After work and dinner, I took a 10:35 pm non-stop flight out of LAX to Raleigh-Durham International Airport with Delta. I got there early enough to have a drink before my flight. Nothing like a glass of wine to help with sleeping on a red-eye flight. It was pretty crowded at Home Turf Sports Bar, but it was close to my gate and I was able to find a small open table. I had a glass of Gascon Malbec.
Gascon Malbec
Saturday 4/12
I landed at RDU Airport in the morning. Took the shuttle to go pick up my rental car from Dollar. I was given a gray Toyota Yaris. I drove into Downtown Raleigh for the expo at the Convention Center. The expo didn't open until 9am, so I had some time to waste. I was a little hungry, so I drove down to the McDonald's on S Wilmington St between E Lenoir St and E South St. I had their Sausage Egg McMuffin meal with coffee. They had a guy in the parking lot making sure people don't leave their car in the lot and go somewhere else. After breakfast I drove around looking for some free parking. I eventually parked for free at a parking structure on S Wilmington St between E Martin St and E Davie St. Parking in the structure was free on weekends unless they had a special event.
I walked over a few blocks over to the Convention Center on S Salisbury St between W Cabarrus St and W Lenoir St. I got into the line that had already formed that was waiting to get into the expo. After picking up my bib and shirt, I went through the booths at the expo. I didn't find anything worth buying. They did have a nice deal for next year's race, only $70, but I passed on the deal. Before leaving the expo, I bought a luggage tag for my friend that collects them and I also purchased race day parking for $7.
Pretty good deal!
Luggage tag for my friend
After walking back to my car, I drove to what I thought was the Super 8 motel where I had booked my room. I was a bit tired still, so it looked like I drove to the wrong motel. I had to pull out my paperwork and look up the location of the Super 8. The one that I was looking for was almost all the way back to the airport. I drove there, got checked in, and rested for a bit.
Triple lock, rough neighborhood?
For a late lunch and early dinner, I drove back out to the Downtown area to check out the burgers at Chuck's. They have good burgers here! So good that I had two of them. For my first burger, I had the Bear in Heaven along with a Dales Pale Ale. It was a traditional burger that I had ordered medium and it was a good burger. Nice and tasty! For my second burger, I ordered The Dirty South also cooked medium with another Dales Pale Ale. Another good burger! Full of favor, like a party in your mouth! I would definitely come back to try the other burgers on their menu.
Bear in Heaven and Dales Pale Ale
The Dirty South and another Dales Pale Ale
On the way back from the hotel, I got lost a little bit and took the wrong freeway. When I got off to backtrack, I decided to stop in a Food Lion supermarket to pick up some drinks since it was right there.
Once I finally made it back to my room, I went through the stuff that I had picked up at the expo. As you can see, there wasn't much. I then proceeded to watch a bunch of TV. Before turning in for the night, I gathered my race gear and studied the course map along with the profile elevation. It sure doesn't look like a PR course!
Expo haul
Race gear
Elevation profile
Sunday 4/13
I got ready and headed out for the starting area. I followed the easy parking directions on the parking pass. I parked in the parking structure that was located at the corner of W South St and S Salisbury St. I walked out to the starting area and waited in the nearby Marriott hotel until it was closer to starting time. I then checked my gear bag before heading into my corral.
Eat your vitamins and say your prayers!
Starting line
I started in corral 4. I ran at a pace fast enough to catch the 1:50 pace group that started in one of the corrals ahead of mine. I ran in the vicinity of that group for about the first 10k. The pace leader was definitely running based on a set pace because she would be powering up the hill, but not speed up on the downhills. Her group disintegrated after two steady climbs. It was kind of a relief to reach the split off from the half marathoners at about 8.5 miles. I'd mentioned numerous times in my other posts that I dislike races where they blend runners that are running different distances. You could tell that most of the half marathoners at this point were speeding up while the full marathoners were holding steady. The never ending hills eventually wore me out. Shortly after passing the mile 12 marker as we started the loop through NC State, I began feeling an unbearable pain on the top of my feet. I knew that my shoelaces were tied too tight. I had to pull over twice during mile 13 to re-adjust the shoelaces. Thank goodness that took away the annoying pain. I usually only wear these pair of shoes for a half marathon, so I guess I never really noticed that I have been tying the laces so tight.
Then we ran down Edward Mills Rd. They lined that road with speakers pumping out very loud music. They also had some people on the mic shouting out encouragements. Then it was a little out and back on Reedy Creek Ave. It was a nice little stretch of downhill, but that only meant that it'll be a climb coming back. The nonstop hills made for tough going in the late miles especially since it was a nice and sunny day.
1: 7:56
2: 7:51
3: 7:50
4: 8:36
5: 7:59
6: 8:11
7: 8:21
8: 8:58
9: 8:43
10: 9:21
11: 10:02
12: 8:59
13: 10:35
14: 10:01
15: 9:44
16: 9:27
17: 12:35
18: 11:48
19: 14:26
20: 12:16
21: 12:59
22: 12:06
23: 12:45
24: 15:07
25: 13:32
26: 13:18
26.2: 1:54
Finish: 4:35:20
I picked up two PowerBar Protein Plus bars in the finisher chute. I ended up with two Salted Caramel GUs that I picked up along the course. I ate only the ShotBloks that I brought with me, so I'll have to try them out in a future race.
Picked up from the race
After picking up my gear bag, I headed for the beer garden. They had some nice big signs pointing you in the right direction. Eventually you see the familiar Michelob Ultra tent. Along they way, they had a huge cow on a trailer. I guess I will have another burger for dinner! :)
Beer garden!
Beer!
Medal
I have an urge for more burgers!
For dinner, I drove back out to the Downtown area to check out the Bad Ass Burger at Bad Daddy's Burger Bar. I started the meal off with a pint of Sweetwater 420. They were having a Sunday $3 special for Sweetwater beers. Sweet! It was my first time here, so I had to order their famed Bad Ass Burger. It was a huge stacked burger! It comes with buttermilk fried bacon! I got it with tater tots. I love tater tots! I got the Hoptimist from White Street Brewing to finish things off. I would love to come back here to check out the other items on their menu.
Sweetwater 420
Bad Ass Burger and tater tots
A very thick burger!
White Street Brewing, Hoptimist
Monday 4/14
I took a flight back home with Southwest. This was one of the few trips where I flew with two different airlines on one trip. The flight had a stop at Chicago Midway. I just went with whatever was the cheapest.
After dropping off the rental car and getting through TSA, I had lunch at the ACC American Cafe. I ordered the Kobe burger and glass of Cabernet Sauvignon. Both the burger and the glass of wine were good, but my order was a bit messed up. I ordered the burger on brioche buns, but they brought it out on a whole grain bun. As for the wine, instead of bringing me what I ordered, they brought out a Chardonnay. Despite the mix-up the service was pretty decent, but it seemed like everybody was new. I'm guessing it's because the terminal had been recently renovated and had just reopened. After getting the check, I confirmed that my waiter put in the correct order for both my wine and burger, so it was someone else that screwed up. I'm pretty adventurous with food, so I decided to give it a try and not send either back.
Chardonnay
Kobe Burger
Finisher certificate
No comments:
Post a Comment