I left work early to drive up to the Hilton in Universal City to pick up my race packet. I tried to park at the Metro station but there wasn't a single space open. So I drove to the other side of the freeway to park at the Park & Ride lot on Ventura Blvd. It was a bit of a walk with a pretty steep uphill to the hotel, but it's always good to save a few bucks with free parking. I'm not a big fan of this location for the expo, but it is what it is for the second year in a row. The flow of the packet pickup process and the expo was improved this year. Just like last year, you go to the back of the expo hall to pick up your bib. However this time you go outside of the hall and around the corner to pick up your race shirt. This definitely helped with the congestion inside the expo hall.
Powered by McDonald's
Race shirt
After picking up my stuff and saying hi and goodbye to some of my friends at the expo, I made the trek back to my car. I drove over to the nearby Jinya to eat a late lunch. The last time I ate here was last year also when I was here for the expo. Their ramen isn't bad, but it's not my favorite. The one item that I liked was their shrimp gyozas but they no longer have them on their menu.
Salad
Tonkotsu original add egg and gyoza set
Saturday
The race started at 6am, so I had to get there pretty early to park near the finish. I parked at a parking structure for $10 at the corner of Ivar Ave and Sunset Blvd. I picked it because it looked like the easiest location to leave for the freeway after the race. As the start of the race got closer, I got my stuff ready and made the walk over to the starting area. I snapped a few photos when I got there. The last time I was here when Hollywood Blvd was shutdown like this was for the Oscars. I bumped into my friend while looking for a restroom inside the Hollywood & Highland Center. After locating the restroom, we made it in time for the pre-race photo for the legacy runners before heading over to our corral.
Starting line
El Capitan
Hollywood & Highland Center
Legacy Runners
My race was to include some speedwork and finish somewhere around 2hrs. I wanted to run the first 10k relatively hard while still taking my 1 min walk breaks every 30 minutes. The course was changed a bit from last year to remove the big hill and was advertised as a fast and mostly flat course. Nothing could be further from the truth. The race started relatively flat but with gradual climbs. This was fine, but then the hills came. They were short in distance, but steep especially the one at Silver Lake. For the first 10k, I was ahead or around the 1:40 pace group. I started shutting things down shortly after reaching my second walk break. After the last out and back up and down a hill, I was just jogging it in. It was fun running the race in my Superman outfit to help make the race less serious. It's always important to have fun especially when it's not a goal race.
Finish line
1-2: 15:18 (7:39)
3: 8:11
4: 8:28
5: 8:05
6-7: 18:44 (9:22)
8: 9:09
9: 9:37
10: 10:32
11: 10:39
12: 10:18
13: 10:03
13.1: 0:46
Finish: 1:59:50
After crossing the finish line, I walked straight to my car. I changed out of my wet clothes and tried to put on the compression socks. But my feet and calves were both cramping so I put on regular socks. The drive over to LAX to catch my flight to SFO was a very comfortable one. The legs were not happy at all. All that hurrying to the airport turned out to be unnecessary as the flight was delay an hour, then an hour and a half, then two hours. It was delayed once again due to the heavy marine layer reducing visibility at the SFO airport. During all of the waiting, I ate lunch at the Burger King. I love a Whopper, but it's still not a Big Mac and McNuggets.
Flight delayed
BK substitute
The expo closed at 5pm and with the flight delay, I had to go straight to the expo at the Moscone Center via the BART as soon as I landed at SFO. I originally had planned to get there early enough to check into the hotel first. I got off at the Powell St station and walked over in time to make the packet pickup. It was a lot closer than I would have liked and it was a pain in the butt hauling my bag with me all over the place. They were offering an expo special on registration for next year's race at $65. A good price, but I had to pass on it.
Expo
Expo Special
After leaving the expo, I walked over to my hotel located near the Union Square Park. I stayed at the Union Square Plaza Hotel, which was the cheapest place I could find for that weekend. It was a very old hotel with one of the slowest elevators that I had ever ridden. Upon checking in, I was given an old-school key for the room. I hardly ever see those keys for hotels anymore. My room was relatively clean except the maid forgot to the empty the trash and the sheets had some mystery stains. The bathroom was so cramped that the sink was in the room and you have to back yourself onto the toilet. Also the shower was tiny even for a thin guy like me.
Union Square Plaza Hotel
Cramped bathroom
Tiny shower
After throwing down my stuff and taking a shower, I went to the restaurant next door, Katanaya, to eat some ramen. The food here was decent and man it couldn't be any more convenient than being next door to my hotel. The restaurant was pretty small, so it was much easier to dine solo and sit at the bar.
Fried octopus
Katanaya shio ramen
Sunday
The race started at 7am at the Aquatic Park near Van Ness, so I had to get up pretty early for my hike. It seemed like I was the only idiot that decided it was a good idea to walk to the start. At first I was a bit nervous since there were only weird characters out and about. But soon there was no one around and all I could hear was the humming sound from the rails. The hike was pretty steep going up Hyde St. I was pretty tired by the time I got to the gear check area. I walked over to the starting area to get a banana since I didn't eat anything besides one Clif Bar. I bumped into a few of my friends, but eventually I checked my bag, hit the portapotties one last time, and hung out in the starting corral.
Near the finish line
Starting corral
The first mile felt ok. But I decided to slow down a bit in the second mile as the course widened a bit. Then on the first climb, my right hip wanted nothing to do with it. It was incredibly sore and I could not run at all without significant pain. The most I could muster was a jog. Going over the Golden Gate Bridge proved to be a very uncomfortable chore. Unlike the San Francisco Marathon, we ran on the sidewalk instead of the road. I stuck to the side to let everybody pass through. I had to take many walk breaks to help alleviate the soreness. When we reached the northern end of the bridge, it was a welcomed change to run on the trails. But it was only for a short section and we were soon back on the sidewalk. After getting on the San Francisco Bay Trail, I was so ready for the race to be over. I heard a familiar voice while running on Marina Blvd with less than 2 miles to go. It was good to bump into a fellow Maniac who was pacing a friend. They told me that they even came across a registered runner that was trying to jump off of the GG Bridge. I thought they were joking at first. I ran with them briefly but eventually I just couldn't keep up. It was good to spot some of my friends in the water during the final .1 to the finish line.
Heading to the finish
1: 8:14
2: 8:30
3: 8:55
4: 11:01
5: 10:15
6: 9:43
7: 11:10
8: 11:28
9: 9:33
10: 9:40
11: 11:37
12: 11:20
13: 11:22
13.1: 0:50
Finish: 2:13:37
Right after crossing the finish line, I took a picture with my friend and his friends. I would lose them after I went to get my gear bag. I parked it on a bench for a while before making my long hike back to my hotel. Fortunately for me, the hip didn't bother me at all when I walked only when I try to run up hills. I had to take a brief break going up to the infamous Lombard St. I thought it was a funny sight to see a bunch of tourists standing in the middle of the street taking pictures while other tourists in cars are honking at them to get out of the way so they can drive down the super winding Lombard Street.
Friends at the finish line
Bench
Steep ass hill going up Hyde Street
The infamous Lombard Street
Running a half marathon double was much easier to do logistically than a marathon double, but this too I would not want to repeat in the near future. It was fun to challenge the old rickety body, but having no rest in between races and having to sit on the plane takes a lot of the fun out of racing. It was also pretty stupid to do this only after 3 weeks after the marathon double. This year really is all about just surviving the schedule. The niggles, aches, and pains will have to wait until next year to heal up.
Double half marathon
After I finally got back to my room, I took a shower and vegged out for a couple of hours before going next door to eat lunch. I'll say it again, it could not have been any more convenient to have a ramen shop right next door to my hotel. After lunch I stayed in my room and watched TV until it was time for dinner. I walked over to the Super Duper to pick up a Super Burger. No matter how hard I try my name is always messed up when it's time to pick up my order and wouldn't you know they called out Emily and some girl went up to get the order except she ordered way more than I did. So I had to tell them that it was probably my order. Anyways I inhaled that awesome burger as soon as I got back to my room.
Uni ikura don
Shoyu regular ramen with egg
Super Burger
Monday
After I checked out of my room, I took a scenic stroll before meeting up with my friend for lunch. I stopped by the Rincon Park before heading over to the 21st Amendment Brewery. I had a Brew Free or Die IPA while I waited for my friend to take her lunch break from work. I got the Classic Burger and added some smoked bacon. It got a nice house salad to go with the burger. It was good catching up with my friend. I thought it was funny that we're both Dodger fans sitting in a Giants pub.
Rincon Park
Brew Free or Die IPA
Classic Burger add smoked bacon with house salad
After walking with my friend back to her work, I headed over to the AMC Metreon to catch a movie before heading to the airport to catch my flight home. I decided to watch The Croods. I bought my ticket from a self service machine and was ready to go inside, but they said that I couldn't since the movie theater wasn't ready. So I waited outside while charging my phone. The movie was entertaining and pretty darn funny. Always good to have a good laugh.
As soon as I landed at LAX and got back to my car, I made my way straight to my favorite local ramen shop, What's Up Men, to eat a late dinner. You know you come here quite often when the ramen cooks recognize you as soon as you enter the restaurant. It's almost like Norm walking into Cheers. :)
Kurobuta sausages
Cha miso ramen
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