I arrived in downtown San Diego at around 10:30 am. My go-to parking structure at the corner of 10th Ave and J Street was closed to public parking, so I drove around for a bit looking for metered parking. I couldn't find any, so I eventually found a tiny parking lot on the West side of 10th Ave just North of Island Ave for $8. The credit card reader was broken, but luckily I had some cash on me. The $8 was good for 9 hrs of parking.
I hoofed it down to the expo at the San Diego Convention Center. This would be my 13th year in a row running this marathon. After picking up my bib and race shirt, I headed for the booths. Looking at the banner with the names of all of the 18 year legacy runners, I sort of kicked myself for not running this marathon 5 years prior! Still I'll keep running this marathon because it was where I ran my very first.
18 year legacy wall
While going through the expo, I got in line to pre-pay for race day parking plus shuttle ride to the starting line for $15. They gave me a bracelet to put on in order to ride the shuttle. The pickup location would be next to Petco Park at the bottom of the bridge. I also signed up for next year's race. It's hard to beat these early bird prices... only $59 for the full marathon! I also got a pretty nice thin cotton t-shirt for signing up at the expo.
Early bird special only $59 for the marathon!
After going through the expo, I met up with my friend at the stage where Harriette Thompson was the featured speaker. She would be going for the Guinness World Record as the oldest woman to finish a marathon on Sunday at the age of 92 years! I accompanied my friend as she went to literally every booth. She was quite the shopper. Afterwards I went to the stage area again this time for Deena Kastor. I saved my friend a spot. I've met Deena several times, but it's always great to hear her speak. I also find it fascinating how accessible the elite athletes are in the sport of running.
Harriette Thompson 92 years young!
Sponge Bob mobile!
Deena Kastor
After leaving the expo and getting back to my car, I drove out to the Mitsuwa Marketplace in Kearny Mesa to eat a late lunch and pick up some goodies. Parking at this place has been becoming more of a pain in the butt, but I was fortunately able to find a spot. I decided on eating some ramen at Santouka. I got the combo with the flavored egg and a bowl of salmon ikura gohan. Good stuff!
Shio ramen with flavored egg and salmon ikura gohan
I then headed over to the King's Inn in Mission Valley to see if I could check into my room a little bit early. They gave me room 123. The room actually looked okay and was pretty decent, very similar to a Super 8 or Motel 6. I would later discover that the sink apparently wasn't working properly. It wasn't draining. Also every now and then it would spew up dirty water and fill up the sink. A minor inconvenience given that the rate was very low and affordable. At check-in, I was also given two coupons, 10% off at The Waffle Spot and 15% off at The Amigo Spot. Both coupons were not valid for take out or room service, alcohol excluded. Too bad that I'm not a fan of waffles or Mexican food.
Clogged sink
After getting settled into my room, I went through the expo haul. Most of the freebies that I got will most likely be given to the student workers at work on Monday. I also laid out my race gear for tomorrow's race.
Expo haul
Flat runner
After relaxing and watching a little bit of TV, I got my bento out of the refrigerator for dinner. The room didn't have a microwave, so I ate it cold. It was still good nonetheless.
Bento box
5/31 Sunday
I arrived pretty early at about 3:30 am at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront parking structure. The structure was closed and there was already a pretty long line of cars waiting to get in. Eventually somebody came out and raised the gate arm for us.
After using the restroom at the hotel, I crossed the bridge over to catch the shuttle. There was basically no lines since it was just barely after 4 am. I like getting to everything early on race day. No need for any unnecessary pre-race stress.
Crossing the bridge to catch the shuttle
I've been having all sorts of GI issues since I got food poisoning eating at a Brazilian BBQ. It's been a while and I still have not fully recovered. So I had to hit the portapotties a few times. Good thing they were still pretty empty as the marathoners started at 6:15 am and the half-marathoners started later at 6:50 am. I found a nice spot to sit in Balboa Park while I waited. As the race start approached, I started getting ready to check in my gear bag. I then noticed that I was missing my salt tabs! That's so uncharacteristic of me. Apparently I left them in my car. After checking in my bag, I headed into the starting corral to meet up with friends. Luckily for me, a friend was dropping down to the half marathon. She was very generous in giving me all 3 of her salt tabs. I usually carry 10 and take 8 - 9 per marathon, all 10 if the weather is super hot and/or humid. But salt tabs aren't magic pills. They won't replace proper training. I had been resting a lot to give the foot a chance to heal up.
Potty like a rock star
Sponge Bob Elvis Square Pants
Since I had a sore left foot and had forgotten my salt tabs, I figured I'd stick to the usual 10k race with a 20 mile jog to the finish and just get it done. So I took off at the usual 8 min per mile pace, so I was running around the 3:30 pace group. Everything held up through the first 10k except for the sore left foot. As I slowed down, I noticed that there was a guy at the side of road trying to hand out a can of beer in Little Italy. I said to myself, "Sure, why not?" I grabbed the can and took a walk break to chug the can of Coors Light. I finished it right before going into that tunnel of loud music at mile 7. I tried to start running again, but I had so much gas in my chest and really needed to burp! I kept moving until I reached my second least favorite part of the course, the concrete bike path at Mission Bay.
1: 7:57
2: 8:05
3: 7:56
4: 7:36
5-6: 16:16 (8:08)
7: 10:47
8: 9:04
9: 8:57
10: 9:00
11: 9:49
12: 9:10
13-14: 20:19 (10:10)
We finally get back on asphalt after reaching mile 14. I saw my friend pass me here. I ran up to her to say hi, but she was definitely not in a talkative mood. After leaving the Mission Bay area, there were a couple of steep climbs where I walked a portion of it. I bumped into my friend Sally on Morena Blvd. She was pacing somebody around my pace, so I ran miles 16 - 17 with them. Then the cramps started settling in. My left foot started cramping up during mile 19. Then came my least favorite part of the course, the climb on the dreaded 163. I didn't even bother running up that steep cambered highway.
Up the 163
The next couple of miles were just a cramp-fest. At the very least once I got to the Balboa Park Municipal Golf Course, I knew that I was very close to reaching the finish line. There was even a nice downhill down to the Downtown area. It was then a straight shot down to the Gaslamp District finish line on 13th Street.
15: 10:55
16: 10:33
17: 10:08
18: 12:12
19: 14:48
20: 12:08
21: 16:26
22-23: 30:00 (15:00)
24: 13:51
25: 12:34
26: 13:43
26.2: 2:03
Finish: 4:44:20
Yea! I crossed the finish line of my 13th consecutive San Diego Rock n' Roll Marathon. I can still remember my very first marathon here in San Diego back in 2003 as if it was yesterday. Has it really been that long ago? I'm hoping that I can make it to at least 20 years.
Finish line
After getting my medal, I got a bunch of post race goodies to fill both hands in the finisher chute. I went looking for the gear bag area so I can free up my hands. Afterwards I went looking for the marathon finisher jacket tent. I found a couple of my friends around there. We made our way into Petco Park to get our free beer at the beer garden.
Finisher's jacket
Back of finisher's jacket
Beer garden
I used the restroom inside the Hilton before going back to my car. I didn't notice at first, but while I was getting ready for my drive home, the SUV next to me had been broken into just recently. The car owners were just finding that out as the hotel security was filling them in on what they know. Apparently the thieves broke in by smashing the hatch window and stole stuff from the car as well as the glove box. Fortunately the thieves were caught by the police. Goes to show that you never should leave anything out visible in your car even if you have tinted windows!
As I was driving home, I only made it to around Carlsbad before I had to pull over to use a restroom. I decided that I might as well eat lunch, so I pulled up to an In-n-Out. I got the usual Double Double x2 and a vanilla shake. The place was so packed inside, so I found a table outside to eat my meal.
Double Double x2 plus vanilla shake
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