Race Recaps: OC Heart Walk 5K and Dolphin Dash Half Marathon

As I've written about in past blogs, when I have a full marathon on the schedule, I try to find a half marathon around 4-6 weeks prior to serve as a tune-up/status check type of race.  I'm a big fan of the folks at A Better World Running, as they hold races almost every weekend throughout the year, and they try to stick to using public access paths in this area, which allows them to keep their costs low - around $36 for a half marathon including course support, a medal at the end, and free pictures they put on Facebook, which is seriously a steal.  In perusing their site, I found a race on Sunday, March 25th in Santa Monica, a place we've visited but never for a run; I figured it was a great option and signed up!

...only to find out that the Orange County (OC) Heart Walk and 5K Run was scheduled for the day prior - Saturday, March 24th - and Chris would be taking part with his team at work.  His firm, Medtronic, was raising all sorts of funds for the American Heart Association, and he wanted both of us to come out and represent the Olsen family.  Although that was a lot of driving in one weekend, we were excited about the double header!

On Saturday, we were up early and heading to Angel Stadium in Anaheim for the 5K.  We checked in with the race organizers and the Medtronic folks, and we collected both a nice race t-shirt (in a sweet, sweet super soft cotton blend) AND a Medtronic tech shirt!  We grabbed a selfie prior to race time:

What is going on with my visor?

The run itself was fun - I wanted to do it at an easy pace, due to having the half marathon the next day, and Chris slowed himself down to stick with me.  The organizers gave us a really fun route, too; they not only opened up Angel Stadium for us to use the restrooms, but part of our run wove through it as well.  We ran through the parking lot for a bit, then detoured inside the stadium, ran up one pedestrian ramp (I had a moment where I thought we were doing ALL of the ramps and briefly reconsidered my opinion of the run), and then headed inside, running around the lower level concourse.  After that, it was back out into the parking lot for a tour around its perimeter (it's pretty large) where several bands were set up to play for the runners.  We headed back inside the stadium for a really cool section of the course - we got to run around the field itself, on the dirt path surrounding the bases (this is actually the second MLB park I've done this in - the first was several years ago at the Trop in St. Petersburg for a half marathon I did while visiting with Mom)!

I didn't think to bring my phone on the run, so here are some shots from the interwebs:

The lower concourse - 

we ran right through here!

There's our dirt path!

Angel Stadium has a waterfall in the outfield!

After the run was over (I think our final time was around 28:00 or so, for just over 9:08 per mile), we said another hello to the folks at the Medtronic tent (most folks had gathered by then, as the 5K walk was starting soon), and then we headed on our way, stopping at a local breakfast spot called Scratch Kitchen on the way home (Scratch Kitchen was awesome - highly recommend - we ate our breakfast leftovers for lunch, too).

The next morning, Sunday, we were up even earlier, as the Dolphin Dash kicked off at 7am waaaay up in Santa Monica.  While I waited for the Park Service gentleman to open the bathrooms, Chris got some shots of the world famous Santa Monica Pier:

Told you we were up early!

Eventually, the sun came up, and the race director gave us some notes on the course.  One of the most important notes - foreshadowing here - was that at the end of each lap, runners would come back to the start/finish area.  If you were totally done, you went off to the right of the two palm trees, but if you were heading out again on another lap, you headed left and ran between the palm trees.  Seemed easy enough to me, and I waved to the hubs before setting out (he was spectating this one):

"Thanks for waking up before

the crack of dawn to watch me

run yet another race, honey!"

As half marathoners, we'd do three loops of around 4.4ish miles each, heading north from the park at the start/finish line, under the Pier, and then along the multi-use running/biking path on the beach itself.  Although I'd been working my way through a head cold for a few weeks, I was hoping to keep my pace right around 9:00 miles, which would have me finishing right under 2:00 total.  Things started out pretty well, and I even clocked off a few miles around 8:50.

As I got back to the start/finish line to begin my second lap, the lady next to me started freaking out, wondering what we were supposed to do at this point.  Obviously, she didn't listen carefully to the race briefing (again, it was pretty freaking easy to figure out - there were tons of volunteers around, and notes were chalked on the ground, too).  As you can see in the pics from the start/finish line camera, I was more than ready to help:

I love this shot.

Look at my face.

I'm like, "oh, camera up ahead.

Time to smile, Olsen!"

Me smiling at the camera

and Unnecessary Compression Socks

wondering why her life is so complicated.

"Jesus, lady, look at the freaking markings."

"Too hard?  Okay, follow my damn arm."

"Dude!  There!"

I'm so helpful.

On the second lap, I started to slow down a bit, and I realized that my planned pace was a bit too fast for my fitness on this day.  Although I wasn't feeling super great, I still managed to bust out a smile for the photogs:

The bottom picture is a more accurate

display of my feelings at this time.

By the time the third lap rolled around, I was doing 10:00 miles and stopping to take walk breaks every now and then.  I figured I'd make the most of it and grab some shots of the gorgeous scenery I was enjoying on the run:

Sweaty selfie!

Truly lovely - and the weather was awesome, too!

Eventually, I made it back to the start/finish line, where Chris was now waiting (he'd taken the wee car to find a charging station and enjoyed wandering around Santa Monica and drinking coffee while I was putting in my sweat equity).  Finish shots from the race photogs:

And from my own personal paparazzo:

Smiling because I'm done,
and it's time for breakfast!

Overall, my total time was 2:05 and change, which isn't too awful, even though I was hoping to be speedier.  Oh well - that's just the way it goes sometimes.  I changed/cleaned up in a nearby bathroom, and we headed to brunch at M Street Kitchen, just down the street, which was wildly overrated on Yelp.  Our waiter was kinda crappy (nonexistent, mainly), and while the food was okay, it certainly wasn't worth the price we paid for it.  For this weekend, Scratch Kitchen was the winner by a country mile.  We did end up taking home some baked goods from M Street to eat later, and my blueberry muffin was insanely good.  So there's that.

Okay, enough rambling!  Later!

Amy