Just as I was finishing up my usual morning walk, I came across a coyote. Such sightings are rare since they usually avoid humans and go into hiding when the sun comes up. Normally, you can hear them howling starting around dusk. I used to occasionally see them back when I started my walks while it was still dark out.
Saw a coyote at the end of my morning walk
After eating a chicken burrito bowl from Chipotle for lunch, I hopped in the car and drove down to Costa Mesa to pick up my race packet. Per the usual, I drove over to TeWinkle Park across from the OC Fairground to avoid having to pay for parking.
Chicken burrito bowl
Just as I was about to enter the packet pick up area, I ran into my volunteer friend, Sergio. I swear, that guy volunteers at every single race that I run! After I picked up my race bib and my race shirt, I headed inside to check out the vendor booths. They were giving out a lot of samples of various electrolyte and energy drinks. I received so many cans where I thought that the clear plastic bag given to us for gear check was going to rip! I was able to successfully resist registering for any races. I found my name on the participants name wall before heading out.
Race shirt
Back of race shirt
Register for next year
John Wayne Grit Series
Participants name wall
Found my name
Expo freebies
Normally, I would be heading back home now. Instead, I drove over to the nearby Chick-fil-A to pass some time before I head over and check into the Costa Mesa Inn. Per the usual, the parking lot was a bit busy with traffic from the drive-thru lane. I ended up parking next to the nearby Seiwa Market. I had reward points that were close to expiring, so I cashed some in for a free frosted coffee. For some reason, it took exceptionally long for my drink to be brought out to me after the app had notified me that my order was ready. It finally took one food runner to ask me what I was waiting for before it was brought out to me. The other food runner just ignored me as if I was invisible. That was very much not like the normal Chick-fil-A experience.
Frosted coffee
After I was done with my drink, I headed back to my car. I still had some time before the 3 pm check-in time, so I decided to check out the Seiwa Market since it was a Japanese grocery store that I've never noticed before. I was mostly interested in their snacks. I checked out that section as well as their seafood and meats. I grabbed a couple of small bags of potato chips and a couple boxes of Pocky before heading to the cash register to pay for my items.
Hello Kitty
Pocky
Yokan
Pocky and My Pote
After parking my car at the motel, I headed inside the lobby to check-in. The guy at the front desk said that he was going to give me a free upgrade and asked for me to leave a review after my stay. I was assigned room #222 which was a suite that included a hot tub in the bedroom. Overall the room was relatively clean, but everything about the room was old and outdated with stains everywhere. I could tolerate things being old, but there was leftover food in the fridge and one of the wastebaskets was not emptied. Other things wrong with this place was that it was missing a couple of basic amenities such as tissue and cups. If they're looking for better reviews, they seriously need to consider updating the rooms (i.e. re-paint the walls, re-carpet the floors, replace all of the furniture). From the look of things, this motel used to be a Super 8 by Wyndham. I feel like Wyndham has been dropping some bad apples in order not to further sully their reputation. As a WorldMark by Wyndham owner, I can tell you that their Wyndham brand hotels in general are not of good repute! From personal experience, their La Quinta line has been the only chain that has been consistently decent. They might have some top of the line hotels that are supposedly better than La Quinta, but I have yet to have the opportunity to stay at or even see them as options for the places that I've visited.
Bad smelling soap
There was leftovers inside the fridge
One of the wastebaskets had not been emptied
Pool empty and barricaded
After chilling in my room for a bit, I left the room to go get dinner at the nearby Vietnamese restaurant, Mo Pho Mi. I had checked out their menu online before arriving so I kind of had an idea as to what I wanted to order. I ordered their regular size pho dac biet with all of the meats. That included prime rib rare beef, angus brisket, meatballs, and beef short rib. Normally, I would prefer my pho to include MSG, but the taste wasn't bad without it. Everything tasted great and the service was nice and friendly. When it came time to pay the bill, I ran into trouble while attempting to pay by scanning the QR code on the check. The link seemed to be broken. So I went up to the counter to pay. I asked if I could pay with Google Pay, but they couldn't get the point of sale device to boot up. Eventually, we had to do it the old fashion way, by dipping in the credit card for it to read the chip. Such is technology. It's nice and super convenient when it actual works.
Pho dac biet with prime rib rare beef, angus brisket, meatballs, and beef short rib
Back at my room, I laid out my flat runner for tomorrow's half marathon before sitting down to watch the Dodgers game versus those upstart Padres. It was a pitcher's duel between Dustin May and Blake Snell. They both lasted 6 innings with Snell giving up 2 runs on a Chris Taylor 2 run homerun in the 4th inning. The only run the Dodgers gave up came on a RBI double by Tatis Jr in the bottom of the 8th inning. The game ended 2-1 with a Dodgers win and a save by Evan Phillips.
Flat runner
Dodgers vs. Padres
After the game, I took a shower before calling it a night. Unfortunately, the handle for the shower just fell right off when I barely pulled on it. The water pressure for the shower was extremely low. With such low pressure, it took a while to wash off the shampoo and soap!
Sunday 5/7
Lately, I had been a bit wary being outside early in the morning when it was still dark. I got ready and started my walk at just a little past 4 am. Along the way to the shuttle pickup, I came across 2 people on rental bikes. They appeared to be intoxicated or something. One of them asked if I was running a marathon. I told him that I was only running the half marathon. I also saw that there were people in the parking lot of Orange Coast College as I walked by. I just minded my own business and hoped for the best. Luckily, that was pretty much it for stuff that caused my spider sense to tingle. I keep thinking that I should just pay for parking and not gamble with my life.
I queued up in the bus line to board the next available bus. Per the usual, they used those orange school buses designed for little kids. Once onboard, I went to the very back of the bus for the ride out to Fashion Island. After being dropped off, I headed inside the VEA Newport Beach, A Marriott Resort to hang out and use their restroom. All of the remodeling was finished and they once again welcomed runners to hang out inside. I bumped into my friend, Albert, who was there earlier as he was running the marathon. After I was done taking of my morning business, I headed over to the start line to catch the start of the marathon.
Waiting for the marathon start
Marathon corral 1 start
Andrea, the balloon lady!
After catching the start of the marathon, I jogged back to the hotel to use the restroom one last time to empty the bladder. Before going inside, I bumped into my friend, Ely, who was having breakfast at one of the tables just outside. He was planning to start in a later corral so he wasn't in a rush as I was.
Race announcers
Half marathon start
I went to the front of the corral 1 to say hi and take a quick selfie with my race announcer friends of Team Noisy. I then met up with my friend, Karen, near the back of corral 1. I thought she was running the marathon. She would fill me in on her current health issues which had her downgrading to the half marathon.
Saying hi to Team Noisy
Eviltwin
Caught up to Andrea at about mile 5.5
Barefoot runner carrying flags from Taiwan and Ukraine at about mile 11
Forrest Gump on drums
Finish: 2:14:59
Click here for my Garmin data.
Finish line
Even though I had been struggling with my running as of late, I started the race at about a 2 hour pace. I could barely hold that pace for the first 3 miles! Eventually, I finished right where I figured that I would. I was actually running on fumes during the last couple of miles. I tried my best to keep that 2:10 pace group in sight. I knew that they had started in a later corral, but I needed a carrot to motivate me to run and to resist walking! I also had been leapfrogging this one girl that was wearing some very bright and colorful compression socks (bib #864). Fortunately, I was able to hold things together well enough to pass both her and that pace group before reaching the finish line.
After crossing the finish line and receiving my finisher medal, I continued down the finisher chute. I took a finisher photo and picked up a few drinks before bumping into my friend. I could not keep up with her after we made the left turn onto Bayside Dr just shortly after reaching mile 4! Even though she was dealing with a cough, she still easily beat me in this race!
Finisher medal
Stacy always finishing ahead of me
Post race goodies
Before exiting the very crowded exit end of the finisher chute, I grabbed an empty box and threw everything in the box to free up my hands. I made my way over to pick up my extra challenge medals. First it was the Beach Cities Challenge medal. Even though it was supposed to be an octopus, it looked more like a recluse spider or one of those Alien face huggers. Then it was the California Time to Travel Challenge medal. Now this suitcase medal looked more like a cigarette case to me! :)
Beach Cities Challenge medal
California Time to Travel Challenge medal
After giving away my free beer ticket to a random stranger, I then started my walk back to my motel. Per the usual, the walk back always felt much longer after having just run a half marathon. It was pretty cool to see runners finishing up their marathon. Before going back to my room, I decided to wait at the intersection of Harbor Blvd and Merrimac Way. That was a great place to wait and cheer on runners as they got off of Golf Course Dr, cross Harbor Blvd, and onto Merrimac Way.
Everything was pretty chill until there was one very angry driver just laying on his horn. Talk about road rage! Once he got up to the intersection, he started yelling at the police officers with some very choice expletives, pretty much to express his displeasure with the road being shut down for runners to cross. Apparently, he might be living in one of the apartments next to Golf Course Dr as he showed up there and started cursing at runners and yelling at them to get the f*ck out. One female runner let the officers know about it, but these days, there's nothing they can do about it. They pretty much have to pretend as if they're deaf and hope that that de-escalates the situation. My friend and his son showed up not too far behind the 4:30 group. His son was struggling, but thankfully they only had about 1.5 miles to go.
Latino Heat and son
Back at my room, I thought about taking a shower, but not with that non-existent water pressure! I decided to just wait until I get home before taking one. Instead, I changed into some clean dry clothes and into my regular kick around shoes. Then I put on the Newcastle v. Arsenal match. I was hoping for the Magpies to put up a fight at home, but they seemed to roll over against the Gunners, losing 0-2. After the match, I dropped off my room key at the front desk and headed home. By then the marathon runners at that intersection were few and far between when I was leaving, but the traffic was still pretty backed up in both directions.
Magpies v. Gooners
Later that evening, after taking a shower and waking up from a long nap, I went out to pick up dinner for my old man's birthday. We had takeout from our usual sushi restaurant, Ninja Sushi. It had been a while since we ate here, so I ended up ordering their chirashi by mistake. We usually go with their mixed sashimi instead. Also the lady taking my order misheard me and made the amaebi head as part of the miso soup instead of having it fried. Oh well, it was still pretty good and it's always good to try something new or different.
Chirashi deluxe
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