After work, it was time to eat dinner and head on out to LAX for my red-eye flight out to NYC. Everything was pretty routine. Again there was a sign in front of the Parking Lot C entrance stating that the lot was full. I entered anyways. It took me a while to find a spot. I was fortunate enough to spot a guy that was leaving just as he was approaching his car.
For some reason whatever I ate earlier in the day wasn't agreeing with me, so I knew that I needed to find a restroom soon. I didn't want to deal with the traffic that came with taking the airport shuttle, so I decided to hoof it just in case I couldn't hold it in and an accident was about to happen. I was able to make it my gate and through TSA security before I really had to go. Of course the stalls in the men's restroom were all occupied, so I ended up using the all genders restroom. Crisis averted. :)
My flight to JFK was with Alaska Air via a Virgin America plane. It was a pretty uneventful flight. Thank goodness I didn't have another bout of GI distress and was able to sleep through most of the flight.
Friday 5/18
The flight landed at about a quarter after 8 am. After getting off of the plane, I made my way over to the AirTrain which I took to Jamaica Station. From there I took the E train into Manhattan. I got off at the 5th Ave station and walked over to my usual spot for breakfast, Connolly's. I ordered the usual coffee and their full Irish breakfast. I've been eating here for a while now and it was the first time that they brought out a bottle of brown sauce. It went well with the meats and black pudding. It looked like A-1, but the taste was not as tangy and strong. I like it!
After I was done with my breakfast, I slowly made my way over to the Brooklyn Bridge Park. I hopped on the A train and took it to High Street station. From there I walked over to pier 1. I still had about an hour to pass, so I walked slowly over to pier 2. The pre-party expo wasn't scheduled to open until 12 pm, so I sat down near the roller rink and waited.
Pier 2
Once inside, it was a very smooth packet pick-up process. Once again, you could go to any of the available booths. You show them your QR code. You are assigned a bib number and a corral sticker. No need to look up your bib number. After that, I picked up my race shirt and then went through the official race merchandise. Everything was so expensive! I briefly considered purchasing the rain jacket, but I didn't.
Race shirt
Poland Spring was pretty much the only booth passing out any swag. They were giving out water bottles and cans of sparkling spring water in exchange for you signing up to receive emails from them. I was pretty thirsty, so I took 1 of each of the 2 flavors that they had. I guzzled down one on the spot.
Race swag
After I was done with the expo, I walked over to the Clark Street station where I caught the train over to Wall Street station. The station pretty much exited right in front of my hotel for the weekend, Club Quarters Hotel. I was there about an hour before check-in time. There was a line for the front desk, so I used one of several self check-in screens in the lobby. Fortunately, I didn't have to wait. I just had to swipe my credit card and select the number of keys that I wanted before I was able to go up to my room. Sometimes it is so much easier without having to interact with another human being! :)
Personalized welcome
At about 5 pm, I walked over to the nearby McDonald's to pick up a quick dinner. I used my McDonald's app to use the buy 1 Quarter Pounder with cheese, get 1 free deal. After I finished off my burgers, I laid out my flat runner and went to sleep pretty early as I was pretty dead tired.
Saturday 5/19
I got ready and took the 4/5 train over to Franklin Ave station. It wasn't raining much yet, but it was raining enough that a lot of people were waiting in the subway station instead of going outside. I waited a bit before heading to my corral. All of the participants had to go through metal detectors before reaching the corrals. The plastic poncho that I had, smelled pretty ripe with BO! I guess I didn't let it dry out when I last used it. Still I wore it just in case the rain turned into a huge downpour.
Starting corral
This year I started out of corral F versus corral J last year. While waiting for the start of the race, the race announcers were describing the race course as a mullet: business in the front, party in the back. That's a pretty accurate description. Having run this race last year, I knew that there would be hills during the first half through Prospect Park followed by a long gentle decline all the way to the finish line at Coney Island.
The race started at 7 am, but the participant field was so large that I didn't cross the start line until about 7:13. The announcers instructed runners not to toss rain ponchos or blankets on the course, but off to the side because they would become tripping hazards. I nearly tripped as I just so happened to step on one just as I was starting my watch. Thankfully I caught myself. Since I was in a faster corral this year, I wasn't having to run through traffic in the early miles. However that meant that I probably went out a bit too fast in the first 5k. As I was coming out of the park nearing mile 7, I took off the plastic poncho as it was starting to feel a bit stuffy. I still held on to it just in case.
I was hoping to be able to run faster down Ocean Parkway, but just like last year, it felt like a grind as if the course was going uphill. I tried to hold on, but the arch in my left foot was hurting. I keep thinking that it was tendinitis or foot cramp, but now I don't know what it is anymore. The discomfort would go away if I slowed down a bit. It was a bit of relief to finally get onto the boardwalk. I was hoping to beat last year's time, but I was over 3 minutes slower. All in all, I was okay with finishing in under 2 hrs.
Yea for free race photos!
Finish line
Finish: 1:58:16
Click here for my Garmin data.
Completed NYRR race #3 of 9.
After crossing the finish line, I was given my finisher medal. Then walking further down the chute, I received a recovery bag full of drinks and goodies as well as a mylar blanket. The blanket was sufficient in keeping me warm as well as shield me from most of the sprinkle.
Since it was a bit chilly and the rain was starting to come down, I skipped all of the post race festivities and started making my way over to the Coney Island/Stillwell Ave subway station. I could hop on any of the lines to get back to my hotel, so I ended up getting on the N train. I originally planned to get off at Atlantic Ave-Barclays Center station to switch over to one of the 2/3/4/5 trains, but I accidentally got off a few stations early, so I had to hop on the next train coming through. I call it a post-race brain fart. :)
Back at my room, one of the first things I did was to throw away the smelly plastic poncho. It turned out that it never rained quite hard enough to really need it. It would have been enough to use a mylar blanket and a baseball cap. I got cleaned up, ate the apple, and drank some water while relaxing in my room.
As lunch time rolled around, I went back to McDonald's to get lunch. Once again, I used the app on my phone to use the buy 1 Quarter Pounder with cheese, get 1 for $1 deal. Boy, do I love the Quarter Pounder! I stayed holed up in my room while watching a bunch of soccer, the FA Cup Final: Chelsea v. Manchester United followed by the German Cup Final: Bayern Munich v. Eintracht Frankfurt.
The trophy kind of looked like the Infinity Gauntlet!
Shortly after watching the end of the German Cup Final, I walked over to the nearby Go Go Curry to buy dinner. I ordered the usual Grand Slam katsu curry and took it to-go back to my room to enjoy. I liked that they switched to a much sturdier to-go container.
Sunday 5/20
I got ready and packed up to leave the hotel at about 2:30 am to go catch my 6 am flight at JFK. I was going to check out using one of the automated screens, but the guy at the front desk beckoned me over. I then headed over to the nearby subway station to catch the J train. Once I went down the stairs to the platform, I was greeted by a large NYC rat. It saw me and quickly scurried away. They're more afraid of you than you are of them... but not by much! Man, they are huge! Traveling at such an hour of the night or early morning definitely puts you in a heightened sense of alert. My spider senses were definitely tingling. I made sure to go to the first car so that the conductor would be there in case something bad happens. Once the train arrived, I noticed that the car was filthy and it looked like someone had spilled a drink. I was pretty tired, so I just found a spot to sit down. I noticed that the train inside said it was an L train, but the outside said it was a J train. Oh well, as long as I'm headed in the right direction. In the next couple of stops, as more passengers boarded the car I was in, I noticed that they were checking out the spill on the ground. That was when I finally noticed that it was most likely fresh blood splatter! Yikes!
I got off at the Sutphin Blvd station and made my way over to catch the AirTrain. However that service was down, so we had to go take the bus. It was actually a series of 2 buses. The first one took us to Federal Circle station where they split us into two groups depending on which terminal you needed to catch your flight.
My flight home was with American Airlines. I was pretty much seated in the back of the plane. I finally watched Captain America: Civil War which caught me up with all of the Marvel movies. I'm not sure when AA started giving out a complimentary meal in the main cabin for a transcontinental flight (e.g. JFK to LAX). I wasn't hungry so I opted out of the breakfast box. I only asked for a can of ginger ale. The flight was quite bumpy at times. I had to hold my drink as it was about to spill during the jostling! We landed a bit early at LAX at a little before 9 am, but our gate was occupied. Our plane sat on the tarmac for about 1.5 hours. My left glute and hamstring was getting very achy and sore from having to sit so long. I was definitely getting a bit restless and was very much wanting to stand up and to get off of the plane!
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