LA Dodgers Foundation 5k

9/21 Sunday
At first I thought about driving to Dodger Stadium on Saturday to pick up my race packet and stay to watch the Dodgers vs. Cubs game on Dodger Vision, but I decided to just watch the game at home. They allowed race morning packet pick-up, so early Sunday morning I drove up to Dodger Stadium via the 110 and entered through the Downtown Gate right at about 6:30am. There was already a line of cars when I got there.

After parking the car near the right field side in lot K, I walked over to the packet pickup area just outside of center field. I picked up my bib and it was a pleasant surprise to pick up an AJ Ellis bobblehead along with a race shirt. I picked up a coconut drink from the Zico booth before returning to my car to rest before the race.

Race packet pick up

Race packet

The shirt was a pretty nice tech shirt. They also gave us a timing chip to keep as a souvenir. As the start of the race approached, I got ready and went over to the pavilion area to use the restroom. Once in the corral, I lined up near the front about 15 feet behind the starting line. The start was located at about the same spot as the LA Marathon so that was a little strange. Right before the start of the race, they paraded out some old Dodger legends as well as gold medalist sprinter, Carmelita Jeter. That was pretty cool.

Starting line

Gold medalist Carmelita Jeter!

My goal for the race was to run hard, but not too hard since my left Achilles tendon has been sore lately. It was a hilly first mile as we ran counter clockwise to the stadium up to the Top Deck area. It took about a quarter mile to get past all of the people that had no business lining up in the front. The first part of mile 2 was mostly downhill with a water station halfway through where I fumbled in grabbing a cup. Then we ran on some dirt roads before returning to the parking lot. The last mile was a rolling mile. I ran at an even effort so I kept trading spots with some of the same runners. I tried to speed up a bit to make my goal of 23 minutes, but just came up a little short. The course ended right where we started.
1: 7:18
2: 7:34
3.1: 8:13 (7:28)
Finish: 23:05 (7:26)

Finish line

Medal and Zico towel

After getting my medal, picking up a banana and a bottle of Avita water, I made my way to the stadium to take a cool down lap around the warning track. Before going in, I picked up a towel and another coconut drink from the Zico booth. I've never run a 5k race that gave out so much stuff!

Hello Kitty

Cooling down on the warning track

Rivalry Series coming up!

Home team dugout

On the way back to my car, I stopped by the results board to check out my official time. I came in 12th for my age group. Even though I'm not a big fan of running around the Dodger Stadium parking lot, I can't wait to come back next year and make this an annual tradition. It was pretty well organized for a first year event.

Results

Sioux Falls Marathon 2014

Saturday 9/6
I took a very early morning United Airlines flight out of LAX with a quick plane change in Denver, Colorado. Then it was just a short flight in a small regional plane over to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Although it was tiny, it was a pretty nice looking airport. I picked up my rental car from National. They gave me a black KIA Soul. It was my first time driving one of those cars.

From the airport, I drove straight to the Sioux Falls Arena to pick up my race packet and shirt. Afterwards, I drove a few blocks over to check into my motel, Sleep Inn Airport, right across the street from Elmwood Park. For a little 2 story motel, the room I had was pretty nice.

I hadn't eaten anything all day so I decided to check out Taphouse 41 for a late lunch/early dinner. They have a pretty decent beer list here. I started with the Deschutes Fresh Squeezed IPA, one of my go-to favorites. For my meal, I ordered the Baja Burger which came with smoked hot pepper jack cheese, roast garlic mayo, creamy avocado, tomato salsa, and lime crème. That was one good burger. It was so good and flavorful, I could've easily eaten another one. I ordered it with a small order of duck fat fries which was tossed in Parmesan salt. Those were some good fries! I finished everything off with a Dark Horse Single Hop Cascade. That was a good beer as well.

Deschutes Fresh Squeezed IPA

Baja Burger and Duck Fat Fries

Dark Horse Single Hop Cascade

I stopped by a Walgreens along the way to pick up some drinks and snacks before heading back to my room. I ate the Pringles while watching the TV. Before turning in early for the night, I got my running clothes and gear ready.

Drinks from Walgreens

Race gear

I was awakened by fireworks that were apparently from the Dakota Bowl. I got to see some of it from the window of my room. After the nice light show, I went back to sleep.

Sunday 9/7
I woke up, got ready, and walked a couple blocks over to the starting area at the Howard Wood Field. I used the restrooms that they opened for the runners to use. I thought that was a nice amenity with having the starting line at the track. I have no problem using portapotties, but I would much rather use flushing toilets. :)

Howard Wood Field

I headed over to the starting line and was spotted by my friend who lives in Sioux Falls. The last time I saw her was at the Las Vegas Rock n' Roll Marathon a couple of years ago when it was still a daytime race. She gave me a quick rundown of what to expect from the race. Thank goodness as without her tips I don't think I would've have been mentally prepared for so many inclines throughout the course.

JerBear

As per the usual, a bunch of the Marathon Maniacs and Half Fanatics gathered right before the start of the marathon for a quick group photo. After the national anthem it was time to run a marathon!

Maniacs pre-race photo

I started off going at what felt like a fairly easy effort. We would soon hit a bunch of gradual slopes. I knew coming into the race that I had put on weight since my last race. I really felt it on the inclines. For the most part, the first part of course was pretty urban. The second half was more scenic, but mostly on bike paths. When the course started heading South towards the falls, the course was mostly downhill. But then it was quite a climb heading back up towards the finish line. I cramped up pretty badly after getting to mile 20. It took me about the next 3 miles to get the legs to loosen up enough to start running again. At least the final .2 felt good. I was a little demoralized that I couldn't finish under 4:40, but I did the best that I could for my 27th state.
1: 8:26
2: 8:25
3: 8:47
4: 8:45
5: 9:03
6: 8:51
7: 9:07
8: 9:34
9: 9:34
10: 9:52
11: 10:02
12: 9:34
13: 9:53
14: 10:33
15: 11:10
16: 10:23
17: 11:02
18: 10:19
19: 10:55
20: 11:42
21: 15:32
22: 16:29
23: 15:45
24: 12:53
25: 12:14
26: 12:16
26.2: 1:46
Finish: 4:42:54

After crossing the finish line and getting my medal, there was a tented area with plenty of post race goodies for the runners. I grabbed a Nesquik chocolate milk, water, some bars, and an ice cream sandwich before finding a spot at the table to sit down. The ice cream sandwich really hit the spot! I then gathered my stuff and climbed into the bus that took us back to the starting line.

Finisher!

After I showered and got cleaned up, my friend and I decided to go eat at the Pourhouse on 12th St. We showed up pretty hungry and thirsty after running the Sioux Falls Marathon. It's a spacious pub/restaurant with lots of televisions. That was pretty nice since there were several NFL games on. The beer list was a little lacking unless you're looking to drink the cheap stuff. But they did have some craft beers. I started with a tall Tallgrass Ethos IPA. Since it was happy hour, it was a 22oz pour for only $3.50. For my meal, I ordered the Gouda bacon cheeseburger. It was a pretty big satisfying burger. The burger came with some very thin potato wedges. I finished it off with a tall Alaskan Freeride APA.

Gouda bacon cheeseburger and Tallgrass Ethos IPA

Monday 9/8
I checked out of my room and drove down to the Century Stadium 14 to catch a movie before going home. I watched The November Man. It was a pretty entertaining and action packed movie, but a little bit too predictable. Even Pierce Brosnan's acting was a bit lacking. I know his character was supposed to be a has-been super spy that still has the skills, but I was not convinced.

I gassed up the rental car and drove to the airport. I ended up paying about $13 more because I was about an hour late in returning the car. I hung out in the seats right before the TSA checkpoint to drink my water before going past security.

After getting through TSA, I decided to eat at what appeared to be the only restaurant at the airport, Red Stone Pizza Company. I found a seat at the bar to eat lunch before catching my flight home. I started off with a large IPA on tap. It was pretty good, but didn't catch the name, so I think it's a "home" brew. For my meal, I ordered their Bourbon Burger with tater tots. That was one delicious and tasty burger for airport food! I also love any place that serves tater tots as an option to french fries.

Large IPA on tap

Bourbon Burger and tater tots

After about a two hour layover in Denver, I boarded the plane heading for LAX. I was able to catch the Chargers vs. Cardinals game on DIRECTV. The Chargers were dominating the Cardinals during the parts that I caught, but it would turn out that they went on to lose. :(

Chargers vs. Cardinals

Dumbo Double Dare 2014

Thursday 8/28
At about 8:30 am, I signed up online to enter the New Balance Virtual Queue for the opportunity to buy a pair of the runDisney limited edition Mickey Shoes. The online queue open at 6am for each expo day. I was assigned a time of about 4:15 pm and like clockwork they sent me a text message telling me that it was my turn to show up. I left work as soon as I could and made the slow drive up to Anaheim. The freeway traffic was as horrible as ever. I parked my car in the Downtown Disney parking lot and made my way to the underground packet pickup. This time I remembered to get an official event guide. The volunteers in the last couple of years had failed to give me one.

I then made my way upstairs to the expo where I made a bee line for the line to check-in to be fitted for the Mickey Shoes. The process was seamless, pain-free, and well planned out. Leave it to Disney to make the process of selling me a $124.95 pair of shoes (plus $10 sales tax) very easy. I then picked up my goodie bag and 3 race shirts. I also picked up an art card from the Lasting Commemoratives booth. You had to register your email address with them prior to going to the expo. I finally met up with my friend Mitch at the Speaker Stage area for a little bit. I had to go home, so I checked out the official merchandise before leaving. I thought about buying some pins, but they didn't look too spectacular.

Mickey Shoes

Just as I was leaving I figured to get in line to take some pictures for the Stitch 10k and the Disneyland Half Marathon with the appropriate backdrops. I've always skipped them in the past, but the line wasn't very long for a Thursday.

Stitch background

Disneyland castle background

When I got home, I went through the expo haul. I really liked the Stitch themed 10k this year. This will probably be one of my favorite shirts. I also liked the clean new design for the Disneyland Half Marathon shirt, but I wasn't a big fan of the pea soup green color. The Dumbo Double Dare shirt was a really big improvement on last year's design.

10k shirt

Half Marathon shirt

Dumbo Double Dare shirt

Saturday 8/30
I really didn't know what I was going to wear for the 10k, but eventually I went with the Turkey Leg shirt again. I had 2 weeks to get the bad taste of a horrible race out of my mouth. The horrible race gave me a better idea of how to avoid overheating in hot and humid conditions. Even with the warm weather, I thought that I had enough to go for a 45:xx 10k.

10k race gear

I got to the Mickey and Friends parking structure at a little before 4 am and paid $17 to park. I believe it used to be $9 to park here for the first year of the race! I got ready and headed to the starting area where I bumped into my friend. I used the portapotties before making it into the starting corral. I went to the front of the corral and saw a familiar face. We talked a bit about our race strategies for the weekend while waiting for the race to start at 5:30 am. We were entertained by Stitch and Elvis while we waited some more.

10k starting corral

Stitch and Elvis

As usual I probably went out a tad too fast for the first mile. I settled into a nice groove for the next 3 miles. I was thinking that I could make my goal if I can just keep it going. But then I just got tired and clocked a pretty slow 5th mile going around the "it's a small world" ride. I did muster up some speed for the last mile and ran it in with a decent push to the finish line. Overall I was okay with my performance as I was able to keep all of my miles under 8 minutes and I was only off of my PR by 4 seconds. My PR of 46:30 was set in much more favorable conditions.
1: 7:03
2: 7:21
3: 7:32
4: 7:38
5: 7:55
6: 7:49
.2: 1:16
Finish: 46:34

10k finish line

Kronk and Yzma

I waited around for all of my friends to finish and I got to meet some new people. We had some pretty good conversations at the post race breakfast. We walked to the nearby IHOP to eat some breakfast. I loaded up on a pretty big steak and eggs breakfast. I needed to make sure I had enough to refill the tank for tomorrow's half marathon. :)

10k done!

Breakfast at IHOP

Sunday 8/31
I decided to go with all black for the half marathon. I wore my Star Wars themed t-shirt... "Come to the Dark Side... We have Bacon!" I wore it because this year, I intend on stopping to get a picture with Darth Vader and the storm troopers. :)

Half Marathon race gear

Similar to the movie Groundhog Day, I got to the Mickey and Friends parking structure at a little before 4 am. It was another $17 for parking.

I met up with my friend in front of gear check before we headed to the corrals. We used the very unstable portapotties near our corrals. It rocked like there was an earthquake as you're trying to pee. We wished each other a good race as she went into corral B and I went to corral A. On my way into corral A, I saw another good Disney-loving friend that was dressed up as the Evil Queen in Snow White. We headed into the corral together. I purposely did not line up near the front. My friend had the same idea so we hung out together somewhere near the back of corral A.

My goal was to finish just under 1:50, the current time required for placement in corral A. Corrals A and B were released at the same time. Instead of blasting out of the gate like I normally do, I hung back running a pretty modest 8 min first mile. I kept that same effort knowing that I would eventually start slowing down. I cruised through the course feeling pretty good. I saw my friend Mitch at mile 5 cheering on the runners. I kept in my mind to not red-line it, to save an extra gear for the last couple of miles. There was a nice overcast, but it was starting to get warm and I was starting to labor at around mile 10. I had been dumping a bunch of water on my head and neck all along the course. After running a pretty slow mile 11, I knew that I needed to pick it up a bit to come under 1:50. Lo and behold, about half a mile after crossing mile 12, I saw the 1:50 pacer pass me. I ran up to him and checked to see if he was ahead of schedule. He had about a minute in the bank and had already sent his group ahead to push for the finish line. I took the last mile as well controlled as I could. I didn't want to turn on the jets until the final stretch.
1: 7:59
2: 7:56
3: 8:13
4: 7:55
5: 8:27
6: 8:18
7: 8:43
8: 8:32
9-10: 17:05 (8:32)
11: 8:50
12: 8:15
13: 8:28
.1: 0:40
Finish: 1:49:20

Previous years:
2013: 2:09:10
2012: 1:59:22
2011: 1:58:03
2010: 1:52:28
2009: 1:54:40
2008: 1:55:07
2007: 2:06:38
2006: 2:02:37

This was my 9th consecutive Disneyland Half Marathon and it was my fastest. This weekend had a pair of well executed races that I've not done in a while. It was a good feeling to run two solid races and to see the improvements from being patient and getting the legs back to near 100%. I bumped into a bunch of friends in the finishing chute. We proceeded to take a bunch of finisher pictures together.

Goal of sub 1:50 met!

The medal is not made of bacon!

I stopped by my car to change out of my wet clothes and met up with Mitch to get some post race beers at Earl of Sandwich. This was the only place that I know of that was serving beer this early in the morning. I wasn't very impressed with their food last year, so I decided to stick to beers. I got 2 Stellas. Have I not mentioned that I love running Disney races? What other races give out Almond Roca in their post-race goodie box? I cannot wait to run this race again next year! It will be the 10th year anniversary and I'm one of the legacy runners! I can't wait to see what they do to celebrate 10 years!

Dumbo Double Dare done!

2 Stellas, one for each hand! :)

Almond Roca