For this trip, I had a 6 am morning flight out of LAX. I arrived at the Airport Center Express parking structure a few minutes after 4 am. Most of the parking spots were already taken, so I had to drive all the way up to the roof before I found plenty of spots still available. When I took the elevator down to catch a shuttle over to the airport, there wasn't one for the Airport Center, so I walked over to the Crowne Plaza hotel to catch one of their shuttles.
Apparently when I booked my flight it was a saver fare, so I wasn't able to select my seat. They assigned me a seat during check-in. That's pretty much a guaranteed middle seat. I didn't have a problem with that as I don't need that much elbow space. I was more worried with having to board in the last boarding group and there not being any overhead compartment space for my carry-on. It would turn out to be an unnecessary worry as there was plenty of space when I got on the plane.
Roof level of Airport Center Express parking structure
I landed at SeaTac Airport at about 9 am. I made my way over to the LINK Station to take the light rail into Downtown Seattle. I had added money on my Orca card prior to my trip, so I didn't have to wait in line to use one of the ticket kiosks. Even so, I had just missed the Northbound train just as I got to the top of the escalator. Once the next train arrived, it took about 30 minutes to get to the Stadium Station where I got off. From there I walked over to the expo at the CenturyLink Field Event Center.
Per the usual with a Rock n' Roll race, the bib and shirt pick-up process was fast and very well organized. The race shirt was pretty much the same design as the one that I had received in San Diego. Once again the design was okay, but the quality of the shirt felt cheap.
Bib pick-up
Race shirt
Just like last weekend, I went through the official merchandise area only to find my name on the participant banner. Just as I was headed out of that area and making my way into the rest of the expo, I bumped into my friends from Chicago. I gave them my beer ticket, so I wouldn't have to give it to a stranger tomorrow. After a brief chat and the obligatory photo, we went our separate ways.
Found my name
Bumped into friends from Chicago
I stopped by the Rock n' Roll Series area to check out the 2020 pre-sale price which was the standard $69 for the marathon. It would turn out that I had made the right call by registering on Global Running Day which took place on 6/5 for $59.99. I saved myself $9.01. Sure I didn't get a free t-shirt, but I seriously don't need another shirt!
2020 presale
Expo haul
After I was done with the expo, I started heading over to waterfront to eat my usual lunch at Ivar's Fish Bar. When I got to Alaskan Way from Madison St, I was wondering why it was so dang sunny. I looked up and noticed that they had already removed a good portion of the viaduct! They had been talking about doing that for several years!
Viaduct finally being torn down!
I got in line and when it was my turn, I ordered the 3 pc Alaskan pollock, cup of white chowder, and soda deal for $14.99. While waiting for my food to be ready, I got some malt vinegar for the fish. After a short wait, I got my food and found a spot to eat my food.
3 pc Alaskan pollock, cup of white chowder, and root beer
After I was done with my food, I started heading over to the Pacific Place shopping center to catch a movie at the AMC movie theater. The route I took involved climbing the stairs at the Pike Street Hill Climb. My legs were pretty rubbery by the time I got all the way up to the Public Market Center.
No more viaduct
Public Market Center
There was a lot of construction going on inside the Pacific Place. The more direct escalator up to the top floor was out of commission. Once I got up to the top, I noticed that there was yet again a large crowd of people waiting to get a table at Din Tai Fung. I know that they're very popular and well known, but I never had the urge to eat at a DTF. Maybe one year, I'll order something to-go.
The movie I watched was Dark Phoenix. In short, it was a not a very good movie. In fact, I don't think any of the X-Men movies have been very good. The story always focused on how the mutants were treated poorly by non-mutants. This was more of the same. I was hoping it would be a bit different with Jean Grey becoming Dark Phoenix, but they defaulted to the same old story. As if an overused story wasn't enough, the acting was uninspiring and the special effects weren't impressive. So yeah, don't bother watching this poorly executed money grab.
After the movie, I walked over to WorldMark Seattle - The Camlin to check into my room. Once again, they invited me to an owner update even though I informed them that I had just attended one last weekend. They insisted with the promise of a complimentary lunch as well as 15,000 Wyndham Rewards points. For this stay, I was able to score one of the courtyard units. There was some sort of gathering or party taking place in the courtyard area, so it felt a bit awkward walking through there to get to my unit. I also noticed that there were a lot of gnats flying around. The unit inside wasn't any better than the regular units that I've stayed at in the past 2 years. In fact there was an issue with accessing the channel guide for the TV. Although it was a minor inconvenience, help from the front desk wasn't able to resolve the issue. They needed their cable provider to send someone out to look into it. The guy I spoke to mentioned that authorization was required from their manager who happened to be out.
Courtyard unit
After getting settled into my room, I walked over to the Westlake Station to catch the light rail down to the International District/Chinatown Station to meet up with my friends for dinner. We went to our usual spot, Tsukushinbo. Although my friends had made a reservation, it turned out that they weren't very busy. The place used to be very crowded when we came on a Friday back when the race was on Saturday. Always better to be safe than sorry. We all ordered their 3 item teishoku as it was a better bang for your buck. The 3 items that I selected were saba (mackerel), tempura, and sashimi. As usual, we had some good conversations which included talking about life after marathon running. Even as the youngest in the group, I was already considering winding down on running full marathons.
Miso soup
3 item teishoku
The usual suspects at Tsukushinbo
After dinner, we went our separate ways. As for me, before heading back to my hotel, I headed over to Uwajimaya to buy some water for tomorrow's race.
Water from Uwajimaya
Back at my room, I laid out my flat runner before getting ready for bed.
Flat runner
Sunday 6/9
The race was scheduled to start at 6:30 am right next to the Space Needle. I planned my morning routine to get to the Seattle Center area about an hour before. It was a nice peaceful morning walk over to the start.
Start line
I made my way over to the Pacific Northwest Ballet Exhibition Hall to drop off my gear bag. This was a much better setup than the usual UPS trucks that they've used in past years. I used the restrooms before heading back out to the starting corral. Sure beats using one of the portapotties!
Gear check building
Gear check inside
I started the race out of corral 2. I was hoping to bump into my faster friends, but I didn't see them until the race started. Per the usual, I went out a bit fast during that first mile. I thought it was pretty cool to make that turn into the I-5 express tunnel which I've only seen while in a car. I was starting to feel discomfort in my right arch, so I made sure to slow down during that second mile. The slow down didn't really help as the discomfort got worse. I had to jog-walk the next couple of miles for the discomfort to subside a bit.
I thought about stopping for a quick pic when I saw someone dressed up as a clam at the Ivar's on Northlake Way about a quarter mile from mile 6. I thought that I should keep on moving since I was having those pesky foot issues so early in the race. After a long uphill climb up 3rd Ave, I finally reached Kerry Park at about mile 12. It was such a beautiful view so I pulled over to take a photo of the Seattle skyline.
View of from Kerry Park
It sucked to come up to mile 13 and see the half marathoners turn right for the finish line while me and my fellow marathoners continue on for another 13 more miles. One good thing was that my legs started to feel better during the long climb up Aurora Ave. This year we kept going until we took a loop around Green Lake.
Before running about a mile inside Woodland Park, the course took us out to an out-and-back on Evanston Ave. There was a Mickey Mouse at the turnaround. My friend, Heather, was right behind me. I ran a bit with her when she caught me, but my legs were cramping up, so I had to pull over and walk. Running through Woodland Park was one of my favorite sections, but my legs were pretty spent to really enjoy the softer woodsy terrain.
Christmas Mickey!
Caught by Heather!
After exiting Woodland Park, it was about a 4 mile mostly downhill run to the finish line down at the Seattle Center. There was one nice final climb at about mile 25 over the Aurora Bridge.
Finish: 4:56:58
Click here for my Garmin data.
After crossing the finish line, I got my finisher medal. I was happy to be able to finish the race in under 5 hrs. Further down the finisher chute, I got a banana and some post race snacks and drinks. My hands were full.Relive 'Rock n Roll Seattle Marathon'
Finish line
Finisher medal
Post race goodies
I bumped into my friends just outside the gear check building. I got my gear bag to free up my hands. Before heading out I used the restroom to clean all of the salt and what not off of my face. After we all got our stuff, we gathered for a post-race photo around the fountain area before heading over to the beer garden.
Marathon Maniacs
Since I wasn't drinking, they went on ahead while I took some post race medal pictures. I also went inside the marathon-only post race food area to check out the food. I ate a not-so-good sausage, egg and cheese on English muffin. It was definitely not a tasty McDonald's breakfast sandwich that I'm used to eating.
Finisher medal
Marathon post race food
I hung out with my friends in the beer garden for a little bit before we all went our separate ways. On my way back to my room, I came across a store called, Lady Yum. Apparently they're a wine bar selling macarons.
Lady Yum!
After getting back to my room and getting cleaned up, I relaxed a bit before going back to the lobby to attend yet another owner update. Just like last weekend, there was no presentation. At least I got food this time even though it was very unimpressive. The salesman and I had a pretty good conversation concerning my ownership. I'm sure he was hoping that I would buy some more credits, but eventually he knew that I wasn't in any position to purchase. So for the first time ever, he had me sign a document basically saying that I had declined to make any more purchases that would preserve my protected pricing. Finally, someone listened to me. Maybe now they'll stop pressuring me to attend another owner update. At least I got 15,000 Wyndham Rewards points for my time. That's good enough for 1 free night stay at a Wyndham hotel.
WorldMark complimentary lunch
After watching some TV and relaxing a bit in my room, I headed out to get food at Dick's over on Broadway near Olive Way. It was a bit of an uphill walk to get there. I guess I was a tad tired from the marathon and having to sit through another sales pitch. This was my first time getting some Dick's burgers. Some of my local friends talk about it like some Californians talk about the Double Double at In-n-Out. There were several lines and they were all long. Thankfully they moved fairly quickly. Once I got up to the window, I ordered 2 Dick's Deluxe. I didn't have to wait long for my burgers before I was on my way back to my room.
Dick's
Bag of Dick's
Monday 6/10
Boy was I tired. It felt great to sleep in a bit. I got up at around 7 am. I ate some of yesterday's post race snacks and watched some morning news on TV. Eventually, I got ready, packed up, and checked out at about 11 am.
I walked over to the Pacific Place to catch another movie at the AMC movie theater. I used my last movie for the week on my A-List to watch The Secret Life of Pets 2. I haven't seen part 1, but it was the only movie left that looked like something that I wanted to watch. It turned out to be a movie where you could watch it without having seen the first one. They pretty much started the movie by introducing all of the main characters. The movie had its funny moments, but I don't think I'm their target audience. Eventually the movie grew to become tedious and laborious for me to watch. It probably would have meant more to me if I were starting a new family.
After the movie, I walked over the Pike Market Place to eat lunch at Uli's Famous Sausage. Fortunately I found an empty table. This place can get packed at a moment's notice. I ordered the usual sausage platter. My four choices were Hungarian, Cajun Andouille, Nurnberger, and Polish Kielbasa. These four have become my go-to flavors.
Public Market
Uli's Famous Sausage
Hungarian, Cajun Andouille, Nurnberger, and Polish Kielbasa
After I was done with lunch, I walked over to the University Link Station at the corner of 3rd Ave and Seneca St. The light rail was pretty packed with quite a few people also heading for the airport.
Once I got to the airport, I found a spot to sit down and finish off my last bottle of water. I then found a restroom before getting in line for TSA screening.
Although my gate was in Concourse N, I walked over to Concourse B to get some food at McDonald's. Along the way, I saw that Lucky Louie Fish Shack had taken over the spot where Ivar's used to be. It sort of saddened me that Lucky Louie sold similar food to Ivar's. They did however have a more extensive menu compared to Ivar's. I think I'll give them a try on my next trip.
Lucky Louie Fish Shack
When I got to McDonald's, I used the mobile app to buy an order of medium french fries for $1. I was actually surprised that even such deal was available.
$1 medium french fries at McDonald's
On the flight home, I first tried to catch some Z's. However the guy sitting to my left had zero sense of personal space. He kept leaning on my arm or hit me with his elbow with each page turn, so eventually I gave up on the sleep. I then watched a couple episodes of Bob's Burger. One of the episodes was a really weird one called, Brunchsquatch. It was weird because it had several different animation made by fans all throughout the episode. I followed that up by trying to watch the first The Secret Life of Pets movie. Unfortunately the story was a bit weird and twisted. It couldn't hold my attention as I just kept dozing off. I found that the story did not connect very well with part 2. Some of the animal's personality (e.g. Gidget and Snowball) changed quite a bit between movies.
The plane landed at about 10:15 pm. It wasn't until about 10:45 pm by the time I got off of the plane and made my way to the island to wait for the shuttle back to my car. There was an Airport Express shuttle right when I got there, but unfortunately it was packed to the gills. The airport was pretty busy with lots of traffic so I decided not to wait for another shuttle and just walk back to my car. It turned out to be a nice quiet evening walk. Other than that I really dislike flying in and out of LAX. It's such an inconvenient airport.
Along the way home, I stopped by the gas station to fill up the tank, so I wouldn't have to wake up a bit earlier for work the next day. I also stopped in at the McDonald's at that gas station to pick up a couple of McDoubles for $3 to fill up my other tank. :)
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