Carlsbad 5000 All Day 25k 2012

Pre-race
I had taken this event off of my race schedule when I picked up my most current set of injuries. But I had always planned on showing up to volunteer and watch the event. The months went by and the leg started to heal and feel much better. A couple months out, I had kicked around the idea of running the regular 5k. Come race weekend, it was still off of the schedule. Last minute race emails stated that the all day 25k event would be open to race day registration. I packed my gear the night before just in case I needed it.

I always meet up with my friends from San Diego whenever I head down south for a race. So I was really looking forward to seeing them. I was delivering some caps to one of my friends from the Runner's World forums.

Once I got to my usual parking spot at the train station, I headed towards the registration area to meet up with my friend. It was still dark and I didn't spot him right away, so what the heck, I registered for the all day 25k. I already had some conservative goals in mind for each 5k just in case.

I did one more sweep of the area to see if I could find my friend and indeed I did. I gave him the caps and jogged back to my car to get ready for the first heat.

The starting line

Rounding the final corner view from the floor

Rounding the final corner

One of the best finishing chute for any race! Why am I so happy? :)

Masters Men 40 and over
Since this was the 1st heat, I wanted to test how well the ankle would react to some speed in the first mile. Then I would cruise in for the finish. It was nice to be able to run sub 8 min miles again. There was still a little discomfort, but it felt good.
1: 7:23
2: 7:56
3: 8:03
3.1: 0:42
24:05 (7:45), goal 24:00

36:48 rest

Master Women 40 and over
I cruised through this heat to see if I could save something for my AG heat. But the ankle came up more sore than I'd like at the end of the heat.
1: 7:50
2: 8:25
3: 7:59
3.1: 0:42
24:55 (8:01), goal 25:00

16:10 rest

Men 30-39
The first mile felt awkward as the ankle was sore. But the soreness was less noticeable as the race progressed. But I kept it slow just in case so I can finish the final 2 heats. I finished this heat cramping up. The S-cap helped with alleviating the calf cramps.
1: 8:21
2: 8:46
3: 8:53
3.1: 0:45
26:45 (8:37), goal 26:30

13:30 rest

Women 30-39
Because of the short rest, the calves were cramped up during the first mile until the the electrolytes kicked in. There are steady inclines during miles 2 and 3, so I jogged it in knowing that I just wanted to finish under 30 minutes. Honestly I have to admit that I could not run much faster even if I wanted.
1: 8:25
2: 9:21
3: 9:53
3.1: 0:47
28:28 (9:10), goal < 30:00

1:36:56
I rest a bit in my car and at the all day 25k lounge. I later found my friends at the beer garden. They got some beer for me. It was good since the garden was closed after I finished the last heat.

Men & Women 29 and under
The weather really warmed up for this heat. I was a little wobbly and numb for this final 5k. The slight beer buzz was nice as I was getting pretty sore. I finished the last mile or so running on fumes. Even with the slow pace, there was absolutely nothing left in the tank. I had that "I want to die" feeling as I approached the finish line.
1: 8:36
2: 9:09
3: 9:46
3.1: 0:49
28:20 (9:08), goal < 30:00

Post-race
After finishing the last heat, I got in a long line to pick up my medal. It was a pretty neat useful medal for once. It doubles as a bottle opener! I then walked back to my car to change, grab my camera, and go watch the elite runners do their thing. Boy were they amazing to watch in person!

Here comes the men around the final corner!

3 miles under 13 minutes! wow

1st place woman checking her watch as she rounds the final corner

Nobody is going to catch her

I really love this race. When you run the all day 25k, you get to see your friends over and over again. This event is one of the reasons why Competitor Group (Elite Racing) had earned and enjoyed such early success with their races. Each year they continue to look for ways to improve the race. The all day 25k lounge was moved to a different spot this year away from the general masses. This made it easier for the crazies to access the lounge. They had GUs, fruits, water, and Sports Blast electrolyte drinks. They also setup a bunch of portapotties for us. You can check a gear bag here, but I chose to just go back to my car.

Front of black long sleeve shirt

Back of shirt, bottle opener/medal, and bib

I then drove over to my friend's house for a post race BBQ. We hung out after eating ribs and it makes me want to move back down to San Diego. I was sad when it was time for me to head home. I took the 15 to go home which is sometimes better since most people take the 5.

Post race Blue Moon opened with my new medal! Oh, it's the small simple things in life that brings me joy. :)

LA Marathon 2012 and pub crawl

Saturday expo
Saturday morning, I made the dreaded drive out to Dodger Stadium. I love the Dodgers, but I hate LA traffic especially around the stadium. No matter the time of day, it's always a pain in the butt to navigate. Since it was also raining, I was expecting the worst. I got there around 9am and ran into a lot of traffic from those finishing the 5k race. The rain wasn't that hard when I first got there, but it started to really pour.

Raining cats and dogs!

Welcome to Dodgertown!

Go Dodger Blue!

Expo time

I was glad to see that they had improved the bib and shirt pickup process. They each had their own separate tents to accommodate the people picking up their race packet as well as those running inside to get out of the rain. The tent with the official race merchandise was a mess. It was not their fault that the tent was faulty. It was leaking a lot of water which ended up forming a nice big river right through the middle of the floor.

Bib Pickup

A river runs through it!

After picking up my stuff and buying a pair of LA Marathon gloves, I went outside to check out the booths. There wasn't much to see as there were quite a few empty booths, either from no-shows or abandonment due to the down pour.

Before heading home, I stopped by Little Tokyo to buy some snacks. I bought some beer to help me get some rest. The worst of the cold was over, but I was still dealing with sinusitis and bronchitis which made it hard to breathe and have a nice restful sleep. I was still coughing up a storm with the occasional phlegm.

I sifted through my expo haul and noticed that I had Dodger Suite Access! I totally forgot that I had signed up as a charity runner with Train 4 Autism. They are one of the charities I support each year.

Carboloading with Japanese beer and snacks

Expo haul

Dodger Suite Access!

My Team in Training coaches always told us, "nothing new on race day!" I must frustrate my coaches since I never really did follow their good advice. For this race, I had put together my Superman costume. I never did do a test run with any of it. So I ran with a new singlet, arm sleeves, shorts, shoes, and cape!

Everything you see here is new for race day!

Race day
I woke up at around 1:30am to get ready and felt horrible. I felt exhausted and just plain miserable. But I've felt worse before so I got ready anyways and headed out to Santa Monica to meet up with my Coyote friends and ride their special chartered bus to Dodger Stadium. There was a mix-up with the pickup spot, so the bus driver was late.

Waiting for the Coyote bus to Dodger Stadium

When we got to the stadium, I had to rush to the suites to take care of "business". My GI system usually gets jacked up when I drink too many beers. But it was a small price to pay to get some sleep. After exchanging pleasantries with my charity friends, I headed over to the gear check area to meet up with my friend who had decided last minute to run in costume with me. We bumped into more of our friends.

Sam (Operation Jack) being interviewed

Train 4 Autism Dodger Suite

Wonder Woman and Superman

We headed over to corral C, the sub 5 hour corral. It was definitely not as chaotic as being in the free-for-all Open corral. One of my friends wasn't able to sneak in with us. Bummer.

Starting line

Corral C

Goal A: 5:30 and have fun
Goal B: 5:45-6:00 I did not know how hard it would be to breathe

The race
We took the first mile or so really easy. I increased the pace a bit and the right ankle was again coming up sore. After a few miles, I decided to ditch the plastic rain poncho. The clouds were breaking up and the weather was looking nicer as the race went on. We separated for a while since my friend needed to adjust her costume. I jogged along for the next couple of miles until she caught up. It was pretty difficult running with sinusitis and bronchitis. I just had a hard time getting enough oxygen. I even had to duck inside a pho restaurant to get some napkins so I could blow my nose! Also with the GI issue, it was a rather uncomfortable run. My friend caught us and passed us around Hollywood.

Around mile 14, we stopped into the Saddle Ranch Chop House to get some drinks. My legs were feeling really heavy at this point so I welcomed the break. After the drink, I was able to run a little bit better since it numbed my ankle a bit. We found Jesus in West Hollywood.

We found Jesus!

I then started putting the crawl in the pub crawl. As much as I could, I made it a fartlek run. I put in a lot of speed bursts especially when running around corners. I was definitely pretty cranky and whiny when I'm sick. But my friend really kept things fun and helped me along. The spectators loved the costumes. Around mile 18 we stopped by a liquor mart to get another drink. We sat down at a curb, which I'm well known to do from time to time during a marathon. Then the next drink was at the VA where the going usually gets tough. My legs were sore and I kept looking forward to the next drink stop. For our last drink, we took a shot of bourbon at a Cheesecake Factory in Brentwood. It helped with the cough. :)

Those SRLA shirts must be made of Kryptonite
photo taken by Denise Taylor

I was struggling a lot in the final miles on San Vicente and had to take a lot of walk breaks. I was just having a hard time breathing. Even when I could see the finish line, my legs, my entire body just did not want to go. I finally forced myself to charge for the finish line, but I was running on fumes. I kept telling myself that the faster I ran, the sooner it'll all be over. I remember having to lean on my friend after crossing the finish line. I guess I was way more exhausted than I'd thought.

10k: 59:35
20k: 2:07:59
30k: 3:33:00
40k: 5:16:28
Finish: 5:34:03 Wonder Woman really did not want to run a 6 hr marathon :)
I didn't spot the majority of the mile markers, so I didn't have my mile splits. That was probably a good thing, which really forced me to run by feel.

Post race
Although I was feeling pretty run down and ragged after the race, I had a ton of fun. So much fun, we might have to make it a pub crawl every year! Wonder Woman and I parted ways as she needed to check out of her hotel and I had to meet up with my friend who had finished over an hour earlier. I met up with my friend and a few others at the Ye Olde King's Head. We tried to eat there, but the service was slow. We left and went our separate ways. We then went to a Coyote post marathon party near the morning bus pickup spot.

After hanging out for a while, my friend and I got cleaned up and went to Mastro's Steakhouse in Beverly Hills. It was my first time. I heard great things about the place and was excited to finally eat here. I was super exhausted and surprised I didn't just fall asleep in my food. I was so tired that I really didn't touch the steak. Probably a good thing since I was dozing off on my drive home. I should've pulled over and gotten coffee. I guess that's what happens when I've been up since 1:30am, sick, and just ran a marathon. I'm definitely not a machine or the energizer bunny. :)

The house salad was very good. I've been eating a lot of salads lately instead of heavy foods and I feel much better. The ahi tuna tartare was also very good. I love ahi tuna. The lobster mashed potatoes was what I was really craving. It was every bit as good as described on Yelp. Then came the Chef's cut ribeye chop. It was a good steak. I don't know if this makes sense, but I was just too tired to eat anymore. But I had the leftovers 2 days later and it was still very good. Sorry to say I did not get a picture of the steak. Yes, I was that tired. :)

House salad

Ahi tuna tartare

Lobster mashed potatoes

Inaugural San Diego Half Marathon at Petco Park

Expo and other pre race stuff
The expo opened at 9am on Saturday. I got to downtown San Diego a little after 9am. The race organizers definitely did their homework. For an inaugural race, you could tell that they've paid attention to every race detail starting with the expo. I picked up my bib, bag, and race shirt. I was already feeling under the weather so I wasn't really in the mood to go through a race expo. But a pair of socks did catch my eye on my way out. I thought about buying it. :)

Expo at the Petco Park

Packet pickup

Nice socks! :)

The Pony Express rides again!

On my way back to my car, I stopped at Ralph's to buy some Odwalla, Coke, and water. I guess loading up on Superfood wouldn't hurt. I headed over to Kearny Mesa for some lunch. I decided to try out a new restaurant, Izakaya Sakura. This place was a bit strange. There was no restaurant sign on the outside. I guess they do well enough through word of mouth that they don't even need a sign. The parking lot for this little plaza loads up really quickly, so you'll have to get here early. I tried to order their chirashi, but their sushi chef doesn't show up until later in the afternoon. They also did not have my second choice, ramen. So I went with my third choice, katsudon. I also got some natto. As I was leaving, I bumped into a college friend that I haven't seen for about 15 years. Wow, how time flies. The food at this place was definitely good. I'll have to come back and try the rest of their menu.

I love Odwalla!

natto

katsudon

After lunch, I stopped at the nearby Mitsuwa to buy some snacks before heading over to the Red Roof Inn at Mission Bay. This hotel was cheap for a reason. It was one of the noisiest place I've stayed at in a while. There was also some high school or college age neighbors carrying in cases of cheap beer. I brought in my 6 pack of premium beer. I guess when you get older, you start drinking better beer.

Red Roof Inn at Mission Bay

Snacks

Carboloading

After taking a break from snacking and watching TV, I went back out to Kearny Mesa for dinner at Yokohama Yakitori Koubou. I've kind of been on a skewer kick lately. Good stuff here. I wanted to try a lot of other stuff on their menu, but had to cut myself off so I can run a half marathon the next day. I got back to my room, polished off the rest of the beers, and laid out my gear before going to sleep.

chicken cartilage, beef tongue, chicken skin, quail eggs

jidori karaage (free range chicken)

more chicken cartilage and chicken with leek

Go Team!

Race day
I checked out of my room and got into Downtown way too early at around 4am to get free street parking. Most people were drunk and climbing into cabs to go home and sleep. I put on the iPod and took a nap in my car. I got out of my car at around 6am and headed over to Petco Park to use the portapotties. I crossed the Hilton Hotel bridge to wash my hands. I bumped into my running friend just shortly after taking a picture of Petco Park. I ended up just hanging out in the hotel lobby to stay out of the cold.

Petco Park at dark o' clock

Starting line

I warmed up a bit by jogging around in the wave 1 corral. I tried to look for my faster friends, but I didn't spot anybody.

The race
The first mile felt ok. I wanted to run a bit harder to see what I had. What I didn't have was my lungs. The cold that I picked up definitely did not help. I started backing off 30 seconds per mile for the next several miles. Funny how you can do that without wearing a watch that gives you your pace. This was again another fartlek run. I just put in short periods of faster running among a bunch of jogging. I'll let you guess which mile had the big long hill. I only ran about 2/3 of that hill. Good thing, we ended with a couple of downhill miles. The finish on the warning track of Petco Park was a very nice touch. It was much more exciting than doing a run through at Angel Stadium during the Disneyland half marathon.
1: 7:58
2: 8:32
3: 9:00
4: 9:29
5: 9:09
6: 9:22
7: 10:06
8: 9:38
9: 10:29
10: 12:53
11: 11:06
12: 10:07
13: 9:11
13.1: 0:48
Finished: 2:07:48

Post race
A good majority of this course was the reverse of the AFC half marathon. I liked this course. But I'm somewhat biased towards anything San Diego. I will definitely try to run this race again every year. I finished with an upset stomach, probably because 6 beers was 6 too many to drink the day before a race. But when I'm sick, I tend to use beer instead of Nyquil to go to sleep.

Finish line on the warning track

Shirt and medal

Medal

It was somewhat very crowded when I tried to leave Petco Park. We finally funneled out at the expo area. My stomach settled down, so I decided to head over to good 'ol Roberto's on Miramar to eat an early lunch. I haven't been here in ages. I ordered the usual, a carne asada burrito and 3 rolled tacos with guacamole. It was as good as I remembered. It was a good nostalgic experience and a nice break from eating another bowl of ramen or a steak. :)

Good 'ol Roberto's

The usual: carne asada burrito and 3 rolled tacos with guacamole