I started the day early with the Crystal Palace v. Liverpool match at 4:30 am. Liverpool won with an early goal from Diogo Jota. Then I followed that with the Arsenal v. Southampton match at 7 am. There were 5 matches from which to choose and I wanted to watch to see if Arsenal would lose. The Saints scored first in the second half with a goal from Cameron Archer. I was hopeful for a Gunner loss, but unfortunately, a few minutes later Kai Havertz would equalize. They would go on to score 2 more goals, 1 from Martinelli and another from Saka.
The race expo didn't open until 10 am. I didn't want to get there too early and run into the early rush, so I didn't hit the road until about 9:15 am. Navigation had me take the 91 over to 710. I parked at my go to parking structure, the City Place Lot C on 3rd St as the first 2 hours were free. I headed down The Promenade and crossed the pedestrian bridge to get to the expo at the Marina Green Park. The entrance was at the eastern end of the park. Per the usual, I picked up my bib, race shirt, and a sturdy tote bag. In the bag were just 2 coupons.
Race expo
Bib pick-up
Race shirt
Back of race shirt
Tote bag
Goodie bag contents
After that, I went through the rest of the expo. Normally, I would sign up for next year's race. However, this time, I refrained from doing so, as I wanted to leave the weekend open in case I want or need to run the Staten Island Half Marathon to complete my 9+1 for a guaranteed spot in the NYC Marathon. Also, I had been having a cash flow issue as I had to pay for car repairs. Race registrations had been on hold until I recover.
Next year
Long Beach Registration
I stopped by the Golden State Challenge table as I had received an email saying that I would be receiving a gift. I thought we needed to run at least 4 races before we got something. I asked one of the ladies there to confirm. I had run Surf City and Santa Barbara Wine Country with Long Beach making it my 3rd race. She told me that they give out small gifts along the way. For 2 races, I would get lip balm. For 3 races, I would get a small towel. After I told her that I never got anything when I ran the 2nd race, she tried to give me the lip balm as well, but I declined. I only took the towel. She saw that I was wearing my Boulderthon shirt and told me that she had run the half. She would be running the half tomorrow. Just to check, I asked if she would also be running Chicago next weekend. That was a negative for her.
Golden State Challenge
Towel for running 3 races
Then I checked out the vendor booths where I got samples from Chargel, Rivalz snacks, ZICO coconut water, and Ghost hydration drink. I had to fill out my contact info in order to get some pasta samples from ZENB. I also got another towel from one of my favorite airports, Long Beach Airport.
Race expo samples
I dropped off a few pairs of retired shoes in the donation bin before going over to the participants name wall to look for my name. I bumped into my friend, Luis, who had run the 5k this morning. Lastly, I got an Yakult sample on the way out. There was a huge line for purchasing pre-paid parking. I decided that I would just pay at the gate tomorrow.
Participants name wall
Found my name
Luis
After lunch, I went out for my usual 5 mile jog/walk around the neighborhood. The weather was blazing hot, but I think my body was starting to get used to it. For the race tomorrow, I decided to go with my Buc-ee's t-shirt.
Sunday 10/6
I got ready and left the house at a little before 3 am and arrived at a rather empty City Place Lot C at just before 4 am. As with most years, I took the 22 freeway instead of the 91 as the road was pretty devoid of anyone at that hour. As I was entering the parking structure, there was a sign at the ticket gate that there would be no free 2 hour parking and the max would be $13 today.
City Place Lot C
I chilled in my car for a bit before grabbing my stuff and heading out. Just as yesterday, I walked down The Promenade and headed over to the Hyatt Regency to meet up with my friend, Albert. It would appear that the hotel was cracking down on non-hotel guests or vagrants going inside, so the 2 valets told me that I cannot go inside unless I had a room key. I told them that I was supposed to meet my friend in the lobby. One of them, while appearing pretty skeptical with my story, opened the door for me. I found my friend and we sat down and waited in the lobby for a bit. While waiting, I noticed that they had signs up that the lobby restrooms were closed for service. I told my friend that we should probably leave as the hotel was clearly trying to deter non guests from using their facilities. Whether it was a homeless issue or not, I do not want to be a part of the problem. I had no problem using one of the porapotties near the start line.
After I took care of that, we walked down Shoreline Dr to check out the start area. For some reason, they had volunteers stationed at the entrance to the 1st corral as if they wanted to keep people away from the start line. I was planning to start near the back of corral 1 and he wanted to start further back, so we went our separate ways. I ducked back out to use the portapotty again. As the weather forecast called for a pretty warm day, they wanted the marathoners in the corrals ready for a 5:30 am start. However, the course was not cleared until about 5:45 am. I was glad that I had made that second trip to the portapotty as during that delay, a few runners hopped out of the corral to go pee at nearby trees and bushes.
Corral 1
Eventually, we were allowed inside corral 1
I started the race off at a pace that felt comfortable. Coming into the race, I wanted to run as many miles at a 9:30 min per mile pace. I went a little bit faster than that for the first 2 miles (8:52, 9:14), so as I started heading up the bridge on Queens Way, I decided to take a walk break. I went through the 10k mark feeling pretty good as I ran through the parking lot and headed towards my least favorite section of the course, the dreaded beach bike path. That section was about 3 miles. This year, it wasn't too bad as I had done a lot of training on concrete sidewalks. Once I reached the aid station near mile 10, I picked up a Chargel and took a walk break. The slight incline up Livingston Dr followed by a steep climb up Nieto Ave got my heart rate up a bit, so I ended up backing off of the pace as I cruised towards the lollipop turnaround at the Marine Stadium. I reached the halfway point at about 2:08.
Mile 5.4: Around the lighthouse
Around the Rainbow Harbor
For the next 3 miles, I continued at the 10:30 - 11:00 min per mile pace. I wanted to make sure that I had enough to cover the incline up to mile 18 at Cal State Long Beach. As I neared the right turn onto campus, I saw a lady up ahead wearing a 100 marathon club shirt. Since she was walking, I chatted with her just to see if everything was okay. Her name was Jane. She (bib #23471) turned out to be quite the prolific runner from Liverpool, UK. I believe she said today was her 270th marathon! It looked like she runs a lot of races put on by Phoenix Running. I will have to keep that in mind if I'm ever in the UK and looking for a race to run. She told me that she usually runs these marathons faster, but her body wasn't cooperating today. Before pulling over to take my usual picture with the Walter Pyramid, I gave her a few pointers about the course just up ahead. I told her to take it easy going up to mile 18 and that there would be a nice downhill section after reaching that aid station.
Near mile 17 BFE
By the time that I had made it through the miles on Cal State Long Beach campus, my pace had dropped down to a 12 min per mile pace. It was a jog-a-thon, but I was still in good spirits. Right before hitting mile 19, I stopped to use one of the portapotties. Then as I approached mile 20, I heard the familiar Hawaiian music being played by a group of guys off to the side. I stopped to take a selfie with my friend, Mark, but my phone was so wet, I couldn't get it to switch to the front-facing camera.
Near mile 20 Mark playing Hawaiian music
The last 10k were not easy, but I kept to that same 12 min per mile pace. As I was walking the climb at Nieto Ave and approaching mile 23, I saw my friend Lea pass me. I caught up with her on the downhill to say hi before going back to my slow pace. Once we made the right turn onto Ocean Blvd, we hit mile 24. This was another part of the course that I did not like as we had to zig-zag through the half-marathoners for the next 2 miles. The right lane was supposed to be for the marathoners. However, there's so few of us, so it was understandable that the half-marathoners would naturally fill the vacuum. I thought that I could sneak in under 4:40, but I was 17 seconds too slow.
Near mile 22.5 on Appian Way
About 2 miles to go
Approaching the finish line
Finish: 4:40:16
Click here for my Garmin data.
I felt pretty spent after crossing the finish line. My legs definitely did not feel fully recovered from last weekend's marathon. It was much easier running at sea level with a nice marine layer for almost the entirety of the race. I must say that it was fun running in my Buc-ee's shirt. There were plenty of spectators and volunteers that liked it and thought it was a hoot! I received my finisher medal and continued down the finisher chute where I picked up the usual banana, some snacks, and drinks. I used the plastic Target bag that I had brought with me to carry everything. The exit for the chute was crowded with people waiting for their runners to finish. Once I made my way through, I headed over to the Hyatt Regency to use their restroom to get cleaned up before going to find some food.
Finish line
Finisher medal
Finisher medal and post race goodies
I decided to check out Shenanigans Irish Pub & Grille as they were participating in the AAdvantage Dining program. Out of the restaurants in the Shoreline Village, this place was the least crowded. Crowds of people were at Yard House and Tequila Jack's. Since it was just me, I found an open seat at the bar and started things off with coffee. She made sure to let me know that breakfast ends at 11:30 am. There was nothing on the lunch/dinner menu that looked good to me, so I put in my order for their steak & eggs before the cutoff time. I got the steak medium rare and eggs sunny side up. For my sides, I got hash browns and sourdough toast. It was not bad, but at $32.81, it was pretty pricey. My biggest beef was that there was very little Irish about the restaurant.
Breakfast menu
Lunch/dinner menu
Coffee
Steak & eggs with hash browns and sourdough toast, coffee
No comments:
Post a Comment