Once again I headed out very early to LAX for another flight out to NYC. This time I pre-purchased parking via SpotHero at a parking structure called Airport Center Express. I was going to book at the usual WallyPark parking structure, but decided to come here because it was the cheapest for this weekend. It was located just east of Crowne Plaza. I entered from Century Blvd. Inside the parking structure, they had plenty of signs directing you where to go. The place was pretty packed and I wasn't able to find an empty spot until I reached the 6th floor. I believe the 7th floor was the roof. After I parked, I took the stairs down to the ground floor. I then walked over to the shuttle waiting area. The shuttle was waiting there, so I got on board. Everyone on the shuttle appeared to be construction workers or airport employees.
Airport Center Express Parking
For this trip, I flew with Southwest Airlines. It wasn't a direct flight. I first flew into Oakland Airport before heading over to Newark Airport. As our plane got closer to the east coast, our pilot had to take a longer indirect route in order to avoid bad weather. We were delayed about an hour getting into EWR. As soon as we landed, I made my way over to the AirTrain station. Before getting on the AirTrain, I used one of the kiosks to purchase a NJ Transit train ticket for $13. I took the first train heading out to NY Penn Station. From there I headed straight up 8th Ave to pick up my bib at the NYRR Runcenter. At first with the delay, I was afraid that I wouldn't get there before they closed at 8 pm, however I got there with about 30 minutes to spare. Our race premium for this race was a cap. It's pretty nice, but I kind of wish they would make it a more rigid ball cap or trucker cap.
Race premium
After picking up my bib, I hopped on the 1 Train heading uptown and got off at the 96th St station. From there, it was a short walk over to my hotel for the weekend, Days Inn by Wyndham NYC-Broadway. Once I got checked in, I took the elevator up to my floor. The elevator smelled like marijuana. Great. My room was located in the stairwell which was somewhat nice as there wasn't any traffic from other tenants for the duration of my stay. This hotel was a pretty run-down, desperately needing a refresh. For one, they really need to replace those old CRT box TV's and get some flat screens! My room was also very dimly lit at night as half of the light bulbs were burnt out. My biggest complaint about my room was the bathroom. The shower was incredibly tiny and the water temperature was unpredictable. It would randomly fluctuate between spitting icicles or scalding hot water, so forget trying to get the water temp to stay the same!
Room was in the stairwell
After dropping off my bags, I went back out to the nearby McDonald's to pick up a late dinner. I placed the order on my app to get free medium fries with my Quarter pounder with cheese. On the way back to my room, I also stopped at the Duane Reade next to my hotel to buy some drinks.
Quarter pounder with cheese and free medium fries
Water and Powerade
Back at my room, I watched a little bit of National Lampoon's Vacation on the old tube... such a funny classic! I laid out my flat runner before going to sleep. I had some Hammer Gels that I wanted to try again during tomorrow's race. This brand of gels always wreaks havoc on my stomach! They're usually the gels that are available at the upcoming ET Full Moon Midnight race.
Griswolds and Aunt Edna
Christie Brinkley aka Ferrari Girl
Flat runner
Sunday 8/12
The race started at 7 am, so I planned to get there at about 6:15 am to meet up with a couple of my friends. It was a pretty short walk from where I was staying. Unfortunately I got a text from my friends. They were running late, possibly missing the start of the race. After using a portapotty, I found a spot to sit down and wait for the start of the race. As they announced that the corrals would soon be closed, I entered my assigned corral. It would seem that with NYRR races, the majority of the runners will wait until the last possible moment before entering their corral.
Runner check-in
Start line
The start of the race was delayed for a few minutes. During the delay they informed us that if there was lightning in the area at anytime during the race, the race would immediately be canceled, however we would still receive credit towards the 9+1 program. Thankfully there was no storm for the duration of the race, but the humidity was pretty stifling!
Start corral
The first couple of miles went okay. By the third mile, I was already overheating and developing a headache. Since this was supposed to be a timed training run, I had to start taking walk breaks in order for my body to cool down. I drank the Powerade from my bottle and at every aid station, I dumped the water on my head. I was slowing down a lot more than I had anticipated for each loop around Central Park. The tight left glute and hamstring definitely didn't help. The third and final loop was practically a stroll around the park. One of the spectator at Harlem Hill was pretty clever with her sign. She updated it for each loop.
1st loop: You love this hill!
2nd loop: You still love this hill!
3rd loop: You are done with this hill!
Cheering the runners up Harlem Hill
During the final stretch up East Dr, my legs were beginning to cramp up. I ended up having to walk a lot of the inclines. I took the opportunity to stop and take a picture of the Still Hunt statue, the namesake for Cat Hill. The finish line was a sight for sore eyes!
Still Hunt aka Cat Hill
Finish line
Finish: 2:46:36
Click here for my Garmin data.
That was a rather grueling race for me! A combination of the high humidity and my gimpy left leg made for a long grind. I grabbed a bagel with raisins, half a banana, and some water as I went through the finisher chute. I was pretty wiped out, so I started heading back to my hotel. Good thing I was staying close by and didn't need to take the subway.Relive 'Morning Aug 12th'
I vegged out in my room after taking a shower. When lunch time rolled around, I finally mustered up the will to go out for some food. I settled on going to The Halal Guys since it was only about a block away. The first time that I've had their food was actually back home in Southern California. I've been told that their food was better in NYC. Honestly I couldn't tell the difference, the white and red sauces were just as deliciously good on either coast. I'll have to make time to try it from their original location at W 53rd St and 6th Ave. I've heard that their portions are much larger from the cart. I ordered their small combo platter and it was just the right amount of food. As I was paying for my food, the cashier told me about their rewards program and gave me a card that I would need to register online. I took the food back to my room to enjoy.
Small combo platter
After finishing lunch, I resumed vegging out again in my room. After resting for a few hours, I went back out to walk around. I headed over to the 91st St Garden in Riverside Park because You've Got Mail is one of my favorite movies. I even walked by Kathleen Kelly's apartment over on W 89th St.
91st St Garden at Riverside Park
On my way back to my hotel, I stopped in at the McDonald's to buy a small dinner. It was pretty dang humid and I was sweaty pretty profusely from the short walk, so an iced coffee sounded like a great idea. I used the app to buy a large iced hazelnut coffee and a McDouble for $1 a piece. Man, what a bargain!
$1 iced hazelnut coffee and $1 McDouble
Monday 8/13
I woke up early and went for a walk up to Columbia University. Along the way, I stopped in at Tom's Restaurant. As almost everyone knows, the outside of this restaurant was used for Monk's Cafe in the old Seinfeld sitcom. A couple of my coworkers and I have been going through old episodes, so I somewhat felt compelled to finally visit this place. It was pretty empty for breakfast. After looking through their breakfast menu, I decided on their corned beef hash and had coffee for my drink. Their coffee tasted pretty awful. Thankfully even though the corned beef hash was from a can, it was actually pretty decent mixed with some Cholula hot sauce.
Menu
Yucky coffee!
Corned beef hash
After settling the bill, I walked over to the nearby Columbia University. It was only a couple of blocks away. I wanted to check out their bookstore and possibly purchase a polo shirt, but unfortunately they did not open for another hour. I didn't feel like sticking around for that long, so after snapping a quick photo, I started heading back to my hotel.
Columbia University
After packing up my stuff and checking-out of my room, I took the 1 train down to Times Sq - 42nd St to catch a movie at the AMC Empire 25. I used the MoviePass to watch BlacKkKlansman. No doubt about it, this movie was one emotionally charged film. Even though the movie was set a few decades back, we are still dealing with the same issue in present day America. I thought it was very well done and fair. The ending was very poignant to say the least. If you haven't seen it, you should. John David Washington did a fantastic job and was clearly a chip off the old block (Denzel Washington). This was a much better role to show off Adam Driver's acting skills as opposed to Kylo Ren in the current hot mess of post-Lucas Star Wars movies. Goes to show that actors can only do so much with the character that they're given to play. I still can't believe that someone had to go out and prove to me that it could be worse than the Star Wars Prequels... much worse.
After the movie, I stopped in at Go Go Curry on W 38th St to get a quick lunch before heading over to Newark Airport. Instead of ordering the usually grand slam, this time I went with the smaller home run platter. The cashier was pushing the fukujinzuke add-on and since I normally add that to my order, I went ahead with it.
Home run add fukujinzuke
After my meal, I walked over to the Penn Station to catch a NJ Transit train over to the airport. I purchased a one way ticket for $13 from one of the kiosks. I boarded the train once the track number was announced. The conductor came by and canceled the ticket, but didn't collect it since I needed it to exit the train station. After exiting, I then took the AirTrain over to the terminal.
Train ticket to Newark Airport
After going through the TSA security checkpoint, I checked the flight status and saw that my flight into Denver was delayed by almost 3 hrs due to bad weather in the Mid-Atlantic/NYC area. That meant that I would definitely miss my connecting flight in Denver. I talked to a Southwest agent and he got me on the next available flight the next morning at 6:15 am. That meant that I needed to either sleep in the airport or get a room at a nearby hotel. I decided on the latter.
Weather related flight delay
During the extra long wait for my flight, I hopped on the Wyndham website to book a one-nighter at at Days Inn near Denver Airport. When we finally boarded the plane, the pilot informed us that our plane was ready to leave on time but sat at Oakland Airport because it was not cleared to depart. Oh well, safety first! Once the plane landed, I gave the hotel a call for shuttle information. The guy at the front desk informed me that shuttle pick up was from the West Terminal, Door 512, 3rd island. By the time I got checked-in and ready for bed, it was already a little past midnight.
Booked a room near Denver Airport
Tuesday 8/14
I was able to catch a couple of hours of sleep before I needed to get up for a 4 am shuttle back to the airport for my flight home. Thankfully McDonald's was still an option at Denver Airport. From all of the traveling that I do, it would appear that more and more McDonald's are being replaced by expensive "healthier" options at a lot of airports. Unfortunately, the one at Concourse C did not accept any deals from the mobile phone app. For once I had to pay full price! :)
Full price McDonald's!
Flying home via Southwest Airlines
After landing in LAX, I decided to skip the shuttle and just walk to the parking structure. I was about 4 hrs past the time frame that I pre-paid with SpotHero, so when it was time to exit, I was ready to pay extra. However shortly after giving the gate attendant my paperwork, he opened the gate and said that I was good to go without extra cost. Sweet! :)
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