Staten Island Half Marathon 2018

Friday 10/12
I guess I'm used to checking the weather forecast only for my destination that I was a bit surprised that it was raining a bit for my drive out to the airport. For this trip, I was able to score a really cheap parking rate on SpotHero for uncovered parking at the Four Points by Sheraton hotel. It ended up being cheaper than it would have been if I had parked at Parking Lot C. Besides the rain, it was a pretty uneventful late night red-eye flight via JetBlue out to JFK. During the flight, I tried to watch the Incredibles 2, but once again I fell asleep. This was my third attempt and I don't think I've seen all 100% of the movie. It wasn't a bad movie. I was just plain tired every time I try to watch it. #GettingOld :)

Rainy night in LA

Saturday 10/13
I landed in JFK at about 8:30 am which was a bit later than usual. I took the first available AirTrain and it was headed for Jamaica Station. From there I took the usual E train into Manhattan and got off at the 7th Ave station. Since I arrived a bit later in the morning, I was able to first go to the NYRR Runcenter to pick up my bib and race shirt before getting breakfast.

NYRR Runcenter

Long sleeve race shirt

I went to my usual spot, Connolly's on 45th St, for breakfast. I'm usually here right when they open so I would practically have the whole place to myself. It felt a bit weird showing up later in the morning as it was actually pretty crowded. They found a spot in the bar area for me. I had my usual, the full Irish breakfast and coffee.

Full Irish breakfast

After breakfast, I walked down to the AMC Empire 25 on 42nd St to catch a showing of Free Solo. Lately the MoviePass has been very restrictive on which movies that I could see. Thankfully I'm open to seeing a wide range of movies including this excellent documentary on rock climbing. I thoroughly enjoyed watching this movie.

Free Solo with the MoviePass

After the movie, I took the D train down to Chinatown getting off at Grand St station. My hotel for the weekend was only about a block away from the station. For this trip, I stayed at the Wyndham Garden Chinatown hotel. I had enough reward points for the 2 nights to be free. After I got checked in and got to my room, I took a shower and relaxed a bit until it was time to watch some Dodgers baseball.

View from my room

At about the 7th inning stretch, I went out to pick up dinner at the nearby McDonald's and some drinks for the weekend. Conveniently there was a 7-Eleven just around the block from the McDonald's.

Cheese burger and McDouble

Drinks

After eating my dinner and while watching the rest of the game, I laid out my flat runner to make sure I had everything for tomorrow's race. It didn't look like the Dodgers were going to win because their bats were cold. However they finally scored in the 7th inning with a go-ahead 2 run home run by Turner in the 8th inning. The win tied up the series at a game a piece.

Flat runner

Dodgers win to even up the series in the NLCS

Sunday 10/14
After I got ready, I walked over to the Canal St subway station to catch the R train down to the Whitehall Terminal. They were doing a bunch of maintenance over the weekend, so the train was running on a different track. Good thing I read the posted sign or I would've missed the train. Once I arrived at the terminal, there were already a bunch of runners waiting there. The ferry schedule was very easy to figure out as they come every half hour. I caught the 6 am ferry over to Staten Island. The ride was about 30 minutes. Once we arrived at the St George Terminal, most of us waited in the terminal because it was a bit chilly outside and the race didn't start until 8 am. I walked around the terminal a bit to pass the time. I ended up perusing a gift shop that was selling Donald Trump and Lady Liberty bobble-heads. They actually looked to be nice quality souvenirs.

Gift shop at St George Station

About an hour before the start, I wrapped myself in the mylar blanket that I brought with me and headed outside to use one of the many portapotties lined along the Ferry Terminal Viaduct. It wasn't quite busy yet, so some people were also using that area to warm up.

After using the portapotties, I went through one of the metal detectors at the security checkpoint to enter the corral area. Along the way I saw a group of volunteers opening up boxes of finisher medals and removing each of them from their individual wrappers. That reminded me of when I used to volunteer for the Disneyland races. I was one of the few people that got into the corrals early at about 30 minutes before the start of the race. It was pretty empty, so I made my way to the front of my corral.

Volunteers opening up the finisher medals

The race started a little bit after 8 am. I was part of the 2nd wave of runners that was released. We started by heading South on Bay St for about the first 2.5 miles before making a right turn on School Rd. That road curved into Lily Pond Ave which in turn became Father Capodanno Blvd. We would stay on this boulevard until the turnaround point at Midland Ave which was about a quarter mile short of the mile 6 marker. Just before reaching that turnaround, I bumped into the New Yorker that I had talked to at the Orange County Half Marathon a few weekends ago. From there we would retrace the route back to Lily Pond Ave. The short steep climb during the 9th mile zapped all of my remaining energy in my legs. After reaching the top of the climb and turning on to McClean Ave, I had to pull over and take a walk break. I couldn't get the legs going after that climb. It was pretty nice to run through Fort Wadsworth before heading back up on Bay St. I've only been through Fort Wadsworth while waiting in the start village during the NYC Marathon. Nearing mile 11, we made a right turn at Hylan Blvd then turning left on Edgewater St. That street would then turn into Front St then into Murry Hulbert Ave. The final stretch would be an uphill climb up to Hannah St to cross back over to Bay St for that final climb up to the finish line.

I'm pretty sure we were running up a hill late in the race

Finish: 1:53:33
Click here for my Garmin data.

Relive 'Staten Island Half Marathon'

I was running a pretty decent race but those late climbs really ate me up. My legs were on the verge of cramping and locking up as I crossed the finish line. While it was nowhere near my best run, I was just glad that I was able to run a good race to finish off my 9+1 to earn my guaranteed spot for both the NYC Half Marathon in March and the NYC Marathon in November for 2019. I really cannot wait to run both races!

Finish line

Finisher medal

Close up of medal

9+1 done! I'm in for the 2019 NYC Marathon!

I'm also in for the 2019 NYC Half Marathon!

I picked up a recovery bag and a mylar blanket as I made my way through the finisher chute. To get back to the St George Terminal, there was a small lane off to the left for those that didn't need to collect a checked gear bag. During the walk, I drank half of my Gatorade to make sure my legs don't cramp up during the ferry ride. After a short wait, there was a mass of humanity getting onto the ferry heading over to Manhattan.

After getting back to my room, I got cleaned up and ate most of what was in the recovery bag. I laid around in my room watching TV until it was time to go get lunch.

Contents of post-race recovery bag

For lunch, I placed an online order with Taiwan Pork Chop House via their website. The website said to give them about 30 minutes. I made the short walk over to Doyers St to pick up the food. The alley did remind me a bit of Taiwan. The place was pretty packed inside. My food was ready to go, so I paid (cash only) and was on my way back to my room. I got their chicken leg rice along with a small order of their bean curd and seaweed. Both items were far from the best, but they were decent.

Doyers St

Taiwan Pork Chop House

Chicken leg rice

Bean curd and seaweed

Later that evening, I went back out to check out another Taiwanese restaurant, Taiwan Bear House, located on Pell St. When I first arrived, the place was completely empty which was such a stark difference to the popular Joe's Shanghai next door. I walked around to see if there were other last minute alternatives. I decided to just get the food there. I ordered their pork belly rice bento and a side order of fried chicken leg. The good thing was that since there was only one other customer there, I was able to get my food right away. Another good thing was that they accepted credit cards. The portion for the bento was small for the price, but I didn't mind since I've been working on losing weight.

Pork belly rice bento

Side of fried chicken leg

Monday 10/15
I got ready and checked out of my room at about 10:30 am. Before heading to the airport, I took the 6 train up to eat lunch at Go Go Curry at their Midtown East location at E 53rd St between 2nd and 3rd Ave. I got there just as they opened. I ordered the usual Home Run with chicken katsu curry and added fukuzinjuke.

Go! Go! Curry!

Home Run add fukuzinjuke

After inhaling my lunch, I walked over to the NYRR Runcenter to get my medal engraved which was complimentary for NYRR members. There was a huge line when I arrived right at 12 pm which was the posted time for the start of medal engraving. The whole process took maybe 30 minutes. They sent me a text when my medal was done.

Free medal engraving for NYRR members

Once I picked up my medal, I hopped on the E train at the 7th Ave station and headed over to JFK to catch my flight home.

About 3 hrs into the flight, I switched over to FS1 to watch the NLCS game 3 with the Dodgers vs. Brewers. Machado is turning out to be a knucklehead... besides making it a habit of not hustling to first base, he is now doing illegal slides into 2nd base. I cannot wait for our regular shortstop, Cory Seager, to return from his season ending ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction aka Tommy John surgery!

Flight home

Thankfully when I landed at LAX, I didn't have to wait long for a Four Points by Sheraton shuttle to show up. However the line was pretty long at the front desk for me to get my parking lot exit ticket. There was only one person working at the front desk and there were a lot of people waiting to check into their rooms.

Along the way home, I stopped at the usual gas station to fill up the tank for work tomorrow as well as to pick up a late night dinner at the McDonald's located at the gas station. How convenient to be able to kill 2 birds with 1 stone!

Long Beach Marathon 2018

Saturday 10/6
I watched the Spurs vs. Cardiff match before getting ready for the drive out to the Long Beach Convention Center for the expo. I parked at the usual City Place lot C off of 3rd St to take advantage of the free 2 hrs parking. New for this year's expo was having to go through metal detectors before entering the convention center. Thankfully they had a separate line for those that did not have a bag which moved marginally faster.

Metal detectors :(

I got there just a few minutes before 10:30 am and the place was packed. New for this year's packet pick-up was that you were assigned a bib number at the expo so you could get into any of the lines. Since I was a Beach Bum runner, I got into the line for that which happened to be very long. Once I got up to the table they assigned me a marathon bib and placed a Beach Bum sticker on it. They also wrote the number of years that I've been a Beach Bum on the sticker.

Bib pick-up

The next step was to pick up my race shirt. I thought the design wasn't too bad, but overall it looked a bit gloomy and boring printed on a dark grey shirt.

Race shirt, front

Race shirt, back

After that I went into the Beach Bum area to make sure I pick up my annual gift before I forget. This year instead of another shirt, it was a nice metal water bottle. It's always good to receive something useful. Nearby was the wall with all of the names of the participants. I found my name before checking out the rest of the expo.

Beach Bum

Participant name wall

I begrudgingly got in the long line to purchase parking for tomorrow. I decided to pay $12 for City Place lot C instead of $15 for Pike Parking because that's where I normally park for this race. In years past, I was always able to pre-purchase parking online. When it was my turn, I handed the lady a $20 bill. She gave me 2 fives and 3 ones which was $13. I gave $5 back to her and she looked perplexed. She did the same thing to my friend that was next in line. We both concluded that the lady probably failed math and was only collecting $7 from everyone else that was ahead of us if they paid with a $20 bill.

After that I stopped by the Long Beach Marathon booth to register for next year's race. Originally I was going to just register for the half marathon, but I changed my mind last minute and registered for the full marathon. The price for the full marathon was $99. However Beach Bums were given a $10 discount. The rep there had to enter the code, probably so it doesn't get shared with non Beach Bums. The total came out to be $97.53 with the processing fees added in. They were giving out a white Long Beach Marathon buff for those that register for next year's race.

Expo stuff

On my way out, I spotted my fellow Marathon Maniac friends hanging out in the Beach Bum area. We took a quick pic before I had to leave as my free 2 hrs was just about up. While walking back to the parking structure, I was stopped by an older lady with a walker. She asked me if I could spare a dollar. It just so happened that I had a few dollars as change from paying for tomorrow parking pass, so I gave it to her. If you know me, you would know that I hardly ever carry any cash let alone small bills. I guess it was her lucky day. :)

My Marathon Maniac friends

For dinner, I went out with the folks to eat some noodles at the local Chinese restaurant, NOODLEMii. I got the usual #1 House Bowl with small egg noodles.

Dinner

I laid out my flat runner before hitting the hay. I would be wearing this new Marathon Maniacs singlet for the first time.

Flat runner

Sunday 10/7
I arrived at the same parking structure as yesterday at about 5:15 am. I grabbed my stuff and started heading to the starting area. I bumped into my friend Deo just as I turned onto Pine Ave. We walked together and arrived at the start line just as few of the Marathon Maniacs had gathered for the traditional pre-race photo.

Marathon Maniacs pre-race photo

Start line

Waiting in the start corral

The race started at about 10 minutes after 6 am. We took the familiar out and back on Shoreline Dr before turning South along Queens Way. This year the course sort of covered the same streets but instead of continuing East on Queensway Dr, we heading West on S Harbor Scenic Dr. Instead of running up to Ocean Blvd, we took a u-turn onto Queensway Dr. We stayed on that road looping back to Queens Way after reaching Harry Bridges Memorial Park. After crossing the bridge again and reaching Shoreline Dr, we made a right turn. That was followed by another right turn on Aquarium Way which turned into Golden Shore. We ran a short little out and back after going underneath the Queens Way bridge. From then on it was pretty much the same course as it has been in the past couple of years. We started running on the bike path along the perimeter of the ShoreLine Aquatic Park. My faster friend known as Latino Heat caught me just as we were about to get back onto Shoreline Dr. I ran a little bit with him. We made a right on Shoreline Village Dr and ran around the turnabout at Marina Parking Dr.

Running with the Latino Heat turning on Shoreline Village Dr

We then turned into the parking lot heading for the dreaded Shoreline Way beach path. That was when I dropped off on the pace to give my left ankle a break as it was starting to bother me. I got to see a couple of my friends sitting along the side of the course waiting for the start of their half marathon. It's always nice to see my friends at the races. We were on that concrete bike path for almost 4 miles before getting off and going onto Ocean Blvd where they were passing out donut holes. We ran along Ocean Blvd, making a right turn onto Livingston Dr which eventually curves left into Nieto Ave. Once we reached Will Rogers Mini Park, we zigzagged over for an out-and-back along E Paoli Way. I got through the halfway point at 2:02:39.

The second half was pretty much a run out to Cal State Long Beach for a loop around the campus before heading back to the finish line. I was actually doing pretty well with the pacing until the legs started cramping up during that campus loop. So from miles 18 on to the finish, I had to walk a lot to keep the legs from locking up. I bumped into my friend Dexter between miles 21 and 22 on Clark Ave. We stopped for a quick pic. He happened to be running at about the same pace as a guy named John Williams. I met Mr Williams when I was a back-of-the-pack marathon runner. I told Dexter to run with him if he wanted some good company.

Dexter

Then as I was jogging down E Anaheim St, I came across my friend Maricris. I stopped for another quick pic with her. At about mile 24, we joined back up with the half marathon course. Those last two miles were not my favorite as it involved a lot of navigating around those in the half marathon. The race organizer had designated the right lane for marathoners, but since there's no physical divider, it's just a suggestion. Oh well, overall it was just a minor inconvenience.

Maricris

Finish: 4:53:04
Click here for my Garmin data.

Relive 'Long Beach Marathon'

My goal for this race was to just finish in under 5 hrs. That doesn't sound like a very lofty goal, but I haven't been able to finish this race in under 5 hrs for the past 3 years. I was starting to have my doubts when my legs were cramping up again as I made my loop through the campus of Cal State Long Beach. The weather was just too nice and sunny! I was glad to have met my goal with time to spare. That was my 7th consecutive Long Beach Marathon finished. Only 3 more years to get my name on that legacy bench.

Finish line

After getting my medal and my post-race snacks and drinks, I bumped into a couple of my brother's friends who had just finished the half marathon. They found a place to sit down and rest as I headed over to the Beach Bum beer garden to see if any of my friends were there. Fortunately one of my buddies found me as I was wandering the area looking for a spot to sit down. We haven't seen each other at a race in a while since he had been recovering from a significant injury. It was good to catch up with him. I hung out with him until one of our mutual friends showed up. Then it was time for me to head on home.

Finisher medal

Post-race goodies

Phil

Of course, I stopped in at the McDonald's to pick up some food along the way. Both of my game pieces were winners, free medium fries! Score!

Post-race meal

I won! Medium fries x2

LA Dodgers Foundation 10k 2018

Saturday 9/29
Normally for this race, I would drive out to Dodger Stadium for the packet pick-up and arrive right when they open at 11 am. This year however I spent most of the morning watching English Premier League matches. I didn't start getting ready to head out until my Spurs were done beating Huddersfield.

Spurs vs. Huddersfield

I ran into a bit of freeway traffic during my drive out to Dodger Stadium. Just to where the heck was everyone going? The Waze app actually routed me off of the 60 freeway over to the 10 freeway. Once I got to the stadium, I made my way over to the Sunset Gate entrance per the instructions. There weren't too many parking attendants directing traffic, so I just followed the car in front of me. I parked in the lot just 1 flight of stairs lower than the top deck. Packet pick-up was once again located at the top deck.

I first picked up my bib then I made my way over to the other end of the top deck to pick up my shirt, Justin Turner bobble-head, and a DWP water bottle. I wasn't a fan of this year's shirt especially with the title sponsor, Biofreeze, sprawled across the front of the shirt. So tacky!

Race packet pick-up

They were showing the Dodger vs Giants game on the DodgerVision screens, but part of the picture was cut off so I decided to head home instead. I don't mind listening to the game on the radio. Along the way home, I stopped in my usual McDonald's to buy a quarter pounder with cheese sandwich using the $2 deal on the mobile app.

Sunday 9/30
The 10k race was scheduled to start at 7 am, so I timed it to for me to get to the stadium at about 6 am. Per the instructions we were to enter the stadium through either the Sunset Gate or Downtown Gate. Unlike last year, the Downtown gate was actually open this time. After I parked the car, I got ready and headed over to the starting area to use one of the portapotties. This year for the starting corral, they had signs for starting waves with a suggested pace range.

Wave 1

Start line

During the pre-race announcements, per the usual they brought out a couple of Dodger alumni. This year it was Kenny Landreaux and Dennis Powell. Once the national anthem was sung, it was time to run this hilly race!

Dodger alumni, Kenny Landreaux and Dennis Powell

I went out hard and fast until the course started that first steep climb up to the top deck. I ran by effort, so I made sure not to try and keep up with anybody around me. That first climb was a doozy as my legs felt like rubber once I got up to the top. Thankfully that was followed by a long downhill towards the Academy Gate. Once out of the gate, we turned left at Academy Rd. Shortly after passing mile 2, we turned right going up a steady climb on Stadium Way. Then we turned left onto Elysian Park Dr. Once we reached the halfway point, we turned left onto Academy Rd heading back to the Academy Gate. Once back onto the Dodger Stadium parking lot, we started running along the perimeter. We ran up to the Stadium Way Gate before we hooked around and headed for the finish line.

Finish line

Finish: 51:01
Click here for my Garmin data.

Relive 'LA Dodgers Foundation 10k'

I was hoping to have finished in under 50 minutes, but I believe this was the fastest that I've run this 10k since it began in 2015. In the first year of this event, they only had a 5k in 2014. Just like with prior years, the Dodger alumni were at the finish line passing out finisher medals. I got mine from Landreaux. After snapping a quick pic of the medal, I started down the finisher chute, picking up some post-race goodies. I liked that they gave out fruit instead of various garbage snacks.

Finisher medal

Post race fruits and water

The majority of the participants at this event were for the 5k race, so the place was starting to become very packed. Once I checked out some of the auction items just outside of the pavilion area, I started heading back to my car for my drive home. I would've walked around the warning track, but they didn't allow any food on the track even if you weren't planning to eat any of it.