Leona Divide 50k

Friday
I had originally planned to take Friday off. But one of my bosses asked me to come in. So I ended up putting in a half day of work. The drive up to the Castaic area from Irvine sucked. But I made it. Along the way there was a huge accident on the southbound 5 freeway just a few miles south of Magic Mountain. Of course, everybody on the northbound side slowed down to rubberneck.

I checked into the Rodeway Inn just off of Lake Hughes Road. No frills, but a nice enough place to crash for one night.

Rodeway Inn

Old School TV

My friends who were also running LD wanted to meet up for dinner. They were staying out in Palmdale. We hadn't decided on a place yet and I was getting pretty hungry from skipping lunch. So I drove out to In-n-Out to pre-eat. But I got a text when I pulled into the In-n-Out parking lot, so I hopped back on the freeway to make the drive out to Sharky's Woodfired Mexican Grill in Palmdale.

I got some chips with guacamole and a grilled shrimp burrito. Why do I always forget not to eat a burrito before a race? It was good though. After taking about the race and future races, we parted ways. On the way back I stopped by a 7-11 to pick up some drinks. I picked up OJ for breakfast, beer to sleep, and water to hydrate myself. I then laid out my gear for the race.

Chips & Guacamole

Grilled Shrimp Burrito

Saturday
Going into the race, I've been 0 for 2 with the 50k distance. The first attempt was a painful DNF at Montaña de Oro where I was not adequately replaced my electrolytes. The second attempt was at Santa Monica Mountains where I rolled the same ankle too many times and dropped out at the 30k aid station. So the goal for this race was just to finish. I did not want to go 0 for 3 with 50k's and get in the habit of dropping out. There would be no bunny chasing for me at this race! :)

I drove up Lake Hughes Road to get to the community center. The roads were very familiar as I used to come up here for our college church retreat. I parked and picked up my race packet. It was pretty awesome to see some familiar faces. Trail runners are the best. Nice folks.

Nice shirt!

The golden rule for running is nothing new on race day. Well, I always seem to be breaking that rule. I wore new glasses. I also wore my trail shoes that I've only worn one other time. That'll all come into play later in the race. I got ready and lined myself up way in the back. The strategy was just to hike or slow jog the uphills, run the flats, and don't go crazy on the downhills. I stopped a few times to take photos. I really wished that I lived closer to some trails. Running trails put me in a happy mood.

Everything was going fine for the first couple of hours. Then on my way to the 16ish mile aid station, I tripped over something and slid head first. The water bottle on my right hand broke part of the fall. But the left hand and knees took the rest. I would also be so unlucky to trip with my bad ankle. Once the adrenaline wore off from the fall, I could feel the soreness. Why did I fall? So, I wore new glasses that I had just picked up on Friday before driving up. Apart from having my eyes having to adjust to the new prescription, I got those transition lenses that would darken and lighten on their own. It turns out that they don't transition fast enough. As I was running from bright sunlight into the shady areas, I could barely see anything. That was the section were I ate it. It was nice and flat, cool and shaded. I literally ate a part of the trail because I forgot to clean my water bottle before drinking from it. I took a nice drink of trail dirt. :)

I saw my friend Kristin here at the aid station. Her husband was running the 50 miler. I hope I was somewhat coherent when I was talking to her. It was starting to get hot and I was somewhat confused as to where to go. Good thing there were people pointing me in the right direction. I crossed the road and headed up towards the 50k turnaround at mile 20 something. Along the way, I passed a couple of people sitting in the shade on the side. It looked like the heat was getting to them as well. It was amazing to see the front runners of the 50k coming back down.

It was a long hike up to the turnaround with very little shade. Once I got there, I saw a lot of the carnage. A lot of the runners there were sitting down. Some of them were fighting nausea. Only at a trail race do you have people encouraging you to throw up, saying "you'll feel better if you do." :)

For some reason, I kept craving Mountain Dew. It was what was motivating me to get to the next aid station. Even when they didn't have any, I would still be thinking about ice cold Mountain Dew. I did drink some delicious flat warm Coke. It tasted pretty good when you've been running for several hours. Frank Shorter was a genius for drinking that back in his day.

I was emotionally deflated coming down the mountain because my right ankle was too sore to run on. It was especially sore when it was downhill and cambered at some of the more treacherous single track sections. I was afraid that I might fall off the side of the mountain. But as slow as I was, I kept moving forward. I kept listening for footsteps because the faster 50 milers were beginning to pass me. Sometimes I swear I would hear footsteps approaching, but when I turned my head around to check, no one was there. I guess being tired and baking in the sun leads to hallucinations. :)

Eventually I got myself down to the finish line. There was no way I was going to DNF especially with the generous time limit. I finished about an hour longer than I wanted or anticipated. But it was good to get that monkey off my back, to have finally finished a 50k. I was beginning to think that the marathon distance was my limit and that ultra running was just not for me.

Finish: 8:43:46

Post race thoughts
I came out of the race rather unscathed. I cleaned out my wounds, threw on my shorts with more pockets, grabbed my phone, and waited for my friends to finish their race. I'm going to have to pack my own post race food if I run this race again as the finish line food did not really agree with me. Nothing wrong with the food. They had vegetable and chicken fajitas, beans, and rice. It was just not something that I'd normally eat. Once all of the Maniacs had arrived at the finish area, we gathered near the finish line and took pictures.

Just a few scratches on my left hand

...and a few scratches on both knees

Ultra-Maniacs!

I said goodbye to my Maniac friends and stuck around to wait for my friend that was finishing her first 50 miler. That was pretty cool to see her finish especially when I was getting texts from her that she had been throwing up. I have some amazing friends!

My Maniac friends were supposed to text me directions to a restaurant. But I never got a text by the time I got down the mountain so I just headed to In-n-Out to get some protein to repair my legs and also carb up for the race tomorrow. Somehow I thought it was a good idea to follow a 50k (a distance I've never finished until this race) with a super hilly La Jolla half marathon the next day! As if the distance itself wasn't enough, I've been recovering from another bout of tibial stress fracture. Just let me tell you that a 50k is not a good distance for a welcome-back run. A much shorter road race with sure footing would be a much better choice. But I guess I'm always up for a big challenge. No one can accuse me of being too cautious. :)

The shoes that I wore also had not yet been broken in properly and they irritated the heck out of my heels. I had two big blisters, one on each foot. I lanced and drained them when I got home.

Rebuilding my legs

Labor of Love me two times!

Friday
I took Friday off from work to take the car in for service. I don't normally make an appointment for service and it just so happened that they were pretty busy. I said that I would wait and luckily they were able to squeeze me in fairly quickly. It was a last minute decision to run the Labor of Love Marathon. Last year I was registered but had to take a DNS because I was injured and couldn't make the trip even if I was 100% healthy. So after they were done servicing my car, it was off to Vegas I go. After about 3 hours, I got into town. The weather was pretty dang hot and nothing sounded better than some ice cold beer. I decided to visit the 32 Degree Draft Bar at the M Resort. I practically took a lap around the entire casino before I found the bar, but only because I remembered reading reviews where they mentioned that it was next to the sports book.

They had 96 different beers on tap supposedly served at 32 degrees. Unfortunately that list was dominated by crappy beer. I had 2 beers and a burger. The food here was not bad and definitely not overpriced. Granted nothing on the menu was fancy. I would come back here again if I'm thirsty and there's a good sports game on TV. They had a lot of screens.

Speakeasy Big Daddy IPA

1/2 burger with provolone cheese

Deschutes Mirror Pond

Later I made it over to the Courtyard Marriott on Greenway Valley Parkway. I always try to stay as far away from the Strip as I possibly can to avoid all of the smoking and the regular "crazies" that visit Vegas. :) This place was perfect. It was a non-smoking hotel with no casino. There was also an Albertson's supermarket right across the street. The room had a fridge and a microwave so it was very convenient.

Courtyard Marriott

TV, fridge, and microwave

After watching some TV and taking a nap, I went out to Monta Noodle House in Chinatown to eat dinner. I got the usual tonkotsu ramen with a mini fried rice. When I got back to my room, I laid out my race gear for the marathon before calling it a night.

Maniac suit up!

Saturday pre race
I got to the parking lot at about 6am. I got my stuff ready and boarded the shuttle for the short ride over to the starting area. The first thing I noticed was the purple portapotties. I've seen gray, blue, green, and brown. This was the first time I saw purple ones. I picked up my race packet. Since I didn't have a drop bag with me, I decided to ride the shuttle back to my car to drop off the race shirt.

Purple portapotties

Saturday Marathon
Goal: 6 hrs, take it easy

Calico races are fairly small and cozy races. The marathon, 50 mile, and 100 mile races all started at the same time. The race started right on time at 7am without much fanfare as you would normally see at a typical marathon. This race was a simple out and back type course. So whatever hill you run up, you get to run down it eventually. Right from the beginning, you're pretty much running uphill. I took the first mile a little bit harder until the pack of people broke up and I fell back into my plan of taking it easy. I was taking walk breaks whenever I reached a new mile marker or whenever I felt that my heart rate was a little too high.

3 miles into the race looking back

More uphill to go!

I would push the pace a bit on the downhills here and there, but still taking it easy. The turn around point was at mile 11. For the marathon, you would head in for 2.1 miles before turning back to the same turnaround. Then from there you head straight for the finish line. Around mile 20 something, as I was approaching an aid station, you hear a whole lot of gunfire. There was a shooting range right behind the aid station. I took a little more time here at this station as there was the huge long hill to climb from 21 to 22. The weather got pretty toasty. I kind of coasted the last final 5k and came in right where I expected to finish.
1: 9:39
2: 12:03
3: 11:55
4: 12:29
5: 10:43
6: 10:02
7: 13:38
8: 14:21
9: 14:42
10: 14:23
11: 14:38
12: 9:38
13: 11:22
14: 16:51
15: 17:49
16: 16:13
17: 12:51
18: 12:47
19: 14:07
20: 13:36
21: 16:46
22: 18:38
23: 14:51
24: 14:58
25: 15:57
26: 14:01
26.2: 1:50
Finish: 6:00:53

Saturday Marathon post race
It was a grueling hot race. The race warmed up in the 80s and 90s. I jokingly told Joyce the race director that I didn't know that I had signed up for the "Running with the Devil" race! I was able to reconnect with a few of the Marathon Maniacs at the finish area as well as meet new ones. I'm not sure why I didn't bring shirts with sleeves. I knew that the weather was going to be pretty warm. But still I only brought 2 singlets. My shoulders got pretty sunburned.

Race shirt, bib, and medal

Since I took so long to finish, the shuttle had stopped running. They were then taking us back in the Calico mobile. After changing shirts and getting my stuff in the car, I drove to the Big Wong Restaurant to eat a late lunch. My friend recommended that I try out the beef ramen. I ordered the salt & pepper chicken wings as well. Both were good and very inexpensive. The extra protein really helps in case you plan on running a double.

Beef ramen

Salt & pepper chicken wings

After getting back to my hotel. I laid out my second set of gear just in case I felt like running another race on Sunday. I picked up 2 cases of Snapple to re-hydrate myself. I drank fluids in lieu of an actual dinner. I ended up drinking 3 Snapples.

Gear for day 2

Drinking the non-alcoholic brew

Sunday pre race
I woke up feeling pretty okay. So I decided to give the second day race a go. I decided to run the half marathon. I got ready, packed up, checked out of the hotel, and headed over to the starting area to register for the race. Along the way there, I got to see a bunch of runners finish the Baker to Vegas relay race. This time I knew to park at the starting area to register and pick up the race packet before parking the car at the off site parking lot a couple of miles down the highway. I got to see Ed the Jester resting having just finished his 100 mile race, sub 23hrs and 1st in his age group!

After parking my car and riding the shuttle over, I hung out with my Nevada Maniac friends at the start. Sunday was feel noticeably warmer than Saturday. I was glad the second day was only a half marathon.

Sunday Half Marathon
Goal 3 hrs, no pushing the pace

The half marathon started promptly started at 7:30am. I took it slow and took walking breaks early and often. A couple miles into the race, I felt very hungry. I liked that those completing their 100 mile race all recognized me from the day before. I got to see a few of them headed to the finish line. As I was nearing the end of the huge downhill, I saw my friend heading up the hill headed for the finish.

My fast friend powering up the monster hill with a smile

The turnaround point was at mile 6.55. Going up the monster hill was very much like Groundhog day. I jogged wherever it flattened out and hiked the steeper sections. At the top of the hill, there was pretty much nothing left but flat roads and downhills. Still I kept things slow and tried to keep the heart rate down since it was getting pretty sunny and warm. The sped it up a little bit for the last 2 miles because I just knew that my awesome friends would be waiting for me to finish. I didn't want them to be waiting too long.
1: 10:18
2: 12:36
3: 13:38
4: 14:33
5: 12:44
6: 11:43
7: 13:22
8: 14:37
9: 14:28
10: 13:11
11: 13:34
12: 11:11
13: 11:09
13.1: 0:57
Finish: 2:47:59

Sunday Half Marathon post race
I got an extra medal for running a race on each day. My friends were indeed waiting for me. We shared with each other our race experiences and then caught the last shuttle back to the parking lot. It was pretty warm this year. I saw my friend's race photos from last year and they had snow!

Day 2 race shirt, bib, and all of the medals

As we went our separate ways, I went to eat at Big Wong again. The owner/cook recommended the short ribs. It was a new item on the menu. It came with bok choy and rice. I also got the salt & pepper shrimp. The portions were very generous. I guess he sized me up and didn't think I'd finish. He made a comment that I did really good with the food when he saw that I was going to finish everything.

Salt & pepper shrimp, bok choy and rice

Short rib in black bean sauce

I'm glad I didn't visit any buffets on this trip. Eating a lot of mediocre or less-than-stellar food just doesn't sound very appealing to me anymore. I love exploring the not-so-ventured to places in Vegas and the Calico races has helped. There is so much more than the Strip or the Fremont Street Experience. But I'll still come back for the good food that's abundant in Vegas.

All in all, I'm glad I decided to run both races on a whim.

Bling x3!

Inaugural Hollywood Half Marathon 2012

Expo time
Fortunate for me, I had Friday off from work to attend the expo held at the Universal Hilton. I arrived at Universal Studios a little after 10am. The line of cars waiting to park at the Hilton was ridiculous. It was not moving at all, so I bailed out of the line and parked at the CityWalk. It was $15 for general parking, but I was planning on watching a movie later so it ended up being $7. I parked at the Jurassic parking lot and hoofed it over to the Hilton.

The expo area was a bit too small. It was very crowded. They did a lot of things to treat the expo attendants like celebrities, but it caused several choke points. Right as you entered the expo, there was Marilyn Monroe. Everyone wanted a picture with her. Right next to her was a photo op on the red carpet. Most of the crowding and chaos was at the table to pick up shirts. They could fix all of this by finding a bigger place and moving the shirt tables to a place where lines can be formed. Perhaps they should also consider holding the expo over 2 days. I loved that the race shirt was cotton and not another cheap quality tech shirt. They were offering an upgrade to a new looking tech shirt for $10 which I declined. For tech shirts, I prefer only those made by Nike or Ink-n-Burn.

I was on my way back to my car, but turned around to go back and pick up a race packet for my friend. I bumped into another friend and we end up hanging out a bit with some of our other running friends at the hotel restaurant. Eventually we left and I went over to the AMC to watch the Hunger Games. Jennifer Lawrence did a great job as Katniss, but I thought the movie overall was only okay. The guy who played Peeta was too short and the guy who played Gale was too big and rugged for someone starving in the Seam. The pacing was way too fast. They even left out one important character, so I'm not sure how they're going to address that in the second movie.

For dinner I met up with a couple of my old church friends at a nearby ramen shop, Jinya. I got the tonkotsu black ramen and shrimp gyoza. They were both good. Good enough that I will come back here next year for sure. Afterwards we drove down to Hollywood and Wilcox to attend a Good Friday evening service. It was a very contemporary service. Call me old fashioned, but I'm still very used to and prefer the traditional type.

Tonkotsu Black at Jinya

Race day
The race started at 6am, so I left the house by 3:30am to avoid any traffic. I prepaid online for parking for $10. I arrived and parked at the lowest level at the Jurassic parking lot and took a quick cat nap. I got my gear ready and headed over to the starting area at the Universal Studios globe. The Maniacs and Fanatics gathered for a group photo. Soon we dispersed and I found a bench in my corral to sit down. The corrals were a little bit confusing. I left in the 3rd group (7 min per mile pace). No matter how many races I've ran, I still wonder why walkers feel the need to start in front especially with chip timing. It's dangerous for everybody. If you're going to start up that far in front, at least run the first mile or so fast.

Marathon Maniacs and Half Fanatics

Waiting in the corral

Goal A: finish under 2:00
Goal B: finish under 2:10

Albeit with some lingering discomfort, I was able to finally run with my usual stride through the first 10k. But I was running on fumes by mile 8. The first 3 miles were fun. It was great to run somewhat fast downhill and not feel like your leg is going to break. I ran with the 1:40 pace group through the 5k marker and then backed off so Superman doesn't collapse somewhere on the side of the road. Most of the race I was just focusing on the breathing and how I land. It was definitely good to be able to breathe again. Even without the final 2 mile hill, there was already a knot in my left calf. I could still run, but I just gave up. One voice in my mind said that "even if we jogged, we would probably finish under 2 hrs." Instead I listen to the other voice that said, "please let me walk!" :) While the hill was grueling, it wasn't that bad. I think it's very similar to the final hill at AFC but definitely not as hard as the hills at La Jolla.

Superman totally got chicked by a girl wearing a dress :)

I think I could get used to running as Superman

1: 7:56
2: 7:47
3: 7:33
4-5: 18:26 (9:13)
6: 8:47
7-8: 17:52 (8:56)
9: 9:03
10: 10:15
11: 10:34
12: 12:12
13.1: 13:38
Finish: 2:04:06

Post race
I hung out with my friends at the finish area. Then we decided to head back to Universal Studios. Most of us walked it while a few of us waited in line for the "limo". They were actually party buses. They had the lights, a pole for dancing, and soda. All it was missing was the music. The ride only lasted about 2 minutes. Booo! :(

A pole for dancing! :)

Riding the party bus!

Don't take your hobby too seriously. It's ok to have fun with it every now and then. :) A lot of the spectators liked the costume and told me to fly or run faster. I usually tell them that Superman is slow because he's not used to running. This race was a fun race with a lot of people dressing up. I'm still coming back from a bad injury and making good progress. Since I'm not 100% it was good to have a race that promoted some Hollywood fun. Obviously there was some problems with an inaugural race, but overall it went well. There were a couple of water stations that ran out of cups. As I seasoned runner, I always carry a handheld for all long runs. Based on what I read on the race's Facebook page, the race director already knows what went wrong. It's just always good to be prepared for the worst. That's why I always show up to races super early. You just never know what will and can happen along the way. FYI, I'm already registered for next year's race and I hope to see you out there!

One of the best medals!

Carlsbad 5000 All Day 25k 2012

Pre-race
I had taken this event off of my race schedule when I picked up my most current set of injuries. But I had always planned on showing up to volunteer and watch the event. The months went by and the leg started to heal and feel much better. A couple months out, I had kicked around the idea of running the regular 5k. Come race weekend, it was still off of the schedule. Last minute race emails stated that the all day 25k event would be open to race day registration. I packed my gear the night before just in case I needed it.

I always meet up with my friends from San Diego whenever I head down south for a race. So I was really looking forward to seeing them. I was delivering some caps to one of my friends from the Runner's World forums.

Once I got to my usual parking spot at the train station, I headed towards the registration area to meet up with my friend. It was still dark and I didn't spot him right away, so what the heck, I registered for the all day 25k. I already had some conservative goals in mind for each 5k just in case.

I did one more sweep of the area to see if I could find my friend and indeed I did. I gave him the caps and jogged back to my car to get ready for the first heat.

The starting line

Rounding the final corner view from the floor

Rounding the final corner

One of the best finishing chute for any race! Why am I so happy? :)

Masters Men 40 and over
Since this was the 1st heat, I wanted to test how well the ankle would react to some speed in the first mile. Then I would cruise in for the finish. It was nice to be able to run sub 8 min miles again. There was still a little discomfort, but it felt good.
1: 7:23
2: 7:56
3: 8:03
3.1: 0:42
24:05 (7:45), goal 24:00

36:48 rest

Master Women 40 and over
I cruised through this heat to see if I could save something for my AG heat. But the ankle came up more sore than I'd like at the end of the heat.
1: 7:50
2: 8:25
3: 7:59
3.1: 0:42
24:55 (8:01), goal 25:00

16:10 rest

Men 30-39
The first mile felt awkward as the ankle was sore. But the soreness was less noticeable as the race progressed. But I kept it slow just in case so I can finish the final 2 heats. I finished this heat cramping up. The S-cap helped with alleviating the calf cramps.
1: 8:21
2: 8:46
3: 8:53
3.1: 0:45
26:45 (8:37), goal 26:30

13:30 rest

Women 30-39
Because of the short rest, the calves were cramped up during the first mile until the the electrolytes kicked in. There are steady inclines during miles 2 and 3, so I jogged it in knowing that I just wanted to finish under 30 minutes. Honestly I have to admit that I could not run much faster even if I wanted.
1: 8:25
2: 9:21
3: 9:53
3.1: 0:47
28:28 (9:10), goal < 30:00

1:36:56
I rest a bit in my car and at the all day 25k lounge. I later found my friends at the beer garden. They got some beer for me. It was good since the garden was closed after I finished the last heat.

Men & Women 29 and under
The weather really warmed up for this heat. I was a little wobbly and numb for this final 5k. The slight beer buzz was nice as I was getting pretty sore. I finished the last mile or so running on fumes. Even with the slow pace, there was absolutely nothing left in the tank. I had that "I want to die" feeling as I approached the finish line.
1: 8:36
2: 9:09
3: 9:46
3.1: 0:49
28:20 (9:08), goal < 30:00

Post-race
After finishing the last heat, I got in a long line to pick up my medal. It was a pretty neat useful medal for once. It doubles as a bottle opener! I then walked back to my car to change, grab my camera, and go watch the elite runners do their thing. Boy were they amazing to watch in person!

Here comes the men around the final corner!

3 miles under 13 minutes! wow

1st place woman checking her watch as she rounds the final corner

Nobody is going to catch her

I really love this race. When you run the all day 25k, you get to see your friends over and over again. This event is one of the reasons why Competitor Group (Elite Racing) had earned and enjoyed such early success with their races. Each year they continue to look for ways to improve the race. The all day 25k lounge was moved to a different spot this year away from the general masses. This made it easier for the crazies to access the lounge. They had GUs, fruits, water, and Sports Blast electrolyte drinks. They also setup a bunch of portapotties for us. You can check a gear bag here, but I chose to just go back to my car.

Front of black long sleeve shirt

Back of shirt, bottle opener/medal, and bib

I then drove over to my friend's house for a post race BBQ. We hung out after eating ribs and it makes me want to move back down to San Diego. I was sad when it was time for me to head home. I took the 15 to go home which is sometimes better since most people take the 5.

Post race Blue Moon opened with my new medal! Oh, it's the small simple things in life that brings me joy. :)