I took a break from work and hopped in my car to drive out to the Ontario Convention Center to pick up my race packet. Besides catching a flight out of Ontario Airport, I hardly ever come out to these parts. The last time that I came here for a race was for the Inland Empire Half Marathon back in 2008. I hadn't started blogging about my races back then, so I don't have that race well documented somewhere. Since the final instructions that were emailed out to us told us that the venue would be collecting $10 for parking at the convention center, I decided to just have lunch at the nearby Yoshinoya and then walk over.
I had placed my order on their mobile app and scheduled it for 11:30 am. There was a deal on the app for a large beef bowl and Yoshi's milk tea boba drink for $12. The food was ready when I arrived. After retrieving it from the employee that was working at the counter, I found an empty table to enjoy my food. Per the usual, the beef bowl was great. However, man, the boba drink was terrible.
Lunch at Yoshinoya
Large beef bowl & Yoshi' milk tea boba drink for $12 deal
Ontario Convention Center
Along the way over, I noticed that there we people opting to park curbside along Convention Center Way instead of paying $10 to park in the convention center parking lot. I guess that I wasn't the only one that wasn't too keen on paying $10 for a quick in and out race packet pick up.
I went inside the convention center after finishing off that terrible boba drink and going through a quick security screening at the entrance. Per the usual with REVEL races, the whole process was quick and well streamlined. After picking up my bib, race shirt, and swag, I continued on with the rest of the expo. This time I finally remembered to open up the REVEL Race Series app and check out their Expo Passport Program. I went around to each vendor booth and entered their code into the app for some reward points. Those points can go towards free race entries!
Race shirt
Back of race shirt
Race swag
Participants name wall
Found my name
Vendor booths
Saturday 11/18
The email that was sent out on Wednesday told us that the marathon bus loading time frame had been shortened to 3:30 am - 4:00 am. I arrived at the usual parking location about 5 minutes before 3:30 am. My friends and I used the portapotties before getting in line to board one of the buses. The queue was quite long by the time we found the end of the line. We did not get on a bus until about 4:15 am and there were still a lot of people behind us!
Hitting the portapotties before boarding the shuttle
Albert
Once we were dropped off, my friends and I split up as we all had our own pre-race routines. I went looking for a shorter portapotty line, but they were all long. Thankfully, each line was arranged so that they all funneled into about 10 portapotties. That allowed the line to move at a decent pace. I bumped into a lot of familiar faces while waiting in line. I was talking to the guy that was ahead of me in line. He was from Colorado Springs and was looking to run a sub 3 hour marathon. Just as we were wondering if we would be able to make the start of the race at 6 am, there came an announcement that the start of the race would be delayed by about 10 minutes.
A couple of AZ snowbirds
Todd and Cade
Portapotty line
Glen
Almi and Robert
After I was done emptying the bladder, I headed over to the start line area to take some pictures and get myself positioned somewhere near the 4 hour pacer. I found a couple of my friends that were in the faster corrals up front. I paused when I heard that the national anthem was being sung. For whatever reason, it would appeared that an amateur was doing the singing as his voice broke during a crescendo. Sure, there were chuckles in the crowd, but you still had to give him credit for stepping up!
Start line
Willie
Pam
Originally, the race was scheduled to start at 6 am, but they delayed it until about 6:20 am. Once the last bus full of participants went through, the race was set to begin. I reluctantly took off my throwaway Marine Corps Marathon hoodie jacket and got into the starting corral. I only wore it because rain was in the forecast. Lo and behold, there wasn't a single drop of rain all day! My goal coming into this race was to run somewhere between a 4:20 and 4:30. I ran the first few miles with Todd until he took off on me during an incline. I cautioned him to wait until after mile 8 before he starts to run hard. I was already taking it easy, but the cambered roads was causing discomfort in my right hip. I kept taking walk breaks to help alleviate the discomfort. I reached the halfway point in about 2:10, so I was still pretty much on pace to reach my goal.
Mile 5.5: Cedar Falls
I caught up to my friend, Sabrina, at about mile 14. Normally, she would easily leave me in the dust, but she was having GI issues due to consuming gluten the day before. Even though she was having to make numerous portapotty stops, she would still go on to beat me. I was hoping to make a push once I made it to mile 20, instead my left foot was starting to cramp up. I took several walk breaks for that to go away. It would return again at mile 24. I almost took a fall at one of the last aid stations as it narrowed due to the road closure signs being placed so close to the aid station tables. Apparently, I didn't pick up my feet high enough and tripped over one of the legs. Fortunately, I was able to regain my balance. It was nice to finally reach that Valero gas station at mile 25 and make that right turn onto Opal Ave. I was hoping to run all of that last mile, but I ended up walking most of the section up to San Bernardino Ave. Once I made that left turn, I was able to convince myself to run the rest of the way to the finish line.
Mile 14.1: Caught up to Sabrina
Mile 17.1: Having birthday cake GU for the 1st time
Approaching the finish line
Finish: 4:24:21
Click here for my Garmin data.
For the majority of the race, I was going back and forth with a lady wearing an Alaska shirt. Even though I passed her during the final stretch and crossed the finish line ahead of her, we ended up with the same exact chip time down to the second! Around mile 20 or so, I finally asked her if she was tired of seeing me. I congratulated her before moving along the finisher chute.
I got my finisher medal and took a few finisher photos and selfies with my friends. I picked up a bag of snacks and a water bottle before coming up to the table where they were passing out the cookies. That's one of the reasons why I like REVEL races. They know that not all people have the hands or pockets to carry post race goodies. Also it cuts down on some people taking more than they should.
Finisher medal
Marathon #250 finished!
Laura
Post race bottle of water and snacks
Cookie!
Before heading over to the beer garden to meet up with my faster friends, I stopped by the results table to get a printout of my results. I then went to the very end of the table to see if they were handing out the Triple Reveler medals. Fortunately, I remembered to check as there wasn't a sign to remind us. It turned out that that was the location where that medal was being distributed. I was awarded the medal after she verified that I had run 3 REVEL races for this calendar year.
Triple Reveler medal
Per the usual, I gave my beer ticket to my friend, Heather. She has permanent dibs on my race beer tickets assuming that she's still around when I finish. I then caught up with Eddie who was the 3:50 pacer. This was his 300th marathon! He is exactly 50 ahead of me as today was my 250th marathon. He is such a positive guy, always offering words of encouragement and looking for the silver lining in less than ideal situations! Those attributes make for a great pacer! After trading race stories with my friends, a few of us got in line to catch a shuttle ride back to our cars. The first stop was at the southwest corner, the pickup location for the half marathon. I got off at the second stop which was the pickup location for the marathon.
Fast Eddie's 300th Marathon!
Shuttle ride back to car
On the drive home, I came up to the intersection of Tin and Diamond Bar Blvd. The traffic lights weren't on and temporary stop signs were placed in the road. I noticed that the power box on the sidewalk looked to have been demolished most likely by a car. It wasn't that way during my drive to the race earlier this morning!
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