I signed up for this race on a whim. When I went to sleep on Friday, I didn't even know if I wanted to run it. But I packed up my stuff anyways. At the very least, I would be a volunteer. I wasn't too sure that I would want to run a race a day before my big 75th race, the Pasadena Marathon. Well, I guess I didn't get dressed up for nothing. I love races where you can register on race day. It was actually cheaper since I didn't have to pay the Active.com fees.
I arrived and parked at the city hall at around 5:30am. I got my stuff ready and took a shuttle over to the starting area at the Terranea Resort. I brought a check to register for the race. This race does not take credit cards. Only checks and cash are accepted. I filled out a scantron form and got my bib and timing chip.
Since it was about an hour before the start of the race, I walked down to the expo area. The exhibitors were mostly in the process of setting up their booths. I found a nice place to sit down and wait. I suppose I could even get the fire going in the fireplace. :)
All of sudden as I was waiting, I realized that I did not have my handheld with me. So I backtracked to the registration table. Lucky for me, no one took my bottle. I bumped into my friend Jake. I would seem that only the veterans for this race knew that the start would take place in the street. The rest had all lined up in the finishing chute. The announcer finally realized this and made an announcement for the runners to move into the street.
There were a few girls in front of me with some cute phrases on the back of their tops. This course had a ton of rollers. Some of them are decent climbs. After the National Anthem was sung through a horrible sound system, the race was ready to start about 15 minutes late.
yeah, what hills? :)
The Race
Goal: 2:00 hopefully under
We started off running southeast for a short out and back. I don't think I took the first mile slow enough. Then I started to speed up on the next two miles. By the 4th mile, I was forced to slow down going up the hill that we would finish on. I tried to dial into a steady pace, but the rollers made that tough. One fellow runner encouraged me when he passed me as I was starting to struggle. I think he was a war veteran or knew someone that was a wounded veteran since I was wearing my Team RWB shirt. From miles 9 through 12, I could not get going. There was a lot of road camber which made my ankle really sore. I should've had enough cushion to make it under 2 hours, but I had to slow down to alleviate the soreness. Coming down the final hill to the finish line was nice. Although I missed my goal by about a minute, I was happy with the run.
1: 8:38
2-3: 16:01 (8:01)
4: 9:20
5: 9:02
6: 8:48
7: 9:44
8: 8:58
9: 10:04
10: 9:50
11: 9:54
12: 9:52
13: 9:49
13.1: 1:01
Finished: 2:01:03
Post-race
I've said it before and I'll say it again. I love races that only give out shirts to finishers. I do not like seeing the race shirt being worn during the race. I think all races should make their runners earn their shirts. But that's just this guy's opinion.
Team Red, White, and Blue!
Finisher medal and shirt
I waited a bit at the finish for my friend. He came in just minutes after me. After he grabbed his gear bag, we headed over to the expo area to grab some post-race drinks and food. We then went our separate ways. I went to go catch the shuttle. There was mass confusion again, but not as bad as last year. Nobody including the people in charge knew where was the official pickup spot. A lot of the runners were clearly frustrated. Apparently some of the bus drivers didn't want to turn into the Terranea Resort, so they started picking people up at the main street. If they want to keep and grow this race at the current location, they really need to address the parking issue. People coming into the resort were also clearly upset with the traffic.
I finally got back to my car at the city hall. I changed into some dry clothes and drove over to the Mitsuwa in Torrance to get some snacks and an early lunch. I ate the salmon onigiri (rice-ball) while I waited for the restaurants to open. I ordered the katsu plate from Katsuhana. Lots of carbs and protein to recover for tomorrow's big race.
shrimp crackers, Lychee drink, salmon onigiri
Katsuhana
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