Instead of getting a hotel for a one night stay, I decided to just drive down today to pick up my race packet. I left the house at about 8:15 am. I timed it so that I would get into the Downtown San Diego area at about 10 am, the time when the expo would open. Originally, I was planning to park at the 6th and K Parkade, but the entrances were blocked. I ended up parking at the 7th & Market South parking lot. I tried to pay on the kiosk, but it wasn't working. So I ended up paying online. It was $10 for parking, plus a 95 cents extra fee for paying online.
7th & Market South Parking
From there, I walked over to the Hilton San Diego Gaslamp Quarter for the race expo. They had it at this location for the past several years, so the whole process was well streamlined with signs everywhere directing you on where to go. I picked up my bib, followed by my race shirt and the usual sturdy tote bag. Then I checked out the vendor tents where I bumped into my fellow Marathon Maniac/Half Fanatic friend over at the San Diego Track Club tent. The drive home took about 10 minutes longer.
Hilton San Diego Gaslamp Quarter
Race shirt
Back of race shirt
Sturdy tote bag
Columbia Exclusive Pass
Pacers
Karen
Rabbit DJ
Sunday 3/23
I got up pretty early to get ready for the drive down to San Diego, leaving the house at about 3:15 am. I rolled into Downtown San Diego at about 4:45 am. I ended up finding curbside parking on Island Ave near Ninth Ave. At about 5 am, I walked over to the nearby Starbucks at Market St and Tenth Ave to get my usual pre-race coffee. Per the usual, I placed a mobile order for a grande blonde vanilla latte.
Starbucks
Grande blonde vanilla latte
After finishing my breakfast, I went back to my car to grab my stuff. Then I walked down Tenth Ave to head down to the race. Just as I was getting close to the Park to Bay Link, I bumped into my friend, Luis. He walked with me over to the Hilton San Diego Bayfront. He didn't go in with me as he needed to go meet up with his pacer teammates. I used their restroom before heading over to the starting corrals. I eventually met up with my friend, Robert, while waiting near the back of wave 1.
Key areas map
Park to Bay Link
Having run this particular course a few times before, I knew that I could only run the first 8 miles hard until we ran past the Marine Corps Recruit Depot. I was able to run between 8 min to low 8:20 min for those miles. I made sure to dial it back a bit for those small steep climbs leading up to the big one up Washington St. For once, I did not take any walk breaks during that stretch. Once I reached the top, I started cruising along University Ave. After making the right turn onto 5th Ave, I knew that the easy part was coming up. With a left turn on Upas St followed by a right turn onto 6th Ave, the big downhill was right in front of me. Unfortunately, my left shin and foot cramped up! I had to take a quick short walk break before resuming with a slow jog. I started taking deeper breaths and didn't push off too hard with my left leg. Thankfully, I was able to gradually speed up for those last 2 miles!
Finish: 1:52:06
Click here for my Garmin data.
I had run this race off and on since 2012 for a total of 7 times counting today. The course had changed a few times here and there, but it remained pretty much the same with that long steep climb up Washington St. Despite the leg cramp right at about mile 11, I had paced myself well enough to get a course PR by almost 4 minutes.
2022: 2:06:26
2021: 2:26:32
2018: 1:58:27
2016: 1:55:59
2013: 1:58:02
2012: 2:07:48
After taking a sweaty finish line selfie, I continued down the finisher chute where I received my finisher medal and a bunch of post race goodies. I was going to drink my chocolate milk and wait for my friends, but they had people there really eager to keep all of the finishers moving along. I had to wait at the exit of the finisher chute before I could stop and drink my milk.
Finish line
Finisher medal
Close up of medal
Post race goodies
After a couple of my friends came through, we took a quick selfie before we started heading out. Robert and I walked along the final stretch to see if we could catch some of our friends. We saw an unfamiliar Marathon Maniac and our friend, Patti, before we started walking back to our cars. As soon as I got back to my car, there was already a driver asking if I was leaving. I had him wait in the 15 min parking that was just in front of my spot while I put my stuff away for the drive home.
Robert and Eric
Marathon Maniac
Pacer Patti
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