Originally, I was going to drive out to the race expo in time for the 10 am opening. However, plans got changed. Instead I headed out after eating lunch. The drive was a total pain in the ass. The traffic was at a near standstill on the 60 freeway through Chino. This freeway always sucks ass no matter the time of day and the majority of people that drive in the area are inconsiderate assholes. It turned out to be a disabled vehicle in the carpool lane. How that ends up being a complete crawl for all lanes was beyond me. After I got past that, it was a rather smooth drive to my destination.
The venue for the race expo was once again the Club Center Events. Per the usual with a Revel race, it was a small expo with the packet pick-up process being very well organized and streamlined. After picking up my bib and clear gear bag, I found my name on the column with the participants' names. Then I received my shirt and a cap from my volunteer friend, Dexter. The cap had a velcro patch for you to attach a badge that you can purchase.
Expo
Dexter, volunteer extraordinaire
Race shirt
Back of race shirt
Race cap
On my way through the vendor booths, I bumped in one of the usual suspects, Eddie with one of his kids. He would be pacing the 3:50 group tomorrow. After picking up some samples, we ran into a couple of our pacer friends at the pacer booth. I excused myself after catching up briefly as I still needed to get home and finish up some work.
Expo goodies
Luis, pacer extraordinaire
As I walked back to my car, I overheard 3 ladies behind me making a comment about my shirt, "look at him, he just ran the New York City Marathon last weekend and will probably still run faster than us!" I turned around and told them that this was a very bad idea. Running a downhill course will not be fun on tired legs! The drive back was much more tolerable. The onboard navigation had me take the 10 freeway on the return trip. It was 48 mins versus 1 hour and 10 minutes.
Saturday 11/12
I left the house at about a quarter to 3 am. During the drive, I was passed by several cars that were going at least 100 mph and/or drunk. Other than that, there was very little traffic. The drive took about 35 minutes. I arrived at the shuttle pick-up location and parked at about 3:20 am. This year, I made sure to park closer to the buses near the corner of Carnegie Dr and Hospitality Ln. I met up with my friend, Albert and his friend. After we got our stuff in order, we got into the queue for the bus. There was actually no line to get on the first 2 buses, but no one in that line wanted to get on them because they were those school buses designed for little kids. The 2 race volunteers were quite unsuccessful in encouraging runners to get onboard those buses. Eventually, my friend felt bad for them and told us to just get on. I begrudgingly agreed. I ended up sitting next to a guy from Kentucky. His name was Mark (bib 2979). We had a pretty good conversation. He came to this race with his wife, who was running the half marathon. He was going to try and run a BQ, so I gave him a few tips on what to expect from the course. He asked me if there was anything to do out in Redlands or San Bernardino area after the race. I told him that most people go to Disneyland or Knotts Berry Farm if they're in the Los Angeles area. That wasn't their thing, so the closest thing that I could think of was Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, or Joshua Tree. He asked about beaches. Unfortunately, the ocean was pretty much all the way back to LAX, the airport in which he landed for this trip.
The drive up to the starting location, Greyback Amphitheater, took just over an hour. Boy, was it cold! Garmin showed that it was 18°F at the start of the race. There was even snow on the ground, surrounding the perimeter of that parking lot. The gloves, mylar blanket, and throwaway Marine Corps Marathon throwaway jacket was barely enough to keep me warm! After using one of the portapotties, it was time to wait about an hour for the start of the race. I walked around looking for familiar faces, but I was only able to spot my friend, Luis who would be sweeping the course, pacing the 6:30 group.
Start race staging area
Taiwan 加油!
Start line
These guys are ready to pace!
Latino Heat pre-race
Nothing new on race day, right? That's arguably the single best advice to give to anyone that's looking to run a marathon. However for this race, I tried out the sample packet of Outdoor NOM endurance power to mix into my handheld bottle. It tasted stronger than what I am accustomed to with other brands of electrolyte drinks, so I ended up only drinking water at aid stations. Also as I was swallowing any liquid, I could tell that most likely I was coming down with something. I felt tired and a bit under the weather, but I kept chalking it up to all of the recent travel and races.
During the majority of the first half, I kept running into a group of 4 runners. Eventually, I struck up a conversation with one of the dads. It was a couple of dads running with their kids. He told me that the kids were going to BYU in Provo, Utah. The father that I was talking to was Ben from Mesa, AZ.
I don't think there was snow last year!
Leapfrogged with this group for many miles
I struck up a conversation with one of the dads
Where's the snow?
Still feeling good enough to give a thumbs up
Finish: 4:37:46
Click here for my Garmin data.
Strategically speaking, this was probably my best executed race when it comes to pacing. I believe that it was my first time running a negative split for a marathon in 235 tries. While the downhill course was conducive for such a result, you can definitely blow up by running the downhills too hard earlier in the race.
Finish line
After getting my finisher medal, I picked up a cold wet towel to put over my neck. I then got a bottle of water, a couple of Bob's Red Mill bars, a banana, and a paper bag to carry everything. I saw my friend to the right of the chute. I was a bit surprised to see him there since he was supposed to have finished behind me. He told me that he had fallen and had to drop out, taking a DNF. Bummer. I forgot to ask him for details on what happened, but I'm guessing it was some of the black ice on the road early on in the race. Further down the chute, I saw Judge Craig Mitchell from the Skid Row Running Club. I said a quick hi to him before continuing on. He beat me by about 17 minutes!
I then exited the finisher area and veered to the left to get my post race donut. I don't have much of a sweet tooth, but it sounded pretty good after running a marathon. I then headed over to the beer garden to meet up with my faster friends. Per the usual, I gave Heather my beer ticket. After shooting the breeze, taking a few post-race photos, and eating my donut, I walked over to the results tent to get my printout.
Finisher medal
Post race goodies
Time for a post race donut
Post race amenities
Dexter!
Heather!
Eventually, Latino Heat and I got in line to get a shuttle ride back to our cars. The bus we got on was a white school bus which reminded us of a prison bus. :) Unfortunately, one of his friends had posted that she was a victim of a smash and grab. :( It would seem that lately, thieves have targeted cars parked in race parking.
Pic from Eddie
On the way home, I stopped at the local Chipotle to pick up lunch. I wasn't too hungry, but I needed something to tide me over to a big dinner later tonight to celebrate an anniversary.
Steak burrito bowl while watching Wolves v. Arsenal
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