For the last couple of years, I ran the Griffith Park Trail Marathon on this weekend. This year I thought I'd save some money and mix things up a bit. Now that the Carlsbad 5000 was included in the Rock n' Roll North America TourPass, it didn't cost me anything extra in registration fees. I'm also now in the Masters age group which happens to be the first heat. I wanted to see if I can muster up a personal best for the 5k as well as get one of those elusive first 250 finisher medals.
I like that this race continues to have race day bib pickup. I got there around 5 am and parked at the Carlsbad Village Station just off of State St. I walked up to Harding St to pick up my bib. I changed at my car and jogged up to the starting line.
Bib
This race has been billed as the World's Fastest 5k. It's by no means a flat course. The first mile starts out pretty flat followed by a gradual climb into the left turn at Carlsbad Blvd. Then it's followed by another gradual climb before it flattens out. The second mile has you on a slight decline out to the first turnaround and from there it's pretty much one gradual climb. The third mile flattens out a bit while dipping a little to the final turnaround. From there it's a gradual incline where it flattens out after a couple of blocks. Then it's a left turn at Carlsbad Village Dr for a nice long stretch of downhill to the finish line.
The All Day race used to be 5 heats, but I'm glad that they changed it to 4 heats. The starting and stopping really is hard on the legs. In between the heats, you can check out the expo or hang out at the All Day 20k lounge. They stationed a guy at the entrance to make sure you're running the All Day race. They had various items to help you get through the day. I mainly stuck to drinking Gatorade and eating bananas. I used the small water bottles to cool myself and to wash my hands after using the portapotties. The expo was in between Madison St and Roosevelt St. I picked up my race shirt after the first heat and dropped it off at my car before heading back out for the second heat.
Starting line
Heat 1: 21:58 (6:39, 7:11, 7:30, 0:37)
Having run this course for so many years, I was very familiar with the course and the tangents. There was no way I could run even splits on this type of course, so I ran by a perceived even effort. I did however feel like I was running out of gas during the last mile. I was finally able to get below 22 minutes for the 5k and also get one of those first 250 finisher medal.
Heat 2: 22:57 (7:17, 7:23, 7:34, 0:42)
I met up with a couple of my friends before the start of the race. We started off together, but my faster friend ran ahead of me in the first mile as we got bunched up, but I was able to overtake her during the second mile. I hoped that she would be able to hang on to me and follow me to the finish, but she fell behind.
Heat 2
Heat 3: 24:18 (7:50, 8:04, 8:24)
Boy, the weather was starting to get warm! I started the race again with my friend, but I sort of came up lame. I was having calf cramps! I slowed the pace down a bit and took deeper breaths. I also tried to push off less with my toes. Fortunately, they went away enough for me to run a decent race. Still I was hoping to run a 23:xx in this heat.
Heat 4: 24:20 (7:41, 7:57, 7:57, 0:44)
Even though this was my slowest heat, I think I ran one of my better races. I just kept plugging away even though my legs had no zip in them at all. I was just thankful that the leg cramps were held at bay.
Photo from Chris Friend
Finish
After finishing, I walked back to the lounge with my friend and her family to pick up my All Day 20k finisher medal. It was a nice surfboard bottle opener medal. My collection of medals is starting to be inundated with these bottle openers!
Lounge
Medals
This year, I didn't stick around to see the elites run their race. I also skipped out on the beer garden. I just wasn't feeling it after gobbling so many bananas and drinking Gatorade to have some beer. Too bad, because they were serving Pizza Port Beer.
However on my way to my friend's house to eat lunch, I stopped by a BevMo to pick up some beer. I picked up a couple of my favorites, Deschutes Black Butte Porter and Ballast Point Grapefruit Sculpin to help celebrate my 5k PR. My friends made some homemade burgers and fries. I put guacamole and arugula on mine. It was pretty dang good! My friends should open up a burger restaurant! :)
Ballast Point Grapefruit Sculpin, one of my favorite beers!
Homemade burger and fries!
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