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Saturday 7/28
I had an early morning flight on Southwest over at LAX. I got ready, gassed up the car, and drove over to once again park at the WallyPark Premier Parking garage. This time I found a corner parking stall up on the 5th floor. I grabbed my bags and took the elevator down to catch the shuttle over to the terminal. There was a very large crowd of people waiting for a shuttle. That shuttle was packed to the gills and somehow I ended up sitting at the very back of the shuttle. It would turn out that I was the only one getting off at the first terminal. It was a tight squeeze getting off of the shuttle as nobody in the aisle got off or out of the way for me to get through. Good thing I'm a skinny dude!
Southwest
It was a short 1 hr flight up to SFO. Once I got off of the plane, I made my over to catch the AirTrain. I took that over to the BART station. I used my ticket from last year to enter. It was actually a pretty decent uneventful ride over to the Embarcadero station. I was hoping that I had enough money left on the ticket, but it would turn out that I had less than $3 on it. All of the add value machines only took cash and only $1, $5, or $10 bills. I only had $20 bills. The change machines for cash was on the outside. Brilliant setup, you knuckleheads. How about putting a machine there that actually takes something besides cash? The BART employee at the booth wasn't there, but eventually I found him. He told me to exit through the side gate next to the turnstiles, get the change, come back in to add the value to my ticket, then exit with the ticket. I guess I could've just taken off, but that wouldn't be right. After adding money to my ticket and exiting, I purchased a Clipper card for $3, so I could avoid all of this in the future should I come back to San Francisco. With all of the different ways to pay electronically these days, I just don't carry much cash on me.
After exiting out to Market St, I walked over to the Hyatt Regency to catch the complimentary shuttle over to the expo at Fort Mason. Last year, the pick-up spot was on Spear St, but this year it was back on Market St. The bus dropped us off on Marina Blvd in front of the Safeway supermarket. From there it was a short walk over to the Festival Pavilion for the expo.
Expo
Upon entering the pavilion, there were several banners on each side with the names of each of the participants in this Sunday's event. They had signs next to each banner telling you the alphabet range. After finding my name, I made my way to the back to pick up my bib and race shirt. Then on the way out, I checked with the challenge booth to see what I get for being a 3 consecutive year loyal runner. For that, I received a pint glass. This year was actually my 4th consecutive year. If everything remains the same and I run this race again next year, I should receive a metal water bottle for having run the race 5 consecutive years. Next to the challenge booth, they were taking early registration for next year's race. I was mildly interested in running one of the half marathons until I saw that they were wanting $95 for either half. That's just not good enough of a price without knowing whether or not the 1st half marathon will once again get to run across the Golden Gate Bridge. I will have to make my decision at a later time. Just as I was leaving I bumped into my friend Dexter who was once again volunteering.
One of several participant name banners
Found my name
Bib pick-up
Race shirt and expo haul
3 consecutive years loyal runner pint glass
Dexter!
I then walked back to the location where we were dropped off to catch the bus back to Market St. After getting off of the bus, I walked over to the nearby McDonald's to get a Quarter Pounder with cheese sandwich for $1. This McDonald's charged me 10 cents for a paper bag. I always thought that California was trying to discourage the use of plastic bags. It would turn out that this fee was local to SF and applied to all take-out bags. After I got my burger, I headed straight over to the Metreon to catch an afternoon showing of Blindspotting. I ate the burger before going into the movie theater. I thought the movie was pretty well done. The movie dealt with a lot of the big social issues that the bay area has been dealing with in the recent years. There was a good balance of comedy and drama, all done with some freestyle rap thrown in.
Since I still had an hour or so before check-in time and I was relatively close by, I decided to hoof it over to Hai's Restaurant to see if I could get some delicious spicy chicken rice with mint leaves. I arrived at about 2:30 pm, but they were already locking up. I was pretty disappointed as their listed hours say that they're opened until 3 pm on Saturdays. It was quite gross walking through the Tenderloin, so I didn't stick around. From there I hoofed it up to the WorldMark San Francisco located at the corner of Sutter St and Stockton St. It was my hotel/vacation rental for the weekend. It was my first time staying at this property as an owner. Upon arrival, I inquired on the status of my room. The lady at the front desk checked and informed me that it wasn't ready. As I proceeded to wait in the lobby, the concierge beckoned me over to his station to give me a visitor package as well as to invite me to take a quick in-room survey on Monday morning at 8 am in return for 3,000 Wyndham Reward points. At about 4 pm, I was able to check-in and go up to my room.
Hotel history
After I unpacked my bag and went through my expo haul, I decided to go back out to get something to eat at one of my favorite spots, Super Duper Burgers. Since the elevator was so slow going up, I decided to take the stairs going down. The sign said that it was 115 steps. Since it was between lunch and dinner, the place wasn't quite as busy. I ordered the mini burger with everything and added cheese and a fried egg. It was delicious indeed, but the runny egg made it quite messy. Maybe I should have them cook the egg hard or well-done next time. Before heading back to my room, I stopped in at the 7-Eleven next door to buy some drinks for the weekend.
115 steps to the 7th floor
Mini burger with everything add cheese, egg
Drinks from 7-Eleven
Back at my room I laid out my flat runner. After a little while of watching TV, I went back out for the usual McDonald's the night before a race. Fortunately there was one about a block away. I used the app on my phone to get a McDouble for $1 and large fries for $1. That's a pretty sweet deal that I cannot pass up even if I didn't have a marathon the next day! Funny thing was at this location, they did not charge me 10 cents a piece for the bags used in my to-go orders! Did they not get the memo?
Flat runner
$1 McDouble, $1 large fries
Sunday 7/29
The full marathon was scheduled to start at 5:30 am, so I got ready and headed out at about 4:30 am. As with all hotels in the area, the doors were locked for the night. The security guard opened the door for me. Along the way, a fellow marathon participant asked me if I was headed to the start and if he could walk with me. With so many belligerent homeless people in the area these days, I wasn't looking forward to walking to the start alone, so I definitely welcomed the company. His name was Rick, he was from the Orange County area, and it was his very first marathon. He told me that he was about to order an Uber when I showed up. I told him it wasn't necessary. We were only about 1 mile away. Along the way, I gave him a few pointers. When we arrived at the end of Market St and had reached the starting area, I pointed to the location of the portapotties and the entrance to the corrals. Before going our separate ways, I gave him my beer ticket and wished him luck in his first marathon.
I then headed to the gear check area to drop off my bag. They were much more organized this year. The UPS trucks were already there with the volunteers ready to take your gear bag. Before heading inside my corral, I got in line for one of the portapotties.
Gear check
Elite corral
Corral A
Start line
The race started promptly at 5:30 am after the singing of the national anthem. I felt bad for the singer as she messed up the lyrics a bit. Sometimes I can barely speak a few phrases let alone sing a song that early in the morning! The first couple of miles went okay until I got to that first climb at Fort Mason. I started feeling the tightness in the left glute and hamstring, so the third mile was my last quick mile. Slowing down the pace helped a bit, but the leg was just not good enough to handle the long climb up to the Golden Gate Bridge.
It wasn't all that bad running across the bridge via the sidewalks. It wasn't too crowded since only those running the full marathon got to run across. I was pretty pooped once I got to the other side. It was good to run on some softer trail down to the other side. However once I got onto Conzelman Rd, I had to pull over and walk up the hill. It was just too steep for my sore left leg to handle. Once I got back up to the bridge, I practically had to force myself to start jogging again. After getting off of the bridge, we headed towards Golden Gate Park, this time via the California Coastal Trail which took us to Lincoln Blvd. As I was heading down 27th Ave, I was passed by my friend the Endorphin Dude. It was good to see him moving faster again!
1st half: 2:16:17
This year they moved a couple of miles into the Presidio area and around the bridge instead of having us run circles around the various lakes inside Golden Gate Park. Unfortunately without the bridge miles for those running the first half, we were stuck with the first half marathoners for a lot longer as they got to run several miles through Golden Gate Park. I actually thought it was a good trade-off for them. Having run across many bridges, the Golden Gate Bridge is somewhat overrated. It's always foggy, wet, and slippery. We certainly had a lot more elbow room once they peeled off for their finish line. Even though I struggled once again in the park, there were many spectators present with their clever signs to cheer you on!
:)
As I was approaching mile 19 and getting ready to exit the park, I was looking forward to getting some hash-browns at the McDonald's on Haight St. I was denied my treat as the fast food restaurant had been shut down! My bay area friends would later inform me that that place had a major drug problem and this was the city's solution. I was hoping to hit the back-up McDonald's on 16th St and Potrero Ave, but I guess it just wasn't meant to be as I was routed south on Florida St to 17th St just about a block before reaching it.
McDonald's has been shut down!
Haight St and Buena Vista Ave
With about a couple of miles to go, I came up to an unofficial aid station that had both beer and mimosa! I definitely would have partaken if I still drank alcohol. My legs were cramping up pretty badly at this point so I was having trouble even maintaining a 15 min per mile pace. I hate those stinkin' Giants, but it always great to see AT&T Park each time I run this race as I knew that I only had about 1 more mile left before reaching the finish line.
Beer & mimosa!
AT&T Park
Finish line
2nd half: 3:05:44
Finish: 5:22:01
Click here for my Garmin data.
Finisher medal
That was a pretty rough marathon for me. I was hoping to be able to finish in under 5 hrs, but that turned out to be just wishful thinking. I had been dealing with a tight left hamstring and glute which really made it very difficult climbing all of those hills. Despite dealing with these ailments, I actually enjoyed all of the course changes. Before exiting the finisher chute, I grabbed a chocolate milk and texted my friend to let her know that I had finished. I guess the timing was perfect since she was in charge of the volunteers and her shift had just ended. We met up in front of the Ferry Building where I bumped into another local friend... Tony aka Endorphin Dude. That was when he told me that he had set a new PR for the marathon. Congrats to him!
Chocolate milk
Kathy!
Tony aka Endorphin Dude!
After the obligatory photos and goodbyes, I started heading towards the UPS trucks to get my gear bag. Along the way, I stopped by the Taiwan booth where they were passing out cans of Sarsaparilla soda. Running a marathon in Taiwan has been on my mind lately. I will have to look into running one soon. After getting my bag, I went over to the challenge tents by the celebration festival area to pick up my California Dreamin' bonus medal which I qualified for by running both the Surf City Marathon and San Francisco Marathon in the same year.
Sarsaparilla soda
Celebration festival area
California Dreamin' medal
After getting back to my room, I got cleaned up and relaxed in my room for a couple of hours. I then rolled out to get a late lunch at the nearby Lori's Diner. I decided to come here because my hotel gave me a voucher for 20% off my meal, it was a short walk from my hotel, and they appeared to serve a good corned beef hash. After being seated right away and looking through the menu, I went with their corned beef hash and a vanilla milkshake to go with it. The milkshake was pretty standard. It hit the spot and was a good reward for finishing the marathon. The corned beef hash was one of the better ones that I've eaten. This wasn't the stuff that came out of a can. It was served with a couple of fried eggs. The service was great and the food was pretty decent, however I thought it was a bit pricey for diner food. I think I will only return if I have a huge craving for some good corned beef hash.
Vanilla milkshake
Corned beef hash
Back at my room, I proceeded to veg out and watch a bunch of TV. I ended up watching most of Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation. I had not seen either movie as I'm not a big fan of Tom Cruise. I did find them to be pretty entertaining and I now felt adequately prepared to watch the new Mission Impossible: Fallout although I will have to wait a few more weeks before I'm allowed to watch it with my MoviePass.
For a quick dinner, I went back to McDonald's and used the app to get the McDouble and large fries for a $1 a piece. Very hard to pass up such a good deal!
$1 McDouble, $1 large fries
Monday 7/30
One of the Wyndham representatives stopped by my room at 8 am. The survey had questions concerning WorldMark features that I've never heard of since the start of my ownership back in 2016. For example, I've never heard of Triple Play or the Blue Thread. That prompted him to schedule me for an account update at 9:30 am. I thought that the update would last maybe 1 hr tops, but it ran right up until it was time for me to check out at 12 pm! It ended when I finally realized that they were yet again trying to sell me more credits. That was way too much work for 3,000 Wyndham Rewards points. They usually give me 15,000 points for sitting through something that long! I had to quickly pack up my stuff once I got back to my room. Had I known that I would have to sit through one of those lengthy sales sessions, I would've packed up my stuff when I got up this morning.
After dropping off my room keys at the front desk, I headed back to Hai's Restaurant for lunch. As much as I hated to walk back into the nastiness of the Tenderloin, I just couldn't leave San Francisco without eating their famous spicy chicken rice with mint leaves! It's nothing fancy, but it's really good!
Spicy chicken rice with mint leaves
After I paid for my meal, I walked over to the Civic Center station to catch the BART over to SFO for my evening flight home.
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