Fontana Half Marathon. 13.1 miles, 2:12 time.

We met at Lynda’s and hopped in the Sprinter van at zero-dark-dark-4:30am. We got out to Fontana and picked up our packets and leisurely woke up. We got on the old school bus around 6am and rode up to the top of Lytle Canyon, to the campground in the San Bernardino Mountains.

This was my 3rd year at this race. It’s a downhill, fast race. In 2014, I broke 2 hours for a half marathon. This is still my fastest ever. 1:58.

The downhill part is real, but not that big of a deal. We trained on Angeles Crest Hwy  (6-8% descent for 9 miles), which is much steeper than this 4% for 3 miles. Revel Canyon in Azusa is steeper and long. After crossing under the I-15, it seems flatter 2%.

The weather can play a lot into this race. While waiting at the top, you can freeze to death, but not this year. At the flats, you can roast to death, but not this year. It wasn’t that cold and it wasn’t that hot. There was a bag check on a flat bed truck, so I didn’t have to throw away a long sleeve shirt this year. I carried a hand held water bottle. There isn’t that many water stations. On the hot years, I’ve run out of water and overheated pretty bad. I wasn’t that fast this year. But, I felt pretty good and steady throughout. It was definitely warming up at the end. But, once you finish you don’t notice that much. I was lucky to follow a few people that had a steady pace and keep me moving down the course.

Jonathan, Bill, GT, Danny, Rudy, Friend, Lynda, Bob, Joe.

This is the  old house at the campground where we hang out waiting for the start.