I got ready and left the house at about 4:30 am to head down to MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center in Laguna Hills for the race. This was where I ran my very first half marathon back in 2005 and my first sub 2 hour half marathon back in 2008. It still remains one of my favorite half marathons. Along the way to the race, I stopped at the Starbucks on Rockfield Blvd to get my pre-race coffee. I placed my order for a grande flat white on the mobile app before walking inside to pick up my drink.
Grande flat white
I arrived at the usual BJ's Restaurant parking lot and parked along Ronda Del Rossmoor. As with my luck or lack thereof, a sort of run-down Mercedes came rolling by and parked next to my car. The guy in the car was really weird, not matching the usual type that would be driving that kind of car. He had a dog and looked like he was setting up camp. He looked to be homeless, living out of his car. I hoped for the best and walked over to the start area to pick up my race bib. After being assigned a bib number, I started heading back to my car. Along the way, I bumped into a few familiar faces.
Race bib
Jim & Tracy
Andrea
Ginny
After chilling in my car and finishing my coffee, I shed some layers and started heading back to the start area. I used one of the portapotties and got ready for the race. As I milled around, I bumped into some more familiar faces. I even congratulated a Gooner for his team finally winning the English Premier League. The fans in the States definitely aren't as mean.
Sean
Maricris
Gooner
Willie
Surprise!
Robert, Karen, and Marcia
Aracely and Scott
Dexter
Start line
As of late, I had been better with not going out the gate too fast. However, today was different with me covering that first mile in 7:36. That was a bit too fast. I knew that I had to pull back because this course was full of rollers with the last 5+ miles being mostly uphill! I felt pretty strong running up to the turnaround point at about mile 8. All of the daily hikes to strengthen my legs paid off as I was able to cover the climbs in the next 2 miles with relative ease. However, I started to experience some GI issues coming up to mile 11. I took a short walk break to let things calm down a bit, but mostly to let this one female runner that appeared to be pacing off of me to pass as I might end up involuntarily crop-dusting her! Not sure if it was the really old Gatorade Zero powder or the pre-race coffee that was the cause. However since I didn't want to shit myself, I stopped drinking from my bottle and opted for water at each of the aid stations. I cruised the remaining miles to the finish line.
1: 7:36
2: 8:16
3: 8:11
4: 8:22
5: 8:48
6: 8:31
7: 8:45
8: 8:29
9: 8:58
10: 8:58
11: 9:15
12: 9:34
13: 9:30
13.1: 1:55
Finish: 1:55:08
Click here for my Garmin data.
After crossing the finish line, I received my beautiful finisher medal. Next I received a bottle of water and some post race snacks. I then stopped by the t-shirt tent to get my shirt. Per the usual, my friend Sergio was volunteering. Originally, he gave me a polyester "tech" shirt. However, when I saw that they had cotton shirts, I had him exchange it for that instead.
Finisher medal
Close-up of medal
Post race goodies
Race shirt
Back of race shirt
I then headed over to the portapotties to take care of my GI issues before heading over to the mile 13 marker to cheer on my fellow runners and to wait for my friends. After sticking around until about 10 am, my friend and I started heading up to the high school to catch a bus ride back to our cars.
CUI runner
Kim
Marcia
Charles
Amador
Yen
Mitch
Willie
Mitch and Marcia
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