2012 Inaugural Hollywood Half Marathon - Race Recap

Date: April 7, 2012
Location: Universal City Walk, CA
Start: 6:00am
Finish: 1:50:26
Elevation: looks like a bowl! I don't like ending on a high note.

 

I drove up to Universal City on Friday to pick up my bib. Looking back, I should have just paid to have it mailed because it turned out to be the biggest pain in the butt! So how bad was it? Well, I got off the 101 onto the off-ramp to Lankersheim around 10:30am and it took one hour to get from the off-ramp to the Hilton Hotel parking structure, all of a quarter of a mile! We were literally crawling up a steep hill. I saw on Facebook that this slow crawl caused havoc on some people's crutches. It was just awful. One hour to go a quarter of a mile up a hill. Good freakin' grief! Please get it together next year.

So this morning, in fear of running into the same slow crawl up that hill into the parking structure again, I set my alarm for a 3am wake up call. Gawd, that is just too too early. I got to University City a little after 4am and there was very little traffic, it was awesome! I pre-paid for the parking so I got into the parking structure quickly and found a nice spot to park. Then I decided to walk around to check out the set up. The starting line was located a short walk from the parking structure which was nice for return trips to the car. There were real restrooms located along City Walk as well as porta- potties near the start line. It was still so dark outside.

The starting line! We ran through City Walk in the first quarter mile. Love that there were real restrooms along this section because I actually used them shortly after we took off.

I went back to my car after walking around a bit and took a nap. I got a text from Pam shortly after 5am. So I decided to get ready and head to the starting line.

I found Pam in her cute Marilyn costume standing near the Universal globe with her hubby and son. Her hubby took this photo of us. Thank you R! I was really glad to have found Pam because she was really calm and excited about the race and that made me feel calm. I'm normally a nervous wreak before the gun goes off. We parted ways about 15 minutes before the start of the race to head to our respective time corrals. Since the course was an out and back, I saw Pam again when I was at mile 5 and she was already at mile 7 or maybe even further. Pam is just crazy fast! Girl looks put together at 5am in the morning. I on the other hand look like I freakin' just crawled out of bed. @_@

Pretty, no? This race was not bad for what I paid for it, which was some special discount price of $35 last year during some promotion for this race. That is like a steal in the marathon-ing world. The weather was great for running today and aside from those last 2 uphill miles, the course was pretty flat in the middle. If I ever run this race again, I am definitely going to just paid to have my bib mailed. Show up early on race morning to avoid traffic headaches. Lots of people dressed up in costumes, so if that is your thing, this race is a good one to dress up for. There was your usual cut-up bananas, bottled water, cut-up bagels and massage tent at the finish line. Oh and that nice uphill walk back to City Walk to get to my car, yeah that was not pleasant.

 
Mile 1 - 9:32 - Running through the narrow walkway of City Walk and I stopped to use the restroom.
Mile 2 - 8:19 - I could tell that I was going to have a good running day today.
Mile 3 - 8:12
Mile 4 - 8:02
Mile 5 - 7:59
Mile 6 - 7:55
Mile 7 - 7:38
Mile 8 - 8:07
Mile 9 - 7:53
Mile 10 - 7:42
Mile 11 - 7:39
Mile 12 - 9:22 - Until I hit that hill at mile 11 to mile 13 (a 2-mile hill) 400 ft. of elevation gain.
Mile 13 -  9:47 - I think I could have gotten a really good time had it remained flat. Oh well. This was near the intersection that leads up to Mulholland Drive. Around the Hollywood Bowl area. Why so steep? Why? @_@
Mile .35 - 2:24