With the race day bib pick up scheduled to start at 6 am in front of the AK Smiley Library, I timed it so that I would arrive at about 5:45 am. I parked in the usual parking lot just north of the library. Instead of just sitting in the car to wait, I decided to walk over to Starbucks to get my pre-race coffee. On the mobile app, I ordered a grande flat white before going inside to wait for my drink. After I was done eating my CLIF bar, I headed back over to the library.
Grande flat white
After I was assigned a bib number and got my race shirt, I went back to my car to relax a bit and finished off my coffee. I then shed the layers and headed across the street to use a portapotty. When I was done and heading back, I bumped into my friend. I walked with him over to the library to pick up his race packet. I then gave him his race packet from Mesa Marathon before we walked over to his car for him to drop stuff off and to get his racing vest. As we headed back to catch the start of the 10k race at 7 am, we positioned ourselves on the road median. Coincidentally, we bumped into one of our running friends also with the same idea.
Race shirt
Back of race shirt
Half marathon pace truck
10k pace car
10k race leader
Catching the 10k start
The half marathon start was scheduled for 7:20 am. I went over to the portapotties one last time to empty the bladder. We then walked over to the starting line to get queued up in the starting corral. My hips were kind of jacked up from the cambered roads up in Ojai last weekend, so I didn't want to start too far up front.
Half marathon start line
I paced myself pretty conservatively during the first 8 miles as that section of the course was full of hills. I made up some time during the downhill sections in the next 4 miles. However, there were still some good rollers thrown in! Per the usual, I faded pretty badly during that last mile. The weather had gotten pretty warm by this point and it came just after the last significant climb. Every year that I've run this race, I just had nothing left for that slow grind up that last mile to the finish line. I took my one and only walk break to get a drink at the last aid station. Once I got going again, I made sure not to take another walk break.
Finish: 1:56:33
Click here for my Garmin data.
After crossing the finish line, I was handed a finisher medal and a 13.1 pin. I congratulated the girl that finished just ahead of me. I was chasing her for most of the race, but she passed me during my walk break. Further down the chute, per instructions sent in an email, I traded in my finisher medal for a patch. I have way too many medals to need another one.
I opted for a patch instead of the usual finisher medal
I then got a cup of orange juice. After finishing it, I asked for a refill. I then headed over to the final stretch to wait for my friends. Normally, they would be faster and be the ones waiting for me. Once they came through, I headed over to the end of the finisher chute to meet up with them. We chatted a bit and got a group selfie before we started heading out. It took me and Robert a while to find the table where they were distributing race shirts for people that registered late. After that we went our separate ways.
Stacy and Robert coming to the finish line
Post race
As I reached the parking lot and was waiting for a car to pass, I noticed that it was my friend. He saw me as well, so he parked to chat a bit. We eventually got on the subject of the finisher patches vs medals. He told me that the race organizer had an issue with ordering finisher medals. They were short and was looking for a work-around. Eventually, they would offer to mail medals to finishers that did not receive one. I changed into the dry race shirt before hitting the road.
Dexter
On the way home, I made a detour to my neighborhood Starbucks to get brunch as I had a couple of deals that would help earn me a total of 165 stars. I received 40 stars for spending over $20 on one order. I received 125 stars for buying one of the egg bites, a sausage, cheddar & egg sandwich, a lunch sandwich, and a latte. It was a good thing that I eat like a damn hobbit! :D
Post race brunch at Starbucks
Grande blonde vanilla latte
Truffle, mushroom, and brie egg bites
Sausage, cheddar, and egg sandwich
Ham and Swiss baguette
Earned bonus stars
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