I got ready and left the house at just before 3:30 am to go catch an early flight out of Ontario Airport for San Francisco. I parked in lot #5 which was $13 per day. My first leg would take me out to Phoenix. Originally when I had booked my flight with Southwest, it was supposed to be a stop in Las Vegas with no plane change. Overall timewise, it wasn't too much of change. My boarding position for the first leg was B4 and I was able to get an aisle seat near the front of the plane.
The plane landed at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport at about 6:30 am and parked at gate D12. I exited into a newly built concourse in terminal 4 that I've never been to before. They had signs on the wall showing that new concessions will be coming soon. One of them was my favorite, Chick-fil-A! I first walked over to my connecting gate D8 to check things out. Since I still had plenty of time before my connecting flight, I hoofed it over to gate B20 to pick up breakfast at McDonald's. I used the BOGO breakfast sandwich mobile app deal to get 2 Sausage McMuffin with egg sandwiches. I took my food back over to my gate before I ate the 2 sandwiches. I had forgotten how big this airport was as that was quite a bit of walking. It would seem as though the rest of the terminal did not have air conditioning as I was a sweaty mess by the time I got to my gate. My boarding position for the second leg was B18. I was able to get a window seat in a row with an older couple. They ended up being a bit too touchy feely for my taste. Maybe that's why that seat was still open. I ended up taking a nap for most of that stretch.
New concourse in terminal 4
Chick-fil-A, coming soon!
Gate D8
Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport
McDonald's by gate B20
BOGO breakfast sandwich
The plane landed at San Francisco Airport at about a quarter before 10 am and parked at gate B12. The terminal looked really nice. It looked like terminal 1 had recently been redeveloped as the Harvey Milk Terminal. Here's a short article on the redevelopment.
After using the restroom, I started following signs for the Airtrain. Even though the blue line showed up first, I waited for the red line to take me over to Garage G/BART station. I didn't know if I had any value on my Clipper card. When I tapped my card at the turnstile, it gave me the insufficient amount alert. I got in line for one of the fare kiosks to add value to my card. The interface was every bit as clunky as I remembered it to be. It took a couple of tries, but I was able to add all of my left over dollar coins and other loose change to get the $10 that I needed for the ride into downtown San Francisco.
Women, all, and men restrooms
The BART ride took almost 40 minutes for me to reach the Montgomery St Station. From there, I took the long hike up to Fort Mason for the race expo. I headed north on Montgomery St and veered left onto Columbus Ave. Once I reached Bay St, I turned left which took me to Fort Mason. I actually bumped into my friend while on Bay St. What were the odds? In the week leading up to race weekend, I had reached out to the race organizers by messaging them on both their website and Facebook. I had inquired if they were once again running the usual free shuttle service between the Hyatt Regency on Market St over to the race expo at Fort Mason. The website had no mention of it. The response per the website was utterly useless as it was a canned generic auto-response. Thankfully, the responder on Facebook was able to let me know that there would be no shuttle service this year.
Ghirardelli at Larkin St/Bay St
Prior to entering the Festival Pavilion at Fort Mason, I checked out the Brigantine Galilee that I've walked past many many times since the race expo had been at this venue.
Brigantine Galilee
The layout of the race expo was pretty much identical to years prior. Before heading in, I first used the restroom off to the side at the entrance. After I washed my hands, I found that all of the paper towel dispensers were empty. I guess I will have to let them air dry. I found the bib pick-up location for those running the 1st half marathon. There were no lines except for the long line for the number range in which I was assigned. In addition to the race bib and race shirt, we were given a medal to commemorate the 45th sapphire anniversary of this event. Other than that, there wasn't anything in the goodie bag except for 1 sample pack of Biofreeze and a discount QR code for Degree antiperspirant.
Race expo at Festival Pavilion
Deo!
1st Half Marathon bib pick-up
Race shirt
Back of race shirt
A special edition, golden, hinged medal to celebrate the 45th sapphire anniversary
Swag
After I was done, I headed over across the street to buy some water and maybe some snacks at the Safeway supermarket. It would turn out that they had just finished remodeling and was having their re-grand opening. Here's a tweet about it from the SF Chamber of Commerce. I guess I could've saved some money and bought a gallon of water, but instead I went with 2 one liter bottles. I just didn't want to lug around a gallon of water.
Safeway
1 liter bottle of water x2
On the way down to my timeshare property, I took a detour along Leavenworth St to get a peek of Lombard St from the bottom. I then cut back to Columbus Ave and took that over to Stockton St. As I got to my destination, I went through the Stockton Street Tunnel and headed to McDonald's to get a late lunch. I used the usual buy 1, get another for 29 cents mobile app deal to get 2 Quarter pounders with cheese. On the way out, I used another deal to get a large iced coffee for 99 cents. The app was a bit glitchy as it was informing me that it would be an additional 25 cents surcharge, but it ended up only charging me for 99 cents plus tax.
Bottom of Lombard St
Stockton St Tunnel
Lunch
Large iced coffee for $1
I arrived at the WorldMark San Francisco property just a few minutes after 2 pm. Even though I was a couple of hours early for check-in, I was fortunate enough that my unit was ready and that I was be able to check in. I was assigned room #904 on the very top floor. For once, I was not pestered by the concierge about attending an owner update. It wasn't even mentioned. He only gave me maps and a printout with restaurant suggestions. As I got settled into my room, I couldn't log into the WiFi. I've never had this issue before, but it kept telling me that my account couldn't be created. Oh well, I'll have to stop by the front desk later to get that sorted out.
I ended up watching a friendly between Bayern Munich and Man City which was played at Lambeau Field. This was the first time a football (aka soccer) match was played there. Unfortunately, it ended up being a shortened match as there were delays due to lightning. I mainly watched to see how Erling Haaland played with his new team. I believe he will definitely be on my FPL team once the season starts.
Bayern Munich v. Man City at Lambeau Field
Later that evening, I went out to pick up dinner at Super Duper Burgers. I got the usual Super Burger with everything on it and added cheese. Before heading up to my room, I inquired about the WiFi connection issue at the front desk. He didn't seem to understand so I was going to try and log in and show him the error message. Lo and behold, no error message. That seems to happen every time when you try and reproduce an error for someone to see! Back at my room, I ate my burger while watching that Dodgers beat the Giants. The Giants don't ever seem to go quietly. They always put up a fight whenever they play their rivals. I laid out my flat runner and took a shower before calling it a night.
Super Burger with everything on it and added cheese
Giants v. Dodgers
Flat runner
Sunday 7/24
Originally, I had thought about getting to the start line early enough to catch the start of the marathon. Unfortunately, I was stuck on the toilet with some diarrhea issues. I'd rather take care of that in my room than in a portapotty! I didn't leave my room until about a quarter to 6 am. I'm not sure why the website showed that the start of the 1st half marathon was on Embarcadero between Washington and Broadway. In fact, it started at Mission St, the same as the marathon.
Start line
The race started at 6:30 am. I didn't start anywhere near the front of corral A, so I didn't cross the start line until a couple of minutes later. Although it was quite congested, I was content with just running about a 9:10 min/mile pace. That pace felt manageable and I was hopeful for about a sub 2:10 half marathon. When I ran through the aid station near the Aquatic Park Pier, I thought that I had heard someone call out my name. When I looked back, I didn't see anyone familiar, so I continued on. The short steep climb up to Great Meadow Park at Fort Mason tired me out as I couldn't get the legs to move even after a little bit of downhill down to Marina Blvd. I pulled over for a walk break at about mile 5 when we hopped on the San Francisco Bay Trail. I took the opportunity to take a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge slightly obscured by the fog. I remember back when those running the 1st half got to run across the Golden Gate Bridge.
Approaching Golden Gate Bridge
From there, it was a short out and back to the Fort Point National Historic Site. On the way back, we would go up Long Dr which would be the start of an almost 1.5 mile steady climb. I spotted my friend Sam heading in the other direction encouraging everyone. I almost didn't recognize him since he had a shirt on. From there we hopped onto Battery E Trail, Coastal Trail, and then California Coastal Trail. At about mile 6.75, there was a little turnout from the trail. I pulled off to the side to get a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge.
Leaving Golden Gate Bridge
Then we hopped on Merchant Rd to cut over to Lincoln Blvd. The course would peak at about mile 7.25 at the Pacific Overlook. It was nice to get a good stretch of downhill after that climb. The course would curve into El Camino Del Mar for a couple of blocks before making a left turn onto 27th Ave as we headed south for the Golden Gate Park. Once we reach Fulton St, we would enter the park at Crossover Dr. It was nice and very scenic as we turned right onto John F Kennedy Dr to reach about mile 10. However, this was when I seriously bonked. Every time I tried to run or even jog, I almost felt like passing out. It was quite demoralizing as I couldn't take advantage of this downhill stretch. At almost mile 11, I noticed a herd of bison in the green space off to the right. In all of the years that I've run this race, I don't think that I've ever noticed them there as I ran by! The left turn onto Bernice Rodgers Way at about mile 11.5 led to Martin Luther King Jr Dr. It would be a steady climb the rest of the way to the finish line on John F Kennedy. At this point, I couldn't run so I decided to just walk it in.
Bison Paddock
Finish line
Finish: 2:38:00
Click here for my Garmin data.
You run enough of these races then you're bound to encounter some really rough ones. This one was one of those. It was quite miserable in the second half of the race! I'm glad that I decided to go with the long sleeve shirt as well as bringing the throwaway gloves! I was getting kind of cold when I was reduced to walking the last 5k! I had to roll the sleeves back down and put on the gloves.
After crossing the finish line, I continued down the finisher chute. After getting a bottle of water from one of the volunteers, we were informed by another that they were out of bananas. Further down the chute, we got a bag of mini pretzels and Skinny Pop. There weren't enough volunteers, so another fellow finisher took it upon himself to open up a box for everyone. Even further down the chute, we finally came up to volunteers that were passing out finisher medals. Next it was time to find the shuttles for a ride back to Market St. I got caught in a line for finisher photos as it was right next to a line of school buses. Unfortunately, that was not the shuttle ride location. It was out over on Fulton St. Before heading over to the buses, I found an empty bench where I sat down and ate my snacks.
Post race water and snacks
Finisher medal
Bench
I got a seat way in the back row of a school bus. After being dropped off just west of Mission St on Steuart St, I headed back to my room where I vegged out a bit before taking a shower. Eventually, I headed outside to go get lunch. I decided to check out Tonton Restaurant. It looked to be at the location where Katana Ya was. They might have consolidated down to 1 restaurant as the menu looked to be the same as Katana Ya and Amami Ramen, both of which are no longer open. The restaurant was empty except for one table. I ordered their chicken katsu curry and a spam musubi. It was actually not bad. On the way back to my room, I stopped by McDonald's to pick up an iced coffee for 99 cents using the usual deal.
Chicken katsu curry and spam musubi
Large iced coffee for $1
While waiting for the elevator, I noticed something was on display on the wall next to the front desk. They did renovations back in late 2020. Here's a short news article with the details. It would turn out that they found old newspaper dated December 15, 1922 inside the walls. The employees at the front desk suggested that I check out the Barbary Coast Trail if I'm into historical stuff about the city. I will definitely have to take a look.
They found newspaper dated December 15, 1922
Later that evening, I decided to go check out that Thai restaurant next door to Tonton, called The Thonglor. I figured that it would busy, so I placed my order online via their website for their tom yum noodle soup with egg noodles, medium spicy. Once I got to the restaurant, I saw a line of people at the entrance. I went inside to see if my to-go order was ready. The lady thought I was wanting to place an order and tried to send me away. I corrected her and told her that I had already placed it online. She then asked me for my name and found my order. It was well packaged for my walk back to my room. The soup was still quite hot when I unpackaged everything.
The Thonglor
Tom yum noodle soup with egg noodle
Monday 7/25
I woke up shortly after 5 am. I took a shower and then took my time to get ready for my departure. I brewed a pot of the Folgers coffee. I took a few sips, but it tasted terrible, so I poured it all out. I checked out of my unit at about 9 am. On the Starbucks app, I placed my order for the usual salted caramel cream cold brew, grande, light ice, before walking over to pick up the drink. I drank it on my walk over to the Montgomery St Station to catch the BART to the airport. My Clipper card was empty, so I used one of the kiosks to add $10 on the card, just enough to get me to my destination. I was not sure if I would be planning to return any time soon, so I didn't want to leave any money on the card. I'll deal with that if and when the time comes. During the ride to the airport, I actually got to ride in one of the newer BART trains. In the past 10+ years in coming to SF, it has always been those nasty old trains.
Starbucks
Salted caramel cream cold brew, grande, light ice
Montgomery St Station
Newer BART train
I decided not to take the Airtrain to get to terminal 1. Instead, I used the walkway to get there. Once I got there, I got into the TSA security line. The bin system was one of the best that I've seen at all of the airports that I've flown through. After getting through the TSA, they had several no-touch faucets for you to refill your water bottles.
SFO artwork
The first leg home would take me all the way out to Denver for a layover. I stopped by the Skyline News & Gifts to buy a bottle of water for $3.99. The flight ended up being delayed by an hour. I walked around the terminal to check out my options. I would come across another store selling the same bottle of water for 30 cents more. I ended up getting lunch at Starbird. I used one of their tablet kiosks to place my order for a Chicken Chop salad. Per their menu, it came with crispy chicken, tomatoes, roasted corn, avocado mash, pepitas, crispy tortillas, cotija, cilantro, green onions, and Chipotle lime dressing. Prior to making the salad, an employee called out my name and asked if I wanted breaded crispy chicken or grilled chicken. Even though I was expecting it to be breaded when I placed my order, I opted to get it grilled. I don't recall that being an option during the tablet ordering process. The guy handing out people's orders was quite enthusiastic and really enjoying his job. More employees should mimic this guy's attitude! The salad was actually a really good salad. The chicken was really good and the salad overall was very tasty and flavorful. I would definitely have no problems eating here again.
Starbird
Chicken chop salad with grilled chicken
My boarding position for this first leg was B1. I got the usual window seat. Even though the movie was almost 3 hours long and the flight wasn't quite long enough for me to finish it, I decided to watch The Batman with Robert Pattinson as the caped crusader. It was a much darker and edgier Batman than previous iterations. I was not hopeful for it being a good movie, but it was not bad. I found it to be more realistic as things were not solved in a rather predictable linear order. The protagonists had to keep second guessing themselves. I still think that the Christian Bale version, directed by Christopher Nolan was the best since Michael Keaton donned the Batman cowl.
The plane landed at Denver Airport right about 5 pm local time. I briskly walked to the gate for my connecting flight, but once again it was delayed. I was tempted to head over to McDonald's to get a drink, but eventually decided to just hang out by the gate. My boarding position for this second leg was B2. I got an aisle seat in an exit row. Unfortunately, a rather big dude sat in the middle seat. Per the usual, I always give the middle seat person the arm rest, but I was constantly being bumped by both his arm and aisle traffic. I couldn't get the rest of The Batman movie to play. For some reason the movie was dropped from the playlist. I'll have to catch the rest of the movie on HBO Max. I ended up watching about 99% of the Turning Red movie. My old Pixel 2 ran out of battery just as the movie was coming to an end. I'll have to catch the ending on Disney+.
Delayed layover in Denver
It was pretty dang warm when I exited the airport and started heading over to my car. I was just getting used to the nice chilly bay area air. As I reached the automated toll gates, I noticed a car backing out of a toll lane. I stopped to let him/her get into another lane. The driver got into the lane where I was parked and was gesturing at me, but I didn't really understand what he/she was trying to tell me. Stupid me decided to pull into the lane that he/she had just vacated. The screen read, "out of order." So that was what that driver was trying to tell me! :) Instead of going into the same lane again as that driver, I instead tried the lane over to the left which worked fine.
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