Originally, this was going to be my 6th marathon in as many consecutive weekends. However, portions of highway 38 from Angelus Oaks, part of the marathon course sustained significant damage by heavy thunderstorms in late September. It had been closed to all traffic for an indefinite period of time per an ABC7 TV report. Needless to say, once again the marathon was canceled. Bummer that this marathon would be canceled 2 years in a row! However unlike last year where we were notified on race morning, we were notified a month out in early October via email with 3 options. We could select one of the following:
- Run the half marathon plus $20 race credit (expires within 2 years)
- Receive race credit
- Transfer over to the 2025 Las Vegas Marathon.
Race expo at the DoubleTree
5 year finisher mug, hope this one doesn't crack with a hot beverage!
Swag
Dexter and Luis
Sergio!
Race shirt
Back of race shirt
Participants name wall
Found my name
Frontier drawstring bag
Saturday 11/8
I got ready and left pretty early to drive over to the shuttle pick-up spot at 650 E Hospitality Ln. With prior years, the shuttle picked up for the half marathon was at the SW corner near the Olive Garden. When I arrived at about 3:15 am, there were no other cars around. A cop car did drive by shining its super bright lights. I drove around a bit to where I saw other people parking. I lined up with everybody else. However, eventually that line dissolved and people walked along Carnegie Dr in a clockwise direction until we arrived at the usual spot for the marathon. Oh well, just as long as we make it on time to the race.
Unfortunately, I got a seat with the tire well. I had to practically fold my legs into my chest for the duration of the ride. Thankfully, the bus driver didn't get lost this year. Shortly after getting off of the bus, I was spotted by my friend, Luis. After a quick selfie, I headed over to the portapotties to take care of business. Neither one of the toilet paper rolls were started in the one that I used. Since it was those ultra thin barely 1-ply toilet paper, it took me forever just to get the rolls started. After that, I went back to where my friend was to wait for the start of the race.
Luis pre-race
As the start of the race approached, I got back in line to empty the bladder one last time. I chatted with a guy that missed the bus pick-up. He showed up at about 5 am. He had to take an Uber ride which cost him about $30. Since I opted to make one last portapotty visit, I ended up having to start further back in the corrals. After the national anthem, I managed to squeeze in around the 2:30 pace group.
Dan and Karen in the corral
Deo the sweeper
From the start of the race, I was pretty much locked into about a 7:20 min/mile pace. A couple miles in, I came up to a runner that was wearing a Taiwanese shirt. Other runners around him were trying to tell him that there was toilet paper stuck to his shorts. I don't think he understood English too well. Eventually, he saw the TP. However, he brushed it off right onto me. For some reason, he jumped right in front of me, causing me to step on his foot and roll my right ankle. Good thing I have very flexible ankles and that neither of us went down! I'm sure adrenaline helped, but thankfully the discomfort was manageable for me to carry on. I continued to work my way up the field until I came up to the 1:40 pacer on a slight incline at about mile 8. Right away, I could tell that the pacer was a strong runner, but was horrible at pacing her group. She pressed hard up that hill only to slow way down once she got to the top. It was almost as if she was trying to break those that were in her group! I passed her and plowed ahead. Unfortunately, I started to fade with about a 5k to go. I might have been able to hold it together, but in the back of my mind, I knew that I couldn't go all out with another race tomorrow. My only motivation was to keep those last 2 miles under 8 minutes. During the final stretch, the 1:40 pacer overtook me and was running way ahead of 1:40. This wasn't the first time that I had personally witnessed poor pacing. I swear some of these people that take on pacing duties don't really give a shit. They seem to only want to run for free and not have to pay for registration. At that point my pace was below 7 minutes per mile and she was still pulling away from me!
1: 7:23
2: 7:20
3: 7:25
4: 7:20
5: 7:24
6: 7:28
7: 7:15
8: 7:18
9: 7:13
10: 7:23
11: 7:39
12: 7:52
13: 7:52
13.1: 0:44
Approaching the finish line
REVEL Big Bear Half Marathon Finish: 1:37:35
Click here for my Garmin data.
After crossing the finish line, I received my finisher medal. Then I was given a bottle of water. That was followed by a cold wet towel. I then got a banana and a bag of more post race snacks and drinks. By the time I reached the tent were they were passing out cookies, I was out of hands and pockets! I had to get out my own plastic bag to carry everything. My friend's son, Jayden, finished not too far behind me. I chatted with him a bit before heading out.
Finished
Finisher medal
Jayden
Post race drinks and snacks
Before heading for the line for a bus ride, I stopped at the tent to get my results printed out. Unfortunately, it was printing out the gun time. That does me no good since I started near the back of the start corral. I then got in line to get my Triple Reveler medal. I bumped into my friend, Lea, who had just completed her 200th half marathon. After a quick selfie, we headed over to gear check for her to retrieve her bag and then on to the bus line.
Triple reveler medal
Lea finished her 200th half marathon!
Since it was still pretty early, I decided to drive back home, take a shower, and rest up a bit before driving down to San Diego. After eating lunch, I hopped in the car for the drive down. It was actually a nice drive except for that usual slow-down just north of Oceanside which lasted until after reaching Carlsbad.
When I reached Road Runner Sports and got out of my car, my right ankle barely supported my weight. It was getting a bit more sore than I had hoped. However, the discomfort went away as I walked over to the packet pick-up area. Per the usual, I filled out and signed a paper waiver form before getting in line to show my QR code to be assigned a bib number. This year we received a discount card for next year's registration and a sticker. Then I went inside the store to get my Hawaiian race shirt. Before heading out, I got in line to use their restroom.
Hawaiian race shirt
Silver Strand 50% off next year and sticker
It was a bit too early to eat dinner, so I stopped at the Target in the Trolley Square at Santee Town Center to buy some snacks. While I normally would buy Siete or Cape Cod brand potato chips, I decided to get Boulder Canyon kettle style potato chips. These days, I've been trying to eat stuff that only has natural ingredients. I paid for my item using one of the self checkout kiosks. As I was exiting the parking lot, after a couple of cars had turned into my row, I assumed that there were no cars other coming through behind them and started pulling out. Yikes, there was indeed someone speeding through the parking lot in some sort of hurry. That driver honked to get my attention or else I would've ended up being t-boned.
Plenty of artificial ingredients!
I drove to the other side of Cuyamaca St to eat dinner at the Streets Pho & Grill in the Town Center Parkway Plaza. I must say that the layout of these shopping center parking lots were not very well thought-out. Since I was dining at an early senior citizen hour, the restaurant was empty. However, I did see a family just exit ahead of me. After looking over their menu, I ordered their P1 Signature phở đặc biệt with no cilantro. It seemed pricey, but it was a large bowl, a hearty portion!
Streets Pho & Grill
Signature phở đặc biệt
After finishing my food and paying my bill, I hopped in the car and drove over to the Super 8 in nearby El Cajon. It wasn't in a very nice area, but I've definitely stayed at worse places. Parking seemed to be a bit scarce, but I found one next to a handicap spot. I checked into room #320 and got my room key. The guy at the front desk told me that it was a quiet room. Not sure what to make of that comment. We shall see. I then grabbed all of my stuff from the car and went up to my room on the third floor.
Super 8 El Cajon
After getting settled into my room, I went through the race packet and laid out my flat runner for tomorrow's race. Then I proceeded to veg out while watching the TV and eating that bag of chips that I had bought. There were a few times I peered out the window when I heard people talking and/or making a bunch of noise. I did notice that there was a guy sitting in a chair next to my car. I didn't know what that was about. One time, he got up to open the motel door for someone. That didn't seem like a normal thing to be doing, but thankfully, nothing happened. I eventually took a shower and called it a night. One thing that had me worried a bit was that my right ankle was quite sore whenever I got up to do anything. I'm sure it did not help that I was walking around in flip-flops. I went to sleep hoping for the best for tomorrow.
Flat runner
Sunday 11/9
Well, this motel was somewhat sketchy. There was only lights on the first floor. When I left at about 5 am, it was quite dark outside. The first thing I saw was a guy in the dark corner smoking a cigarette. I walked past him and went down the really dark stairwell. On the 2nd floor, I missed the last step and thankfully, didn't fall. My ankles seemed to be getting quite the test this weekend!
I quickly loaded my car and was on my way over to Coronado Island. I took the 8 west, 125 south, 94 west, 15 south, 5 north, and then finally onto 75 to cross the Coronado Bridge. It was quite foggy the closer I had gotten to the San Diego Bay. Some of the drivers were clearly freaking out even though the visibility was still decent. Instead of taking the larger Orange Ave, I cut over on A Ave and used Pomona Ave to get onto Strand Way as it was the more direct route to the City Hall.
After parking in my usual spot, I filled my handheld bottle with another sample bottle of Electrolit and grabbed my mylar blanket before heading out. From there, I walked over to the Starbucks to get my pre-race coffee. Instead of getting my usual grande blonde vanilla latte, I tried out the seasonal caramel brulée latte with light whip. I had my usual pre-race CLIF bar to go with the coffee. It was not bad, but way too sugary for my liking.
Grande caramel brulée latte
After finishing my coffee, I started walking over to the start of the race at Sunset Park. In the years that I had run this race, I had never seen the fog quite this thick! Since it wasn't too cold, I kept the mylar blanket in my pocket and decided to save it for another event.
Foggy!
Portapotty time!
Start line
Foggy Sunset Park
Chilaquiles does sound good after running a half marathon!
Amador!
Start of the race delayed by almost 20 minutes
Even though my right ankle was a little gimpy from yesterday's little misstep, I wanted to maintain about an 8:30 min/mile pace for as long as I could. I also kept in the back of my mind that if there was any pain, I would pull the plug. I was quite grateful that my ankle was good enough for me to move at the pace that I wanted. I was able to lock into my desired pace from the get-go. My friend caught up to me at around mile 6 or so. We would basically run together or around each other for the rest of the race. At about mile 8.5, I finally reached the turnaround and started heading for the finish line. The runners around me picked up the pace, but I chose to stick with the same pace as I felt that I was working hard enough already. My right ankle started to get quite sore at about mile 12 as there were several turns one after another. It was bad enough that I almost started walking during the start of the last mile. Fortunately, after slow jogging it for about half a mile, it felt a bit better and allowed for me to run it in to the finish line.
1: 8:17
2: 8:14
3: 8:17
4: 8:22
5: 8:27
6: 8:20
7: 8:29
8: 8:25
9: 8:30
10: 8:20
11: 8:29
12: 8:46
13: 8:49
13.1: 1:05
Silver Strand Half Marathon Finish: 1:50:48
Click here for my Garmin data.
Even with the slow-down in the last 2 miles, I was quite content with my effort today. If I hadn't slowed down, I would've only finished about 30 seconds faster. This race validated all of the strength training that I had been doing to make my legs as strong as possible to endure consecutive days of harder effort running.
After I received my finisher medal, I waited for my friend to come through the finish line as I knew he wasn't too far behind. Further up the finisher chute, we grabbed some post race snacks and a bottle of water from the volunteers. We found a spot to sit down for a bit and recover. A girl borrowed my phone to call her husband, but didn't need to as they were able to find each other before making that call. I used a portapotty before getting in line to get a shuttle ride back to my car.
Finisher medal
Ran a lot of the second half with Eric
Post race snacks and water
Along the way home, I had to exit the freeway at the outlets in San Clemente to get a quick charge at the Tesla Supercharger station. I wasn't there very long as the car just needed enough juice to get me home with about 15% battery left.
The Outlets at San Clemente
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