Orange County Pier2Pier, what a day! This was a fairly pleasant route to do unsupported, if you keep your tunnel vision pointed forward and not over at snack buying opportunities that lurk uncomfortably close a few times along the path. I'm surprised some locals haven't gone after this one in this style, since they'd be pretty comfy cruising through at much faster paces than I had, and the gap in between water should seem pretty easy! In any case, I budgeted my standard rule of half liter per hour plus an extra half liter just in case, and filled up at the public fountains at miles ~10 and ~20. Nutrition was mostly gatorade powder, sugar, and tailwind, which I successfully managed to actually pour into my bottles from my ziplocks and not spill everywhere for once. The trailhead bathroom was also actually open this time, unlike my last unsupported route, so it was a good luck day all around!
I started around 6:13am at Seal Beach and took off for the long trot. The path mostly weaves through sidewalks and highway shoulders that connect beach paths for pedestrian and bike use. It's perhaps not the most inspiring route for the majority of trail runners, but I am finding out very quickly that this is exactly what I love to do the most. It seems like every other person you pass is wearing Ironman brand stuff down in this area! The training vibe of everyone out for hard weekend runs was definitely nice as a background, though I mostly zoned out and shuffled forward. I nailed my pace just how I wanted to, though it still seems unavoidable for me to arrive at that post-50k dread and have the finishing hours be an exhausted survival trudge. Maybe that's just part of the fun, or maybe I'll figure out a way to shake that off with more experience :)
Eventually I stumbled all the way into the finish line pier, and was met by some loud comments about my leg muscles, which I had no energy to form words to respond with. Overall, not a very eventful day on paper, but a very fun route for me through areas of my home county that I have never actually explored before. It's funny to think that I went from LA county all the way through to a few miles short of San Diego county, just in one nice half-day! When I gave my dad a call for a ride home, he was stunned just how far away I had made it. One of the many reasons I love these weird city routes and will certainly be doing more in the future. Excited to see someone smoke this time when they get around to it!
The website seems to keep giving me an error when I upload pictures, so they're on my Strava link instead!