Rock n Roll Las Vegas Marathon 2010

Expo, food, and stuff
I drove up early on Friday to Vegas. I made pretty good time and got there in about 3 hours with a quick stop in Primm. I headed straight for the expo. I parked at The Palazzo since most people were probably parking at The Venetian. I got to the expo site about 30 minutes before they were open and there was a very long line. The expo was pretty good, the usual rock n' roll expo that I've become so accustomed to attending. I picked up a few Larabars. I like eating them before races. They're not too sweet. I signed up for The Country Music Marathon only because my race this year was cut short by a severe storm. I was leaving the expo when they were announcing that Josh Cox was being interviewed on stage. So I turned around and went back in to listen to him and his quest to break the world record for the 50k at the Arizona RnR event. Right before they concluded the interview, I headed straight for the Nissan autograph line. I was third in line. Took a few pictures with him and had him sign my bib.

Josh Cox 50k American record holder

race shirt and bib signed by Josh Cox

It was around 1pm and I was getting hungry. So I drove over to Monta Noodle House to eat the highly recommended tonkotsu ramen with nitamago. I also ordered gyoza which was not very good. The ramen was good. Much more my style. The broth is not as rich as Santouka's.

tonkotsu ramen

For dinner I ate the garlic shrimp rice plate at Ohana Hawaiian BBQ. Can't wait to eat the good stuff in Hawaii! Fruit of the sea! I love shrimp more than I love steaks.

Saturday morning, I went back to the expo. I went back mainly to buy an iFitness belt. The SPIbelt that I have doesn't work too well, so it was time to buy a replacement. Went back to Monta for lunch. This time I ate their miso ramen and a small pork belly rice bowl. It was a much better choice than the gyoza. I will have to try Raku next time I'm in Vegas. They're 2 doors to the left of Monta but they're only open for dinner.

I headed out to the Rio Carnival World Buffet for the Marathon Maniac dinner. But I decided to go about an hour earlier since I didn't want to eat too late. I was approached by a fellow maniac, Galen, while I was waiting in line. He figured I was a runner because of my physique. Well it turned out that I didn't need to wait in the line, but I wasn't in too big of a rush. Next time I'll remember that I can use the kiosk to pay for the meal. The food at the buffet wasn't all that appealing to me. I kept getting veggies, fried rice, dim sum, and some duck. I didn't even eat a single cocktail shrimp or crab leg. But it was a lot of fun eating with the maniacs. They are such a colorful bunch. It turned out that Galen was there early because he thought Vegas was on mountain time. It was fortunate for me since I had someone to eat with me while we waited for the others to show up.

Rio Carnival World Buffet

Eating with Marathon Maniacs at Rio

Race day
Race morning was a little bit of an adventure for me. The parking instructions said to exit Russell Rd, go west on Russell Rd, turn right on Polaris Ave, turn right on Hacienda Ave, and then turn into the parking lot. I first tried to get on Russell Rd from Las Vegas Blvd, but the road was blocked off way before Russell Rd. So then I hopped on the 15 freeway and took the Russell Rd exit. But the street was coned off at Polaris Ave. So I drove further down to Valley View Blvd which was also coned off. But the taxi in front of me drove around them and I followed him. Hacienda Ave was also coned off, but the officer let us through because we told him we were going to the Mandalay parking structure. Good thing I always leave super early.

I went up to the 2nd floor of the convention area where there was a lot more space and the bathrooms were essentially empty. It gets pretty busy on the 1st floor. As it got closer to 6am, I headed outside to the Mandalay Bay sign to meet up with other Marathon Maniacs for a pre-race photo.

Pre-race Maniac photo underneath the Mandalay Bay sign

I then headed over near the bag check area and started warming up. I checked my gear and waited in the portapotty line for one last time. I jogged over to corral 5. As they were moving up the corrals, somehow our corral got combined with corral 4.

Goal A: run 1st half in sub 1:50 then finish around 4:30
Goal B: finish sub 5
Goal C: finish without hurting a new body part

1st half - wheels came off by 10k
My race almost ended during mile 1. A big dude sidestepped right into me trying to avoid a walker. I smacked right into his back. I apologized and told him those darn walkers need to stop starting in the first 4 corrals! I saw my friend Mitch taking pictures right at mile 2 exactly where he said he would be waiting. The right calf started to feel tight at 5k. I knew there was no chance for a sub 1:50 in the 1st half. It was getting really tight by 10k. I took off my gloves as it was getting warm. I started to just cruise near the 15k mark because there was just too much discomfort from my right calf. As we approached Mandalay Bay I considered running straight and bail at the half, but my legs had me taking the right turn to run the 2nd half. There was a nice hill (freeway overpass) leading up to the halfway mark. I saw a few halfers doing a u-turn since they turned right by mistake.
1: 8:10
2: 8:04
3-4: 16:56 (8:28 avg)
5: 8:20
6: 8:23
7: 8:25
8: 9:31
9: 9:16
10: 9:39
11: 9:28
12: 9:27
13: 9:42

2nd half - lots o' walking!
The tight calf led to hip discomfort. So I did the usual walk/jog to the finish line. I liked the 2nd half this year compared to the other 2 years that I've ran in Vegas. I got to see some of my friends on the out-and-back sections. Maniac Galindo caught me around mile 17. Andrea spotted me and I must have given her a confused look because she yelled out her name. I was concentrating on hobbling along with my jacked up hip so I didn't recognize her. Deo and Jeri caught me around mile 20. I ran a little with Jeri while talking about our marathon battle scars. Casey caught me around mile 22 who went on to finish with a PR. I thought it was kind of funny when we took a lap around the huge Hustler building. I wasn't liking the Endurolyte salt caps too much. I felt like I was popping them like I was addicted to salt. I eventually switched to regular salt packs from the medical tent. I tried to run most of the last 2 miles but still had to walk some to alleviate the discomfort in my right hip.
14: 11:16
15: 11:07
16: 12:25
17: 14:02
18: 12:34
19: 13:31
20: 12:56
21: 12:38
22: 13:41
23: 15:51
24: 13:58
25: 11:08
26: 11:06
26.2: 1:30
Finish: 4:43:04

Finish line thoughts
I hung out with Casey for a little bit. We thought it was funny seeing a runner smoke a cigarette shortly after crossing the finish line.

I don't like Endurolytes. They do not work as well as Salt Stick caps for me. I bought S Caps to try next. But I might just start getting my salt supply from McDonald's.

Post race celebration

1. PBR at Planet Hollywood, lots of country music played here. yeeeeehaw!
   • 2 Guinness, my favorite beer
   • Big Bossman salad, huge and most unhealthy salad I've ever ate
   
   
   PBR - good place if you like country music
   
   
   Big Bossman Salad
   
   
2. XS at Wynn-Encore, hosted bar for 1 hour. Can't say no to "free" drinks! I'm sure the race reg fees covered the cost.
   • Grey Goose vodka martini
   • Red Bull with vodka
   • Grey Goose vodka martini extra olives
   
   
   XS - go go dancers!
   
   
3. Dick's at Excalibur
   • 2 24oz Widmer Hefeweizen

Dana Point 10k Turkey Trot

4 days after the DNF at the Santa Monica Mountains 50k trail race, I was hoping my legs were good enough for a 10k race. I think this was only the 3rd time I've ran a 10k. I drove down to the expo on Wednesday. I said hi to my friends with RunRacing. I love the cotton race shirt. It was a simple, clean, and colorful design. And it was cotton, the fabric of our lives. Personally I'm tired of having so many tech shirts. We got everything in a yellow goodie bag.

Chicrunner working

Race shirt and bib

I drove down early Thanksgiving morning and rolled into Dana Point at about 5:45am. I parked in the marina parking lot. I got out to use the portapotty and noticed that it felt colder than the low 40s that was in the weather forecast. I believe it was in the high 30s. About 20 minutes before the start, I warmed up in the parking lot. I wore a singlet, my short shorts, and a pair of gloves for the race. It didn't feel too cold after warming up, but it was definitely chilly.

Goal A: sub 45:00
Goal B: sub 48:00
Goal C: sub 50:00

It felt great to run at a 7 min/mile pace. I have been doing more 5k/10k specific workouts lately and it definitely felt a lot easier to maintain the pace. The mile markers were way off, but I knew roughly how fast I was going. I ran based on my breathing. I was running for the most part around a really fit girl. She had no body fat whatsoever. She looked like she was jogging. Right before we got to the halfway mark, she took off.

5k split: 22:35, 7:16 pace

Somewhere around mile 5 I was most likely passed by Skinnyrunner. I sped up and passed her to take a look to see if it was her. I quickly developed a side stitch and she subsequently dropped me like a rock. She probably thought I really didn't want to be passed by her. :) I should've just followed her to the finish line. Instead I spent the next mile trying to work the stitch out. It was painful to breathe and running through it was not fun. Up until the stitch, I was on pace to finish at 45:xx. For the last .2, I kicked it in passing more than I was being passed.

Finish: 46:30, 7:29 pace

Well today I had a taste of the pace that I need to hold for 26.2 miles in order to qualify for Boston. My marathon maniac farewell tour is coming to an end soon and I'm really looking forward to fully recovering. Then I could start building a good base to train for my BQ. I'll certainly start volunteering more since there's no way I can keep myself away from the racing atmosphere.

Dana Point is a nice place to visit. It reminds me a lot of Carlsbad... same coast, just not as far south. I love visiting Carlsbad. The Dana Point 10k Turkey Trot definitely has my approval. They have a 5k and a 1 mile kid's run if the 10k is not your thing.

Santa Monica Mountains 50k

The weather forecast all week leading up to the race was 70% chance of rain on race day. So believing the weather-woman I packed my rain gear and drove out to La Jolla Canyon in Malibu for the race through the Santa Monica Mountains.

Driving along the PCH

I got there around 7:30am, pickup my bib, and went back to my car to get ready. The weather kept getting better and better. But I still wore the rain jacket just in case. We took a group photo a few minutes before the start of the race. The first start at 8:30am was just for the 30k and 50k.

My trail running friends

Orange Loop (La Jolla Canyon) - 1:39:23
I kept it slow from the beginning. There was a huge bottle neck early on, but I didn't mind because I just wanted to survive the 50k. It got hot really quickly wearing the rain jacket. I took it off and tied it around my waist, but it was so annoying. Eventually I tied it around my neck like I was a yuppy or wearing it as a Superman cape. I tried to make sure I didn't pass anybody. But there were a few times where runners moved aside and I was allowed to pass. I first rolled my left ankle on a muddy downhill area. I almost fell but I caught myself in time with one of my water bottles. I was able to run it off. 2 handhelds were too much for this race especially with the Powerade that I was drinking. I took my first salt tab about 1 hour in and 1 every 30 minutes. I rolled my left ankle again coming down a rocky area as I was almost to the La Jolla aid station. I ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and had the volunteer water down my drink. I thought about dropping out, but the adrenaline had me heading out on the pink loop. I dropped off my jacket before heading out.

Pink Loop to Sycamore Canyon aid station - 1:21:09
Everything was manageable until I reached the downhill part on the fire road. I was very demoralized as I could barely jog the downhill. Walking the downhills was not fun. I was hit with maybe 3 drops of rain. Thanks weather-woman. At the aid station I had a peanut butter and banana sandwich and fill up one of my bottles with water. If I wasn't running, I might as well work on my biceps.

Pink Loop to La Jolla Canyon aid station - 1:31:43
I pretty much walked all of the uphills. I even stopped on the fire road for my friends to catch up. I had them go ahead of me so I could use them as rabbits. As we got to the top of Ray Miller, a group of about 5 runners were lost and found their way back. They told us that the ribbons were blown off to the wrong side of the road. I stopped to fix the ribbons. I then ran a little to catch up to my friends. From then on, I pretty much had them pace me to the La Jolla aid station. Along the way we were passed by the first place 50k finisher. And for good measure, I managed to roll my left ankle yet again when we were jogging down. I knew my day was definitely over.

DNF at 30k - 4:32:16

Humbled and hobbling into the aid station

Ultras are not for me! :/

I could've continued on and hiked the other 20k, but the ankles were shot to hell. I had a pretty good plan to survive the 50k, but I showed up in new shoes and rolled my good ankle too many times. My other trail shoes sucked and I wasn't about to run in the mud with them. I would've taken the time to break them in, but I just never thought we would be running in mud or rain. I may give ultras another try, but I'm thinking that I'd head back to running my favorite distance, the half marathon. After I train for a BQ, I'm going to give marathons a break and run shorter distances. Of course, I'll have to give my body some time to recover before I do any of that.

In this race, I learned that I can drink Powerade and skip the gels. I think for Vegas, I'll leave the handheld at home and just use the provided aid on the course along with my salt caps.

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.