After having lunch with my coworkers at The Habit, I made my drive down to Huntington Beach to pick up my race packet. Since my car failed to charge last night, I didn't know if my car would have enough charge to get me home. It turned out that it had just enough and didn't have to make a pitstop at a Tesla Supercharger station for my drive home.
Double Char, tempura green beans, iced tea
Race expo
This race expo hasn't changed much in recent years. It's always well organized, so really, there's nothing to change. After getting my bib, I got my long sleeve race shirt, and the usual sturdy tote bag. I save those bags to store my race medals. They're sturdy enough to handle the weight.
Long sleeve race shirt
Tote bag
I then picked up my Longboard Legacy Club shirt before going through the rest of the expo. After receiving an Over Easy breakfast bar and finding my name on the participants name wall, I made a stop at the John Wayne Grit Series booth. I chatted with one of the folks that was there. I've been thinking about running the Pioneertown race, but I really shouldn't add any more races to my schedule.
Longboard Legacy Club shirt
Oatmeal Raisin
Participants name wall
Found my name
John Wayne Grit Series
Saturday 2/4
I woke up early to catch a couple of EPL matches. The first one at 4:30 am was between Everton and Arsenal. Man, it was nice to see the Gooners finally lose and to Everton of all teams. It was also cool to see Sean Dyche managing another EPL team again. I thought he did a good job at Burnley even though he was sacked when the team was headed towards relegation. I then followed that up with the Man United v. Crystal Palace match at 7 am. I was going to start heading out to Dodger Stadium for FanFest as it looked as if Man United had the match won being up 2-0, but then it got spicy when Casemiro was shown a straight red card for having his hands around Hughes' throat. That altercation was all brought about by some boneheaded Neymar-esque exaggeration followed up with an aggressive reaction by his teammate Antony after being bumped by Schlupp's hard challenge. It should've just been a yellow card for Schlupp, instead his retaliation cost him a yellow card as well and a red card for Casemiro. About 6 minutes later, Schlupp would score a goal to cut that lead in half. After a bunch of time wasting and extended stoppage time, Man United held on to win 2-1.
I finally hit the road and drove out to Dodger Stadium for the free FanFest. This was my first time here since canceling Spectrum cable service and making it a point to stop contributing to such corporate greed. There was a lot of traffic around the downtown area as I approached the stadium. Once I parked and made my way through the metal detectors, I headed over to the Yard Sale to meet up with some of my friends. I then hung out near the interview desk where I saw Freddie Freeman and his son, Charlie. While waiting to see which Dodger player was next to be interviewed, I saw a couple of Dodgers walk by. A few I don't recognize, but among them were Phil Bickford and Brusdar Graterol. Security was walking them between the autograph and selfie stations. Eventually, I spotted my friend from college. I went over to say hi. He was there with his son. Among the tens of thousands of Dodger fans, we somehow managed to bump into each other! Before heading out, I checked out the activities and stuff that was out on the field.
Parking map
Found my friends in line for the Yard Sale
Long ass line for the Yard Sale
Freddie Freeman and his kid Charlie
Phil Bickford
Brusdar Graterol
Dave Roberts
On the way home, I stopped by the International Deli to pick up lunch. I ordered one of my favorite sandwiches, a large Reuben. I've driven by this place countless times, but have never eaten here until today. If you live in the area, you only hear good things about this place. They're the one restaurant that managed to survive in this plaza for over a decade. I'm glad that I finally stopped in. That was one of the better Reubens that I've had. It also feels good to support mom & pop shops.
Reuben sandwich
Sunday 2/5
I timed it so that I would get to the beach parking lot entrance via Beach Blvd at about 5:30 am. The line of cars headed into the parking lot was backed up past Pacific View Ave. Every year, I forget that I don't need to be in that lane which was to enter the paid parking lot heading north. I could just use the left turn lane next to it to enter the free parking lot heading south. I finally realized that when I saw my friend's car zip on by.
Beach Blvd
After parking my car and getting my stuff ready, I started heading over to the Hyatt Regency pedestrian bridge. I still had some time before the scheduled pre-race photo at 6:10 am, so I headed over to the hotel lobby to use their restroom.
Marathon Maniacs/Half Fanatics
Once the photo was taken, I took my friend over to the hotel to use the restroom. That way, he didn't have to get in line to use a portapotty. Then we hurried over to the starting corral for him to get lined up for the marathon. I wished him a good race and headed to the front of the starting line to take a video of the marathon start. I was only able to get a short video as it looked like the police was getting ready to move their cart.
Complimentary water and bananas for hotel guests
Looks like a lamb cheetah hybrid
Marathon wave 1
After getting that video, I started heading back to the hotel lobby to wait for the start of the half marathon which was scheduled for 7:45 am. On the way there, I was able to spot my friend, Robert. Unfortunately, I never did spot my other friend, Albert, who was also running the marathon.
Latino Heat
At about 7:15 am, I used the restroom one last time before heading over to the start line. I bumped into my friend Karen as she was heading into the corrals as well. As the start of the race approached, she headed further back in the corrals. I spotted my other friend also named Karen near the starting line. I went to say hi and eventually queued up with her in the corral. I planned to stay with her at the start of the race in order to keep me from running out too fast during that first mile.
Start line
Roosevelt Cook, 3rd place finisher
From Dexter
Finish: 2:14:28
Click here for my Garmin data.
This race turned out to be my 250th half marathon. I knew that I would finish at around 2:15 for this race. However, I really dislike running at that slow of a pace from the get-go, so I did throw in some faster paces in the early miles. Most of it was to say hi to some of my speedier friends. It was great seeing so many of my friends out on the course!
I first started running this race back in 2007 and 2008 where I only ran the half marathon. Not sure why I started running the marathon the following year as I had a horrible experience during the very wet race in 2008. I would run the marathon for 10 consecutive years from 2009 through 2018, but then in 2019, I switched back to the half marathon. I never liked that out and back portion on the beach bike path.
I bumped into my good friend in the finisher chute who was one of the coaches for WeROCK. We walked through the finisher chute, where I got some post race snacks and a towel. We took a quick selfie before going our separate ways. I met up with my friend near the TruMoo tent. We hung out there until most of our friends came through.
Medal and post race goodies
Squirrels!
While there was supposedly free ice cream to be had at Handel's, it was a bit chilly for me to make that walk over. It didn't help that it was in the opposite direction of my car. Maybe next year. Instead, I drove over to the Mitsuwa Marketplace in Costa Mesa to eat lunch. As it was around noon time, the parking lot was jam packed. Fortunately for me, I was able to get to the underground parking right when a person was loading her car and was ready to leave. Just like the old days, I opted for food at Miyabi-tei. I ordered the usual chicken katsu curry with salad. One thing that was new was that they were now accepting other forms of payment besides cash. It was nice being able to pay with GooglePay. Continuing with my good fortune, I was able to find an empty table. After I was done, I gave up my table to the family next to me as the parents were letting the kids sit and eat their food first.
Chicken katsu curry with salad
Before heading back to my car, I headed into the market to check things out. I eventually bought some ankimo (monkfish liver), tarako, and mentaiko. The last 2 items were both $3 off. They really go well on plain rice. I paid for my items using one of the self-checkout kiosks.
Ankimo, tarako, and mentaiko
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