At about 10 pm, I headed out to LAX to catch a red eye flight over to Boston. The ticket was bought through American Airlines, but the flight was operated by JetBlue. Originally, it was scheduled to depart at 11:25 pm. However, prior to leaving for the airport, I was receiving notifications that the flight was delayed to 1:45 am. Instead of having my ride leave so late, I got dropped off at the airport early enough where I would've been on time for the original departure time. After a rather lengthy wait, everyone was boarded on the plane at about 1:30 am before we pushed back from the gate. There weren't any movie available that I wanted to watch, so I put on Spider-Man: No Way Home again. Within a few minutes, I was dozing off, so I turned off the screen and went to sleep.
Flight out to BOS was delayed a couple of hours
Thursday 5/19
The plane landed at Boston Logan Airport just after 10 am. The first thing after getting off of the plane and using the restroom was to get a little breakfast over at Dunkin'. On the mobile app, I ordered the usual avocado & roasted tomato toast. I cashed in my free drink reward to get a large original blend iced coffee.
Breakfast
After I was done with my breakfast, I took the shuttle over to the Airport station to catch the MBTA blue line train. I bought a one way Charlie Ticket for $2.40. Apparently, it didn't count as a "ticket" so instead of inserting it into one of the ticket slots, I needed to tap the ticket on the stall that accepted Charlie Cards. I took that train over to the Government Center station and transfer over to a green line train. I was planning to get off at the Boylston station so it didn't matter which green line that I took. This was my first time riding the T and one thing that I noticed was that their trains were much cleaner than those in NYC.
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Charlie Ticket
Airport Station
After coming out of the Boylston station, I walked through Boston Common on my way to visit Cheers. I had only been here once before during the summer after graduating from high school. It was my favorite TV sitcom of all time. After taking the obligatory pictures of the outside, I went inside to visit their gift shop. Unfortunately, their upstairs gift shop and the Cheers replica TV set was not open. I settled for purchasing a t-shirt in the small gift shop next to the restrooms.
After that short visit, I then headed over to the AMC Boston Common 19 to catch a movie. Along the way, I walked through the Public Garden. On the AMC mobile app, I purchased a ticket for Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness for the 1 pm matinee showing. They did not open the doors until just after 12:30 pm. I used the restroom before finding my reserved seat near the back row. There were only about 20 people total in that particular movie theater.
My one word review... disappointment! Here's my slightly longer review with some mild spoilers: while Dr Strange did behave more like himself for Earth-616, the much anticipated cameos were all a complete waste of such great potential. So much hype for these cameos, but in the end, they were all just a major letdown. Overall it was an entertaining movie, but if you have Disney+, just save your money and wait for it to appear there. That way you're only wasting about 2.5 hours of your time.
In memory of George Robert White
George Washington
Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
The Bob's Burgers Movie trailer
After the movie, I walked over to the FOUND Hotel to check into my room. I was assigned room #506. It was a small hotel, so I took the stairs instead of bothering with the elevator. My room was barely large enough to fit that twin bed! Yet, a tiny bathroom with a sink, a toilet, and a shower was all squeezed in there! One odd thing was that the TV settings were all in Korean! I had to use my cellphone camera to translate everything. All I wanted was to turn off the closed captioning subtitles. :)
So the story behind me staying here when my race was way down in Westport was because I was using up my soon-to-expire hotel credit voucher. I was issued the voucher due to COVID cancellations back in 2020. Back then I was scheduled to run the Run to Remember Boston Half Marathon. I had totally forgotten about that voucher until I received an email notifying me of the impending expiration. Originally, I tried to use them so I could spectate at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, but the costs involved with that was crazy expensive! Instead, I opted for a trip out here almost a month after the marathon when the prices were a lot more reasonable. I still get to scope out the finish line for the Boston Marathon and to visit my old church friends before heading down to Westport to run a different race.
Unique looking room key
Door emergency evacuation plan
Twin bed
A/C unit
Bathroom
TV settings were all in Korean!
View from my window
I made sure not to take a nap, just in case I ended up oversleeping and missing my dinner with a couple of my old church friends. I watched the Everton v. Crystal Palace match where Everton came back to beat Palace and avoided relegation. It was good to see former Spurs player, Dele Alli, being instrumental in turning the game around. The fans invaded the pitch as if they had won the league cup!
Everton v. Crystal Palace
Frank Lampard
Dele Alli
Everton managed to come back and win to avoid relegation!
The fans invaded the pitch as if they had won the league cup! lol
At about 6:15 pm, I headed out to the nearby Parish Cafe & Bar to meet up with my friends. They knew the area and was super kind to take care of everything including the dinner reservation. It had been a while since the last time I had seen them. Back then, they were sans kids. Now, they have 2 of them. While looking over the menu, I saw that they had a decent beer selection. There were a few that I would've wanted to try if I were still drinking. For my meal, I got their meatloaf. I always love a good meatloaf. After dinner, we stopped in at the Tatte Bakery & Cafe next door. My friends bought some desserts to-go, but I didn't get anything since I don't have much of a sweet tooth. They pointed out the poop emoji looking, Chocolate Krembo. I'll have to give that a try next time. I'm sure I'll like it since I do like Mallomars.
Meatloaf
Chocolate Krembo
Friday 5/20
Boy was I tired! I didn't leave the hotel room until just after 10:30 am! I only wanted to do a few things today and one of those things was to check out that final stretch of the Boston Marathon. I took a selfie at the finish line and visited the nearby Boston Marathon Survivor Memorial.
Boston Marathon finish line
Boston Marathon Survivor Memorial
Marathon Place
I then kept heading west and entered the Prudential Center to get a drink at the Dunkin' inside. For some reason, there weren't any signs directing you to this location. It took a little bit of walking around inside to finally find it near the Hynes Convention Center. I skipped the line and ordered a large iced Matcha green tea on the mobile app, using one of my free drink rewards.
Dunkin' Prudential Center
Free large iced matcha latte
After getting my drink, I headed back outside and continued west to the corner of Hereford and Boylston, that famous final turn of that little ol' marathon. I hope to make that turn myself when I finally get the chance to run the Boston Marathon. Along the way back to my hotel, I stopped at the Chick-fil-A that was about a block from the finish line to pick up lunch. Per the usual, I placed my order on the mobile app for a Cobb salad with grilled nuggets and a large Sunjoy. I also used up my reward for a free Chick-fil-A sandwich. To check-in on the app, I had to tap the phone to the sign on the wall. Once my food was ready, I took it back to my room to enjoy. Unfortunately, the room key would not open my room, so I had to go back down to the lobby to get my key reprogrammed. My room was too small to have a desk, so I had to put my food on the window sill.
Hereford and Boylston
Lunch
Two items dominated the local Boston news, the unseasonably warm weather for the weekend and the new orange line trains being taken out due to failure of the braking units. Even though the race on Sunday would be near the water down in Westport, it was still going to be way hotter and humid than I would have preferred! I mostly watched the PGA Championship for the rest of the day. It was somewhat hard to watch Tiger Woods play as he was clearly just a shell of his former self.
For dinner, I walked down to The Halal Guys that was just a block away to use up my free platter reward. At first I thought it would be a waste to use it for a small platter instead of a large, but I needed to start eating less to match the decrease in my running volume. Normally, I would just place my order on their mobile app, but it was a manual process to use the reward. I tried out their new savory beef. When I got up to the counter and ordered it, it would seem that the employee taking my order was confused. She asked me twice and then had to look at the menu. I bought a bottle of Snapple to go with my meal. The savory beef wasn't bad, but I think I'll stick to their tried and true chicken. Later that evening, I watched the usual Friday Night SmackDown.
Small platter of savory beef and Snapple
Tiger Woods @ PGA Championship
WWE Friday night SmackDown! Dear lord, now they have all of the titles!
Saturday 5/21
Shortly after getting up, I placed an order on the mobile app for the Dunkin' that was across the street and around the corner. I ordered a medium original blend coffee, plain and chive & onion stuffed bagel minis. Along the way, a homeless guy, I believe was trying to hit me up for some change. However I couldn't understand him since he was wearing a mask. After finishing my breakfast and relaxing for a bit, I checked out of my room at about 10 am.
Breakfast
I walked over to the Boylston station to take the light rail over to the Airport station. From there, I caught the shuttle over to the Rental Car Center. I found a seat and waited until it was closer to my reservation time. Since there was a line at the Alamo rental counter, I decided to fill out the necessary paperwork using one of the self-service kiosks. When I went to pick up my car in the parking garage, I was given a black Mitsubishi Mirage. The last time I was given this same car model was back in 2015 for the Wabash Trace Marathon in Iowa. That one was pink, but man, these cars really lack power! It struggled mightily to get up to speed. I guess that's what I get for getting an economy car.
Boylston Station
From there, I drove down to the Westport Rivers Vineyard to pick up my race packet. I arrived at just before 1:30 pm. The drive took just under 1.5 hours. Per the email to race participants, the race packet pick-up was opened from 11 am to 2 pm. All runners receive a 13.1% discount at the wine store. We just needed to show them our bibs during check-out. If I were still drinking, that would've been a great incentive to pick up my bib today instead of race morning. As I was picking up my bib and race shirt, I saw one of the volunteers wearing a Liverpool jersey. We briefly chatted about Liverpool's chances of winning the league cup over City and the Spurs chances of qualifying for Champions League. It felt pretty warm being outside for such a brief period that I was not looking forward to running a race tomorrow.
Westport Rivers Vineyard
Race shirt
Back of race shirt
After hopping back in the car, I started heading over to the Baymont in North Dartmouth. Along the way, I stopped at a Target to purchase some snacks and drinks. I bought 2 bags of Pop Corners, a 3 L bottle of water, and a bottle of Gatorade for the race tomorrow. Even with the stop along the way, I was a tad bit early for the 3 pm check-in. The folks at the front desk asked that I come back at 3 pm.
Target
Pop Corners and drinks
To pass the time, I decided to walk over to the nearby McDonald's to have a late lunch. I cashed in some of my reward points to get a free large iced coffee. To my surprise, they gave me an iced black coffee without any light cream and sugar. While I'm used to drinking my hot coffee black, I've never been served with it black whenever I've ordered an iced coffee. Oh well, it wasn't enough for me to complain. While I was about halfway done with my coffee, I placed a second order for 2 Quarter pounders with cheese while using the "buy 1, get 1 for 29 cents" deal on the mobile app.
Late lunch
After I was done with my food, I walked back to the hotel to find that they were already starting to check people in just a few minutes ahead of 3 pm. I got in line to wait for my turn. When it was my turn, the lady at the front desk complained that the computer was running really slow. She eventually assigned me room #131 and gave me my room key. After I got settled into the room, I laid out my flat runner for tomorrow's race. Later that afternoon, I got a knock on my door. I recognized him as the guy that I had saw earlier at the front desk. He was asking if everything was okay. I didn't think too much about it.
Baymont by Wyndham Hotel
Flat runner
At close to 7 pm, I walked over to McDonald's again to pick up dinner. I ordered 2 double cheeseburgers by using the "buy 1, get 1 for 29 cents" deal on the mobile app. I ate my burgers while watching the 147th Preakness Stakes. The horse by the name of Early Voting, would go on to win. After that, I channel surfed until I settled on watching the original Top Gun movie. During the commercial breaks, they would talk about the new Top Gun: Maverick movie. Eventually, they showed the trailer. I would end the day with an episode of Rick and Morty.
Dinner
Early Voting wins 147th Preakness Stakes
Top Gun
Top Gun: Maverick trailer
Planetina
At about 11 pm-ish, I got another knock at my door from the same front desk guy basically asking who the heck I was. Fortunately, I was still awake. He had trouble taking down my name on his phone, so I asked if he wanted me to go with him to the front desk. He needed to straighten something out as my room reservation was still showing up for a room on the second floor. I believe he needed that room for another party. After that got sorted out, I went back to my room to get some rest.
Sunday 5/22
I got ready and left my room at about 7 am to head down to the race over at the Horseneck Beach State Reservation. The drive over took less than 30 minutes. I followed the cars ahead of me into the first lot. We were directed by the volunteers into the western end of the lot. I wasn't sure if we needed to pay for parking. I didn't see anyone pay at the kiosks, but man, it looked pretty pricey especially for those with out-of-state plates ($13 vs. $40).
Welcome, day use parking
NE 3, ATL 28 with 2:08 in 3rd quarter
The half marathon was scheduled to start at 9 am. As the start of the race approached, the DJ announced over the speakers for runners to gather on the road leading onto John Reed Rd. There was no start line banner or sign, so he basically told us to follow the sound of the music playing over the speakers.
Unfortunately, even with the time off from running, both of my Achilles were still quite sore during that first mile. We started with a left turn onto John Reed Rd which turned into Main Highway. Then at about mile 1.5, we made a right turn onto Drift Rd. I was moving at a decent pace, but I noticed that I was already sweating quite a bit. I slowed it down for the second mile, but I was definitely overheating. I pulled over to take a walk break. Also all of the sweating was causing my glasses to slip down my nose. Eventually, I took off my glasses and jogged for a bit. I didn't start hitting a groove until reaching mile 3. I ended up running a little bit with a guy from Hopkinton. At about mile 4.8, we made a right turn onto Hixbridge Rd. About a mile later, we made another right turn onto Horseneck Rd. I took a walk break at miles 7 and 8. I tried to maintain the slow and steady pace, but at about mile 10.6, I took a short walk break. At about mile 10.8, the road curved right into E Beach Rd. Shortly after turning right onto W Beach Rd, I took my final walk break at mile 12. During that final mile, we had to dodge a few of the beachgoers heading over to the beach.
Finish line
Finish: 2:17:09
Click here for my Garmin data
After crossing the finish line, I received my finisher medal. I also got a bottle of water and a bottle of BodyArmor. They had a couple of BodyArmor flavors from which to choose. The purple and gold Mamba Forever bottle caught my eye. It was a strawberry grape flavor which supported the Mamba Sports Foundation. I then started heading over to my car. After I dropped off my bottles, I headed to the post race area to get some recovery food.
Finisher medal
Work hard, be nice, and have fun!
All of the EPL final day matches started at 11 am. While I wanted to catch some of the important matches, I stuck around to recover a bit. I was feeling pretty worn out from the warm and humid day! In the post race area, they had a table where you could print out your race results. I picked up a can of Athletic Brewing non-alcoholic beer. I've had their beer before so I knew that they were pretty darn good for non-alcoholic brew. However I decided to save the beer for later consumption. I picked up a cup of cold chocolate milk and a sample size of Cabot Vermont seriously sharp cheddar cheese. Then I got in line to trade in the meal ticket on my bib for a brown rice with chicken box from the Bon Me food truck. I squirted some Sriracha on it before going to look for a spot to eat it. Fortunately, I found a spot under the tented area for a little respite from the sun. The food wasn't very good, but hey, it'll have to do until I get back to my hotel. Both the cheese and chocolate milk were really good.
Athletic Brewing Company non-alcoholic beer
Chocolate milk and Cabot Vermont Seriously Sharp cheddar cheese
Post race food box
Brown rice with chicken
After I was done with my food and used the portapotty, I hopped in the car and started driving back to my hotel. This time I parked on the northern end of the hotel since my room was down at that end. I caught the second half of the Norwich v. Spurs match where my Spurs won 0-5. It was nice to see my team win handily, securing the 4th spot and earning a spot in the Champions League for next season. Once again, they finish above those sorry ass Gooners. It was also pretty cool to see Man City pull off a comeback to win the league again by 1 point. While I'm not a City fan by any stretch, the more I follow EPL, the more I dislike Liverpool. I'm not a fan of Jurgen Klopp and his sense of entitlement. The worst is how easily their star, Mo Salah, goes down at the slightest contact whenever he has the ball inside the box.
Man City wins the league by 1 point
Final table top half
Final table bottom half
Premier League Champions trophy count
Fernandinho lifts the trophy
Rúben Dias lifts the trophy
Gabriel Jesus
I didn't bother going back out for food for the rest of the day. Instead, I just stayed holed up in my room and finished off my bags of Pop Corner and whatever I had left. Since I would be heading to the airport tomorrow, it was more important for me to finish off all of my drinks.
Monday 5/23
I checked out of my room and dropped off the room key at the front desk. I hopped in the car for the drive up to Boston Logan Airport at just after 4:30 am. I arrived at the Shell gas station next to the Rental Car Center about 20 minutes before 5 am. Having been here last month, I knew to enter the gas station from off of Tomahawk Dr. After I filled up the tank, I dropped off the car and waited for a shuttle to the airport. It would turn out that I didn't need to be there that early as my flight was delayed by about an hour. However, the general TSA line was pretty darn long. The line started down a long corridor before heading over to the Aer Lingus counter where it snaked back and forth before reaching the TSA checkpoint. It wasn't too bad as the line moved at a consistent pace and never once stalled.
Shell gas station
While waiting for my flight, I stopped at the Dunkin' near gate C29 to get some breakfast. On the mobile app, I ordered a medium Sunrise Batch iced coffee and some chive & onion stuffed bagel minis. I found an empty seat across from the coffee shop to enjoy my breakfast. After I was done, I headed over to my gate to find an open seat for the wait.
Dunkin' Gate C29
Medium Sunrise Batch iced coffee
As my flight was on approach to LAX, my parents texted me to let me know that they had a flat tire while on their way to the airport to pick me up. After I got off of the plane, I gave them a call. It would turn out that they had two flat tires with the tread on one tire coming completely off of the wheel! They had to wait a couple of hours to get a tow. I was on my own to figure out a way home.
Lyft/Uber rideshare was showing over $100 for the ride home, so I started looking for the LAX FlyAway bus to take me over to Union Station. Unfortunately, with the ongoing construction, I couldn't find the pick up spot. I decided to hop on the shuttle for a ride over to the Aviation/LAX Station to take the Metro green line. I didn't have my TAP card with me, so I had to purchase a new one from one of the kiosks. For some reason, it wasn't taking credit cards, so I had to use my emergency cash which ended up giving me a bunch of one dollar coins as change. I took the next available train over to the Willowbrook - Rosa Parks Station where I waited to transfer over to the blue line. If you know the area, you would know that that area was just north of Compton and not very nice. My spider-sense was definitely tingling! From there I took the next blue line train up to the 7th St/Metro Center station. Then I transferred over to the red line for a short ride over to Union Station. Next I waited for the Silver Streak bus at the Patsaouras Transit Plaza. It's nice that they had built an overpass to the El Monte Busway and moved the bus stop to the east portal side instead of having to cross the street on the Alameda St side. I took that bus all the way over to the Pomona Transit Center. The last time that I was here was about 5 years ago and back then the area wasn't in very good shape. It was sad to see that it has only gotten worse. From past experience, I knew that it would be better to wait for the 286 bus at the bus stop across the street from the Pomona Police Station. Along the way I stopped in at the Starbucks near the corner of Garey Ave and Mission Blvd to get a drink. I was done with my drink before I even got to the bus stop. Taking public transportation home took nearly 5 hours. It goes to show how public transportation in LA is incredibly lacking and that living in LA requires you to own a car. On top of that, taking public transportation is not very safe at all. At the very least, if I need to take public transportation again from the airport, I will need to bypass that trip on the green and blue lines and take a Lyft/Uber/FlyAway ride over to Union Station from LAX.
Patsaouras Transit Plaza
Grande salted caramel cream cold brew
In case you're wondering, a week later I received a charge on my credit card for the toll that I had incurred.
No comments:
Post a Comment