Prior to my usual morning walk around the neighborhood, I watched the first half of the Arsensal v. Wolves match. I must say that those Gooners looked quite impressive with their first 2 goals which came quick and early! If they can continue to play this way, the league cup will certainly be theirs this year. I came back from my walk to find that they had relaxed after that first half and even allowed the Wolves to score. Still they won 2-1 taking them to the top the table. I then caught most of the first half of the Forest v. Everton match before heading out.
In addition to picking up my race packet for tomorrow's race, I had to first swing by Brea Mall to pick up a Black Friday order from BoxLunch. I found a parking spot in aisle C of parking garage A over by the car detailing area. From there, I entered the mall at the entrance right next to The Spa at the Glen. Since I hadn't been to this mall or any mall in a while, I ended up taking a lap around the mall just to see what was available. I saw that there was a pretty long line to get pictures taken with Santa Claus and the Christmas tree. While there were sections of the mall where there were vacancies, it wasn't nearly as bad as Puente Hills Mall.
Parking garage A
Where I parked
Entrance
After I finally made my way over to BoxLunch which was near Nordstrom, I checked in with the employee at the counter. After checking my ID, she looked up my shipment on the computer to mark it as being picked up. At first she only gave me 1 of the 2 Funko Pops that I had ordered. I thought the computer would've shown that it was delivered in 2 shipments, but it did not. I had to let her know that my order was split into 2 shipments, arriving 1 day apart.
Early release Funko
Funny stickers. High school & college español for the win!
From there, I hopped on the freeway and headed out to Redlands to pick up my race packet over at the Running Center. It was a very quick process. Took maybe 3 minutes total. They even had a sign outside telling you where to go. I went inside and one of two young ladies helped me out. They both looked to be in high school. They noticed that I was wearing a Tottenham cap. The one that helped me was a Man City fan and her best friend next to her was a Liverpool fan. After assigning me to a half marathon bib, she wished me a good race and football match tomorrow. Thanks, but I seriously doubt that my team will have any chance of beating City tomorrow! I then went back outside to pick up my race shirt from the guys under the EZ-Up canopy. Before leaving, I asked them where I should park tomorrow. They suggested that I park in the Citibank parking lot if I plan to get there early.
Race packet pick-up instructions
Long sleeve race shirt
Back of race shirt
Swag
I got home at about 12:15 pm and was able to catch most of the Newcastle v. Man United match while I ate lunch. Man United looked to be always a step slower and was quite ineffective. Newcastle dominated the match, but they only managed one goal from Anthony Gordon which was enough to win 1-0. The score could've easily been 3-0.
Sunday 12/3
I got ready and left the house at about 5 am. I arrived at the Citibank parking lot at about 5:45 am. The lot quickly filled up. It was a chilly morning, so I sat in my warm car with heated seats while I ate my usual pre-race energy bar. I finally ate one of the sample Science in Sport energy bars that I had. It was already way beyond the best used by date. The taste was okay, but the texture was a bit strange. At about 6 am, I got out of my car to go use one of the portapotties. I promptly ran into my friend Rachel. She had just picked up her race packet and was returning back to her car. I didn't realize that they had race day packet pickup! It would've saved me the trip out to Redlands yesterday. However, she didn't receive a cookie. Perhaps that was the incentive to pick it up the day before. None of that was spelled out in the race emails or the website. Your guess was as good as mine. Before heading back to my car, I checked out the fire station to see if I could find any familiar faces that happened to be volunteering.
Science in Sport energy bar
Portapotties
Fire station
With about 30 minutes until the start of the race, I got my stuff together and headed back out to join the line for the portapotties one last time. After I was done, I came across the usual suspects. I was kind of surprised to see my friend Robert aka Latino Heat. He told me that it was a last minute registration for him. I warned him about the hilly course. Eventually I spotted my friend, Dexter, while I was waiting in the start corral. He was roaming around taking pictures as he was one of the race photographers.
Rachel
Latino Heat
Start line
Dexter
The music was cutting in and out during the singing of the national anthem. However, the guy singing it had a very nice baritone voice and clearly did not need any musical accompaniment, recorded or otherwise. The race started about 8 minutes late. Just prior to the start of the race, they had warned us that it was an open course and to watch out for vehicles. They also told us that a small section of the course was changed due to road construction. At about mile 1.4, instead of turning right on Tulip Ave followed by a left on Orange Grove St, we continued straight on Hillcrest St followed by a right turn on Lawton Ave then a left turn onto Orange Grove St. The rest of the course remained the same.
Race course and elevation profile
My legs were definitely feeling much better. Without the annoying Achilles tendinitis in both ankles, running was much more enjoyable. It seemed that my legs were wanting to move at a 7:30 min/mile pace. That's great, but I knew that I just currently don't have the endurance to maintain that kind of pace for a half marathon. When I felt that my heart rate was climbing as well as a growing discomfort in my right hip, I took walk breaks at miles 2 and 3. I ended up running with my friend Robert for a little bit until I took off on him during a long stretch of downhill. From there, I followed a small pack of runners all the way to the turnaround point at about mile 7 where I promptly took a walk break and started taking in some of the Chargel that I had brought with me. Unfortunately, the way back was mostly uphill. The combination of running uphill and the cambered roads really started aggravating my right hip. I started taking extra walk breaks to keep the discomfort from getting too bad. Most of the climbing was over by mile 11. I took one last walk break at about mile 12 before convincing myself to run that final mile to the finish line. When I made that right turn onto Lawton Ave, I made my way over to the north side of the road. However this road was crowned and very cambered along the edges. The female runner that was just ahead of me went all the way into the middle of the road and it looked as if she was playing chicken with the oncoming cars! I wasn't as brave as her, so I stuck closer to the edge. I was glad to reach that final left turn onto Loma Linda Dr for that last stretch to the finish line knowing that I would be finishing in just under 2 hours!
Mile 12.2
Finish line
Finish: 1:59:00
Click here for my Garmin data.
Man, that was every bit as hilly as I remembered it to be! The last time I ran here was way back in 2005 when it was only a 15k race. The road camber really irritated my right hip. The last several miles were a grind, but I was happy that I did just enough to finish in under 2 hours for a hilly course.
Robert waited for me at the finish line. After I received my finisher medal, we took a selfie in front of their backdrop setup before we headed into the fire station for some post race goodies. I was expecting pancakes and coffee, but instead I got a big chocolate muffin, a banana, and a small bottle of water. They were out of coffee when I was there.
Finisher medal
Back of finisher medal
Glad to be finished
Post race chocolate muffin, banana, and water
My friend and I then went our separate ways. He left to join his family at the LA Rams game and I started heading back home. Along the way back to my car, I got a plastic shopping bag with a back scratcher/shoe horn from the Lucky Feet Shoes tent. They have locations nearby at Redlands and Riverside.
Back scratcher/shoe horn
Before heading home, I decided to swing by the 1st original location of McDonald's. It's just a museum these days. After watching the movie, The Founder, back in 2016, I looked up this location and made a mental note to make a visit if I was ever in the area. I kind of had forgotten about it until I saw episodes concerning the history of the McDonald's franchise on The Food That Built America on the History Channel. Unfortunately, the museum wasn't open until 10 am on Sundays. I could've waited, but I left after taking a few pictures of the exterior. I'll have to return again to check out the inside.
The 1st original location of McDonald's
Near the back
Hamburglar
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