I had an early morning flight out of LAX. I got ready and left at about 2:15 am. I arrived at the LAX Economy Parking Structure at a little after 3 am. I caught a ride over to terminal 5. I first went to use the restroom before getting in line to go upstairs for TSA screening. We had to wait a bit before they let us upstairs to get into the queue. Some of the people decided to take the escalator and cut the line, not knowing that the people ahead of them could not move forward. They were piling up at the top of the escalator. It boggles my mind that people that work at the airport just don't really give a shit. Eventually, they got their shit together and opened up the queue so that they could clear the backup. We then waited in that queue for the TSA to finally open up for screening.
LAX Economy Parking
Terminal 5, gate 53A
I had a window seat, right behind the exit row. I planned to nap through the flight, but started with watching the Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story documentary. That was quite an emotional piece to watch! I didn't know that he was such a close friend to Robin Williams. I also didn't realized that there were disability groups out there that hated him for trying so hard to walk again! Their view was that there was nothing for disabled people to fix. To me, that would be such a low bar to set for life in general. We should always look for things to improve, even if it is considered the realm of impossibility!
For a light meal, I got the cheese box. My other choices were waffles and oatmeal. Per the usual, it was a bit tough to take a nap in those uncomfortable seats. It certainly did not help that the guy in the middle seat would occasionally bump my elbow no matter how far I'm leaning away from him.
After landing at JFK Airport and getting off of the plane, I used the restroom before heading to catch the AirTrain. The first one that arrived was headed to Jamaica Station. Once I had arrived at the station, I tapped my Google Pay and headed down the stairs to catch an E train headed to Manhattan. The people in front of me were moving really slowly, but fortunately, I was able to get around them and hop on the train right before the doors were closing.
I got off at 53-7 Av Station. From there, I walked over to the NYRR RunCenter to pick up my race bib. I was assigned a bib number and corral when I showed them my QR code. Then I went to the back to get my race premium. For this race, it was a long sleeve poly blend (46% polyester, 27% cotton, 27% rayon) race shirt. I always like any shirt that's not 100% polyester.
Long sleeve race shirt
Back of shirt
I then walked up to the Target on 61St St to buy a couple bottles of water and a bag of chips. The aisles at this location were pretty narrow. It was kind of hard maneuvering around with my duffel bag. Once I found my items, I got in line to use a self checkout kiosk. Even though my Target gift cards had been used up, I still scanned in my digit wallet before paying with Google Pay.
Water and tortilla chips from Target
Next I walked down to the nearby Cosmic Diner to get dinner. I came here because this restaurant was participating in the AAdvantage Dining program. I ordered coffee and their steak & eggs. I always like places where I could order breakfast food for dinner. It was kind of cool that they still used those old school receipts for writing down your order. There was an extra charge for paying by credit card.
Coffee
Steak & eggs with hash brown, toast, and coffee
Old school check
After paying for my meal, I walked down to the 50 St Station to catch a C train out to Brooklyn. I got off at Liberty Av Station. From there, I walked over to the Super 8. I signed the appropriate paperwork and was checked into room #415. I caught a ride up to the 4th floor on the slow elevator.
I was glad to find my room to be clean with almost everything in good working condition. However, there was missing tissue paper. The shower was missing was a spot to hold the shampoo and soap. The TV looked to be equipped to let you stream shows via apps, but the remote provided didn't have enough of the proper buttons to access those features. I ended up watching TV on my tablet. I took a shower before watching the usual WWE Friday Night Smackdown! Then I followed that up by watching Die Hard. I laid out my flat runner for tomorrow's cold race. It would my first time running in tights. As I was trying to sleep, the folks in the neighboring rooms were really noisy. I think they had an issue with their room keys for their entire stay. It seemed like the doors were being slammed quite frequently.
Super 8
Missing tissue paper
Frequent subway train running outside my window
Inadequate remote provided. Unable to access streaming apps.
Flat runner
Saturday 12/7
I left my room at a little after 6 am. The elevator wasn't moving when I pressed the button, so I ended up taking the stairs. It was pretty nippy outside, so I jogged over to the Liberty Av Station to catch the C train. There were 2 ladies ahead of me. One was pretty spry while hopping the turnstile. The other was older and struggling to go under. I guess that's why the MTA continues to run at a deficit every year. Although lately, I do see more police presence at stations making sure people aren't just walking in through the emergency door or jumping the turnstiles. As for the subway ride, it's not a proper NYC experience until you ride the it with a mentally ill person randomly shouting obscenities. I've learned to just ignore them and pretend to be sleeping. Some people just moved away. Either choice, it's a gamble as they're very unpredictable. He finally got off at Penn Station. I got off a few stations later at Columbus Circle. Before heading to the race start, I went inside Starbucks to get my usual prerace grande blonde vanilla latte. While enjoying my coffee, I noticed that there were quite a few of my fellow runners also there, staying out of the cold and using the restroom.
Grande blonde vanilla latte
After I was done with my coffee, I crossed the street and entered Central Park. I jogged over to the portapotties that were near the Race Day Central. Once I took care of that, I jogged back to the corrals to warm up a bit.
Start line
I started the race off feeling pretty good. It felt like my legs had finally recovered fully from the REVEL Big Bear Half Marathon 2 weekends ago! I spent most of the first mile just getting around people. Since it was the first mile, cat hill did not feel bad at all. I sped up a bit too much for the second mile, running it in 7:42. It was somewhat nice that we didn't have to run the Harlem hill as we made a left turn onto the 102nd St Crossing over to West Dr right in time to run the 3 sisters (or bitches) for that 3rd mile. There would be some more rollers for the 4th mile, but it was mostly downhill. At the beginning of mile 5, we got a glimpse of the turnoff for the finish line as we continued on, merging onto Center Drive before we came back to where we had started. That 6th mile got tough for me as it was the second time running up cat hill. I picked up the pace a bit for the next mile, but I knew that I needed to save something for the 3 sisters. I struggled a bit more than I would've liked for that 8th mile. Thankfully, I was able to recover and run the remaining distance feeling pretty strong.
Finish: 1:15:45
Click here for my Garmin data.
I was quite content that I was able to run a solid decent race. Running in tights kind of reminded me of when I ran the NYC Marathon in a full spandex Spider-Man suit. With this result, I lowered my best pace to 7:55 minute per mile. Perhaps for the next NYRR race that I'll run, they'll move me up to corral C.
After getting my finisher medal, I continued down the finisher chute. I took a raisin bagel and an apple. Then I made my way over to the Naumburg Bandshell and got in line to take my picture while ringing the 9+1 bell.
Finisher medal
Ringing the 9+1 bell
As I exited the park at the SE corner, I thought about getting breakfast. First, I checked the Brooklyn Diner, but they were packed. There was a wait even for the counter. Then I walked via 6½ Ave over to the Astro Diner which was also packed. The third and final spot that I checked was Junior's on 49th St. It was the same situation. It was completely packed and there was a line for the counter as well. With that, I ducked into the 50 St Station to catch a C train back to my hotel. During the ride, I overheard a conversation with a 68 year old guy that had just celebrated surviving the subway slashing last year 12/6/23 on the G line. He said that there was an article about it in the New York Post. The lady that he was talking to asked what he did to celebrate. He said that he had gotten high. He also mentioned that he had a zest for life, that if he could, he would want to live to 1000!
Tottenham?
Back at my room, I relaxed a bit and ate my apple before taking a hot shower. I watched a few episodes of Dark Side of the 90s from season 2. It was pretty interesting to revisit the some of the not-so-nice issues of the past, back when I was growing up. Here were the episodes that I caught:
- S2E1: Arseniooo Hall!
- S2E2: MTV & The Real World
- S2E3: Cops: Bad Boys, Bad Boys
Edamame
Tonkotsu ramen
Old school rotary phone
On the way back, I walked over to the 57 St Station on 6th Ave and took the F train with the plan to transfer to the J train at Delancey St-Essex St Station. However, the conductor announced that the J train was not running at that station, so instead I got off at Jay St-MetroTech Station. I got on the first train that arrived which was an express A train. I was really wanting a C train, so I got off at the next station, Hoyt-Schermerhorn Sts Station. The next train that arrived was yet another express A train. Instead of waiting for a C train, I got on and took it over to Broadway Junction. From there, I walked over to my hotel. Along the way, a white guy asked if I wanted to go to church. I didn't know Mormons were evangelizing in Brooklyn.
Super 8 at night
Sunday 12/8
I woke up super early to get ready to head to the airport. I checked out of my room a little before 2:30 am. Originally, I was planning to take the J train over to Jamaica Station, but the trains weren't running past Crescent St Station. So once again, I made the walk over to Liberty Av Station to wait for an A train to Howard Beach. Per the usual, the guy ahead of me jumped the turnstile. I must be one of the few that actually pays the fare. The AirTrain was just about to leave when I got up to the top of the escalator. I guess I could've caught it if I hurried. I had arrived earlier than my planned arrival time, so I decided to just wait another 15 mins for the next one.
Liberty Av Station
Waiting for AirTrain at Howard Beach station
After getting through TSA screening and finding my gate, I walked throughout the terminal to check out the available food options as well as all of the Christmas decorations. I wasn't hungry and none of the food looked all that great, so I went back to my gate to wait for my flight.
Christmas tree
Terminal 8, gate 41
Once again, I had a window seat for my flight home. My row-mate and I lucked out as the middle seat remained vacant. As soon as we were on our way, I watched the movie, It Ends with Us. It was a good movie if you're a fan of Blake Lively. I've been a fan of her since she appeared in Green Lantern way back in 2011. The story was about domestic abuse. They even had a trigger warning before the movie started. It wasn't a terrible movie, but it was extremely predictable. Isabela Ferrer was pretty convincing as a young Lily Blossom Bloom. For the inflight food, I opted for the snack box.
Snack box
I exited the plane at terminal 4. Per the usual routine, I used the restroom before making my way out of the terminal to wait for a shuttle ride back to the economy parking structure. The plane landed quite early. For once, it was a rather nice drive home on a Sunday morning.
Waiting for a shuttle back to my car
My decision to do the 9+1 program was made rather late. Thankfully, I was able to find enough gaps in my race schedule to get the required amount of races as well as take care of the volunteer shift. Going into 2025, I should be able to take care of everything without having to run a race in cold December! Still, I need to be on top of registration dates as more and more people are doing this program to get a spot in the NYC Marathon.
Here were the races that I had completed for the 9+1 program that earned me a spot in next year's NYC Marathon:
- 1/1 Virtual NYRR New Year Resolution Run 5k
- 6/1 Virtual NYRR Global Running Day 5k
- 7/13 NYRR Retro 4-Miler, volunteer
- 7/15 NYRR Brooklyn R-U-N 5k, canceled, but still counted
- 8/24 TCS New York City Marathon Training Series 12M
- 9/22 New Balance Bronx 10 Mile
- 11/2 Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5k
- 11/3 2024 TCS New York City Marathon
- 11/23 Virtual NYRR Run for Thanks 5k
- 12/7 NYRR Ted Corbitt 15k
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