Per the usual, I went for my walk around my neighborhood in the morning. I must say that my legs have been feeling quite strong these days. At about 10 am, I hit the road for the drive out to the Rose Bowl to pick up my race packet. I took my usual route, exiting the 134 freeway at Orange Grove Blvd. Going straight from that exit the road turned into Holly St. At the first left, I turned onto Arroyo Dr, followed by a right turn onto Arroyo Blvd. That took me past the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center to Seco St. At first I waited for a left turn to park in lot K. There were way too many cars, so I gave up and made a right turn. I turned left onto Rosemont Ave and drove the loop counter-clockwise. I ended up parking on the dirt roadside on West Dr across from lot K. I think for next year, I'll just stay on Holly St and head down to Linda Vista Ave to get to West Dr.
When I walked over to the packet pick-up tents, I saw that there was a big gathering of people. It turned out to be about 10 lines of about 40 people each, all waiting to pick up their bibs. This was at about 11 am with the race expo opening at 10 am. As I was getting ready to join the queue, I bumped into a couple of my friends. They had both already picked up their bibs. I grabbed a selfie with them before joining the queue. The sun was out and it was feeling like a pretty typical warm Southern California day. Thankfully, the line moved fairly quickly. The volunteers did well to crank out those bib assignments! I would know since I'd been on their side of the table for the LA Marathon race expo. In addition to my race bib, I received my race shirt and a legacy pin.
Allan and Willie
Race packet pick-up queue
Race shirt
Rose Bowl loyal pin
Sunday 1/18
I got ready and left the house at a little after 4 am for the drive out to the Rose Bowl. This year, I opted to stop at a Starbucks that opened a bit early at 4:30 am. Last year, the one on Fair Oaks didn't open until 5 am. This location was just off of Lake Ave. When I arrived, I parked the car and placed my order on the mobile app for a grande flat white before getting into the drive-thru lane.
Grande flat white
With coffee in hand, I continued on with my drive, heading west along Mountain St. After crossing under the 210 freeway, it became Seco St. I stayed on the left lane as I planned to park in lot I. The right lane was for lots F and K. They were closer to the start and finish line, but sometimes it can be a pain in the ass getting in and out of those parking lots.
After finding a suitable parking spot near the northern end of lot I, I had my usual pre-race CLIF Bar with my coffee. At about 5:30 am, I got out of the car to go use one of the portapotties located across the street. Before heading back to my car, I walked over to the Rose Bowl Stadium to get the usual pre-dawn photo. I also got a selfie with my buddy as I spotted him sitting nearby.
Ely
At about 6:30 am, I left my car to head for the start of the race. Before entering the starting corral, I stopped by the race announcer perch to say hi and grab a selfie with my friend. I entered the corral at the 7 minute per mile sign. It wasn't too crowded yet, so I was able to quickly spot a familiar face. With about 10 minutes before the scheduled start of 7 am, I noticed that they were escorting Bearsun up closer to the front.
Start line
Andrea
Starting corral
Marcia
Starting corral
Bearsun
Here we go
The race started with a quick first mile down Arroyo Blvd. The second mile had us turn left onto California Blvd which included a decent climb up to Orange Grove Blvd. The third mile had us heading north on Orange Grove Blvd, followed by a right turn onto Colorado Blvd. There was a lot of people out cheering on Colorado Blvd. The fourth mile had a right turn onto Arroyo Parkway for a short out and back. This was where I fell last year. I made sure to take extra care to stay upright. At the turnaround at Cordova St, I was passed by my fast friend. I must be in better shape to be running around her. We then turned right onto Green St. The fifth mile had us turn right down Lake Ave for another out and back. The turnaround was at San Pasqual St at just after reaching mile 5. The sixth mile had us run back up to Green St, followed by a right turn down Wilson Ave for a third and final out and back. The turnaround was at just before reaching Bechtel Mall of Caltech. The seventh mile had us back on Green St heading west back toward the Rose Bowl.
1: 7:39
2: 7:59
3: 8:15
4: 7:48
5: 7:47
6: 8:02
7: 8:12
The eighth mile had us heading back up to Colorado Blvd. The ninth mile was one with a pretty steep climb up to the Colorado Street Bridge. As I was cruising over the bridge, I was passed by Deena Kastor. Her stride looked so smooth! She would finish in 1:40:11. For the tenth mile, there was a short little out and back before we got on Linda Vista Ave to run down and up to Seco St. Unfortunately, with about 5k or a Rose Bowl Loop left to go, my legs were on the verge of cramping up. I had to back off on the pace a bit for the next 2 miles to let my legs recover. When I got onto Rosemont Ave with about a mile to go, I finally let it go and ran with whatever I had left.
8: 8:23
9: 8:43
10: 8:07
11: 8:52
12: 8:50
13: 8:05
13.1: 1:32
Finish: 1:48:17
Click here for my Garmin data.
Here were my finishing times for a variation of this Rose Bowl/Pasadena course. The course used for those years was pretty much the same. I was quite content with my finishing time as it was a course personal best. I seem to always do well coming just off of the Dopey Challenge.
Rose Bowl Half 2025: 1:59:32
Rose Bowl Half 2024: 1:53:28
Rose Bowl Half 2021: 1:57:49
Rock n' Roll Pasadena Half 2013: 1:57:02
Rock n' Roll Pasadena Half 2012: 2:07:31
After crossing the finish line, I received my finisher medal. Both the medal and the lanyard looked beautiful. I liked the design. I took a selfie with it before continuing down the finisher chute where I was given a bunch of post race goodies. Before heading out, I got a selfie with my friend who finished not too far behind me.
Finisher medal
Selfie with finisher medal
Post race goodies
Lea
Before heading back to my car, I went over to the final turn to cheer on my fellow runners. I stuck around until my friend and his sons came through with their 2:20 pace group. At my car, I found a flyer for the Santa Anita Park 5k. I had run that race only once before back in 2015.
Final turn
My friends coming through with the 2:20 group
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