I left the house at about 4 am for the drive out to Apple Valley for today's half marathon. The website had stated that race day packet pick-up would begin at 5:30 am at the Aquatic Center office over at the Town of Apple Valley Civic Center. It was at the intersection of Highway 18 (Happy Trails Highway) and Dale Evans Highway. I made good time and arrived at about a quarter after 5 am. Since I was early and the parking lot was empty and dark, I decided to go to Starbucks first for my morning coffee. I placed my order for a grande flat white on the mobile app before going inside to wait for my drink. I ate my CLIF bar before heading back to my car.
Grande flat white with my CLIF bar
I then drove back over to the Civic Center, found a suitable parking spot, and walked over to the Aquatic Center to pick up my race packet. After showing them my ID, I was assigned a bib number. I was also given a nice sturdy drawstring bag with some swag and a really bright orange race shirt. Before heading out, I chatted a bit with the race organizer.
Race bib
Race shirt
Back of race shirt
Drawstring bag
Swag
I went back to my car to relax a bit. While sitting in my car and drinking what was left of my coffee, I noticed that there was a sketchy guy with super baggy shorts walking around. He appeared to be homeless. Eventually, he left without an incident. Besides him, I got to see a very beautiful sunrise.
Beautiful sunrise
At just before 7 am, I walked over to the Target that was across the street in the Apple Valley Commons. It was chilly enough that I wore my gloves. As I waited for them to open the doors, I saw a bunch of employees roll into work. Once I went inside, I used their restroom. On the way out, I looked at the operating hours of the Optometrist. For years, I had been meaning to make a stop here to say hi to an old acquaintance. He had let me observe his practice back when I was applying for optometry schools almost 30 years ago. I had always driven by on my way to or back from Las Vegas. However, since the race was right across the street, I really didn't have an excuse not to stop by. They were scheduled to open at 10 am which was perfect since that was around the time that I would finish my race.
Directions
Vendor tents
Start/Finish arch
Start
While I did look at the course map ahead of time, I did not look at the elevation profile or saw that some sections of the roads were actually very uneven dirt roads. The first mile had us turning onto Dale Evans Pkwy heading north. Almost 2 miles in, Otoe Rd became a dirt road. My shoes were definitely not designed for this surface. Thankfully, that dirt road section was only for about half a mile. The course next headed up Navajo Rd up to S Rd. Unfortunately, at about the 5k mark, the road became a dirt road. This dirt road section was longer (.8 miles). Once I crossed Central Rd, it was once again paved roads. From there, the course would continue to gradually climb with a left turn onto Joshua Rd heading north, followed by a right turn onto Waalew Rd. The climb would reach its peak at about mile 6 with a right turn onto Moccasin Rd. I tried to take advantage of the downhill, but at about a quarter mile down that road, it became yet another dirt road. Thankfully, that section was very short with a right turn onto S Rd. After reaching Joshua Rd, the course backtracked to Navajo Rd. After reaching Otoe Rd, the course continued south. At this point, I was beginning to run out of steam. Shortly after reaching mile 11, it was a right turn onto Standing Rock Ave. I made sure not to look at my pace and just focused on staying with the runner ahead of me. With about half a mile to go, we turned right at Outer Hwy 18, quickly followed by another right turn onto Wakita Blvd. From there, we headed into the Civic Center Park for the finish line.
Finish: 1:53:26
Click here for my Garmin data.
After crossing the finish line, I was given a finisher medal and a meal bag. The volunteers told me that I could also take a bottle of water and chocolate milk. I then made my way over to the vendor tents to check out each one. They were all passing out free samples. The one that gave out the most was Sprouts. They really didn't want to haul anything back to the car. Eventually, I stopped by the timing tent to check out my finishing time. At first it was showing no data for the half marathon. The 10.5 mile checkpoint didn't register a time for anyone. Once that was taken care of, I saw that I had come in first place for the 50-59 age group.
Finisher medal and beads
Finish
Post race bag of goodies
Post race goodies
Raising Cane's freebies
Sprouts tote bag
Sprouts freebies
Post race coffee
They informed us that they would not be doing the age group awards for the half marathon until 11:45 am or when the last runner had finished. Since I had some time to pass, I went over to my car to change into a clean shirt. I then headed across the street to visit my friend. I first checked with his assistants at the front desk if he was in and if it was okay to say a quick hello. They were really cool about it especially when I told them that I had not seen him for over 20 years.
Dr Shih
After that, I headed back across the street and just milled around until they were ready to hand out the awards. Thankfully, the last finisher finished way earlier than 11:45 am. Shortly after I had received my AG award and certificate, I got in my car for the drive home.
Wall-E
1st place age group
Age group award
Close-up
Sunday 3/15
I got ready and left the house at a little before 4:30 am for the drive down to Encinitas. Originally, I was going to get a hotel in the area for a one-nighter until I saw that they had race day packet pick-up. I wanted to make sure that I had gotten down there in time to take care of my pre-race routine. One page on their website said that registration started at 6:30 am and another said 6:15 am. Either time sounded a bit tight with a 7:30 am start time for the half marathon.
Right before reaching my destination, I exited at Leucadia Blvd to get my usual pre-race coffee at Starbucks. I parked the car and placed my order for a grande flat white before going inside to wait for my drink. I was going to sit down and eat my CLIF bar with my coffee, but I noticed that they didn't have any tables or chairs inside.
Grande flat white
With coffee in hand, I hopped back on the freeway to drive one exit south to park at the Encinitas Civic Center. After finding a good parking spot, I got out of my car and started my walk over to the Moonlight Beach parking lot. I was going to take D St down to 3rd St, but I heard a loud banding noise. As I got closer, I also heard someone swearing up a storm. I was going to continue down the opposite side of the road, but there appeared to be another homeless person on the sidewalk doing God knows what. I decided to play it safe and headed up to Encinitas Blvd before heading over to the ocean. It was a bit dark, so I ended up going too far and reached the beach. I double-backed and went up 3rd St to reach the parking lot. It was still quite dark and everyone was still setting up. Apparently, they were operating on a tight window as they were still dropping off portapotties!
Once they were ready, I was assigned a bib number and picked up my race shirt. I used a portapotty to take care of business before heading back to my car. I met a guy named Bruce (bib #981) just as we were both done using the portapotties. He was a friendly guy. We continued our chat during our walk back to our cars. He told me that he was a bit afraid for today's race and was shooting for about a 2:20. When I asked what his longest run was before today, he told me that he had run 11 miles on a flat course. I reassured him that he would do fine just as long as he took it easy on the uphill sections.
Race day registration
Race bib
Race shirt
As the start of the race approached, I left my car and headed back to the start area. Per the usual, I timed it so that I would empty the bladder at about 30 minutes before the start of the race. As I was milling around the start area, I bumped into Ginny, who runs way more half marathons than me! I also chatted with a fellow runner that was clearly a Liverpool supporter.
Portapotties
Start/Finish arch
Ginny
Liverpool supporter
This was my first time running this half marathon. The course was very similar to the Encinitas Half Marathon which might now be defunct. However for this race, it was pretty much a double out-and-back course. Having run a half marathon yesterday, I didn't position myself too far near the front of the starting corral. It was quite congested getting out to C St, followed by a right turn onto 3rd St where I was finally able to find some space. Nearing the first mile, 3rd St curved into K St with a sharp downhill down to Coast Hwy 101. From there it was a straight shot down to Solana Beach with the turnaround at just before 3.5 miles. I was a bit surprised with how well my legs felt. Heading back in the other direction, the run up K St was a short steep climb at about mile 6. Another half mile at E St was the turnaround. For the second time around, I just focused on running about a 8:30 min/mile pace. On the climb back up K St, I ended up following a girl that was running around the same pace. She helped me cover that last mile just fast enough to be 1 second under 1:50.
Start at 7:30 am
Finish: 1:49:59
Click here for my Garmin data.
I tapped the shoulder of that girl to congratulate and thank her for practically dragging my butt to the finish line. I got a couple shots of water while using the same cup. The volunteers were barely able to keep up with the thirsty finishers! After taking a quick selfie with the finish line, I didn't see anything else that was being handed out, so headed back out onto the final stretch of the course to cheer on my fellow runners. While I was hoping to catch some of my friends, I was only out there cheering until about the 2:45 runners had gone through.
Finisher medal
Close up of medal
Finish
Dog
Cat
Bruce
Catholic cardinal
Gooner
Jesus is King!
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