Rock n Roll Seattle Marathon 2013

Friday
I drove out early to LAX, early enough to not get caught in the morning work traffic. This was one of the few times that I've flown with Alaska Air. It could be my first time, but I don't remember. Anyways, once I landed at SeaTac airport, I made my way over to the light rail station. For a second, I couldn't remember the layout of the airport, but when I started walking around, everything started coming back to me. I got off at the Stadium station and walked over to the CenturyLink Field Event Center for the race expo.

Alaska Air

I went through the expo, taking a few samples here and there. I like the Larabars and Powerbar Performance Energy Blends. Those energy blends remind me of apple sauce in a pouch. I then made my way over to the RnR booth and signed up for next year's race. This race is one of the few races where I'm actually a legacy runner. Granted it's only in it's 5th year. I'll see how long I can maintain the status. Apparently I'm the only Cheng on their legacy list. Probably the only Emil as well. :)

Expo Special

5 year legacy runner

After leaving the expo, I took a walk over to the Ivar's Fish Bar to eat lunch. I got my usual jumbo prawns, but this time I got the red clam chowder. I still prefer the white chowder. It's pretty good decent inexpensive seafood and the seagulls love the fries if you don't want to finish all of them. If you want something fancier, they have a sit down restaurant next door.

Jumbo prawns and red clam chowder

After lunch, I took a very long walk along the Alasakan Way all the way up to Broad St before turning north to head up to my hotel in Lower Queen Anne. Normally the walk wouldn't be a problem, but I was carrying my bag with me. My shoulders were sore and I was pretty sweaty and tired by the time I reached the hotel. So much for staying off of your feet the day before the race. Luckily I was able to check in a little earlier than their normal check in time. I was given two old school keys, one for the hotel (they close at 10pm) and one for the room. They gave me a room on the third floor. They only have stairs, no elevators. The room was old, but nice and clean. It almost felt like the house that I grew up in. It had a small kitchen, a fridge, and a microwave. The TV was an old CRT. From my room, I could see the Space Needle, the location of the start and finish lines of the race.

I relaxed a bit while watching TV and going through my expo haul. I got a thin cotton t-shirt (I still prefer cotton for my t-shirts) for signing up for next year's race, a long sleeve tech shirt for being a legacy runner, and another Boston bracelet. I also picked up some über bars and a couple of those Powerbar Performance Energy Blends. The legacy runners were given green colored bibs.

3 different locks, rough neighborhood?

CRT

Bathroom

Kitchen and fridge

Bed

View of the Space Needle

Expo haul

I met up with a couple of Marathon Maniacs for dinner. One of them, I met for the first time. We walked over to the International District to eat at Fuji Sushi. We made a quick stop by the Uwajimaya supermarket before heading to the restaurant. I picked up a bunch of drinks for the weekend. At the sushi restaurant, we had to sit at the sushi bar because we didn't make a reservation which was perfectly fine with me. I ordered their deluxe chirashi. It was pretty good. Somehow I ended up eating my friend's seared ahi by mistake since the chef put the food right in front of me. It's always dangerous to put food in front of a foodie. :) I thought it was part of my "deluxe" meal. :)

Sushi bar

Deluxe chirashi and seared ahi

After dinner, we walked around in search of some dessert. I kept them company but didn't eat any since I don't normally eat desserts. Afterwards, the local Marathon Maniac among us dropped us off at our hotels. Before hitting the hay, I laid out my race gear. I decided to run with Team Red, White, and Blue.

Race gear

Saturday
I woke up, got ready, and walked pretty much across the street to the starting area. I picked up a banana and some water before making my way to the Space Needle to take the pre-race Marathon Maniac photo. We even took an Asian Maniacs photo. I ate the banana and one of the Powerbar Performance Energy Blends before heading over to the corrals.

Maniacs and Fanatics

Asian Maniacs!

Since I had a legacy green colored bib, I could start in any of the corrals. I started at the very back of corral 1 with a bunch of other legacy runners. If I had to do it over, I'd start further back. The left ankle was just uncomfortable from the very first step. The San Francisco Marathon was just last week, so I wasn't expecting a miracle.

Starting corral

This race unfolded pretty the same as the last two. A different city, but the same old race strategy. I was able to shave about 8 minutes off from SFM, but I could've cut and pasted last race's recap. I was able to hobble at a decent pace for the first two miles, but after that I had to slow it down to lessen the discomfort. There were some decent climbs running through the downtown area. Right before reaching mile 6, it was a welcomed break to be separated from the half marathoners. I still dislike races where they mix half and full marathoners. It's annoying for them as it is for us. During the loop around Seward Park, I pulled over to take a picture. For a road race, this course was very easy on the eyes.

Running around Seward Park

It was pretty nice to see my friends that were behind me along the course. On the way to the halfway point was my favorite part of the course. It was lined with flags and pictures of our fallen soldiers to honor them. I was glad that I wore my Team RWB shirt. I always get a little misty-eyed running through this section of the course.
1: 8:27
2: 8:38
3: 9:49
4: 10:30
5: 10:03
6: 9:54
7: 10:17
8: 10:30
9: 10:07
10: 12:39
11: 11:04
12: 11:34
13: 12:09
Half: 2:16:40

The second half of this course is usually rough for me especially on the long out and back on the I-90 bridge. This is where it gets nice and warm. This year was the same. The sun just starts beating down on you with no cover over head except when you make it to a tunnel. I like that the race ends at the Space Needle. In the first 3 years, it ended at the Stadium. You pretty much could see how far you still needed to go in the last few of miles. But then again you could see the Stadium as well. But I prefer the Space Needle. It's just a better spot for the finishing area. Too bad the course ends on a good steady climb. I had to slow to a walk until I saw the mile 26 marker. I guess I had to run/jog the last .2 miles. I guess I could've finished under 5:20 if I hadn't walked so much during that last mile. :)
14-15: 23:28 (11:44)
16: 14:28
17: 14:17
18: 13:34
19: 14:12
20: 13:33
21: 16:11
22: 15:48
23: 14:35
24: 12:13
25: 14:33
26: 15:42
26.2: 2:09
Finish: 5:20:24

I was pretty exhausted. But as slow as I may have been, I'm glad to see that I had improved my time over the last 3 marathons. The ankle has been getting better, but I really need to stop running marathons on it. After grabbing some drinks and various food that they were handing out, I made my way over to the Heavy Medal booth. The line was long, so I went over to the UPS trucks to grab my gear bag first. After picking up my Rock Legend medal, I headed over to the beer garden to meet up with some of my friends. After trading stories over a beer, we eventually made it over to the Space Needle to take a post race photo. We parted ways and I walked across the street to my hotel. I'm glad I had picked a hotel so close to the start and finish lines. Instead of eating a late lunch, I just drank a bottle of Gatorade while watching the TV.

Rock Legend!

For an early dinner, I walked across to street to a bar called Red Papaya Ale & Spirits. The weather was pretty warm, so I drank a bunch of IPA's and had a very good green papaya salad with rib eye. It was one of the best salad that I've ever eaten in my life! I also ordered some shrimp rolls. They were good as well. I'll have to come back here to eat again next time. I then went back to my room and ended up drinking some more beer. I felt kind of stupid since I had forgotten about buying this beer. It was a bottle of Flying Monkey Dogfight Pale Ale. It was a local craft beer and I wasn't about to let it go to waste.

Iron Horse IPA

Green papaya with rib eye salad

Amnesia Damnesia IPA

Shrimp rolls

Silver City Whoopass IPA

Sunday
In the morning, I ate and drank the rest of the post race food that we were given. I had a banana and a chocolate drink. After packing, showering, and slapping on the compression socks, I was ready for another hike around town. I dropped off the keys at the front desk and I hiked it over to my favorite post race restaurant, Elliott's Oyster House, to eat lunch. My waitress was a newbie, but she made a pretty good recommendation with the appetizer. The Scallop Crudo was very good. I love scallops, especially when they're raw. I also love the Pacific Northwest for their seafood, particularly their salmon. I didn't get any oysters this year. I didn't run a well enough race for me to justify a big splurge. :) The big imperial sized mug of Mac and Jack's African amber ale was really good. Even though I've been drinking a whole lot of IPA's lately, my favorite kind of beer has to be an amber ale.

Mac and Jack's African Amber

Scallop Crudo

Yukon River Keta Salmon grilled

After lunch, I stopped by two famous tourist spots along my way to the movie theater. This was actually the first time that I've actually stopped by the infamous gum wall. It was pretty disgusting looking! The other spot was from the movie Sleepless in Seattle. "So how's my butt?" "Are we grading on a curve?" :)

Infamous gum wall - yuck! :)

How does my butt look?

I then hiked it over to the AMC Pacific Place on Pine St to watch Monsters University. The whole movie theater was just kids and their parents and me, a big 'ol Disney fan. It was a good movie. Lately I've been trying to see feel-good movies that would help improve my mood and a Disney movie never disappoints... well at least for me they never do. :)

After the movie, it was a short hike to the nearby rail station. The train was pretty crowded, but I was able to find a seat. Once at the airport, I almost got in line for the TSA without first finishing my water. So I stood around charging my phone while semi-chugging the water. The TSA questioned me about the medals in my bag. I guess the Rock Legend medal was a little big. Maybe they thought that it was big enough for me to use it as a weapon. After I sat down and finished charging my phone and Kindle, I made it over to a bar to have a beer while I continued to wait for my flight. While drinking my beer, a girl walks up to the bar and orders a double shot of Glenfiddich single malt whiskey and asked the bartender to close her out as well because she had a flight to catch. Good taste in whiskey... either she just had a really bad flight or wants to knockout in her upcoming flight. I like a girl that can shoot whiskey. :)

Pike IPA

San Francisco Marathon 2013

Saturday
I caught an early Saturday morning flight with Southwest airlines out of John Wayne Airport to SFO. This time there was no flight delay. Once we landed, I made my way to the BART. I took it to the Civic Center and walked over to the expo. The expo was again held at the Concourse Exhibition Center located on 8th Street between Brannan St and Townsend St. I liked that they used more of the facilities this year with the entrance being on 8th St instead of 7th St. They did really well controlling the flow of people this year. There was a lot of people but it didn't feel overly crowded as was the case in prior years. After picking up my bib, shirt, and my water bottle for being a 5 year loyal runner I met up with my friend Marathon Mitch. We went through the expo and met up with a few Marathon Maniacs.

We left the expo and took the free complimentary expo bus which dropped us off at the Hyatt Regency near the Embarcadero. We walked over to the Super Duper Burger to eat lunch. Their Super burger is my favorite burger out of all of the burgers that I've eaten so far. They also have pretty good pickles. After eating our delicious burgers, we parted ways.

Super burger with cheese and bacon

I stopped by the nearby CVS to buy some drinks before walking over to my hotel. I stayed again at the Union Square Plaza Hotel located in the Tenderloin, not the best part of town. But it's one of the cheapest hotels in the downtown area. The rooms are a bit older but pretty clean. This time I was given a room on the second floor which was nice since I could just use the stairs and skip the rickety slow elevator.

In my hotel room, I went through my expo haul, which wasn't much. I miss the old days when they used to stuff the goodie bags with... goodies. Now it's usually just a bunch of cards and advertisements for other races and products that I do not use. At least SFM is one race that just gives you a virtual goodie bag so I don't have to throw out a bunch of paper. The race shirt was a yellow long sleeve tech shirt and looked pretty nice, but fit really small. I always wear medium and can sometimes get away with a small, but it felt more like an extra small.

Expo haul

After watching some NBA on TV and just relaxing, I went out to the nearby Kare-Ken to get dinner. Oh yeah, the remote for the TV didn't work. I had to get up and change stations the old fashion way. I ordered their chicken katsu curry and shrimp added an egg. I took it back to my room to eat. After finishing dinner, I laid out my race gear before going to sleep.

Chicken katsu and shrimp add egg

Race gear

Sunday
Well I tried to take my usual morning shower, but for the life of me, I could not figure out how to get the shower to work. Out of the hundreds of hotels I've stayed at, this was the first time that I could not figure it out. I think the switch from tub to shower was broken off. So I decided to take a bath. But there was no drain stopper. So I grabbed a towel and plugged the drain with it. I guess it's always good to be a little like MacGyver and adapt to your situation.

The early morning walk to the starting line is always an interesting one especially when you stay in the Tenderloin. At the starting area, they had extra security checking bags just before you entered the gear check area. After checking my bag, I was fortunate to find a very short line for the portapotties. After taking care of the final pee, I made it into the wave 2 corral. I took a couple of pictures of the Bay Bridge and the starting line before finding a spot to sit by the sidewalk. As the dawn's early light started to get brighter, I bumped into a couple of my friends. Right before they were ready to start the race, I went up as front as I could go to watch wave 1 take off. It was a very small wave compared to wave 2. Apparently the first wave was for invited and subseeded athletes.

Wave 2

Bay Bridge

Bay Bridge

Friends

Wave 1 being released

I started the race as usual at a comfortable pace. It was a bit crowded but I just tried to stick right behind somebody that was running at my pace. By the time I reached mile 2, the left ankle and calf was already getting sore. The gimpy left leg felt better on the uphills but would feel really fragile on the downhills. I pulled over at Crissy Field to take a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Golden Gate Bridge

Going out and back, up and over the famed Golden Gate Bridge was a complete grind. On my way off of the bridge, Mitch caught up to me and decided to pace me through the halfway point. Going up mile 12 took a lot out of me. I even started getting nauseated even though we were going so slow.
1: 8:28
2: 8:46
3: 9:12
4: 10:14
5: 10:53
6: 11:15
7: 10:12
8: 11:29
9: 11:04
10: 12:10
11: 10:14
12: 13:38
13: 13:08
Half: 2:21:47

God bless Mitch for sticking with me through the halfway point, but I wanted him to take off and leave me alone so I could deal with the nausea by myself. It wasn't until I pointed out to him that we were just passed by Dean Karnazes that he finally left me to go run with Karno. :) Running through the Golden Gate Park has always been my least favorite part of the course. You are constantly being passed by the faster runners starting the 2nd half marathon and it is especially not fun on the narrow parts of the course. It was not until you've reached mile 19 when you leave the park and run on Haight Street where you finally get enough space. The weather was getting pretty warm at this point, but there was enough tree cover. But by the time I got to mile 23, we were pretty much exposed to the sun. Once I reached mile 24, I knew that the end was near so I slowed down a bit for the final two miles.
14: 13:13
15-16: 29:30 (14:45)
17: 14:32
18: 13:22
19: 15:54
20: 14:26
21: 13:02
22: 13:57
23: 13:14
24: 14:07
25: 15:25
26: 15:01
26.2: 2:18
Finish: 5:28:46

For this race, I ate Honey Stinger Vanilla Waffles instead of my usual Shotbloks only because I forgot to pack the Shotbloks. But I happened to have a few waffles in my bag. They turned out to be pretty good. I think my stomach started calming down after I forced myself to eat one. Also I didn't have any problems with leg cramps, but that probably had more to do with the much slower pace early on.

After I picked up a bunch of post-race snacks and drinks, I made my way to the tent for the extra medals. Their signs weren't that great for the LA/SF Challenge medals, but I figured that I'd go to the same spot as last year and was fortunate enough to find those medals being passed out there. For the second year in completing the challenge, we received a larger square medal.

More medals!

I didn't feel like eating lunch after getting back to my hotel so I snacked on the King's Hawaiian rolls and drank some sports drink instead. For an early dinner, I walked over to Pearl's Deluxe Burger to pick up a nice tasty burger. I ate some of their pickles while I waited for my order. When my order was up, I took the burger back to my room. It was pretty big, nice and juicy, but it was not as good as a Super burger.

Pearl's deluxe burger with cheese and bacon

Monday
I was woken up early to loud sounds from the alleyway. Apparently today was trash day. Then later in the morning while I was still laying in bed, I heard a bunch of noise outside. A bum was rearranging a bunch of stuff. If you value your sleep, you'll probably want to request a room on a higher floor.

Lots of noise outside

For breakfast I ate a banana and a chocolate drink from yesterday's snacks that were handed out post race. I was watching TV and forgot that I needed to check out at 11am. I received a reminder call from the front desk. Lucky for me, I had already packed everything up. I grabbed my stuff, checked out, and hauled all of my stuff with me over to the 21st Amendment Brewery for lunch. This was my second time here. It's a great place for a burger and some beers. The salad's not bad either. Even though I'm a Dodger fan, I tried their Gigantes IPA. No, I did not die. :) The bartender asked if I wanted a 4th beer, but I had to decline since I wanted to be awake during the movie that I was going to see before heading over to the airport to catch my flight.

Amber Waves

Classic burger with jack cheese and bacon add house salad

Love Boat

Gigantes IPA

I walked over to the Metreon to watch the Star Trek: Into Darkness movie. I liked this movie a lot more than the Man of Steel. Both movies had a lot of CGI, as is the norm in most movies these days, but Star Trek did a much better job at presenting the story line. It had a good combination of action scenes and a decent plot line. Conversely, the Man of Steel had way too much mindless fight scenes and endless destruction. I just flat out got bored. Also I liked the original General Zod better... the acting was better. Anyways, after the movie, I hopped on the BART and headed to the airport for home.

Rock n Roll San Diego Marathon 2013

Saturday
Since my last race at the Safari Park Half Marathon, I have done next to no running at all in order to give my left ankle and calf some much needed rest. Since I couldn't run, I had been hitting the weights and really working out the upper body. Surprise surprise, I'm pretty sure I overdid it and hurt my neck/right shoulder, the same spot where I've injured in the past. So leading up to the race I been having trouble sleeping with the annoying pain. I was somewhat not looking forward to the race, but I had to give it go since I've done this race every year since my very first marathon in 2003.

As Saturday morning rolled around, I packed up my stuff and headed down to the expo. I didn't plan on where to eat for lunch or dinner, which was pretty uncharacteristic of me. Also I forgot to the take the 15 freeway instead of the more popular scenic 5 freeway. Lo and behold, there was a huge accident near Camp Pendleton. Traffic was backed up for miles and was at a complete standstill.

Once I finally got past the accident at Oceanside, I was able to get to the Downtown area and parked at Horton Plaza. I parked here planning to leave right after visiting the expo and purchasing something for 3 hours of free parking. This would turn out later to be a bad idea since I would change my plans on the fly.

After picking up my bib, shirt, and goodie bag, I made my way through the very familiar standard Rock n' Roll expo. I pretty much went straight to their large booth area to sign up for next year's race for $95. I then picked up my parking pass that I had prepaid for $10 the week prior. I was assigned the convention center parking lot. Originally I had planned to park my car and take the trolley but decided to not deal with early morning public transportation and just pay for parking. I would've only saved a few bucks.

Expo time

Sign me up!

San Diego Supa-Chargers!

Parking Pass

I met up with a few of my local friends to say hi. Then I met up with a friend who was in town from Texas. It was her first race in California. We waited at the Skechers booth to say hi to our mutual friend. While waiting she bought a pair of shoes and I tried on a pair of the shoes that Meb wears. They felt nice, but I have so many unworn pairs at home and I still plan on sticking with Asics. So it was a no sale for me. After our friend showed up, we then decided to go eat at the Gaslamp Quarter. Out of the five years that I've spent in the San Diego area, I don't ever recalled spending time eating here. We first walked around a little to check out our choices. We ended up eating at the Rockin Baja Coastal Cantina. We shared some chips and guacamole. For the entree we ordered the Surf and Turf bucket for two. I also had some Coronado IPA. It was a lot of food, enough where I decided to just skip dinner. It was good hanging out with my friend.

Gaslamp Quarter

25oz Coronado IPA

Good guacamole and chips

Surf and Turf bucket for two

14oz Coronado IPA

After parting for our separate ways, I walked back to my car. I stopped by the Ralph's across from Horton Plaza to buy some drinks. I then stopped by GAP to buy something to get my parking ticket validated. Even with validation, I ended up paying $14 for parking. I need to find a cheaper place to park next time especially if I'm planning to eat in the area after visiting the expo.

I then hopped on the freeway and headed over to my hotel. This year I stayed at the Quality Inn located on Hotel Circle in Mission Valley near the 8 and 163 freeway. The room was pretty small, barely big enough for the bed and everything else. But it was clean and was definitely adequate for a one night stay. I got my race gear ready and relaxed in my room before going to sleep pretty early.

Race gear

Sunday
Got up. Got ready. As usual I was among the first to park. I walked over to the shuttle pickup spot for a quick ride to the starting area. I picked up some water and a banana then sat at my usual spot on the curb just across from my UPS truck. This year the marathon started at 6:15am while the half marathon starting 30 minutes later. I got my stuff together and checked my bag. At about 5:45am, the Maniacs gathered at the same spot as last year, the stairs in front of a church, to take the pre-race pictures.

Potty like a rockstar!

The infamous magical SAG wagon

Marathon Maniacs

Marine Corps marching band

Starting line

The Race
My goal for this race was to just finish.

I started with my friend in corral 2. We ran somewhere between the 3:30 and 3:40 pace groups. The pace felt okay, but only for about 2 miles. I wished my friend a good race and began to back off on the pace. I liked that the marathoners started on their own without the half marathoners. It felt like the race of old where everybody was running the marathon. By the time we entered Little Italy, I was reduced to having to walk more than I had hoped. Later I bumped into a couple of my friends dressed up as Fred and Wilma. I did not enjoy the 3-4 miles on the narrow concrete bike path through Mission Bay. The hard surface just beats the hell out of your legs especially when you have some sort of ailment.

Entering Little Italy

Fred and Wilma

1-2: 16:44 (8:22)
3: 9:03
4-6: 29:57 (9:59)
7: 11:36
8: 11:25
9: 11:21
10: 11:28
11: 12:24
12: 11:06
13: 11:26
Half: 2:17:52

One of my friends who was out spectating spotted me around mile 14. I was feeling miserable already so I didn't even notice her until she called my name. It was a little weird to be headed in the opposite direction on Friars Rd. As usual we received great crowd support in this section. We turned onto the dreaded 163 a little before reaching mile 20. The camber and the elevation gain really did a number on my left knee. I normally don't have knee discomfort when I run, but I had to walk most of mile 21. Luckily I ran into a fellow Marathon Maniac. He kept me company for the next couple of miles before taking off. Running next to the Balboa Park golf course was pretty nice. Then it was pretty much a straight shot down to the finish line. I was running on fumes crossing the finish line.

Climbing the dreaded 163

14: 13:58
15: 15:09
16: 14:53
17: 14:11
18: 14:14
19: 14:31
20: 16:34
21: 18:12
22: 15:53
23: 14:53
24: 15:42
25: 13:32
26.2: 18:11
Finish: 5:36:21

Post-race
The course was adjusted this year to where it was roughly the same as the old course but run in reverse ending at the Gaslamp Quarter. It was nice to change it up a bit. Overall I like the new course. I think they could only improve the course if they got rid of the 163 entirely.

I was pretty exhausted when I crossed the finish line. The calves were both cramping up and I started getting the chills and felt dizzy. I propped myself up at a nearby table where I started drinking and eating everything that I have on me... chocolate milk, Jamba juice, banana. I don't think that I've ever felt this horrible after a marathon. I even texted my friends that I probably won't be able to make the post race lunch.

Eventually I made my way to the UPS trucks to get my bag. I put on my jacket and sat down for a while while drinking some Powerade. After feeling slightly better, I got up and made my way to pick up my Super 6 Heavy Medal. I felt anything but super. I guess I might have been dehydrated. After all of the fluids that I drank post race I did not have the urge to pee. On my way back to my car, all of sudden I felt fine. I texted my friends to see if they were still at the restaurant. They were, so I made my way there, Station Tavern & Burgers. Parking was somewhat hard to find. It was all street parking. Makes me glad that I went back to driving a Mini Cooper. It was fun hanging out with my friends swapping race stories while having a couple of beers and some beer brats. We eventually left because we were done with our food and other people were waiting. We were going to go our separate ways until someone suggested that we sample some more beer at the Stone Company Store just around the corner. Who could say no to some more beer? :)

Ale Smith Nut Brown Ale

Beer brats

Green Flash 30th St Pale Ale