pace with the last 5 miles being a challenge. The first mile took us over the famous London Bridge where we headed over to London Bridge Rd. We would stay on that road for the next few miles until we looped around at Sunset Dr and Palo Verde Blvd. Once we got back on London Bridge Rd, we retraced our steps and headed back to the London Bridge. It's always nice to see my friends on these out-and-back courses. As we neared mile 8, we ran underneath the London Bridge where we ran a short out and back along the Shoreline Trail. Then we ran up and around London Bridge Resort before crossing over the London Bridge for the second time.

At about mile 9, we turned onto Beachcomber Blvd to run about a 4 mile loop. Unfortunately, just as I had predicted, my legs had quit on me. They felt heavy and the leg cramps were starting to set in. To make things worse, the sun was out in full force and it was quite windy for this section! The wind was punishing and demoralizing to the point where I just resorted to walking. In addition to building up my endurance and speed, I will need to work on my mental fortitude as well! In the end, I came up about 1.5 minute short of my goal. Close but no cigar.

Finish line

Finish: 2:01:26
Click here for my Garmin data.

Coming into this race, I had "stubbed" my right pinky toe coming out of the shower. It was more like me accidentally kicking the wall. It didn't bother me during the race, but afterwards, it felt a bit tender. Hopefully, it's nothing to worry about.

After I received my finisher medal and a face mask, I went over to the finisher table to grab a bottle of water and 2 protein bars. Then I found my friend, the Latino Heat. After shooting the breeze for a bit, he headed back to his room as there was a bit of a wait before his next 5k race for the Lighthouse Challenge. He was conveniently staying at the nearby Island Inn Hotel Lake Havasu which was really close to the start/finish line. I stuck around the finish chute to wait for some of my friends to finish.

Finisher medal

Post race protein bars, water, face mask

Post race with Latino Heat

Ryan

Pace vehicle

Rachel

Amador

I then started heading out. I crossed over the London Bridge this time via the sidewalk. At the other end of the bridge, I took the stairs down to the Shoreline Trail just to check things out. As I was crossing the London Bridge Resort parking lot to get to the corner of I-95 and Swanson Ave, I realized that the 5k race had just started. I hung out at that parking lot to wait for some of my friends to run through.

5k runner and her dog

After getting back to my timeshare unit, I got cleaned up and vegged out for a few hours. It wasn't until about 1 pm before I rolled out to get some lunch. I drove over to In-n-Out. Originally, I was going to use the drive-thru, but that line was ridiculously long. So instead I found a parking spot and went inside. I ordered the usual 2 Double Doubles and found a spot to wait for my order. Once my order number was called, I took it back to my timeshare unit to enjoy.

I'm definitely in MAGA territory!

Double Double x2

For some reason, I had a hard time deciding on where to go for dinner. Eventually, I decided on McDonald's again. I placed my order on the mobile app before driving over. I took my usual route along Lake Havasu Ave, but along the way there were several emergency vehicles crossing my path. The cars around me and I noticed that just up ahead, the road was blocked with what looked to be a bad traffic collision. So we all made a u-turn as there were police cars blocking traffic in both directions. From there, I turned on Mulberry to get on I-95.

For this visit, I tried out their deluxe crispy chicken sandwich. I used the mobile app deal to get large fries for $1. It wasn't Chick-fil-A, but it was a decent chicken sandwich with the added lettuce and tomatoes.

Deluxe crispy chicken sandwich and $1 large fries

Sunday 3/28
I didn't want to deal with any weekend traffic, so I was all packed and ready for the drive home at about 6 am. This time, I took the Southern route: 95 South, 62 West, 177 South, 10 West at Desert Center. This route was about 11 miles shorter than the Northern route that I took to get to Havasu. It was a pretty nice scenic drive, but there were pretty much no stores or gas stations along this route until you get to the 10 freeway. So if your car breaks down during that stretch, you'll be out of luck! I got home in just under 4 hours.