Fortunately I was successful in selling my NLCS game ticket via StubHub, recouping most of what I had paid. The dates weren't set when I bought the ticket and it ended up that I couldn't attend the game because I had this marathon to run.
After work, I went home to change into more comfortable clothes before heading out to LAX where I took an evening American Airlines flight. These red eye flights always sound like a great idea to save money until it's time to get on one!
Friday 10/13
The plane landed at Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) early in the morning. Since I had a couple of hours before my connecting flight into Hartford, I walked over to the food court to get some breakfast at Chick-fil-A. I never knew they served breakfast. I got their bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit sandwich meal which came with hash browns and a drink. Their hash browns were more like tater tots. I like tater tots. I don't normally get coffee, but when I take a red-eye flight, I will definitely have some coffee.
Chick-fil-A breakfast
For the second leg of the trip, it was a short flight over to Bradley International Airport (BDL). After I got off of the plane I started looking for the bus stop to catch the Bradley Flyer (30) into Downtown Hartford. For some reason Google Maps was taking me over to the bus stop over at Schoephoester Rd and Hamilton Strand. Since I still had some time before the bus would arrive, I didn't mind taking that walk around the outside of the parking structure. However I ended up back at the airport bus stop as there was shade and a place for me to sit. It was only $1.75 to ride it one way.
Catching the Bradley Flyer
I was planning to get off at Pearl St and Trumbull St. However the bus driver was saying something that I didn't quite catch when we got to Central Row and Old State House. Everybody was exiting the bus, so I thought that I should get off as well. It didn't matter much since it was only 1 block away from where I wanted to get off. From there, I walked over to the XL Center, the location of the expo.
The expo was really well organized. When I entered, they directed me to an open station where they assigned me a bib number for the marathon. I'm seeing more races do this so that they don't have to print out bibs for no-shows. After getting my bib, I picked up my long sleeve race shirt and a huge clear plastic bag that was to be used for gear check.
Expo
Race shirt
Since I thought it was a bit too early to try an early check-in, I walked over to the nearby CVS to pick up some drinks. I got 2 cans of my favorite tea, water, and a Powerade.
Drinks
I then walked over to my hotel, The Goodwin Hotel, to see if I could check-in. If not, I was planning to just wait in the lobby. It never hurts to ask. My room was ready, so they allowed me to check-in early without extra cost. Thank goodness because I was exhausted. I took a shower and rested a little bit while watching some TV.
The Goodwin Hotel
For lunch, I hoofed it over to the nearest McDonald's. Along the way I checked out the arch over at the nearby Bushnell Park. The arch was part of the race's iconic finish line. They were mostly done with the setup already for tomorrow's race. Once I arrived at McDonald's, I used their app on my phone to purchase 2 Quarter Pounders with cheese for the price of 1. Apparently this particular McDonald's wasn't located in a very nice area. There were a bunch of shady people here, so I left as soon as my food was ready. I took them back to my room to eat.
Bushnell Park arch
Quarter Pounder with cheese x2
For an early dinner, I was meeting up with my friend at a nearby restaurant called, Salute. About half of the restaurant was reserved, so it looked like it was going to be a busy night for them. I was able to find a seat at the bar. I started with an iced tea and garlic cheese bread. For my meal, I ordered their diver scallops. The bread was recommended by most reviewers on Yelp and indeed it was good. The diver scallops on the other hand was not very good. They were pretty sandy for diver scallops and they came with fried rice that coincidentally looked and tasted like the frozen Kirkland brand that you can get at Costco. I love scallops, but unfortunately I found the dish to be disappointing and not worth it.
Garlic cheese bread
Diver scallops
Back at my room after dinner, I laid out my flat runner before hitting the hay. Even though I packed arm sleeves, it didn't feel cold enough to put them on in the morning. Instead I opted for a mylar blanket.
Flat runner
Saturday 10/14
I got ready and met up with my friend at her hotel at 7 am to walk over to the starting area at Capitol Ave. We stood in front of the capitol building to wait for other Marathon Maniacs to show up for the pre-race photo. It's always cool to meet new people that share this same crazy passion for running marathons!
Marathon Maniacs
My friend had purchased PRE Perks, so she was able to go use real restrooms. For me, I got in one of the portapotty lines before heading into the corrals. Since I wasn't assigned a corral, I started in the open corral. With the tendinitis in the left ankle, I haven't had the chance to build up the endurance. So I planned to start out with whatever felt comfortable and hoped to just come in under 5 hrs. With the singing of the national anthem and an invocation prayer, it was time to run a marathon!
Start line
The race started promptly at 8 am with the first six miles or so on the western side of the Connecticut River. This part of the course had a lot of turns which took us through downtown Hartford and Riverside Park. After that we crossed over to the eastern side of the Connecticut River via Founders Bridge. The course continued to have a bunch of turns, taking us through Great River Park and past Center Park. I liked some of the names of the relay teams that I came across. One, I believe, was called, "Someone Call An Uber." I got through the halfway point a few minutes over 2 hrs.
About mile 12: Someone call an Uber!
The second half started with an 8 mile or so out and back section on Main St. I love out and backs as I get to see those ahead of me as well as those behind me. Things went south both literally and figuratively at around mile 18-19. The left ankle got really sore. Then the left toes, left glute, and left hamstring were all cramping up. As I was deep in my suffer-fest, it was funny to see Big Bird out on the course! That was a good distraction from the task at hand. I ran a portion of a mile with Michele who just recently joined the Marathon Maniacs (MM 14047). I could not keep up with her as my legs were starting to cramp up again. The downhill coming off of Founders Bridge really hurt my left ankle. I had to slow down a bit for the soreness to subside before running the final stretch to the finish line.
Between mile 21 & 22: It's Big Bird!
Finish line
Finish: 4:45:03
Click here for my Garmin data.
After crossing the finish line, I got my medal, a bag of snacks, and a water bottle with some water in it. I thought that the water bottle was a nice touch. It's always good to get a finisher item that's useful.
Finisher medal
Post race goodies
I was kind of surprised that I finished about an hour faster than most of my recent marathons. I thought I did a pretty good job at managing the soreness in my left ankle. That was my 47th State where I've completed a marathon, only 3 more to go! I only have Massachusetts, Mississippi, and Rhode Island left. I'll be running the Mississippi River Marathon in February and Providence Marathon in May. I still want to qualify and run the Boston Marathon for my 50th State.
I wasn't in the mood to stick around the post race area, so after giving away my free beer ticket, I started making my way back to my hotel. Along the way I saw that they had a McDonald's booth. They're usually never at the marathons that I've run in the past. They gave me two coupons, 1 for free french fries and 1 for a free breakfast sandwich. Nice! I also bumped into Michele, the Marathon Maniac that I had met on the course. We talked a little bit about our upcoming races before going our separate ways.
McDonald's booth
Ronald McDonald!
McDonald's coupons
Since the course ran right by the back door for my hotel, I decided to sit at the curb and wait for my friend to run by before going up to my room. It looked like she had picked up a fellow Marathon Maniac running buddy during her race. It's always great to have good company during a marathon which most undoubtedly helps make the miles go by.
A couple of Marathon Maniacs heading for the finish line
I went up to my room, got cleaned up, and vegged out while watching some TV. I didn't leave my room until it was time for me to go get some dinner. I decided to check out the nearby Trumbull Kitchen. Since I was dining solo, I found a seat at the bar. I started things out with my usual iced tea. Then after looking over the menu, I ordered their calamari appetizer and the Miso Glazed Atlantic Haddock. The food here cost about the same as the place that I went to yesterday, but it was much better in presentation and taste. If I ever come back to Hartford, this would be my go-to spot.
Iced tea
Rice Flour Crisped Calamari
Miso Glazed Atlantic Haddock
After dinner, I headed back to my room to catch game 1 of the NLCS. I still wished that I could've been in there in person. It was good that the Dodgers were able to win game 1 against the defending champion Cubs. The Cubs have always played the Dodgers tough.
NLCS Game 1
Sunday 10/15
I woke up super early to get ready to catch an early morning 4 am bus ride to the airport. The only people out were people heading home after a night of drinking and cop cars patrolling the streets. While waiting for the bus, I was beginning to doubt if the bus even ran that early on a Sunday morning. Thankfully like clockwork, the bus showed up at the posted time.
After arriving at the airport, I finished off my water before going through the TSA checkpoint. I then stopped by McDonald's for breakfast before heading over to my gate.
Breakfast at McDonald's
Thankfully my flight home was a direct flight. I even got to finally see Spider-Man: Homecoming. I thought that this was a much needed reboot. While I thought Andrew Garfield was a decent replacement for Tobey Maguire, the villains in The Amazing Spider-Man 1 & 2 were horribly done, especially Electro and Rhino. Tom Holland did a great job portraying Peter Parker as a brilliant young kid, which was a part that was sorely lacking with Tobey Maguire's turn in the Spidey suit.
Spider-Man: Homecoming
As soon as I landed in LAX and made it back to my car, I headed down South to Disneyland. I stopped by Los Feliz Five & Dime in Disney California Adventure to see if they had the Oogie Boogie annual passholder hoodie still available in my size. No dice. I then hopped over to Disneyland to check out the Star Wars: The Last Jedi name badges exclusive for annual passholders located over at TomorrowLanding. They looked pretty cool, so I didn't go home empty handed. I then rode a couple of my usual rides, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters and Star Tours before heading home. In between I enjoyed a Dole Whip Float from the Tiki Juice Bar as it was a blazing hot day!
Dole whip float
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