Hello! I just had the busiest weekend! I went to New Orleans for the Shiftcon Blog Conference and then got back just in time to run the Lexus Lace Up Riverside Half Marathon! I’ll blog about Shiftcon tomorrow. Today we’re just talking about the race… did you race or run this weekend?
I ran the Lexus Lace Up Irvine 10K last year, but haven’t done this race in their series before. They have four different races around SoCal. This race is the last one for the year but I’ll try and get ya a discount code for next year if you want to come run.
The Riverside race has a 5K, 10K and Half Marathon. It’s a fairly small race on a quiet course. It was cool today, but just about perfect for running 13.1 miles.
This morning I woke up around 4:30am to get ready. I needed some extra time to factor in a.) getting lost (always do) and b.) picking up my bib.
I love that they allow race day packet pick-up. This is one of my favorite things because I don’t know if you’re aware of this but Southern California has one teeny tiny drawback = the traffic makes you want to die. Literally get out of your car, climb on the roof and ask God to kindly beam you up to Heaven so you don’t pee in your pants since you’ve been sitting in traffic for 2 hours inching along.
Anyway.
Dear All Race Directors, Please let us pick-up our packets on race day. Thank you. xoxoxoxo, Monican.
Right before the race I saw Santa Claus!!
I took a picture with him and told him what I want for Christmas. My list includes unlimited free race entries, a year’s supply of Spark, 22 puppies and IG to come out with a filter that hides under-eye bags. Unfortunately he thought that was weird and it became awkward quick.
I saw Pam and Linzie at the start line too!
The course was on a bike path, mostly asphalt. There was a short section through a neighborhood too. I think it was pretty, but quiet.
Just before the race I checked out the course elevation profile (nothing like waiting till the last minute). It had a few good rolling hills and a two steep ones, but I thought the profile looked harder than it was.
I felt pretty good during the race. But I had a weird issue with my music. For some reason it just stopped playing 3 times?? I don’t know if I picked a playlist that wasn’t downloaded on my phone or what, but I had to try to switch it while running which was pretty hard.
Lexus Lace Up Riverside half marathon finish time: 1:47:28. I’m happy with it.
The Lexus Lace Up Race Series has a ton of perks. If you use their Instagram handle during the race they print out the picture. Then, you can stop by the Instagram Print Shop and pick it up! I got my Santa pic.
They printed out my Santa picture! This is going to be my Christmas card.
And every runner gets a ticket for a beer (typical at many races) but runners also get a meal from a fancy food truck! They have a few different food trucks at the post-race party and you get to order something from any of them.
Good food just puts the cherry on top of a good race, am I right? I got a chimchurri bowl with chicken, beans, rice and their fancy sauce.
Of course you’d come to my neck of the woods, and do a race I planned on doing but wasn’t able to. 😉 I usually do the 10K and enjoy the route as you get to see lots of nice parts of Riverside. Great job!
Awwww! Hopefully you can do the race next year. Hope all is well 🙂
No race but 6 miles on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday’s run was a misery though…coz I got caught in a downpour midway and had to cut short a planned 10 miler.
Wow..didn’t realize we got a free food truck ticket … doh
I ran a half marathon here in Wisconsin in the falling snow – I wasn’t expecting that when I signed up, but it actually was a pretty cool experience. Best part of the weekend was our annual trip to cut our own Christmas tree – my girls picked it out this year and it’s beautiful, even though my poor husband had to cut a ton off the top and bottom just to fit it in our living room 🙂
My coach had me run some crazy hills through and around his neighborhood this weekend! My elevation gain was 855ft with an average pace 8:25 so I was pretty happy with that. Best part of my weekend was Sunday dinner with the fam.
You are hysterical. Your description of SoCal traffic!!
The best part of my weekend was attending a holiday party put on by my gym. I’m always there super early in the morning – barely conscious. It was so much fun to get fancied up and see everyone else in their normal clothes!
What a fun race!!! A free meal at a food truck = yeah!!!
Oh this looks like so much fun! I didn’t race this weekend, but I did go to my Athletics Club Christmas Party and it was kinda heavy…then we went running the next morning. It was the toughest run I’ve done in a long time (legs juuuuust not working) but it was so satisfying once it was done and I actually reached a decent pace!
I ran a 5k this weekend, and was pretty happy with my time! I love that the race gave you a food truck ticket – amazing!
I didn’t race this weekend but I did run 5 miles which were pretty hard. Sometimes you have good days and sometimes you have bad days.
My best part of the weekend was my Sunday (after my run). It was so relaxing and chill, which was much needed for me.
My boyfriend and I ran the Big Chill 5k, a charity run on the campus of Rutgers University in NJ. He graduated from Rutgers waaayyyy back in 1995. We’ve been running this race the last 3 years together and he’s been running it for about 8 years now. The “entry fee” is a $15 unwrapped toy that will be given to a child in need this Christmas. I actually ran a 9:39 pace overall which is fast for my usual 10-11 min/mile pace. And I ran behind Frosty the Snowman! LOL
I ran my first ever race this Sunday! It’s only 3k because I’m a beginner, but it felt so good afterwards! 🙂 Unlike you though, I found it HELL to wake so early!! So not used to early mornings, I’m more of a night owl.
– Charmaine
http://charmainenyw.com