Rock n Roll San Antonio Marathon

Pre-race travel, expo, and food
I took a very early flight out of Ontario to San Antonio on Saturday. I sat next to Rafael from New York who was also running the marathon. Once I landed, I headed over to the car rental office to pick up my car. I drove over to the Alamodome to attend the expo. The instructions said to park at the Alamodome, but it was closed off. I ended up parking about 2 blocks away for $10. There was a bet on how many races I would sign up for... I signed up for 0. Sorry to disappoint. Speaking of signing up for races... I picked up my Rock Legend medal at the RnR booth. I asked one of the girls there if I get an extra discount if I show up wearing the medal at future expos. She jokingly said I should get a lifetime discount for earning that medal. Just as I was about to leave the expo, I bumped into Sam. I would see him later again at the tweetup.

The Alamodome

After leaving the expo, I started heading towards Downtown over to the Riverwalk and the Alamo. I ran into Dave, a fellow Marathon Maniac, down at the river. Weird how we keep bumping into each other. I took a couple of pictures at the Alamo. I was kind of tired so I didn't go in. It was nothing spectacular from the outside. Besides reading about it in history books, I've only remember seeing the Alamo in the movie, Cloak & Dagger. I hoofed it back to my car and drove over to my hotel.

The Riverwalk

The Alamo

On my way to the hotel, I stopped by a HEB supermarket to pick up my usual drinks and snacks. I stayed at a Red Roof Inn. A nearby street was Emil Street. I only saw the street when I was mapping out my driving routes for the weekend. I'm sure I looked odd to the drivers when I was taking the picture. The hotel was not located in a very nice area. It kind of seemed like a poor part of town.

Emil Street

I headed back out later for a tweetup at Chris Madrid's for burgers. It was touted as having the best burgers in San Antonio. The locals recommended the macho sized cheddar cheezy, but I was afraid too much cheese might screw up my GI system the next day. So I got the regular cheeseburger with sliced American cheese, fries, and a Coke. I've made a thing lately to never "super-size" any meal and to always order the small size. I met a few new tweeters, people that have been following OperationJack. Yes, the burger was good... but I still prefer a burger from Island's or a six dollar burger from Carl's Jr. I'm not a big fan of In n' Out either. To each their own.

Chris Madrid's

Regular cheeseburger with sliced American cheese & fries

Shortly after I got back from dinner, it would appear that the room next door was having a party. From the peephole, they looked like a bunch of highschoolers that chipped in for a room. But thank goodness it looked like they were only using the room for a pre-party. They were pretty tame and ended around 10pm most likely to go to the real party.

Race day
I woke up at about 3am to get ready and checked out at about 4:30am to go park at the AT&T Center. I took a quick cat nap in the parking lot before riding the bus over to the starting village. I walked over to corral 7 where I would wait for the pre-race maniac photo. I sat at the curb listening to music on my iPod. The UPS gear check trucks were parked diagonally in one of the narrowest streets in San Antonio. The street was packed to the gills with runners trying to check their bags. A few of us noticed that the sidewalks were pretty open and was able to bypass the crowd. I checked my bag and barely made it back for the maniac photo. After the photo, I hit the potty one last time and entered corral 4... the 3:40 corral.

Goal A: sub 4:30
Goal B: sub 5
Goal C: go home

1st half
I was at the front of my corral. When they released our corral, I knew I was going a bit faster than 3:40 pace. But it felt easy and I did not accelerate. I also have walk breaks built in, so everything would eventually average itself out. There were walkers and joggers that we had to pass... seriously with chip timing, WTF are you guys doing in corral 1, 2, and 3? I already feel bad starting in corral 4, but at least I can hold the pace until the halfway mark where the crowds have long thinned out. Anyways the usual ankle discomfort came at mile 8. It was hard to start back up when I took my walk break. The 3:40 pace group caught me at around mile 10. I ran with them until my next walk break right during mile 13. The right foot was not good after reaching the halfway mark at around 1:51:xx.
1: 8:09
2: 7:51
3: 7:53
4: 8:25
5: 8:18
6: 8:12
7: 8:18
8: 8:55
9: 8:47
10: 8:45
11: 8:52
12: 8:52
13: 9:20

2nd half
As usual, I went into my longer walk-jog 2nd half mode. I just wanted to see if the ankle could hold a 3:40 pace for at least the first half. I'm pretty sure I went to use the potty at miles 17, 20, 22, and 23. Muscle cramps kept creeping in and I kept drinking my Nuun water. I'm thinking that I've mixed it too thin. It tasted way better when I added an extra salt packet. The right leg was pretty useless when the ankle starts to hurt. I did a lot more real running in the last 2 miles or so just to get it over with sooner. I like the finishing chute at RnR races. They set it up so that spectators line both sides of the chute. The cheering really made me run hard even though there was a noticeable climb near the very last turn.
14: 10:22
15: 11:12
16: 12:16
17: 14:32
18: 13:36
19: 12:36
20: 14:38
21: 12:51
22: 15:56
23: 17:28
24: 13:27
25: 12:15
26: 11:32
26.2: 1:49
Finished: 4:45:08

Rock Legend!

Post race food
After I changed out of my running clothes, I took the bus back to the AT&T Center to get my car. I drove over to a McDonald's to eat something. I ordered a McRib sandwich meal. They had sweet tea. I don't think I've ever seen that at a McDonald's. I love sweet tea. I think the last time I ate a McRib was 8 years ago... probably also the last time I ate at a McDonald's.

McRib sandwich and fries

Sometimes the race is the easy part
I tried to find a gas station near the car rental area, but I couldn't find one. I ended up driving around for about 5 miles before I found a gas station. After I returned the car and hopped on the shuttle to the airport, I had thought that the hard part for the day was over. Instead it turned out that the marathon was the easy part of the day. Most of what happened in the marathon I could control, but a super long flight delay I could not control. They said it was a mechanical issue... most likely BS. I fly American Airlines enough to know that that's their standard answer for practically every delay. Instead of a 3 hour layover at DFW, I ended up missing my connection to Ontario... the last flight out to Ontario. They gave me two options: 1) stay overnight in DFW and fly out on 1st available flight next morning. 2) fly out to LAX and take a shuttle to Ontario. I went with option 2. The flight was one of the most uncomfortable ones I've had. They put me in the middle seat on the bulkhead row. There was very little leg space and I'm not that tall. Anyways, it took another hour ride in a Prime Time shuttle to get to the Ontario airport after making 2 other stops. By the time I drove home, it was a little past 2am. I could've showered and gone straight into work with no sleep... but no way! I slept and went in around lunch time. From now on, I'm only booking direct flights.

2010 Hoover Dam Marathon

I'm not really sure why I decided to run this marathon. Probably because I like the races that Calico Racing puts together. Also I love eating in Vegas. Forget the gambling... they can have my money, but in exchange I want some good food! I took Friday off from work and drove up early in the morning. I got to the Strip early enough for a breakfast buffet, so I decided to head for the Bellagio Buffet. I wasn't planning on hitting a buffet, but what the heck... poor decisions are to be made in Vegas! :) Here's what I ate with a plate by plate breakdown:

1. smoked salmon, scrambled eggs, bacon, and sausage.
2. more smoked salmon, cantaloupe, watermelon, strawberries & cream.
3. cocktail shrimp, lamb, skirt steak, St. Louis ribs, spinach salad.
4. California rolls, rainbow sushi, sliders.
   

Last plate of food. The sliders were good!

I usually eat that much over 2 days. Oh well. I headed over to my hotel and stopped at Albertson's to pick up some snacks and drinks. This time I stayed at the Hampton Inn by the airport. It was pretty nice and quiet. I always try to stay away from the Strip whenever I'm in Vegas. From my room, I got to see a constant stream of airplanes landing next block over. You can hear the planes but it wasn't noisy enough to bother me.

My strategy for this race was to run as many 9:45 - 10 min miles from start to finish. My right ankle has been bothering me more as of late. Most likely because I've been running a race for 3 consecutive weekends. Our final race instructions stated that the full marathoners were to run the half marathon loop twice. This was because parts of the full marathon course was messed up by the recent rain storms.

My soon to be retired singlet :)

Goal A: 4:30
Goal B: sub 5
Goal C: don't hurt any more body parts

1st Half
I started off just as planned. The first 2 miles was a steady climb. A little after mile 2, we ran mostly on gravel fire roads. This was actually bothering me because my gimpy ankle was not liking the uneven surface. The tunnels were fun for the most part to run through, but I was getting somewhat disoriented in a couple of the longer ones because it was pretty dark. We reached the highest point of the course around 4.5 mile. The "switch-backs" down to the Hoover Dam parking structure was a pain in the butt to run down and up. The dam was the turn around point. It was getting kind of windy as I headed back to the starting area. I completed the first loop in about 2:10.
1: 9:34
2: 9:44
3: 9:45
4: 9:57
5: 9:33
6-7: 19:21 (9:40 avg)
8: 9:52
9: 10:29
10: 10:29
11: 9:42
12: 9:46
13: 10:59

2nd Half
The ankle took a beating on the gravel trails, so I decided to start taking my usual walk breaks at every mile marker. This was working fine until I started having GI issues around mile 17. Usually I stop taking gels when this happens. I also stopped taking my salt tabs as frequently. I don't know what else to do, because I'm not going to crap my shorts. But I started cramping all over going into mile 19. I stopped at the aid station right before Hoover Dam and took about 2 more salt tabs. One of the volunteers kept trying to give me stuff to eat. But I had to refuse because my whole GI system was going nuts. I finally left the aid station after sitting for a while and started walking or hobbling down to the Hoover Dam parking structure waiting for the salt to kick in. Something was not right and I asked the next volunteer if he knew where I could find the closest portapotty. He told me to take the elevator down to the first level and use the restroom. My goodness that was the best restroom break I've taken during a race. I almost had to DNF, but the potty break and endurolyte pills were good enough to revive me. I took another salt tab and grabbed a couple more when I returned to the same aid station. As I was trying to rally and finish in one piece the Miley Cyrus song, Party in the USA, popped into my head. Hey whatever works. The tunnels on the way back in were like wind tunnels.
14: 12:41
15: 12:54
16: 12:57
17: 13:21
18: 14:43
19: 24:41
20: 25:05
21: 13:26
22: 16:04
23: 13:27
24: 13:02
25: 11:36
26: 11:58
26.2: 1:50
Finish: 5:26:57

I guess this is my power song when I'm having a crappy race :)

After I crossed the finish line, I grabbed a towel to clean the salt off of my arms and face. I went back to my car to grab my camera to take pictures of my friends. One of them finished her 91st marathon of the year!

JQ to the finish line!

Yolanda finishing up her 91st marathon of the year!

Garlic Shrimp at Ohana Hawaiian BBQ

I continued to have GI problems for pretty much the rest of the day. I'm still thinking it's the gels that I'm taking. I've got to figure this out because it's not fun to deal with during a marathon. I'm definitely going to cut out buffets the day before a race. But I really don't think it was the buffet since things didn't go south until around mile 17.

The next day I was feeling better, so I walked from the Palazzo up to the Sahara. The legs felt ok, but the lower back was very sore when I got into the car.

I should stay here one of these days

Later that evening, I returned to the Palazzo to eat at the Carnevino. The hostess asked what brought me into town. I told her I came to run the Hoover Dam Marathon. She asked me how long was the race. I told her marathons are always 26.2 miles. She said she can't even run 1 mile. They always say that! I ordered the pre-theater 3 course meal. I was eyeing the bone-in New York strip steak, but I didn't know if my stomach could handle it. I had the calamari for course number 1. Then I had the filet mignon with the giant Madagascar shrimp added a la carte for course number 2. And to finish things off I had a small lemon cheesecake for dessert. I also had a couple of Gulden Draak Ales... described by the waiter as a couple steps below syrup.

Calamari, I love it when they include the tentacles!

Filet mignon with giant Madagascar shrimp

Gulden Draak Ale

I went for a walk down the Strip to work off the beer before I drove back to my hotel. Apparently what I drank was one of the stronger beers out there. I went from casino to casino, just looking at some of the action at the craps tables. Looks like a fun game but I never took the time to learn it.

Walking the Strip after dinner

Rock n Roll Los Angeles Half Marathon

Before the Race Stuff
I was kind of under the weather starting Friday. Sucks to be sick on race weekend! Since Obama was in town, I decided to take the Metro to the expo at the LA Convention Center. I tell ya, there were colorful characters on the train. It took forever to get to the Pico Station. There was mechanical issues on the purple/red train at the Union Station.

Very few people on Friday

Unexpectedly Met Deena Kastor!

Chicrunner working the RunRacing Booth

I was fortunate to meet Deena Kastor just as I was considering signing up for the Arizona Marathon. She was really cool. She signed a poster and also my bib.

I've twice run the previous incarnation of this race when it was called the City of Angels half. I knew you had to take some of the free speed from the early downhills and save something for the hills near the end. The course has changed a bit, I think for the better. After looking at the elevation chart, the strategy still remained the same. This is not an easy course. If you're not going down then you're going up... very few flat areas.

Shirt and Bib

Race Day
Race morning, I felt the chills and was feeling very tired. I was hoping that everything will just work itself out once we start running. I drove over to the Sierra Madre Villa station and took the Metro to the shuttle bus pickup spot just outside of LA Live. Once we got dropped off, I headed over to the gear check area and used the portapotties just in front of my UPS truck. I headed over to corral 3 and it was a zoo trying to get there. I even had my bib partially ripped off my shirt. I had to re-pin the bib. Just as I got to the corral, they were taking a maniac photo so I quickly jumped in.

Maniacs!

Goal A: sub 1:50
Goal B: sub 1:55
Goal C: sub 2:00

My 1 salt cap was melting, so I took it right before the start. I started the race with one of my tri-friends. Man, she started fast. I followed her until the first aid station about 2 miles into the race. Mile one I saw Roger Craig. I felt like I was sleep-running this race. Just felt sicky. I was ready for the race to be over by 10k. It was nice to see my WorldVision friends cheering us on from an overhead bridge. My ankle again started to bother me around mile 8 and 9. There were some downhills to the finish, but all I could muster were 9:30ish miles. I knew the sub 1:50 went out the window since I was giving back 1 minute per mile. Then a short steep climb around 10 and 11 really slowed me down. My right Achilles tendon was feeling a little achy so I cruised it in. I gave myself a chance to finish sub 1:50, but the ankle was just too gimpy. They had laid down a red carpet at the finish line. Nice.
1: 7:43
2: 7:49
3: 7:45
4: 8:04
5-6: 16:59 (8:30 avg)
7: 8:37
8: 8:59
9: 9:08
10: 9:33
11: 10:00
12: 9:34
13: 9:33
13.1: 0:51
Finish: 1:54:33

Finisher's Medal

After the Race Stuff
I thought Competitor Group did a great job with this race. They kept much of the same course, but the changes they've made improved the race. I like having the race end at LA Live. Also having the expo at the LA Convention Center was much better. It's no wonder Competitor Group has been taking over so many races.

I met a few of my friends near the UPS trucks. I walked up to the 7th street/Metro Center station to take the red line back to my car. I kind of dozed off on the gold line. I drove over to the nearby Steer n' Ale to eat something. I had my consolation salad and a stockyard steak. The steak tasted beefy like it used to taste. Meat and potatoes are definitely my comfort food.

My consolation salad for whenever I run a less-than-stellar race

Mmmmmm... beefy!

Rock n Roll Denver Marathon

Day before the race
The Denver Rock n' Roll Marathon on 10-17-10 was my 50th overall. Truth be told, I was a bit tired and would rather have been running a local race like the Long Beach Marathon. But since everything had already been booked, I headed out to Denver on an early Saturday morning flight. I drove into downtown Denver in my rental car and checked into my hotel. Then I walked over to the Convention Center to attend the expo. Along the way, I stopped by the Civic Center Park to check out the starting area. They already had things pretty much setup and all laid out. Right before I got to the expo, I bumped into my friend Vixen who told me that the expo was rather ho hum. That was good news for me. I didn't need to spend anymore money. I went through the expo without buying anything and signing up for any races. I like the race shirt. I meet up with Dave and his friends at the expo. I picked up 2 Lara bars and ate them since I was kind of hungry. I then walked back to my hotel. I stopped by Kokoro, which was across the street from my hotel, to pick up lunch. I got a chicken and vegetable bowl. It was pretty much like Yoshinoya.

The Start/Finish Line

City and County Building

Colorado State Capitol

Maniac Friends!

I ate lunch while watching TV for a little bit. Then I prepared my gear for Sunday's race. I was kind of worried about the race since my ankle was feeling weird from walking around town. I haven't ran a single mile since the Chicago Marathon so I really had nothing to go off on.

My seldom used race shirt :)

I drove out to Boulder to meet up with some RWOL friends for dinner at Pei Wei. While waiting for my friends, I was able to snap a nice sunset picture with my phone. The internet may be a great way to keep in touch with friends, but nothing beats interacting with friends face to face. One of them is Sam who was running his 50th marathon of this year for OperationJack to help raise funds for Train4Autism!

Boulder Sunset

Race morning
Following the parking instructions, I drove to the Metro State Campus to park for free. But when I got there I learned that they wanted $5 for parking. Nice. It was about a 1 mile walk to the starting line from the campus. If I knew I had to pay, I would've just walked from my hotel which was only a little bit further than 1 mile from the starting line. Oh well.

I had a hard time finding the gear check. I usually look for UPS trucks, but since it's a loop course there was no trucks. They made a terrible mistake in putting the gear check tables in front of a row of portapotties. The lines for the potties and gear check just caused a huge crowded mass of humanity in one little area. I bumped into my friend, Maniac Mitch who was running his 70th marathon. Since we were both starting out of corral 4, we made our way over to the corrals.

Goal A: 3:55
Goal B: 4:30
Goal C: sub 5

First Half
I almost always go out "hard" on my races. This race was no different. I started off too fast even for goal A. I eased off the gas, but eventually the thin air caught up to me. My right lung felt like it collapsed by around mile 4. I tried to maintain a 9 min mile pace, but the discomfort in the lung was rather annoying. And like clockwork, the right ankle started to hurt at mile 8. I backed off of the pace and had no choice but go to plan B and/or C. I got to the halfway mark slower than I had wanted, but slowing down finally got rid of the lung discomfort. I started taking an extra 1 minute walking break at mile 12.
1: 8:15
2: 8:38
3: 8:46
4: 9:30
5: 9:13
6: 9:07
7: 10:10
8: 9:34
9: 9:46
10: 10:36
11: 10:51
12: 11:13
13: 11:36
13.1: 2:08:45

Second Half
I stuck to taking a minute walk break every time I got to a mile marker. That worked pretty well for the rest of the race. Mile 24 was an out and back on a huge overpass which was equivalent to a big hill. Other than this climb, the course was pretty flat. I ran the last .2 and saw Dane cheering on runners at the last corner. It was a pleasant surprise to have someone cheer for you when you didn't know that they were going to be there.
14: 11:46
15: 13:36
16: 13:16
17: 13:38
18: 12:52
19: 12:19
20: 12:43
21: 13:11
22: 12:54
23: 12:20
24: 15:11
25: 12:59
26: 13:24
26.2: 1:47
Finish: 4:59:14

Finisher's Medal

Post race thoughts
Well, that's 50 marathons in the books. I'm definitely going to turn my focus towards running quality races instead of just quantity. I hope to run a BQ in 2012.

Competitor Group has been taking over a lot of marathons lately. It seems that the majority feel that this is a bad thing. I think they're doing a great job putting together a good race experience. But since they are creating a monopoly, higher registration fees are inevitably starting to show up for their races. Their prices aren't out of control yet, but it is definitely getting runners' attention.

Chicago Marathon 10-10-10

I flew from Ontario to Midway on Southwest. I hate flying Southwest. It's always a cattle call flying with them even with their current boarding system. From the airport, I took the L to the Roosevelt station to take a shuttle to the expo. The shuttles were actually yellow school buses with seats designed for youngsters.

Welcome to the expo!

The expo was excellent. I hope the LA Marathon was there taking notes. So many booths and I only bought arm warmers and a long sleeve 1/2 zip shirt. I did not sign up for any races. I'm still sticking to the plan to ride out the races and take a break.

Wall of marathoners

Took a while to find my name

After going through the expo, I took the bus to the Fairmont Hotel and walked over to my hotel on State and Lake. I stopped by a CVS to pick up some supplies. After checking in at theWit hotel and dropping off my stuff, I went back out to eat. On my way over to the Billy Goat Tavern, I bumped into Paul Frank Maniac Dave and his friends. We wished each other luck in the race tomorrow. I had a double cheezborger and a Coke. It was pretty quiet inside since I was there at an odd hour between lunch and dinner. Afterwards I went back to my room and relaxed while getting my gear ready.

Double cheezborger and Coke

2 weeks out from the race, I was unable to run more than a mile without excruciating pain in my neck/shoulder region. I didn't know then if I would be able to run the Chicago Marathon. But I was still planning to make the trip at the very least to be a spectator. My goal before I hurt myself was 3:55 or bust. Well I was able to recover enough to run about 12 miles without relative pain. So I resumed my goal of 3:55 with a backup goal of 4:30.

I left my room at about 6:15am to walk over to the starting area. It was a bit crowded and I missed the Marathon Maniac photo op. But I did see the few lingering maniacs which included Dave, #1, and #2. I was hoping to bump into irungirlSD from RWOL but I couldn't find her or her husband. So I went to use the portapotties and checked my gear bag.

They have lots of portapotties in the starting area but somehow I always end up in the slowest line. I dropped off my bag as soon as I got out and headed for the corral. The corral entrances were a little hectic near the start of the race. You can enter from the sides like the Marine Corps Marathon, but you can't really tell from the back. I eventually made it to the 9 min pace section of the open corral. It was a zoo inside the corral. I think NY does a better job at moving the masses because spectators aren't allowed at the starting area. But it's just tough to move that many people without it getting a little bit crazy.

First Half
I don't remember much of the race from the half marathon and on. The first 10k was fine. I was running by effort and I kept trying to slow myself down to a 9 min pace. For about 8 miles I ran with the 3:55 pace group. But I dropped off because my right ankle was bothering me. I knew it wasn't something I could push through. It has been hurting me in every race since I hurt it right before the Seattle RnR Marathon back in late June. When I got to the half way mark, I kind of knew it was going to be a 5 hr day. Then the weather just kept getting hotter and hotter. I switched to a strategy of "let's not pass out. Please finish in one piece."
1: 8:33
2: 8:39
3: 8:54
4: 9:12
5: 9:04
6: 8:49
7: 9:24
8: 9:17
9: 9:51
10: 10:14
11: 10:01
12: 10:19
13: 10:40
13.1: 2:04:01

Second Half
I started taking an increasing amount of walking breaks. Somewhere near mile 23.5... right before we made a turn on Michigan to head for the finish line, I saw two middle-aged women sitting at a bus bench. I was so pooped. I just sat down right between the two of them and asked when the bus is coming. They laughed and asked if I was alright. I said it's hot and I just needed to take a break.

As we took the final turn onto Columbus, boy that finish line was a sight for sore eyes, legs, ankle, etc. I tried to run as fast as I could which was not very fast. The guy on the PA was telling us not to sprint... to take it easy since the heat alert was at red.
14: 12:04
15: 11:59
16: 12:24
17: 12:30
18: 15:08
19: 14:20
20: 14:51
21: 15:56
22: 13:27
23: 14:18
24: 16:34
25: 15:50
26: 14:58
26.2: 2:07
Finish: 5:09:20

After the race I developed a really mean stomach ache. I just went straight back to my hotel room to rest. I couldn't eat or drink anything and just sat there. I've never had this sort of pain after a race. When the pain finally subsided, I took a shower and kind of zonked out watching TV. I think it was the Giants vs. Braves. My brain felt fried after the 26.2 mile romp in the heat. After a while I dragged myself out to eat something at Harry Caray's. I had a Caesar salad, a 23oz medium rare bone-in ribeye, and a Pepsi. Holy Cow! Good times.

23oz of beefy goodness

This course was extremely flat. This was definitely a PR course if the conditions were favorable. I would really love to come back and run this race when I'm healthy. I rank this race just below the Marine Corps Marathon on my short list of favorites:

1. New York City
2. Honolulu
3. Marine Corps
4. Chicago
5. San Diego

Monday morning, I checked out of the hotel and headed down the Magnificent Mile to Niketown to buy a finisher's shirt. The store wasn't open until 9am, so I bought the Chicago Tribune from a CVS and walked up to the Hancock Observatory. They weren't open until 9am and it costs $15 to go to the top, so I went back out to take some pictures of buildings. They have some very nice buildings in Chicago. I ended up buying a long sleeve finisher's shirt with a map of the course on the front. Too bad I left it on the train when I went to the airport. I had already left the station when I realized what had happened. Someone out there has a nice finisher's shirt.

Chicago Theater

Marina City "Corn Cob"

Chicago River

Chicago Tribune

Water Tower & Hancock Observatory

A year to forget!

So far this year has turned out to be a year to forget! I entered the year dealing with Achilles tendinitis. Just as I thought things were headed in the right direction when I ran a comfortable 4:30 at the San Diego RnR Marathon, I took a bad step on a training run and the right ankle has been pretty gimpy ever since. I have been taking things very easy. Resting 5 days a week and running only on the weekends. Instead I have been doing sit-ups, dips, and bent over row exercises. But this past week, I aggravated an old upper back/right shoulder injury. I cannot turn or tilt my head without being in serious pain. I tried to do my regular run this Saturday morning and the pain became just unbearable a little past 1 mile into the run. I stopped dead in my tracks. Turned around and walked back home. Talk about confidence killer less than 2 weeks away from the Chicago Marathon. Looks like I'll need to revise my goals.

Even though I was in some pretty good pain, I managed to drag my invalid body out to eat endless shrimp with my friend for his upcoming birthday. I actually felt a little bit better stuffing myself with shrimp.

Red Lobster's endless shrimp - garlic grilled

Whenever I eat a buffet I usually skip the next meal, so I skipped dinner. It hurts to lay down, but I took a nap and woke up at around 11:30pm to watch the Berlin Marathon. It took a while to find a live feed of the race. There was one point last year where I was planning to run this race. Good thing I didn't. Too many setbacks this year. Also I don't want to run a big city marathon until I stop being a marathon maniac and let my body heal up. Running races while injured is not entirely fun. Anyways well... not too many people can say this, but I really enjoy watching the elites race the marathon. I can stay glued to the action from start to finish. It was a rainy race and Patrick Makau won the race in 2:05:08. It was pretty insane that the top 3 all ran a sub 2:06. The Boston Marathon winner this year finished sub 2:06. Looks like there's a new standard for the men.

This Sunday morning, still in pain I woke up to watch the 5th Avenue mile race. There are some pretty nice races in New York. I might go out there for a half marathon one of these years. I still kind of wish that I was running the NYC Marathon this year. I'll get to run it by 2013, hopefully sooner.

Chicago Marathon preview

Ever since my gimpy PB (1:52:28) at the Disneyland half marathon, I feel as if I've lost my running mojo again. I was kind of blue because I knew if I had 2 good legs, I would've easily made it under 1:50. A week later I was in Kansas running the Patriots' Run Marathon. It was a very cool patriotic event, but my legs were gone and the heat really made it tough. Running 26 1 mile laps in a mall parking lot really taxed the mind.

Right now the legs are feeling better. But there's still discomfort in the right ankle. When it starts to hurt, I tend to slow down which alters my normal running gait. It then leads to hip pain and lower back pain. During my last ~11.6 mile run, I focused on maintaining my form which helped. One good thing is that the bump on my anterior tibial tendon is finally gone. I might ramp up my weekly mileage a little in the next couple of weeks just so I would have some sort of fitness to complete the Chicago Marathon without it hurting too much.

Goal A: 4:00
Goal B: 4:30
Goal C: finish

While the mojo may be gone, I am quite excited to be visiting Chicago again. One thing I'm looking forward to besides the marathon is the food! I'm planning on eating at the following places while I'm in Chicago. Feel free to give me some suggestions.

• Billy Goat Tavern
• Harry Caray's Italian Steakhouse

This weekend, I ate a bone-in ribeye at Cask n' Cleaver. Good stuff, but nowhere near as good as the one that I had in Kansas.

Cask n' Cleaver - The Cleaver, bone-in ribeye