This race almost didn't happen for me. I was all set to take a red eye flight with Virgin America on Friday night after work out of LAX. But that morning there was a fatal shooting in Terminal 3 at LAX. What a horrible time that we live in! At first I was hoping that they would be able to reopen the terminal before my flight, but all flights out of that terminal was canceled indefinitely until investigation has been completed. The phone lines were tied up with Virgin airlines and the two closest airports with that airline were San Francisco and San Diego. I could attempt to fly out of San Diego, but I did not bring my bag with me to work. I would still need to go home to get my bag and the only available flight was not late enough. I eventually found a JetBlue flight out of Long Beach airport, but it cost a good amount because all of the JetBlue flights out of LAX terminal 3 were diverted to LGB airport. As I milled over the idea of whether to go or not, the price of the ticket kept fluctuating. One major deciding factor was that I booked my original flight with points. Eventually I decided to go since it's hard and very expensive to get into the NYC Marathon. So I bought the one way ticket with a stop in Boston Logan airport.
So after work, I drove home, picked up my bag and headed over to the LGB airport. I must say that I love this small airport! With the recent renovations having been finished, this is now my go to airport every time I want to fly over to New York or Boston. The TSA lines were very short and less of a pressure packed ordeal here.
Saturday
I landed in Boston Logan airport and ate "breakfast" at Boston Beer Works. I sat at the counter and the place was super busy. The bartenders and waiters were all reeling from the wave of costumers that had hit before I got there. There were dishes everywhere and they were all just ignoring me. I was still sleepy from the uncomfortable little sleep that I got on the flight so I didn't care. Once they finally got caught up they started to wait on me. I started with a Boston Commons and ordered the Sunday Burger followed with a Fenway Pale Ale. Sometimes I love drinking beer in the morning and not have a care in the world since I don't have to drive anywhere.
Boston Commons
Sunday Burger and Fenway Pale Ale
After landing in JFK, I took the subway over to expo at The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. Out of all the marathons that I've run, this marathon is by far my favorite marathon. Besides just having an awesome race course having you run through all five boroughs, this race from start to finish is world class and arguably second to none! It is no wonder that everyone wants to run this marathon!
This marathon has the best expo! It is very well organized. I resisted buying some of the official race merchandise because I had so many races that I still have to run. All major big city marathons should strive to have their expo like this one.
After picking up my race packet and going through the expo, I hoofed it over to my hotel, Hotel Carter, which was located in the Theater District . It was super cheap, but you pretty much get what you've paid for here. There was no soap or shampoo. Good thing I always bring my own. The room was super cramped. The shower was tiny even for a skinny guy like me, but hey at least you get a private bathroom instead of having to use shared bathrooms. Besides being pretty old, it was clean.
Spiderman!
I went through the expo haul and found one of my Marathon Maniac friends quoted in one of the pamphlets. That's pretty awesome!
Friend made it in print! Save your juice!
For an early dinner, I walked over to Totto Ramen. I ordered their Paitan ramen with pork add soft boiled egg and a bottle of beer. The bowl of ramen was excellent. Just the way that I like it. The noodles were firm, the pork was delicious, and the broth was very tasty was not overly greasy. If we're talking about the ramen only, I would rather come here than Ippudo. Their service is not spectacular, but not bad. They are a victim of their own popularity. You'll definitely feel like they're trying to rush you out of there throughout your dining experience. They could improve in this area, but there's really no point... they have a huge line of eager customers outside all the time. They definitely do not have a shortage of hungry bellies to fill. Try not to come here on a warm summer day. Oh dear God, this place is tiny and hot! But then again, on a warm summer's day you might have a shorter wait for a seat. Overall, they serve excellent ramen here, perhaps the best in Manhattan. Bring your patience as it will be a long wait! Oh yeah, remember to sign the waiting list as soon as you get there and bring cash.
Long wait
Paitan Ramen with pork add soft boiled egg
Sunday
Woke up early, got ready, met up with a friend to take the subway down to Battery Park to catch the Staten Island Ferry. It was a bit warm on the subway while wearing a full spandex suit. Once we got off of the ferry, we walked over to the buses and took a ride down to Fort Wadsworth. You definitely notice the heightened security. My friend had a blanket that almost didn't pass security check. We were given a bag either to check or a non-checking bag to bring into the starting village. Those that opted to not check a bag were also given a pink wristband to wear so they could bypass the gear bag lines after the race. Eventually we found a place just inside the tent to stay out of the wind as it was a chilly brisk morning. I went to go fill up my handheld with Gatorade. Then later I went to meet up with a good friend who was starting out of another starting village to take our customary pre-race photo. Then she went off to start in wave 1.
Staten Island Ferry Ride
Spandex in the starting village
My friend and I were both in wave 2. Once the start of our wave got closer, we hit the portapotties for one last time and headed for our corral. I waited until the waves started moving into position before I ditched the sweatshirt and sweatpants. I've had both for about 18 years, so I guess they qualified for throw away clothes. Besides they were both sized XL... loose fitting clothes were "in" back in the days.
Starting line
It was pretty crowded going across the Verrazano Narrows bridge and we got split up. I had originally planned to run with her or more accurately keep up with her for as long as could. My fault, I got a little too pumped going down the bridge. But I made sure to not dip down into sub 8 min miles especially after having calf issues in last weekend's half marathon. During my first walk break, I saw her pass me but it was super crowded and she was on the other side of the street. I realized that there was no way I could keep up with her, so I plodded along and ran my own race. I stuck with my plan with getting to the half way point at about 2:05, then cruise it in after that and also to save it for the Queensboro Bridge.
Picture from Mideleon
My friend who lives in New York spotted me at around mile 22 or so. It was pretty cool to hear my own name being shouted after hearing "Go Spider-Man!" for the entire race. Running through Central Park was great and pretty much meant that the end of the race was quickly approaching, but my legs were also quickly cramping up. During the last mile or so, I was passed by a runner who exclaimed how happy he was to have beaten Spider-Man. :)
1: 9:16
2: 8:10
3: 8:49
4: 9:02
5: 9:21
6: 9:03
7: 9:08
8: 9:27
9: 9:39
10: 9:29
11: 10:00
12: 9:46
13: 9:37
14: 10:26
15: 11:06
16: 11:14
17: 11:01
18: 10:31
19: 12:00
20: 12:12
21: 12:50
22: 12:04
23: 11:54
24: 13:08
25: 12:08
26: 11:59
26.2: 2:12
5k: 27:16
10k: 55:42
15k: 1:24:59
20k: 1:55:16
13.1: 2:02:27
25k: 2:28:54
30k: 3:03:22
35k: 3:41:44
40k: 4:19:45
Finish: 4:35:36
After the race, even though you didn't check a bag, we still had to walk many many many blocks before we were allowed to take the "early" exit to leave the park. Once we're on Central Park West, we had to walk a while still before we got to the volunteers that were handing out those awesome orange ponchos. Despite the long walk, I knew that they had to do that to control the crowds. It's also a good thing to keep on walking shortly after finishing a marathon. After I got my poncho, I actually found a bench to sit down and text my friend to check on her post race plans.
Finisher medal
Superhero's closet
I hoofed it back to my hotel room, got out of my costume, and got cleaned up. While I was resting in my room, I checked into my flight home. Then I got on the Prime Time shuttle website and booked a ride from LAX to LGB. Eventually I dragged myself out of my hotel room and met up with my friend and her family to eat dinner at Emmett O'Lunney's Irish Pub. We traded race stories over a few beers and my traditional post-race burger.
Post race Guinness
Bacon Cheeseburger
Blue Moon
After a while, we decided to start pub-crawling back to our hotels. We stopped at Hard Rock Cafe to have another drink. They were pretty busy, so the service wasn't that great. I guess that goes with the place being such a tourist trap.
Shock Top
For our next and final stop, we ended up at Croton Reservoir Tavern. It was right next door to my friend's hotel so it was quite convenient. They were actually already ready to close, but kept the place open because they had a couple of patrons there celebrating their marathon achievement with an expensive bottle of wine. They were quite amazed that the two of us were Marathon Maniacs and have run so many marathons already. I switched from drinking beers to drinking a nice glass of Chianti. I've been wanting to make the transition from beer to only wine.
Chianti Ruffino Superiore
Monday
After checking out of my hotel room and before heading to the airport, I stopped at Go! Go! Curry! to eat an early lunch. The Grand Slam is one of my favorite meals to have after the race. Plenty of protein to start repairing the leg muscles for another marathon!
Grand Slam
I flew back home on the original return flight with Virgin America. I landed in LAX and took the Prime Time shuttle over to LGB airport. It was a pain in the butt to ride with a bunch of strangers, but it got me back to my car at a reasonable price. I'm really glad that I made the decision to go through with this race and again, I hope to run this marathon every year as long as I can get in through their lottery. This marathon will forever be my favorite marathon!
No comments:
Post a Comment