Saturday 6/15
I got ready and left early enough to get to the race at about 5 am to pick up my race packet. I parked in the dirt area along the side of the road. I walked over to the Iron Horse Trailhead to pick up my race packet. Before I was given my race packet, I needed to filled out a waiver form. I hopped back in the car and drove across the street to get coffee at Starbucks. Before going inside, I placed my order on the mobile app for a grande blonde vanilla latte. Per the usual of late, I ate my CLIF bar with my coffee as my light breakfast before the race.
Bib pick-up
Lululemon bag and legacy patch
Legacy patch
Race singlet
Back of race singlet
Grande blonde vanilla latte
After finishing my coffee and using their restroom, I hopped in my car to park it in the Pacific Western Bank parking lot across the street. The race instructions told us not to park in The Shops at Tourney lot. I then shed some of my layers, grabbed my handheld bottle, and walked across the street to make my way over to the race.
I bumped into the usual suspects at most of my southern California races. I found my name on the participants name wall and then got ready to position myself in the starting area. I even bumped into a couple of old friends from San Diego that I haven't seen in a while. After some last minute instructions from the race director concerning the course marking, it was time to start the race. The majority of the race would be along the Santa Clara River Trail.
My name on the participants name wall
Friends from San Diego
The race started at just a few minutes after 6:30 am after one of my friends sang the national anthem. I started the race off following a runner wearing an orange Hyland's shirt. His pace was a bit too quick, so I dropped off a bit. This was my 3rd time running this race, so I knew not to overdo it during the first 5 miles as it would be a gradual climb up to the turnaround. It was nice to run downhill for a bit and see some of my friends. I was able to cruise at about a 8:30 min per mile pace through the next few miles. I was finally able to pass a runner that I had been following as we approached the aid station at around mile 9. Unfortunately, by now the weather was starting to cook. I had to drop my pace a bit so I wouldn't pass out from the heat! It was nice to finally see The Lost Boys Bridge as I crossed it for the finish line.
That Hyland's runner was too quick for me to follow
Climbing up to the turnaround
There I go
I followed that guy for a long stretch. Passed him near mile 9.
Even though I had faded in the heat during those last 4 miles, I was content with my finishing time. It was nearly a 17 minute improvement from last year's time. On a cooler day, I should be finishing right at or just under 1:50.
2023: 2:10:12
2022: 2:11:08
After getting my finisher medal and taking a finish line selfie, I made my way over to the tents to get some post race goodies and cold drinks. I then headed over to the Ben & Jerry's truck to get my coveted post race ice cream. I went with the Milk and Cookies ice cream. While eating my ice cream, a little girl ended up holding my leg for balance. She thought my leg was her dad's. She started crying when her daddy asked her whose leg she's holding. That was cute and funny! While my friend and I were checking out our medals, I noticed that mine was missing the glitter piece at the top. I went over to the finish line to exchange it for another. Unfortunately, I found the first replacement to have a lanyard that was coming apart. Luckily, the second replacement wasn't defective.
Finish line
Finisher medal
Finisher medal and post race goodies
Milk and Cookies ice cream
I then ended up chatting with my friend and getting some post race selfies and photos. She's still working her way back from an injury, so this was one of those few races where I finished ahead of her. After that it was time for me to head out.
Mei!
We might have lucked out with the nearby Gorman Post Fire that started in the afternoon. Depending on the direction of the wind, the air quality could quickly take a turn for the worse in the surrounding areas.
Saturday 6/8
After eating lunch, I decided to drive out to Long Beach to pick up my race packet even though they did have free race day packet pick-up. They had set up a few tables in front of the LBS Financial Credit Union where they had one line to assign race bibs and a second line to pass out the race shirt. Even though there was a rather long line when I had arrived at about 1 pm, it moved quickly.
Race shirt
Later that evening we had a family dinner over at Spaghetti Eddie's Cucina Italiana. It was our first time here. There were 10 adults and 2 kids in our party. It was good food, but it was on the pricier side at about $32-35 for each plate. Here's what we ordered on my end of the table:
Garlic Puffs: This was a good appetizer if you love garlic. It was free with a check-in on Yelp.
Salmon Milano: The salmon was cooked perfectly, medium rare!
Shrimp & Scallops Da Vinci: This was our favorite dish!
Linguine Alla Pescatore: This had a good variety of seafood.
Pork Osso Buco: This was my dish. It was not bad, but it arrived a bit on the lukewarm side.
Sunday 6/9
I left the house just after 4:30 am to make the drive out to Long Beach. I made a stop at the Marina Pacifica to get coffee at Starbucks. Fortunately for me, this location was already open at 5 am. I ordered the usual grande blonde vanilla latte. After I got my coffee, I drove across the way to park my car at the lot where they held the Long Beach Farmers Market. The lot was pretty empty so I had my pick of any spot.
Starbucks Marina Pacifica
Grande blonde vanilla latte
Even though I had arrived pretty early, I parked way out here because I just didn't want to deal with the hassle of parking at Mother's Beach lot or the lots near the Marine Stadium. After shedding some layers, I grabbed my handheld water bottle and my coffee before crossing the 2nd St bridge to get to the starting area.
Parking map
I finished my CLIF bar and coffee on the walk over and found a group of my friends in between the packet pick-up tents and the cache of portapotties. I grabbed some selfies with them before they had to go back to their cars to get ready for the race. After using one of the portapotties, I milled around the area to check stuff out and to pass some time before the start of the race that was scheduled for 7 am. I was eyeing a female runner (bib #990) that was wrapped in an eye-catching blanket. She saw that I was staring, so I asked if that was a Pedro Pascal blanket. Indeed, it was! Once we were instructed to enter the starting corral, I positioned myself next to the 1:50 pacers. I knew that with my current level of fitness that I would be able to finish a half marathon right at 1:50. I was hoping to have the pacers help drag me just under 1:50.
Karen
Robert and Ginny
Karen, Robert, Almi
They were giving out samples
$75 for next year
Luis
Starting corral
Half marathon course
The race start was delayed by about 5 minutes. It was a tad congested from the get go, so I opted to run slightly ahead of the pacers in order to get some space. However, before we even got to the first mile marker, the pacers went on ahead of me. I got to the first mile at 8:17 which was plenty fast to run a 1:50. My second mile was even faster at 8:12, but they were already gapping me. My third mile was a 8:13 and I was continuing to lose ground on them, so I started to ease off on the pace. At about mile 4.5, we crossed Ocean Blvd and hopped on the dreaded Shoreline Way beach path. This section has always been my least favorite section of the Long Beach Marathon and it always will. Besides the course being a bit sandy, we also had to dodge other weekend non-race participants that were out for their morning stroll or exercise. After the turnaround point, we were now running into a slight headwind. I was quite glad to cross back over Ocean Blvd and get back to running on roads without any sand! On the last out and back along Bay Shore Ave as I neared mile 11, I saw the 1:50 pacers already heading the other way. They were about 5 minutes ahead of me! Hmm, maybe they were confused and thought that their assignment was to run a 1:45? After reaching mile 12, I tried to speed up a bit for the final mile. Unfortunately, with about a half mile to go, I sort of fizzled out. I coasted into the finish line, finishing a few seconds shy of being under 1:50. Those 2 pacers were nowhere to be seen.
This was one of my better executed races. It was a relatively flat course and my splits were kept relatively even. Having Starbucks coffee with my CLIF bar before a race has started to become a pre-race routine for me. There's plenty of research that shows that caffeine before exercise will increase performance. As I get older, short of doping, I'll take any assistance that I can get! :)
After receiving my finisher medal, I took a quick finish line selfie before meeting up with Robert who had initially gone with the 1:50 pacers and finished about a minute ahead of me. We got some post race goodies and took a picture at the backdrop before entering the wine, sip, and savor festival area to get our post race In-n-Out burger.
Finish line
Finisher medal
Latino Heat
Finisher medal and post race In-n-Out
I'm not used to eating a regular cheeseburger from In-n-Out. I always prefer mine with raw onions. Still, it was nice to have one after running a half marathon. After we were done with our burgers, Robert and I, walked over to the course to catch Karen running by at the Appian Way bridge. After she ran by, he went to his car and I started making my way back to mine.
Karen getting over the last bridge crossing
Back at home, I got right into wrapping some zongzi with my parents for the annual Dragon Boat Festival (端午節). We're all getting older, so we didn't wrap as many as we have in the past. The total number wrapped wasn't planned, but the final count was 168.
Saturday 6/1
Man, I do love races with race day packet pick-up! In the emails that were sent out leading up to race day, it had stated that pick-up wasn't scheduled to begin until 5 am. I timed it to get to the Fontana City Hall parking lot at about 4:45 am just to make sure that I got a good parking spot. I got a spot in the parking lot just off of Wheeler Ave.
It was still dark as I picked up my race packet. On the way back to the car, I stopped to use a portapotty. Before entering one, I noticed that they actually had a portable restroom trailer in addition to a few standard poratpotties. Normally, those trailers are reserved for those that have paid for some sort of a VIP package. Of course, I opted for the nicer trailer restroom.
Race shirt
Back of race shirt
Race swag
After I returned to the car, I shed my outer layers and grabbed my handheld bottle before walking over to the corner of Upland Ave and Sierra Ave to get in line for a bus ride up to the start line near the Applewhite Campground. I believe all of the busses were given a motorcycle police escort which was pretty cool.
Bus ride up to the start line at Apple White Campground
It was a bit chilly up at the starting area, so I was glad that I had my arm sleeves and gloves. It was cold enough that it would've been better had I brought a mylar blanket with me. I milled around a bit before getting in line to use one of the portapotties. I ran into a few familiar faces before making my way over to the creek as everyone seemed to be passing the time by taking selfies there.
Pam and her friend
We know each other through our friend, Casey!
Kent
North Fork Lytle Creek
North Fork Lytle Creek selfie
Leaves of 3, let it be
Making new friends
As the time got closer to the 7 am start and they were done loading the gear truck, we were instructed to make room for the truck to drive through. Then we were walked up to the street for the starting line where I bumped into Ward. It was a pretty low key event so there wasn't even the singing of our national anthem prior to the race start. The race started a couple minutes behind schedule.
Ward
Low key start without the national anthem
I can see why people love running this race when seeking to set their personal best for a half marathon. This course was pretty much downhill from start to finish! According to my Garmin data, there was only some climbing in miles 2 and 5, the rest were all downhill. During the earlier miles at higher elevation, my glasses were covered with moisture as we ran through the thick marine layer. I took it relatively easy from the start and didn't catch my friend Richard until about mile 8 after Lytle Creek Rd went underneath the 15 freeway and became Sierra Ave. Shortly later, a lady with a cough came up next to me and inquired about my pace. When I told her that I was running at about a 7:50 min/mile, she plowed on ahead. I tried to stay within reach of her for the next few miles. I saw that she was running at about a 7:40 min/mile. When the course flattened out a bit after reaching mile 11, I maintained the same level of effort. That caused my pace to drop a bit. The last mile was the flattest mile, so I didn't even break 8 mins for that last mile.
I was very content with my finishing time. Coming into this race, I would've been fine with running just under 1:50 given that I had the Rock n' Roll San Diego Marathon the next day. I certainly wasn't planning to run under 1:45. As I was taking my obligatory finish line selfie, an older gentleman that finished not too far behind me end up knocking down some temporary wood fencing. I believe he leaned on them thinking that they were going to be sturdy enough to bear weight.
Finish line selfie with medal
Finisher medal
Some of the volunteers came over to help him up, so I continued down the finisher chute. I was given a small bottle of water and a Ziplock bag containing some post race goodies. I think more races should do this to prevent certain inconsiderate people from grabbing too much food or snacks when there are still other participants that are out on the course.
Post race snacks and water
Before heading back to my car, I walked over to the corner of Upland Ave and Sierra Ave to catch some of my friends coming in through the final stretch. I saw Richard come through, but I didn't have my phone ready for a picture. I left after seeing Pam come through. I couldn't stay much longer than that as I needed to head home and get ready for my trip down to San Diego.
Pam approaching the finish line
I took a shower, ate lunch, then got a ride over to the ARTIC to catch a Greyhound bus down to San Diego. My particular bus was operated by FlixBus. Originally, I was planning to drive myself and leave my car there. However with the rampant homeless problem near and around the Santa Ana River Trail, you just never know if you're going to come back to see your car in one piece. Getting dropped off was definitely the better option.
Per the usual, there was a ton of traffic heading down the 5 freeway. There was some sort of annoying alarm sound going off for a good majority of the ride. The driver seemed to not care. Thankfully, it eventually went away. I got off at the bus stop right in front of the UCSD Health La Jolla Trolley Station. I went up the stairs and caught the next blue line train over to the UTC Transit Center to grab a quick meal at Westfield UTC. I decided to eat at Tender Greens as it was one of the restaurants listed on the AAdvantage Dining Program. Eating at participating restaurants earned me miles with American Airlines. I ordered the grilled steak plate with baby greens and roasted potatoes as my 2 sides. Since I had just recently created my rewards account, I was able to cash in my reward for a free iced black tea.
UCSD Health La Jolla Trolley Station
Greyhound/FlixBus bus stop
Iced black tea
Grilled steak plate with baby greens and roasted potatoes
Once I finished my meal, I didn't have time to dilly dally as the race expo was only opened until 5 pm. I took the trolley down to the County Center/Little Italy Trolley Station. From there, I walked over to the Waterfront Park for the race expo. Since running this race for the first time back in 2003, I believe that this was the first time that they had used this park for its expo venue. I would assume that this was a cost-savings move as it had to be more expensive to have it over at the San Diego Convention Center. It thought it was fine, but if it just so happened to be raining, it would've been messy as the field was more dirt than grass these days.
Race expo at the Waterfront Park
The flow of people was routed to head in one direction. The bibs were distributed first as you entered. That was followed by official merchandise and vendor booths. The race shirts were given out at the very end just before you exited the expo. Coming into the race expo, I was still waffling on whether or not I wanted to continue my streak and register for next year's race. Ultimately, I did. The presale for the marathon was $89 ($102.35 with fees). They also threw in the usual "free" cotton t-shirt for registering early.
Bib pick-up
Race participant name shirt
Found my name
Registered for next year's race
"Free" cotton t-shirt for early registration
Race shirt
Disappointing swag
Once I was done with the race expo, I started heading over to the WorldMark San Diego Balboa Park to check into my unit. I was assigned to unit #223. Per the usual, the concierge gave me a check-in care package with a bunch of junk food. When she heard that I was in San Diego to run the marathon, she went to the back to grab me a couple bottles of Gatorade. Without fail, before letting me go, she invited me to yet another owner update. I declined and went up to my room. Although I had reserved a studio unit, I was given a one bedroom unit. They had also left a welcome card and some Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies. At this point, they should be leaving me a red envelope with cash in it. The concierge that worked the next shift called me to see if I would change my mind on attending that owner update. LOL, no thank you.
VIP owners
Check-in care bag
Note and Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies
Welcome note
I was feeling pretty wiped out. Since I had a very early dinner, I really didn't feel like going out for another meal. I did consider getting something from the McDonald's across the street. However once again, there were no good deals on the McDonald's app, so that option was a bust. I ended up eating through all of the junk food. I laid out my flat runner for tomorrow's race before calling it a night.
Flat runner
Sunday 6/2
I woke up early, got ready, and left my unit at about a quarter to 5 for my walk up to the start area. Per the usual, I bumped into several other race participants and walked up with them. Once we had reached the starting area, I broke off from the pack and headed straight for the other Wyndham property, Inn at the Park. I used the restroom downstairs and then waited in the lobby for my friends to show up. We hung out here until it was time to head over to the starting corrals. This year, they were using a taller fencing on the side that was facing the park. The mesh was much tighter so it would be harder to climb. However, on the other side of the corral, it was still the old railing that was fairly easy to slide through.
Friends from Escondido
Doggy
Starting corral
I started the race off with my friend, hoping to pace her through the first 8 miles or so before the course split. As I plugged along on University Ave, I came up to one of the bigger, if not the biggest supporter of the Rock n' Roll Race Series. Even though he had unfriended me on Facebook for whatever reason, I still said a quick hi as I passed him. There's no beef on my side. I understand that some people just can't handle the incessant Disney and food porn posts in their FB feed. :) By mile 3, I was already beginning to sweat more than I would like for it still being this early in the race. I took a walk break. As my friend passed me, I told her that I would try to catch up to her. Since my next mile was even slower, I gave up on that and started easing off on the pace. Eventually, I settled into about a 10:30 min/mile pace. I reached the halfway point at Presidio Park in about 2:07.
Since I was ahead of schedule, after making the right turn onto Morena Blvd, I took a walk break before hopping on the San Diego River Bikeway. This roughly 2.25 miles stretch on this bikeway was a bit of a grind. I reached mile 16 after getting off of the bikeway and going up to the Sunset Cliffs Blvd. I took another walk break to let my legs recover a bit. While walking I saw that my friend, Deo, was not too far behind me. He would catch me near mile 17 on Sea World Dr. We would continue to leapfrog each other until I couldn't keep up with him on the climb up to mile 24. While I was gathering myself on B St for the jog in for the finish line, I was caught by Robert. I had about a 14 minute head start on him and he was still able to catch me on the last mile! Because he showed up, we ended up having a nice speedy run down to the finish line.
I don't listen to music while I run, but this song was playing inside my head
Deo after reaching mile 18
Care Bears at just after mile 21, right before getting on the dreaded 163!
Rang the bell after reaching the top of the 163 freeway
We were almost to mile 24!
The final stretch down to the finish line!
We make marathon running look fun! Thanks for running me in!
Well, I did it! The 2 consecutive days of racing completed an informal Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge. The body is such an amazing creation. With some proper training, it will be able to comfortably complete a half marathon on Saturday, followed by a marathon on Sunday. All I had to do was to make sure that I didn't do too much too soon and to supply it with sufficient fuel. I was hoping to run the marathon a bit faster, but still this weekend was a confidence booster for the upcoming marathon double that I'll have in late July at Jack & Jill.
After receiving my finisher medal from Miss Poway and snapping a couple of selfies, I continued down the finisher chute where I received some post race goodies and a bottle of water. Robert needed to head out, but I opted to get in line for some post race photos as I had prepaid for the photo package. After I was done with pictures, I decided to skip going over to the post race celebration at the Waterfront Park and headed back to my timeshare. Along the way, I cut down to A St and then backtracked the race course to cheer on my fellow runners.
We're done!
Getting my medal from Miss Poway
Finisher medal
Finish line photo
Post race snacks and water
Post race medal photo
haha, that was me on the 163 climb!
I thought about sticking around and cheering at the course where runners come off of the 163 freeway. However, I was feeling quite fatigued and the onramp was a parking lot with drivers beginning to lay on their horn. I didn't need that negativity, so I crossed the street and went up to my room. I ended up plopping myself on the sofa. I watched some track and field event on TV. After vegging out for a couple of hours, I finally got myself up to take a shower.
Eventually, I decided to get a late lunch or very early dinner at the Tender Greens over on 1st and Broadway. I ordered a Mediterranean steak salad on the mobile app and walked over to pick it up. Along the way, I had to dodge a lot of homeless people. That was a such a sad experience. I have been coming back each year since 2003 and it only seems to get worse each year! When I opened my bag back at my unit, I noticed that I had forgotten to add utensils to my order. Thankfully, my unit had utensils. This was a very good post marathon meal! Definitely, better than eating at McDonald's! :)
Mediterranean steak salad
Monday 6/3
I packed up and checked out of my unit and headed back to Tender Greens to eat an early lunch. I appeared to be their very first customer for the day. I ordered a grilled salmon plate with baby arugula and seasonal vegetables as my 2 sides. I have been really enjoying my recent Tender Greens kick. They're somewhat pricey, but I really have been enjoying their food. After I was done with my meal, I walked over to the nearby Starbucks across the street from the Santa Fe Depot to get a drink. I ordered a grande white chocolate macadamia cream cold brew on the mobile app before going inside to wait for my drink.
Grilled salmon with baby arugula and seasonal vegetables
Grande white chocolate macadamia cream cold brew
I then walked south on Kettner Blvd to wait for my bus at the stop in front of The Headquarters at Seaport. In all of the years that I've been coming down to downtown San Diego, I have never really checked out the Seaport Village area. It was pretty cool to check out the jail cells and police exhibit as it used to be the old police headquarters. Here's a little history of The Headquarters.
My bus was scheduled for 12:20 pm. The bus showed up just after 12 noon. The driver was a bit eccentric. His English was somewhat broken, but he kept bashing the youth about how they're always on their smartphones, but they aren't very smart. After a while it got awkward. He even got on our case with everyone wanting to bring onboard their carryon bags instead of storing them in the cargo-hold. I told him it was because we wanted to keep an eye on our belongings. He challenged my response and said that it was because we didn't want someone to sit next to us. Sure dude, Greyhound busses are pretty empty these days.
