I left the house at about 6:45 pm to head over to LAX Airport to catch a red eye flight out to New York. The drive was fine, but I did come across a huge accident on the 105 freeway. Still, I was able to get to the LAX Economy Parking structure at just after 8 pm. Unfortunately, the gate did not automatically open. Boy, it's hard to get over old habits. As I was grabbing my phone to get out my QR code, I accidentally stepped on the accelerator as if it was the brake pedal. I had gotten pretty used to one pedal driving. However, sometimes my brain will think that I need to step on the brake. One little brain fart almost had me ramming through the fare gate. Thankfully, I hit the brakes in time. Even after scanning the QR code, the gate would not open. I had to press the button for assistance. After reading him the booking reference code, the gate was raised for me to enter.
LAX Economy Parking
After parking, I hopped on a shuttle for a ride over to the terminal. My flight out to JFK Airport was from gate 48C out of the renovated terminal 4. The renovation had not been completed yet, so it still involved a lot of walking around in the underground corridors.
Once I boarded the plane, I got ready to watch Transformers One. Fortunately, the flight wasn't a full flight. The big dude in the middle seat next to me was able to find a vacant aisle seat in another row. As for the movie, I'm not sure how I feel about this one. The animation was superb. However, I still think that the only Transformers movie that I choose to acknowledge would be The Transformers: The Movie, released way back in 1986. This one was somewhat watchable, but still does not cut the mustard. Someone please stop Michael Bay from having anything to do with any more Transformers movies!
Flights from LAX to JFK included American Flagship service - transcontinental. That meant that even passengers in the main cabin were served a complimentary meal. I opted for their chicken sandwich. After finishing my meal and the movie, I tried to get some sleep.
Saturday 1/25
The plane landed at JFK Airport shortly after 7 am. After getting off of the plane into terminal 8 and using the restroom, I headed over to catch the AirTrain. The first one was headed over to Howard Beach Station. From there I took the A train that was already sitting right there. It sat there for a while. With the doors open, it was quite cold! I rode that train into Midtown Manhattan and got off at 59 St-Columbus Circle Station. I briefly went out onto the street level before retreating back down into the Turnstyle Underground Market so I wouldn't be exposed to the cold air. I definitely do not own clothing that would be adequate for a real New York winter!
Arrival temps... brrr!
Eventually, I went back out to walk over to the nearby Brooklyn Diner to get some breakfast as the NYRR Runcenter would not open until 10 am. After I was seated, I ordered coffee and their steak & eggs. It might be a touristy spot, but that was one of the better steaks that I had ever eaten for breakfast!
Coffee
Steak & eggs
After breakfast, I walked over to the NYRR Runcenter just as they were opening up. Unfortunately, there was a large group of people also waiting to get inside. It was a run club called, Asian Trail Mix. They were using this venue as their meet up for their lunar new year run. I got in line and was assigned a bib for tomorrow's half marathon. I then headed towards the store in the back to pick up my race premium. I then climbed up to the top row of the bleachers to charge my phone. Slowly I became surrounded by members of that running club to the point where leaving would've been quite difficult.
NYRR Runcenter
Coach Ben
Fred Lebow
Beanie
Year of the snake
Asian Trail Mix
After they had their announcements, went off on their lunar new year run, and my phone was done charging, I headed back out to buy some snacks and water at the nearby Target. Per the usual, I bought a couple bags of Siete chips (2 for $7) and a 3 L bottle of water ($2.49). I also bought a box of Mallomars ($5.49), the greatest cookie of all time!
Target
Chips, water, and Mallomars
From there, I hoofed it over to the Urban Hawker to get lunch. I ate at Smokin' Joe as they were participating in the AAdvantage Dining program. I ordered their grilled chicken curry rice. Even though I was not a big fan of coconut curry, it was not bad. I could eat this every day!
Grilled chicken curry rice
After I finished my lunch, I started walking over to the Club Wyndham Midtown 45 to see if my room was ready for an early check-in. Along the way, I stopped by Rockefeller Center to check out The Rink. In all of the years that I had been coming to NYC, I never stopped by here. Well, now I can check that off of my list of things to do.
The Rink at Rockefeller Center
I was surprised when the guy at the front desk told me that my room was ready as it was just after 1:30 pm. He gave me my room keys and never told me to stop by the concierge station, so I entered the elevator and went straight up to room #901. Shortly after I put my stuff down, the phone rang. In hindsight, I knew that I shouldn't have picked up. It was the concierge trying desperately to get me to attend an owner refresh/update. Just as with my previous stay at this property, she was begging me to attend and that it would hurt their numbers if I did not go. I think I had to tell her no at least 8 times before she let me go. The staff at this location is ridiculous and a total embarrassment to the Club Wyndham brand!
Club Wyndham Midtown 45
I ended up staying in my room for the rest of the day. I didn't bother going out for dinner. I just ended up taking a quick cat nap and eating a bag of chips. Before calling it a night, I laid out my flat runner for tomorrow's race and took a shower.
Flat runner
Check-in text
Sunday 1/26
I got ready and left my room at about 6:15 am. It was still dark and pretty chilly for my jog up to the Starbucks on E 96th St. I picked this location as it was open early and it was about a block from the entrance into Central Park that I was going to take. It was a straight 3 mile jog up Madison Ave. On the mobile app, I ordered my usual grande pistachio latte. While there, I noticed a lot of people coming in, wearing scrubs. I supposed they were on their way to their jobs at the nearby Mount Sinai Medical Center.
Starbucks
At about 7 am, I started heading over to Central Park. I headed straight for the portapotties to take care of morning business. There weren't any lines for the portapotties yet. It looked like I had made it just ahead of the crowds as I came out to a bunch of lines. I then headed over to the starting corral. While waiting, I ended up chatting with Louis (bib #3026), a fellow runner from Dallas, TX, more specifically Benbrook. He ended up running a 1:38:50 (7:33 min/mile pace)!
Central Park
Start line
Race Day Central
The race started on time at 8 am. The course was pretty much 2 full loops of Central Park plus a little extra to make it 13.1 miles. Since we started on the east side just north of 102nd St, that meant the Harlem hills x3, 3 Sisters x2, and Cat hill x2. Back in 2018, I ran it in 1:49:21. The course was slightly different with us starting on the west side running a smaller loop almost 3 times. For the most part, I ran at around an even 8:30 min/mile pace. However, I was definitely feeling the extra holiday weight that I had been carrying around. My pace fell off in the last 5k.
Finish: 1:53:44
Click here for my Garmin data.
Finisher medal
After getting a small bag of mini pretzels and an apple, I started heading out. I exited the park at E 102nd St. If it weren't for the wind, it wasn't too cold. I was tempted to get another cup of coffee from that same Starbucks that I had visited earlier this morning. It felt cold enough that I kind of wanted to hop on the subway and just warm enough that I thought I could just walk it. I ended up walking all the way back to my room. It was nice to take a hot shower although I did notice that there was a bit of crotch chafing from wearing the tights. Instead of going out for lunch, I stayed in my room. I ate the apple and went through my 2nd bag of chips.
Post race goodies
For dinner, I walked a few blocks north to eat at Little Thai Kitchen. I finally got a visual confirmation that this particular Go Go Curry location was indeed permanently closed. I also noticed a long line of people in front of Tomi Jazz. It looked to be a Japanese jazz bar. Just from the photos that I could find online, it looked like a total hipster spot. Since I don't drink alcohol anymore, this type of place didn't really appeal to me. Well, LTK, was just the opposite. It was a little past 5 pm and the place was all but empty except for a couple at the bar. After looking over the menu, I ordered the tom yum soup with chicken and pineapple fried rice with beef. Since it was pretty dead, one of the waitresses saw me taking pictures of everything. Yup, I'm a Yelp Elite! My phone always eats first! The food presentation was good. Both the soup and the fried rice were not bad.
Tom yum soup with chicken
Pineapple fried rice with beef
Monday 1/27
I woke up extra early, took a shower, and packed up my stuff for an early morning trip to the airport. I checked out of my room at about 3 am. I walked up a few blocks and entered the Lex Av-53 St Station to catch an E train. They have been doing a lot of track work as of late. As I got to the platform, I noticed a sign stating that the E train wasn't running through this station this weekend until 5 am this morning. I had to hop on the 4 train for a quick ride down to Grand Central. From there I caught the 7 train over to 74 St Station to then get on the E train. I reached the Sutphin Blvd Subway Station at just before 4:30 am. At the entrance to head for the AirTrain, there were a couple guys there checking for credentials or a boarding pass before granting entrance. Definitely not a fun job, but it needed to be done.
Lex Av-53 St Station
Terminal 8
Fortunately, the flight was pretty empty. I got the row to myself. I ended up watching The Divergent Series: Insurgent. It was just a continuation of the first movie/book. I still think that Shailene Woodley was not a very good cast for the role of Tris. I'm guessing it was because she had good onscreen chemistry with her counterpart, Theo James, who played Four. After this movie and a nap, I caught about 3/4 of the third movie in the series, Allegiant. I probably should just give up on these movies and read the books. For my complimentary meal, I went with their cheese and crackers box. We were served a light snack and drinks just ahead of landing at LAX.
Cheese & crackers
Light snack and drink
The plane arrived ahead of schedule. Once I got off of the plane and made my way out to the curb, it was time to wait for a bus ride back to the economy parking structure. For Pete's sake, I had to press the button for assistance again. This was starting to get rather annoying. What made it even more annoying was that the guy answering had an accent that was hard for me to understand.
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