I took an early morning JetBlue flight out of one of my favorite airports, the Long Beach airport. It's a small airport with super easy parking and very short lines getting through TSA security check. It's a much more relaxing flying experience coming through here than it is at LAX. Every time that I've visited San Francisco, I've flown into SFO. This year I flew into Oakland. Last year they had built an automated train that runs between OAK and the BART Coliseum station. It took about the same amount of time (just under 40 minutes) to get to the Embarcadero station between either airport via the BART. From there, I hopped on the shuttle bus in front of the Hyatt Regency for a ride to the expo at Fort Mason.
Expo at the Festival Pavilion of Fort Mason
I made my way to the back of expo and picked up my bib. Then I got my shirt before heading to the very back to get my ID checked for a beer bracelet which would allow me to avoid having to get into the ID line after the race.
Bib pick up
ID pre-check for beer garden
After writing my bib number on my bag, I started making my way through the expo to see what the exhibitors had to offer. I took some samples from Curate and Power Crunch. I was pulled over to sign on a huge banner with what motivated me to run. That was a no-brainer. I even saw a kid dressed up as Pikachu... that Pokémon Go app is getting out of control! I then got in line to sign up for next year's race for $25 off. It was $110, but with the discount it came out to be $92.79 including tax. What a deal! I don't think this race has ever been that cheap!
What do you run for?
I run for House of Prime Rib!
Pikachu
$25 off for next year!
After signing up for the race, I grabbed a sample cup of Erdinger non-alcoholic beer. I had some of this at the Berlin Marathon and the OC Marathon. It's actually not too bad. Minus the alcohol, it really just tastes like liquid bread. While drinking my beer, I bumped into one of my running friends that I see at a lot of races. We caught up a little bit before I left to go outside and meet up with my other friends.
Erdinger non-alcoholic beer
Dexter at the expo
While waiting outside, I checked out the Scoot Quad. It looked like a pretty cool street legal vehicle. It was much cooler than the typical golf cart. After my friends arrived, I went back into the expo with them to go pick up their race packets. Afterwards, we went our separate ways to get lunch.
Scoot
I got on the shuttle for the ride back to the Hyatt Regency. From there I took the BART down to Civic Center Station. I then hiked up Hyde St to eat some of that famed spicy chicken rice plate with mint leaves at Hai's Restaurant. Too bad the restaurant was located in the heart of the Tenderloin. The walk through that area was pretty nasty to say the least. You would definitely not want to be here during the night! Thank goodness the chicken plate was as good as my friends had described!
After finishing lunch, I just wanted to get the heck out of the Tenderloin. So I walked down Turk St headed for Market St. Along the way, I saw a couple of cops on foot patrol. That must be a tough beat to walk. As it was still early, I stopped in at Mikkeller Bar to get a couple of drinks before heading up to my hotel. It was a nice, chill, and relaxing place to grab some beers. They had a nice diverse selection of beers with some pretty decent tasting sours. Their beers were served at different optimum temperatures depending on the beer.
Mikkeller Waves IPA
Mikkeller Blå Spøgelse
After paying my tab, I made the trek up Mason St to my hotel on Bush St. This year I stayed at the Grant Hotel at Union Square. It was very similar to the Grant Hotel at the corner of Grant Ave and Pine St located in Chinatown. Although this hotel was in a pretty convenient location, it was not located in a nice area. They had to lock the hotel doors at night. However you'll be hard pressed to find a more affordable daily rate in the area with the same amenities. I found that the room was pretty decent even though it was showing its age. The bed was clean and somewhat comfortable, but it was starting to sag. They might be in the process of refreshing the hotel as the carpet looked fairly new and the restroom looked like it was just recently remodeled.
Per my usual routine, I went through my expo haul and and laid out my flat runner to make sure I had everything for tomorrow's marathon. I thought that this year's race shirt was pretty ugly and I'm not a fan of long sleeved shirts. Then it was time to take a nap.
Flat runner
I woke up to go get dinner. I found it a little amusing to see what was just 2 doors next to where I was staying. I headed out to the Super Duper Burgers on Market St. I first stopped in at the CVS Pharmacy next door to buy some drinks for tomorrow. I always look forward to eating a Super Burger every time that I'm in San Francisco. On this visit, I ordered the Super Burger with everything and added cheese and a fried egg. They cost more, but their burgers blows the In-n-Out's famous Double Double out of the water! Plus they have homemade pickles!
Just 2 doors over from my hotel
Super Burger with everything added cheese and fried egg
On my way back to my room, I decided to check out the nearby Hogwash. I found a seat at the bar and had a couple of beers. The first one that I had was really good. It was the Almanac Vanilla Cherry Sour. It's a bit more costly, but you should give it a try if you like sours. I had the High Water Stella Blue Sour for my second beer, but it wasn't as good as the Almanac one.
Almanac Vanilla Cherry Sour
High Water Stella Blue Sour
Sunday 7/31
I got up pretty early to get ready and headed to the starting area at about 4 am. There was an employee in the lobby that opened the door for me. It's a sign that the neighborhood is bad when you have to lock the front doors at night. With that said, I came across quite a few seedy characters during my walk to the start. It was fine once I got to Market St. I went into the Hyatt Regency to see if I could use one of their restrooms, but they had all of that locked down. So I went back outside to use the portapotties. I met up with my friend at about 4:45 am at the end of Market St, right in front of the Ferry Building. I checked my gear bag at the UPS trucks before we headed to the corrals.
Ferry Building
My bib was for wave 2, but I was so out of shape that I felt better starting with my friend in wave 3. There was about a 10 minute wait in between those waves, so we didn't have to wait that much longer before starting our race. Of course, my legs wanted to run faster during those first few miles, but I made sure to run slower as it would inevitably get pretty painful before we've even reached the halfway point.
Dexter during the race
The course changed a bit in the Golden Gate Park this year. Most of it was for the better. They finally addressed the issue with the 2nd half runners. We were never swallowed up by fresh runners blazing past us. They added a few out and backs to the course, but it was a good trade off for not having the feeling of being trampled.
The guy with the music and the energy!
After leaving Golden Gate Park, we actually entered McDonald's to buy some hash browns. However there was a line, so I said to forget it and we started heading back out on the course to start running again. Some of the people in line did offer to let us go ahead of them, but I was in such a miserable mood that I just didn't want to wait at all. My friend stuck with me through mile 20 where I sent her off so she doesn't have to be further slowed down by me. I tried to get the legs going again by running with a different stride, but it was at a pace that I knew that I could not maintain for the next 10k.
During the last couple of miles, I was passed by a friend that I had met at the NYC Marathon. My legs were super dead, so there was no way for me to run with her. After seeing the ugly AT&T Ballpark (Go Dodgers!) the end was near with about 1 more mile to go.
Free race photos!
Finish line
Click here for my Garmin data.
After crossing the finish line, I got my medal, a bottle of water, a mylar blanket, and started heading for the UPS trucks. I picked up my California Dreamin' medal at the tent along the way.
Medal side 1
Medal side 2
Medals and headband
After getting my bag and putting some stuff away, I made my way into the beer garden. With my pre-check beer bracelet, I was able to skip the long line to enter the beer garden. Just like last year, they had some pretty decent Lagunitas beer available. I got their Daytime IPA. I found my friends at a picnic table and hung out with them there. There I met Ted Jacka. We talked a little bit about each other's race and running in general. He had just run a PR and another BQ. That's really what I need to be doing, but instead I'm pretty banged up and today, I finished marathon number 175.
Beer garden
Daytime IPA
After we finished our beer, wrapped up our conversation. and said our farewells, I started heading back to my hotel. It was pretty crowded walking up Market St. It was much better once I turned onto Bush St. Once I got back to my room, I got cleaned up and took a nap.
Even though my appetite hadn't really returned, I went back out for dinner and a few drinks. Since it was really close by, I went back to Hogwash. Once again I sat at the bar and started things off with an Altamont Maui Waui IPA on nitro. I then ordered the curry fries and added a fried duck egg and some pork sausage. The fries were a bit hard and crispy for my preference, but it had a good taste with the curry. Adding the fried duck egg and pork sausage made it more of a meal and definitely improved the fries. I got the Harmonic Kölsch to finish things off, which was a nice refreshing beer. I wasn't too clear on the reason why, but the bartender ended up giving me the second beer on the house. There's a first time for everything!
Altamont Maui Waui IPA nitro
Curry fries with fried duck egg and pork sausage
Harmonic Kölsch
Back at my room, one of my favorite movies of all time was on TV. It was the National Lampoon's Vacation. It's always good to laugh my ass off at a classic comedy! :)
Monday 8/1
My flight was scheduled for the evening, so I slept in. I took my time getting ready and packed up before checking out of the hotel. For an early lunch, I walked over to the nearby Chinatown to eat some ramen at Slurp Ramen. I thought I had been to most of the ramen shops in Downtown San Francisco, but apparently I had missed this one. I wasn't sure if the place would be crowded for lunch, so I arrived about 10 minutes before they opened. I waited outside for them to open all by myself. I was their first customer for the day. I ordered their tonkotsu black and the ikura rice bowl. The ramen was a pretty delicious especially with the black garlic oil. However the broth was a bit salty for my preference. The ikura bowl came with julienned scrambled eggs and some nori. I love salmon roe!
Tonkotsu black
Ikura rice bowl
After lunch, I walked over to the Metreon to watch the new Jason Bourne movie at the AMC Metreon 16. There was barely anybody in the theater for the matinee showing. The movie was pretty entertaining, but it was way too predictable and just more of the same amnesia crap even though he's supposed to know who he is already. If there are any additional films to be added to the franchise, I think I'll be skipping them.
I then took the BART to the Oakland Airport. I had to add money to my card before I could exit. The machines only took cash. Good thing I had some on me. I made my way through the TSA security checkpoint just to get it out of the way. Since I had a few hours before my flight, I stopped at Chili's to eat dinner. I've never found their food all that appealing especially in the airport. However I have found that their salmon is pretty good even for airport food. The hostess asked me how much time I had before my flight. When I said that I wasn't in a hurry, she sat me at one of the tables on the outside row. I ordered their Ancho Salmon and had a couple bottles of Heineken. Did you want some salmon with the broccoli? Man, they sure gave me a lot of broccoli. It was a good thing that I love broccoli. It also came with some citrus chile rice. The fish was very flavorful and according to the menu, the entire entree was only 590 calories. I guess that allowed me to enjoy the two beers free of guilt! :)
Ancho salmon
We all boarded the plane for our 7 pm flight home to LGB airport with no issues. However during takeoff, there was a loud pop and the plane descended a little. There was a bunch of mechanical noises and the plane started to fly in a circle. I was pretty certain that a bird had been sucked up by one of the engines and caused a malfunction. Pretty soon, the pilot announced that engine 2 was out and that we'll be returning to the airport. Some of the passengers were freaked out, but I remained calm because I knew that a plane could still fly with one engine.
Fire engines!
Here was the incident report.
After we landed back at the airport, everybody was glad to be alive. That was short lived as it quickly switched to anger and discontent as the JetBlue employees had to straighten everything out for each passenger. The gate agent said that the flight should be canceled, so we should be allowed to get a refund or given accommodations. However when we went to the ticketing counter we were told otherwise. We were told that the flight had not been canceled and that it had only been delayed due to an mechanical issue. Eventually they put me on a flight tomorrow at 6:10 am. However it wasn't until about 4 hours later that they got the managers in charge to give us accommodations. We were then finally on a ride over to our hotel for a short rest.
Tuesday 8/2
We arrived at the hotel, Days Inn, but the front desk couldn't get us into rooms as they had not received any authorization or credit card information from JetBlue. It wasn't until about midnight that I was able to get into a room. I was exhausted, super dog tired, but hey, I'm still alive.
After a short rest, I woke up and got ready for my flight home. I caught the 4 am shuttle back to airport for my flight. This time there was no problem with the short flight back to Long Beach airport. Once I landed, I drove home to swap my running bags for my work stuff and headed into work. In hindsight, I should've just taken the day off from work.
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