Malibu Marathon

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
I almost had a tragic Benjamin Button moment. Out of everything that needed to happen for an accident to happen almost happened. I had planned the day before to leave the house around 8am so that I could get to Zuma Beach at around 9am right when the expo started. But that morning, I was feeling lazy so I changed my mind and left around 10am so I could hit the expo and then lunch. I usually take the 10 because the 60 is the worst freeway ever... EVER! So I was driving down the 60 freeway to connect to the 10. We were all zipping along around 80 when the cars in front of me broke rather suddenly. I engaged my brakes and stopped in plenty of time, but I heard a bunch of tire screeching. Looking in the rear-view mirror I see a small white Geo Metro type car with smoke coming from its tires. I thought, "oh crap, she's going to kill me!" Then at the very last second she swerved over to the next lane. Obviously she had not been paying attention. Man if she had slammed into me at that speed, I wouldn't have had to wrestle with the decision of whether to attempt the marathon with 1 bad Achilles. I'm pretty sure if I had left earlier, there would've been less cars on the freeway and the near accident would've never happened. After that near miss, the rest of the trip was boring. I guess I could've taken that as a sign that running the race on Sunday was a bad idea. But everything was paid for already and I was also going there to meet up with an old friend that I've known since grade school.

Expo
I got to Zuma Beach and parked at the Trancas parking lot. Apparently you can park along the side of the street, but I saw a cop car and a bunch of tow trucks towing several cars away. Turns out they were parked in a designated no parking anytime zone. The expo was very small. I picked up my race packet and started through the expo. I talked to my friend at the Worldvision table. Then I visited the Pasadena Marathon table. Then I checked out the DetermiNation program for the American Cancer Society. It would seem that almost every charity out there is getting into endurance sports. Then I talked to a lady at the EFX booth. She noticed that my calf looked really tight and of course it was my bad leg with the bad Achilles. She told me that the EFX was essentially an upgrade from the Power Balance. The inventor of the Power Balance had to jump ship and start a new line. We talked about Dick Beardsley, Alberto Salazar, the NYC Marathon, and she also recommended how I can take care of my Achilles. Apparently she's a fitness instructor. I told her that I would buy an EFX bracelet at the next expo when I have money.

The Last Meal
As I was walking back to my car, I noticed that the Achilles felt an awful a lot like it did before the Marine Corps Marathon. I drove up to my hotel in Calabassas. I passed by the entrance for Malibu Creek State Park... fun memories there. Before checking in, I stopped into Albertson's to buy my usually water and orange juice. Then I ate lunch at McDonald's. I have not eaten there in ages. I found that the menu has gotten rather complicated. Then I checked into a no-frills Good Nite Inn. It was ok, all I heard the entire time were very loud Harleys and the faint sound of cars driving along the nearby freeway.

The first thing I did when I got into my room was ice my Achilles while watching Mr. & Mrs. Smith. I ate dinner with my friend at a sushi restaurant next door. When I returned to my room I ended up finishing the book, Duel in the Sun. I really couldn't put that book down.

Pre-race
I started getting ready around 3am. I checked out at around 4:15am and drove down to Zuma Beach. I got there a little before 5am. I had to ask the girls at the tent for directions on where to park. I had to drive about another mile back where I came from just to enter the beach parking lots. I got my stuff together and boarded the bus. As the bus almost reached its capacity, I realized that I had forgotten my gels. So I scrambled off of the bus... went back to my car... picked up my gels and headed back for the bus. One of the volunteers told me that my bus was leaving. I said that's fine, I'll just take the next one. So I got on the next bus and headed for the back of the bus. I tried to take a little nap but this bus was too cold. When we got to the Camarillo airport, it was just after the crack of dawn. I saw Danica and her "Malibu Barbie" friends exiting the bus. Apparently we were on the same bus. It was rather chilly but I knew it would warm up later in the day. I saw a lot of Marathon Maniacs at the starting area. They all treat me as if I'm one of their own. But this day I was a solo purple Team in Training runner! The starting line felt almost like a big family reunion.

1st Half
I didn't have much out there from the very beginning. I started off slow and slowly sped up. I followed PasadenaRunner for about the first 3 miles and got dropped like a rock. My Achilles felt worse than it did at Marine Corps. So I slowed way down. I was jogging along between 10-10:30 pace and it felt hard! I wanted to drop out, but it didn't seem like it was possible since we were running through some farm land. So I tried to relax and run as comfortably as I could. I figured if the discomfort doesn't get any worse that would be a good sign. Eventually it felt tolerable. We ran by celery and manure... two things I would never put in my mouth. Apparently the farm land section was the easy part. Once we got on the PCH, we had to deal with the wind. Most of the time it was a very stiff headwind with lots of dust swirling around while trying to power up a hill with 1 very sore Achilles tendon. The cambered road did not help one bit. Please shoot me now.
1: 9:25
2: 9:04
3: 8:58
4: 10:05
5: 10:09
6: 10:24
7: 11:25
8: 10:42
9: 10:42
10: 10:47
11: 11:29
12: 11:58
13: 11:13

2nd Half
I mismanaged my fluids. I thought I had enough to last me until the next aid station. I did not. I ran about 2 miles without a sip of my Nuun laced water. So when I finally got to the next aid station and got filled up... I had to start taking extended walking breaks for the next several miles while chugging my nice tasting cola flavored Nuun water since I could feel the cramps starting to set in. Once I got through that bad patch, I could start jogging again. But every time I started back up, the Achilles would hurt. But walking it in would probably take me about 7 hours to finish, so I had to keep moving as fast as I could. Then there were these hills. The elevation chart showed 3 major climbs with the last one ending at mile 24. When I saw that the finish line was close, I had to open up my stride. It felt ok, but definitely not something I could hold together for more than a few hundred yards.
14: 11:12
15: 12:31
16: 11:06
17: 14:42
18: 16:02
19: 14:00
20: 14:29
21: 16:29
22: 17:20
23: 15:12
24: 14:33
25: 13:23
26: 13:20
26.2: 1:53
Finish: 5:22:44

Post-race
That was one horrific mind screw from start to finish. I wouldn't say that the course was super hard. But it definitely was not easy. Most of the time I was just focused on managing the pain in my Achilles and convincing myself that this was a good idea... anything to just get me to that finish line. Anyways I got my medal and went to say hi to Danica as she and her "Barbie" friends were being interviewed. Then I realized that I didn't return my J-chip so I headed back to the finish line. Then one of the volunteers took my chip and gave me a pretty cool lunch bag with a bunch of treats. But since I took my sweet ass time to finish, they had already ran out of the finisher's beach towels that they were handing out. I sat down at a nearby chair and ate a banana as I waited for some of my friends to finish. I had so much salt on my arms, I looked like a margarita glass... thank goodness for Nuun. I go through about 5 - 7 Nuun tablets each marathon just to prevent cramps.

From the way that I felt during this race, I am considering a scratch on the Las Vegas Marathon. I will definitely be there to eat my obligatory buffets, but I would very much like to rest my right Achilles and re-evaluate in January. The swelling hasn't gone down much yet but it doesn't hurt this time. It's just a little uncomfortable when I go up or down stairs. In all honesty I shouldn't have ran Long Beach, Marine Corps, New York, Fresno, or Malibu. That's 5 marathons' worth of gimping around. Thank goodness it felt good at New York until after the race. I couldn't believe that I completed Fresno and Malibu just so I would obtain a 4 star status with the Marathon Maniacs. I am so glad 2009 is finally coming to an end.

Eye-Q Two Cities Marathon

The Morning Drive
After dropping off some clothes at the Goodwill bin, I took off for Fresno. I was making pretty good time despite seeing lots of Highway Patrol Cars. They caught most of the super reckless drivers. I kept it to 80 tops and usually hung with a pack of cars. I had a pit stop at a Starbucks in Bakersfield and I arrived at my hotel in about 4 hours. I had thought about taking the free event shuttle to the expo, but I wanted to buy supplies and go eat lunch somewhere after the expo so I decided to drive there.

The Expo and Stuff
I picked up my race packet and ticket for the pasta dinner. I then walked through the small expo and fortunately saw nothing to buy. I then waited to hear Dick Beardsley speak. I talked to him beforehand, had him sign my bib, and snapped a photo. He is a very good speaker. It was fun to listen to his stories about his life and running. He was signing autographs and selling stuff afterward. I bought both of his books (Duel in the Sun and Staying the Course: A Runner's Toughest Race) and a shirt. My marathon maniac friend, Mitch spotted me while I was listening to Dick. By coincidence we were both staying at the Holiday Inn Express, so we decided to meet up later and go to the pasta dinner together. Good thing because we would have a hard time finding the place.

I first drove to a Walgreens to buy some water and orange juice. I then drove to a Japanese restaurant on Ness called Sakura Chaya. I ate their lunch special which had California rolls, tempura, chicken terikyaki, and unagi don. It was okay but very Americanized, but that's to be expected since I was in Fresno. I then headed back to my hotel to rest. I watched a little bit of Underworld 2 and surfed the web on my ancient laptop with the free hotel internet. Then it was time to go to the pasta dinner. Mitch and I took the shuttle back to the expo. Along with a bunch of other people, we all had a hard time finding the location. Well we finally found it and ate the somewhat mediocre pasta. They didn't even have spaghetti. All they had was penne, one of my least favorite pasta. But it was still worth it since we got to listen to Dick Beardsley speak again. They showed a clip of the 1982 Boston Marathon, the duel in the sun between him and Alberto Salazar. After all of that was over, we hopped on the shuttle back to our hotel. When I got to my room, I had started to watch The Spirit of the Marathon dvd but fell asleep sometime around 7:30. I had originally planned on watching The Dark Knight on HBO but I was knocked-out.

Pre Race
I got up at around 4am to get ready. Ate my Powerbar and drank my juice. I packed up all of my stuff and put them in my car. When it was time to go, I checked out and met up with Mitch in the hotel's free breakfast area. We took the shuttle for a quick ride over to the starting area. We waited around and watched the half marathoners take off at 7am. Mitch went to check his bag at the Cintas trucks while I went to use the potty. As I jogged over to the Cintas trucks to meet up with Mitch, I knew it was going to be a difficult day. The right Achilles was tight. It did not hurt or give me trouble when I walked so I figured I'll give it shot. Worse thing I'll do is drop out at the first relay station. We proceeded to our starting corral... corral C.

1st Half
I started off slow. Mitch was going to run with the 4 hour pace group so I made sure I never got close to him. I could not find a comfortable gait/pace until about 2 miles in. The course took us on the Clovis Old Town Trail. At around mile 5 I was actually starting to feel pretty good and I started closing in on the 4 hour pace group. I think the pacer was a little bit slow but still I made sure I did not catch the group. Mile 10 was a pain having to run into a headwind. Coming back up the Clovis Old Town Trail was really hurting my Achilles from having to go down and up through several underpass tunnels. I was struggling on each uphill part. One thought kept running through my head: I cannot believe that I was attempting to finish this race just for a nice finisher's sweatshirt. I was ready for the race to be over when I reached the halfway mark. I was thinking how great it would have been to be a relay runner and just have someone else finish the race.
1: 9:35
2: 9:04
3: 9:11
4: 9:26
5: 8:50
6: 9:03
7: 9:53
8: 9:24
9: 9:16
10: 10:10
11: 10:38
12: 10:23
13: 10:59
13.1: 2:07:05

2nd Half
Mile 15 was more pain running into more headwind. I was really tired at around mile 18, so I started taking longer walking breaks. There was somewhat of a climb at around mile 23 so I had to walk a bit to rest the Achilles. Because I wanted the race to be over sooner rather than later, I managed a decent stride and ran most of the final mile passing some of the people that I had been leapfrogging for the past 20 or so miles. The announcer, whom I had met at the expo, gave me a shout out. He told the crowd that this was my 3rd marathon in 3 weeks and that it was my 17th this year. I heard a comment from one of the volunteers, "woah, that's crazy!"
14: 10:09
15: 11:05
16: 12:04
17: 11:27
18: 12:08
19: 16:11
20: 16:48
21: 12:57
22: 11:40
23: 14:26
24: 13:57
25: 13:54
26: 12:43
26.2: 1:56
Finish: 4:57:30

Post Race
I walked over to pick up my medal and the nice zippered sweatshirt. I had to work quite hard for it. I then picked up a plate of breakfast: some scrambled eggs, spicy potatoes, and sausages. They were really good. I thought about getting seconds, but that will slow me down on my quest to reach 130. Then I made my way to the beer garden to look for my friend Mitch. He was there with his mom listening to the band. The band was pretty good. I gave one of my two beers to Mitch since I was going to be driving home soon. I said goodbye to Mitch and went to find a shuttle back to the hotel to pick up my car. Most likely I will see him again in Malibu since maniacs run every weekend.

Just as with the NYC Marathon, my Achilles felt fine for the rest of the day after the race. But it swelled up overnight and it's now rather uncomfortable walking up or down stairs. But it is no worse today than it was the day after MCM or NYC. The trip would've been worth it just to meet Dick Beardsley. This race was one of the best managed races that I've run in. I would recommend this race to anyone looking for a small town cozy marathon where they treat their runners really well. I just might be back in the future to see how I'd do with 2 working Achilles.

The New York City Marathon

Travel Stuff
I took a red eye flight out of LAX on Friday evening. While I was waiting for my flight, I ate some ridiculously expensive fish tacos at a seafood restaurant near my gate. At least they were good. I flew on Virgin America. It's nice to be able to watch TV on a long flight. It's cool if it's there, but I don't mind reading a book instead. I arrived at JFK very early Saturday morning. I hopped on the Airtrain to take the subway from the Jamaica Station. I got into Manhattan before the sun came out. I walked over to my Hotel and waited in the lobby for the sunrise. Check-in time was 2pm so it was too early for me to check in. Amongst all of my planning I had forgotten to plan for breakfast. I checked out the breakfast over at the Sheraton and the Hilton, but they were a tad too pricey. I ended up eating corned beef hash with eggs and toast at a cafe. I then made my way over to the free bus pickup for the expo. The traffic was pretty bad... yeah, welcome to New York.

Expo part 1
The expo was huge. It was held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center. It was very well organized. I guess they have to when there's over 40,000 runners and their families coming to pick up their race packet and buy souvenirs. After picking up my race packet and long sleeve shirt, I made my way through the official merchandise. I bought a NYC Marathon singlet and blue gloves that had the 5 boroughs on the 5 fingers. I tried on some Moeben arm sleeves, but didn't buy them because I already have 2 pairs of sleeves. I made my way to the Competitor Group table to sign up for the Country Music Marathon and of course the girl there recognized me. Right next to that table was Sarah Reinertsen. I bought her book which looks like a good read. When I walked past the Adidas area, I saw a sign that said the great Grete Waitz was going to be there signing at 1pm. I had a few hours to kill.

NYC tour
I walked over to 38th and 8th to eat some good Japanese kare (curry). I only had enough cash left on me to order the walk (small) size chicken curry. The next time I'm back here, I'm going to order the Grand Slam. That meal looked huge. After I was done I walked over to the Empire State Building. It was going to cost me $20 to go up to the 86th floor observation deck so I just settled for some pictures from the ground floor. I had wanted to visit ground zero and the crown of the Statue of Liberty, but I just didn't have enough time. Plus on my walk back to the expo I was already starting to feel as if I've been on my feet walking around too much.

Expo part 2
I met the legendary Grete Waitz, a 9 time NYC Marathon Champion. I couldn't believe that I was 3rd person in line to meet her. If only the other expo attendees realized how dominating she was in her day. She signed a small Adidas poster for me and my bib. I was pooped so I got in line for the free bus service back to my hotel.

Last minute details
When I checked in, the clerk said he was going to upgrade me to a suite for no extra charge because I was staying for 2 nights. Suite? Sweet! The last time I was in NYC I stayed in a nice hotel but the room was the size of a walk-in closet. There was enough room for 3 families to stay comfortably in this suite. I never used the living room area while I was there. After settling in, I went back out to eat ramen. I bought the usual water and orange juice and headed back to my suite to relax. I pinned the bib on my Marine Corps Marathon singlet, loaded up my Nuun tablets and gels, and laid everything out. It's GO time!

Getting to the Starting Line
I woke up around 4am, drank my orange juice and got ready. I rode the Subway down to the South Ferry Terminal. Met 2 girls while waiting for the ferry to Staten Island. One was from Norway and the other from Canada. The Norwegian had a later starting time than the two of us, so I rode the ferry with Michelle from Canada to Staten Island. After a short bus ride to Fort Wadsworth we then bid each other a great race and headed to our separate colored starting area. Mine was blue, hers was green. Remember to bring your own TP if you plan on taking care of business right before the race. I'm guessing about 99% of the portapotties were already out of TP by the time people in the 2nd wave showed up. I was in the 2nd wave which started at 10am. I checked my gear at the UPS trucks and made my way into the corrals about 30 minutes before the start. The corrals were packed very tight. We were like sardines in a can!

1st Half
It was a surreal experience for me hearing the howitzer go off and running across the Verrazano-Narrows bridge. I could not believe that I was finally running the NYC Marathon! Since I had not run a single step since the Marine Corps Marathon, I made sure I went out slow. My right Achilles was feeling tight as soon as I ran that second mile coming off of the bridge. So I immediately backed off to a pace that didn't cause any pain. It was one big running party. It was weird taking my usual walking breaks because every time I did, it felt as if I was going to be trampled over. I'm sure my Achilles appreciated the rest. Just as the crowd of runners were loosening up, we joined with the green and orange runners at about mile 8. I was happy to have reached the half in a little over 2 hours. The legs did not feel as tired as they did last weekend. I was optimistic that I had a chance at lowering my PR.
1: 9:47
2: 8:17
3: 8:48
4: 9:35
5: 8:53
6: 9:02
7: 9:34
8: 9:21
9: 10:20
10: 9:10
11: 9:40
12: 9:32
13: 10:22
13.1: 2:03:39

2nd Half
It was fun crossing all of these bridges! I got to cross the Pulaski Bridge near the halfway point. But I think I spent too much energy crossing the Queensboro Bridge. Soon after, I hit the wall somewhere near mile 17. Too bad it happened when I was on 1st Ave. There was a ton of people out cheering on 1st Ave. It took me about 2 miles to recover. We crossed over the Willis Ave Bridge for a short visit in the Bronx. Then we crossed over the Madison Ave Bridge into Harlem. We headed down 5th Ave towards Central Park. It was really fun running through Central Park. It was somewhat hilly, but I was definitely feeding off of the energy from the crowd. I still took some walking breaks to rest my Achilles. When I saw the Columbus Circle, I knew it was almost over. They had signs telling you how much you have left to run which was very nice. I picked up the pace once I saw the lovely finish line which I have seen many times on TV. Wow! That was the most fun that I've had on a 26.2 mile run!
14: 10:18
15: 10:45
16: 10:27
17: 12:12
18: 14:01
19: 14:05
20: 11:39
21: 12:18
22: 11:31
23: 12:47
24: 13:42
25: 10:39
26: 10:51
26.2: 1:46

5k: 27:49
10k: 56:23
15k: 1:26:34
20k: 1:56:20
25k: 2:29:23
30k: 3:08:57
35k: 3:57:20
40k: 4:25:14
Finish: 4:39:32

Post race
Even though we crossed the finish line around 66th St, we were herded like cattle to the UPS trucks to pick up our baggage. I didn't exit the park until around 82nd St. I had thought about taking the subway but decided to walk back to my hotel. The streets were very crowded and I don't think my Achilles liked the extra walking. Next time I'll hop on the subway. After I cleaned up, relaxed, and watched a little TV, I went back out for some ramen. Then I fell asleep watching the World Series. My right Achilles didn't swell up and hurt until the next morning. The rest of my body was fine, didn't even feel like I ran a marathon.

I will sign up for this race every year! It has dethroned the Honolulu Marathon as my favorite marathon. Hopefully I won't have to wait another 4 years before I run it again. I will need to start training for speed. Then I can qualify for NYC by time instead of the lottery.