After eating lunch from one of my favorite spots during the pandemic, Golden Noodle & Grill, it was time to hit the road for Las Vegas. Per the usual, I rolled into the Chevron gas station to fill up the gas tank before hopping on the 60 freeway.
#40
People are definitely traveling more these days, as the drive took about an hour longer compared to just a few months ago. I arrived at WorldMark Tropicana at about a quarter after 5 pm. I was checked-in by the same lady that checked me in about a month ago. She thought that was I quite familiar looking to her when I mentioned it. I was assigned unit #11106. That was again followed by a visit to the concierge table where the lady tried her hardest to get me to attend another owner update. She continued to increase the gift card amount, but I was just not interested.
WorldMark Tropicana
After I got settled in, I went back out to pick up dinner. Originally, I was going to get something from McDonald's at the nearby location at the corner of Tropicana Ave and Jones Blvd. However, their lousy app was having issues again, so I showed up at the restaurant to see if I could order in person. However I came to find that the restaurant lobby wasn't even open. They wanted you to call in your order or go through drive-thru. Both options sounded like such a hassle as I don't know if they would take an app deal while ordering through the drive-thru kiosk, so I hopped back into my car and drove to the nearby Chick-fil-A. I never have any issues ordering off of their app. I ordered the usual Cobb salad with grilled nuggets and a Chick-fil-A sandwich. I picked up my food via drive-thru and ate it back at my unit.
Cobb salad with grilled nuggets and Chick-fil-A sandwich
Flat runner
Saturday 3/20
I got ready and left my unit at about a quarter after 6 am. The drive over to the Lovell Canyon Road took about 30 minutes. When I got there, the start area was already pretty packed, so I had to drive down a little bit further to find a spot along the side of the 160. Once I parked the car, I walked over to the start area to pick up my race packet as well as to see those running in the marathon or the 50k start their race at 7 am. My friend, Robert, was running the marathon and my other friend, Deo, was walk/jogging the 50k.
After I saw my friends start their race, I used the portapotty and headed back to my car to get ready for my race. It was a bit chilly and breezy while waiting for the start of the race. I was glad that I wore a long sleeve shirt as I remembered it being colder here than back at the Vegas area. After the usual pre-race photos with a couple of my local Vegas friends, it was time to run my race!
Lovell Canyon
Race swag
Race shirt
Back of race shirt
Robert and Deo
Marathon & 50k start
Start line
Karen
Mike
The race stared at 7:30 am. Man, my allergies were kind of out-of-control especially with the strong wind gusts! The tree pollen count is always higher here than back at home. My legs definitely did not feel fresh from the get-go. They had not fully recovered from having to cover 50k, 2 weekends ago. I didn't have too much power in my legs for the climbs, so I made sure to conserve energy early on in the race.
I believe that there were SRLA kids out there either running the marathon or a shorter distance to replace the LA Marathon that would've taken place this weekend. That's rather a shame as the atmosphere for the LA Marathon would've been perfect for someone's first marathon. It would've been totally opposite of this small quiet race especially with so many people lining the course to cheer you on in a big city marathon.
There was a young female runner that was quite strong running the uphill sections. She would always take off and run ahead of me. I think that eventually wore her out as she had to walk when we both reached the aid station at around mile 9 after the last major climb. I was able to keep on going as it was mostly downhill all the way to the finish line, but she couldn't keep up. While I was able to open up my stride a bit, I wasn't going too fast as the impact was quite jarring to the hips on the downhills.
Finish: 2:14:15
Click here for my Garmin data.
After I crossed the finish line, I received my finisher medal. I hung out around the area for a bit. I cheered on my fellow finishers and saw the young lady that basically paced me for the first 8+ miles cross the finish line about 2 minutes behind me. The old wise man won this round. :)
I then headed over to the post-race table to pick up a banana and some salty snacks. I also got to chat a little bit with Joyce, the race director about some of her upcoming races.
Race photo
Finish: 2:14:15
Click here for my Garmin data.
After I crossed the finish line, I received my finisher medal. I hung out around the area for a bit. I cheered on my fellow finishers and saw the young lady that basically paced me for the first 8+ miles cross the finish line about 2 minutes behind me. The old wise man won this round. :)
Finisher medal
Fellow finisher
Finish line
Post race snack table
Finisher medal and post race snacks
As I was getting ready for my drive back to my timeshare rental property, I noticed that the concierge had texted me, asking me if I wanted to attend an owner's update today. Since I wasn't planning on attending, I figured that I would wait until I got back to respond. She's so dang persistent! Since my gas tank was pretty empty, I stopped at the Chevron gas station on the way back to fill it up.
Gas
I eventually got myself out the door to go pick up a very late lunch. I went to the usual Jollibee. While I did get my favorite items, palabok fiesta, pineapple juice, and a peach mango pie, I didn't get any Chickenjoy. Instead, I got their Amazing Aloha Yumburger. To my surprise, that burger was actually pretty dang delicious! It's good to try something new every now and then.
Amazing Aloha Yumburger
Palabok fiesta
Pineapple juice
Later that evening, I contemplated whether I should skip dinner. I ended up deciding on getting food from Chick-fil-A mostly because I was craving a frosted lemonade. Using their mobile app, I placed my order for a Spicy Southwest salad with grilled nuggets to go with the frosted lemonade. Even if I'm not very hungry, I can always still eat a salad.
Spicy Southwest salad with grilled nuggets and frosted lemonade
Sunday 3/21
I was all packed and ready for an early drive home. I was checked-out of my unit and on the road at about 7:30 am. The earlier I leave, the less traffic I would encounter along the way. I made good time and got home before 11 am.
For lunch, I got lunch at Chipotle. In addition to the usual chicken burrito bowl, I also ordered their new quesadilla to give that a try. It wasn't bad, but not really worth it. For the price, I would rather just get a second burrito bowl. Overall, this made for a nice recovery meal.
Quesadilla and chicken burrito bowl
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