I got ready and left the house at about 4:15 am to head over to the race at Arlington Heights Sports Park. I stopped at the Starbucks along the way on La Sierra Ave to get some coffee. Instead of the usual blonde vanilla latte, I went with a grande pistachio latte. The one employee that I saw wasn't quite ready, so she didn't see my mobile order come through until she tried to take my order the old fashion way. I got the code from her for the restroom. My coffee was ready when I came out of the restroom.
Grande pistachio latte
From there, it was a short drive over to the park. I arrived and parked at about 5:30 am. There were already a lot of people there. I found a vacant parking spot fairly close to one of the park restrooms. Even though the final instructions had said that packet pick up would begin at 6 am, I started walking over to the packet pick up tents. I was among the first to get my bib. Per the usual, I saw Sergio when I went to get my race shirt. That guy is always volunteering at these local races. After getting my nice looking navy long sleeve shirt, I used a portapotty before heading back to my car.
Long sleeve race shirt
Back of race shirt
As I was getting ready, I overheard the conversation of the youngsters just outside of the car next to mine. One of them talked about how he hopes to not be smoked by a 50 year old. Haha! I used the park restroom urinal before I started heading over to the start area. I still had some time, so I waited underneath one of the heat lamps that they had brought out. While waiting, I bumped into the usual suspects. Once the race start approached, I headed over to the start line and positioned myself behind the 1:50 pacers.
Maricris
Rachel and Ginny
Luis, pacing 2:45
Started with 1:50
Course map
This was my very first race for 2025. This was my second time running this race. The other time was back in 2020 just right before the COVID pandemic started. I have the Dopey Challenge next week, so I made sure not to overdo it. Still, I wanted to put in a solid effort, so I went out with the 1:50 pacers. They started to pull away from me at around mile 3. I couldn't get very good traction during some portions where we ran through some muddy orange groves. Those last couple of miles of rollers were a bit of a grind. My legs were on the verge of cramping, but I finished in 1:52:04, good enough to beat last time by 43 seconds.
Finish: 1:52:04
Click here for my Garmin data.
After crossing the finish line, I received my finisher medal and came upon tables of mostly junk food. I grabbed what looked to be the healthiest choices out of the bunch. I then tried to make my way back to mile marker 13 to cheer on my friends and fellow race participants. Along the way, I had to wade through a ton of 5k participants all headed to the start of their race.
Finisher medal
Post race goodies
Nadia pacing her dad
Jorge Sr
Robert
Brent
Andrea
Rachel
Luis
Maricris
I started heading out once my friend, Luis, came through, pacing the 2:45 group. Maricris was not too far behind him. I then stopped by the awards table to pick up my Run Riverside County Challenge medal. I received it for running the Palm Desert Half Marathon in February, Mission Inn Run Half Marathon in October, and this race in successive order. I would find out later that they were serving tamales and fresh squeezed orange juice out on the field area along with the vendor booths. Too bad, I never made it out onto that field area. I'll be sure to do so next time!
Run Riverside County Challenge medal
No comments:
Post a Comment