San Diego Half Marathon – You Had Me At San Diego

The San Diego Half Marathon (a Rock’n’Roll race series stop) was a point to point race starting in Balboa Park and finishing at Sea World.  The race route has since changed  and now it finishes in downtown which is way more fun (and easy).  This race was a short notice trip based on a request from my buddy McGee.  I also finished the race, took a taxi to the hotel, showered and started driving home before McGee finished.  I had to get back to LA for my wife’s baby shower!

Lots of Driving

This race weekend coincided with my wife’s baby shower which was held at Uncle George and Aunt Debbie’s place in Oxnard, CA.  The memory is a bit fuzzy on this trip so bear with me.  It appears my wife and I drove from San Mateo, CA to the baby shower where I dropped her off and then continued down to San Diego to run this race.  I do remember vividly finishing the race and hustling back to the hotel so I could get on the road.  I think this was the last taxi I took before I started to use Uber exclusively.  Then, back to LA to collect my pregnant wife and then back home.  Fortunately, I don’t remember the drive from LA to San Mateo.

The Race

The San Diego Half Marathon is a great race but it is HUGE.  I have never seen so many people at any race before or after.  I believe there are 50-60 corrals?  Mammoth.  My buddy Mark and I met in the lobby of the W Hotel that morning and walked to the race start which is in Balboa Park.  It was about 1.5 miles to the race start but frankly I needed a warm up.  The race route has since changed but this year the race ran a loop through the park and then up and by Riverwalk Golf Course finishing at Sea World.  The part of this story McGee and I laugh about to this day is that I finished the race, took a taxi back to the hotel, showered and packed and was on the road heading north before he finished.  Granted I started in Corral #2 and he decided to start in Corral #22 or something.  All this despite my telling him to come up to the front with me. 🙂

Good times, thanks for the invite Mark McGee!