Hollywood Half Marathon Race Report: 2012

Or shall I say "Holywood Half"? For those of you who raced today, you know what I'm talking about but for those who didn't, let me fill you in. Quick sidebar, the mile marker flags/banners what have you had a pretty significant misprint. I sure hope the race organizers got a price break for that one. But anyway......

All in all, I thought the race was pretty fantastic. After hearing about some pretty severe traffic back-ups at the expo the day before, I opted to take the metro to the race....Universal City has a designated stop on the red line. I drove to the NoHo park and ride and rode the one stop to Universal. The 1.50 fare sure beat the 10 dollar parking fee and helped keep me out of some traffic woes! Some other runners had the same idea because as 4:45AM I immediately spotted some running shorts and Zensah socks exiting a car in front of me.

The uphill walk to Universal City was not too bad, but bad enough that I was thinking...."Oh shit...I am going to have to do this post-race as well!" Once at the top, it was already 5:30 or so. I hit up one of the 35 port-a-johns and then took a stand in the 11:00 pace crew. With the amount of runners in a pretty small area, the race had a staggered start. By the time my corral was sent over the starting line, it was around 6:20. Our first 1/4 mile was winding through the streets of Universal City and then we were let out down Cahuenga, to Highland, past the Hollywood Bowl and our first turn was at Hollywood Blvd. The beginning was amazing. Downhills, fast and beautiful as the sun was just starting to make her presence and well, how often is there zero traffic passing the Hollywood Bowl? We made our way through Hollywood to the edge of Silverlake and at Sunset Junction, we had our turnaround back the way we came. Around mile 10 or so is when I began to feel the woes of running such a distance. Everything was just not right. My sock felt bunchy, my iPod was uncomfortable, my water had spilled and was bothering me when it shouldn't have been. At mile 11, around the Highland turn, the earlier amazing downhill became a 2.1 mile uphill challenge! I listened to my body and ran walked the remainder of the race for a finishing time of 2:26. I was pleased as I have not yet ran a half. LaJolla Canyon last month at 11 miles was the longest race til today.

The walk back to the metro was kind of a bummer. Bagel, banana and Sparkletts water bottle in hand (some of the handouts at the finish), I made my way back up the Universal hill, through Citywalk and down the other side to Lankershim. With the stiffness already setting in, the steps down to the Metro were miserable. However, not as miserable as the steps down to my house were when I arrived home! ;)

Looking forward to my next half....the Kaiser Marathon in Pasadena in late May! Wooo!