After returning from my usual morning walk around the neighborhood, I left the house at just before 10 am. I arrived in Long Beach at about 10:30 am. Per the usual, I parked at the City Place Lot C on 3rd St between Pine Ave and Long Beach Blvd as parking here is free for the first 2 hours. From there, I walked over to the Marina Green Park for the race expo. Apparently, we could also park for free at one of the lots off of Shoreline Village Dr right next to the park. However, the traffic was a bit hairy, so I didn't mind the walk.
Expo
Parking options
While picking up my bib, I bumped into my friend from Las Vegas. He was actually on his way out, but kept me company and went through the expo with me. After getting my bib, I then picked up my race shirt and tote bag from Dexter, who is always volunteering at races!
Mike
Dexter
Race shirt
Back of race shirt
Sturdy tote bag
Expo stuff
After getting my race bib and shirt, I stopped at the Beach Bum loyalty tent to get my extra shirt. The volunteer there commented on my Spurs cap. He was a fellow Asian, so I assumed that he was a Son Heung-Min fan. Always good to run into a fellow Spurs supporter. The long sleeved shirt was similar to most recent years, but this year the color was black. The Beach Bum graphic was the same as last year's, but moved to the back side.
Beach Bum loyalty tent
Beach Bum loyalty shirt
Back of Beach Bum loyalty shirt
Then it was on to the vendor booths. I stopped by the Long Beach Marathon booth to say hi to my friend, Sarah, who is an ambassador for the race. Near the turnaround for the vendor booths, we stopped by the So Delicious dairy-free ice cream booth. They were giving out sample cups as well as ice cream sandwiches. Yes, please! They were pretty dang good for dairy-free. I seriously couldn't tell the difference. At the end of the booths was the participants name wall. You could hear people groaning about how it was ordered by the first name. I had no trouble locating my name.
Sarah
So Delicious dairy-free ice cream
Participants name wall
Found my name
After going through the expo, I went through the entrance one more time where I finally spotted the Waste Management bin that was there for shoe donations. I dropped off my bag of retired shoes and then started heading back to my car. On the way back, I took the Convention Center Walkway to cross over Shoreline Dr which led me straight into the promenade. The promenade ended at the parking structure.
Shoe donation bin
Bridge across Shoreline Dr
City Place Lot C/Harvey Milk Promenade Park
Free parking for the first 2 hours
Sunday 10/15
Last year, there were a ton of homeless people hanging around the usual City Place Lot C parking structure. So for this year, I planned to park at the open parking lot at the NE corner of Pine and Seaside. When I arrived, it was empty. Most years, it was pretty full by the time I get there. It seemed to be the lot used mostly by participants in the bike ride. When my friend arrived and we went online to pay, we noticed that it was $20.60 to park there. Why pay that price when you can park at the open Convention Center parking lot which was right next to the start and finish lines for $15? I suggested that we go back to the usual covered parking structure as it was only $12 for the entire day.
Pine and Seaside Parking
Parking instructions at Pine and Seaside
After we parked, per the usual, we walked over to the Hyatt Regency to hang out. It's a nice place to just chill and wait before the race as well as to use their restrooms instead of having to use a portapotty. Shortly after 5 am, we started heading over to the start line for the 6 am start of the marathon. During the walk over, one of my friends messaged me that he had a small gift for me. We ended up meeting by the 11 min mile pace sign where he gave me a runDisney Goofy 39.3 Miles Challenge patch because he knew that I was a huge runDisney fan. Before getting situated in the starting corral, my friend needed to use a portapotty. I showed her the ones in Rainbow Lagoon Park as the queues weren't as long as the ones over in Marina Green Park. In fact, there were no lines when we got there.
Goofy patch from Luis
Portapotties
The start of the race ended being delayed by almost 30 minutes! I didn't cross the start line until 6:24 am. Sure, it threw off everyone's pre-race routine, but having been the section 1 commander for the OC Marathon, I knew what it took for the race to be given the green light to start. Anyhow, on with the race! I might have started off a bit too hot with a 8:12 first mile. Boy, it felt nice to run without the Achilles tendinitis! Needless to say, I backed off on that pace.
Unicorns!
Per the usual, I was having some foot and ankle pain after coming off of that unforgiving concrete beach bike path. I took some extended walk breaks for the next few miles until those aches subsided. As I slowed down, a bunch of my friends caught and overtook me. A few of them also had run the Chicago Marathon last weekend.
Latino Heat
Almi pacing 4:20
Mitch with Mike pacing 4:50
There you are!
Sherry
Marathon Maniac
Ward
BFE! :)
Go Beach!
The aid station near Livingston Drive Park was playing Nuthin' But A "G" Thang. Normally this late into a marathon, I have a hard time remembering things. Apparently, my brain thinks that we need to hang on to those lyrics as it was still committed to memory.
As I approached the final left turn onto Shoreline Dr, I came up to my friend who was walking. He's normally finishing at least an hour ahead of me, so I asked him how he was doing before I continued on my way to the finish line. During that last mile, I tried my best to chase down that 5:05 pace group, but I ran out of real estate. I think they were trying to break 5 hours!
Finish: 5:02:25
Click here for my Garmin data.
After crossing the finish line, I collected my finisher medal. It was a nice looking design. Then I continued down the finisher chute where I first got a finisher photo, followed by a bunch of post race food and drinks. Per the usual, I took everything and made my way over to the Hyatt to relax and clean up a bit before heading back to my car for the drive home.
Finisher medal
You paid for this!
Finisher medal and post race goodies
I had some soon-to-expire reward points for McDonald's, so along the way home, I stopped at the one off of Imperial to get a free Quarter Pounder with cheese. Unfortunately, the McDonald's mobile app still sucks major ass as my order would not go through. After 3 attempts, I left and drove across the street to get some burgers at In-n-Out. Per the usual on a Sunday afternoon for any In-n-Out, the parking lot was packed. Just as I was ready to join the drive-thru lane, I noticed that there was a parking spot open. It was designated for EV Parking only. Thank goodness I drive a Tesla! I ordered my usual Double Double with onion x2. It was a somewhat lengthy wait as it looked like a very full house today. When I finally got my 2 burgers, I was fortunate enough to find an open table to eat my burgers.
EV Parking
Double Double x2
Later that evening when I checked the website for my finishing time, it had all of my splits through mile 20, but was missing the time when I had crossed the finish line. I emailed the timing company just to make sure. Per the instructions, I gave them my name, bib number, and my approximate finishing time.
Monday 10/16
As I was getting ready to head over to Disneyland, I received an email with my results for the race. However, the website still continued to be missing my finishing time. What was captured by Marathonguide.com was my mile 20 split as my finishing time. Sad to say, that still wasn't fast enough to get me a BQ! :)
I was pretty tired, but I wanted to get in a full day which could possibly be my last day at Disneyland as a Magic Key Holder. I still have yet to decide if I wanted to renew my membership. I ended up being there from rope drop and didn't leave until about a quarter to 10 pm.
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