Surf City Marathon 2013

Friday
I had been pretty sick all week. I couldn't take any time off from work either, so I was actually considering not starting the race. Instead of chicken soup, I was pounding the pho and ramen all week to see if my body would rebound in time for the race. By Friday afternoon, I had finally regained my ability to breath through the nose, so I started having some hope of running this race. After work, I rushed over to the expo at Huntington Beach. The traffic actually wasn't too bad. After picking up my race packet, shirt, and legacy club stuff, I bumped into a few of my Marathon Maniac buddies. After shooting the breeze with everyone, I headed up to Ramen Yamadaya in Costa Mesa to eat dinner. I then headed on home to get some rest.

Expo time

Mile marker

Longboard legacy club

Maniac friends

Saturday
Rest day. Did nothing but watch TV. Got my race gear ready before going to sleep.

Race gear

Sunday
I left the house around 4am to get to my usual parking spot on Beach Blvd. I parked and got my stuff ready before making the trek over to the Hyatt Regency. I usually wait inside here until it's time for the Marathon Maniacs pre-race photo across the street at the end of the bridge. After taking the photo, I jogged over to the starting corral to meet up with a few of my RWOL friends. We talked a little about each of our race strategies. It was good to catch up.

Marathon Maniacs

Starting corral

RW friends

The full marathon started at 6:30am. My legs felt better and my lungs were working so I went out comfortably hard. I ran most of the section in the Park with my friend Marathon Mitch. The hill at mile 8 really wiped me out. I couldn't recover to take advantage of the downhill miles that followed. My legs were falling apart as I turned onto the PCH. It was a pleasant surprise to see my friends here at this spot cheering. By the time that I got to the turnaround around mile 12, my legs were done. I coasted into the halfway point right around 2 hours.
1: 8:11
2: 8:20
3: 8:54
4: 9:14
5: 8:18
6: 8:38
7: 8:40
8: 9:20
9: 9:28
10: 9:06
11: 10:14
12: 10:18
13: 9:56
Halfway: 1:59:53

Headed to the finish line

I really tried very hard to keep all of my miles around 11:30 - 12:00 in the second half. After crossing mile 16 we turned onto the bike path. This is my least favorite part of the course. It's narrow and crowded with all sorts of traffic. Also several of the mile markers each year are in the wrong spot. There was a group of people grilling bacon and passing out Bud light again this year. They liked my Team Beef shirt and tried to give me some bacon and beer. I told them that I might take some on my way back. My legs were cramping up before I even got to mile 20. It was good seeing my barefoot running buddies that had set up a tent at around mile 21 to encourage runners and to pass out some snacks. I would get the legs to loosen up several times, but then they would just cramp up again. I had to take so many walk breaks. During my many walk breaks, I met one of my blog readers. You never know who is reading your blog! The final .2 to the finish was a little rough. I tried to run as fast as I could without having my legs lock up again. It was good to see my friend Casey cheering at the finish.
14: 11:28
15: 11:49
16: 11:40
17: 11:52
18: 12:19
19: 14:05
20: 12:57
21: 16:53
22: 10:54
23: 14:24
24: 14:44
25: 13:27
26: 12:39
26.2: 2:02
Finish: 4:49:58

I felt like crap after crossing the finish line. I got my awesome surfboard medal. Then I proceeded to got a banana, water, and a bag of goodies. I found a place to prop myself up so I could eat the banana which helped make me feel better. I then bumped into a few of my friends outside of the beer garden before I went in to get my free beers. Thank goodness Longboard Legacy members have their own express lane. I believe they were serving Kona Pipeline Porter and Fire Rock Pale Ale. They also had Michelob Ultra if you're into diet beer. Each person was allowed two beers. After grabbing my beers, I happened to find a few of my friends sitting near the fence. I hung out with them for a little bit before I headed out to eat lunch.

Surf board medal

Hanging out in the beer garden

I tried to meet up with my friends for lunch, but they had already been at the restaurant for a while already. With the traffic it wouldn't taken me close to an hour to get there. I didn't want them to wait around for me, so I told them that I would catch up with them at the next race in San Diego. So I decided to go eat at the all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ, Korea House, in Garden Grove. I ate mostly boneless beef short rib and thin sliced beef brisket. I finished up by grilling a bunch of shrimp. I think I put more than enough protein back into the body. :)

Beef!

More beef!

Shrimp

Carlsbad Marathon 2013

Saturday
I ate at my favorite ramen shop, What's Up Men, before driving down to Carlsbad for the expo. I tried out their chuka soba ramen and beef bowl for the first time. The beef bowl was just like what you can get at Yoshinoya. The ramen was a bit too plain. But that was good since I don't want any GI issues for the marathon.

Chuka soba ramen and beef bowl

I brought a bag of about 6 pairs of shoes to donate at expo. That should make my room look like less of a shoe store. The expo was at the usual spot as always underneath a big white tent. The parking lot traffic controllers were a bit overzealous and definitely power-tripping. Once inside the tent, you pick up your bib first then you go to the back to pick up your race shirt, race jacket, and a drawstring bag. I went through the rest of the expo and thankfully found nothing to buy. I did see Meb selling his book, taking pictures with people, and signing autographs.

Meb!

After leaving the expo, I drove a couple of exits north on the 5 freeway to get to the McDonald's near my hotel. My spider sense was definitely tingling went I ate here. It was located in a not-so-nice area. The nearby Ocean's Eleven casino might have something to do with it being a seedy area. I quickly ate my Big Mac combo and left to check into my hotel just a few short blocks away.

Big Mac combo!

I stayed at the Ramada Oceanside. The parking lot was a little tight at this location. If you have a big car, you might have a hard time parking in some of their spaces. The room was pretty decent for the price. As I've mentioned earlier, it's a seedy area, so it's probably best to stay in your room.

Ramada Oceanside

I drove down to Kaito Sushi in Encinitas to eat an early dinner with my coworker. He was held up in a little bit of traffic so I stopped by the Ralph's across the street to pick up some drinks before heading over to the restaurant. In Southern California where it's inundated with fusion "sushi" restaurants, I prefer to eat at a traditional Japanese sushi restaurant. If you are looking for fancy rolls drizzled with a bunch of various sauces, go elsewhere. We stuck to mostly sashimi.

Needle fish

Orange clam

Chu toro

Tako

Soft shell crab

Conch

After getting back to my hotel room, I went through the expo haul and laid out my race gear. I brought along my waterproof gloves, arm sleeves, and calf sleeves just in case it would rain during the race. I only wear sleeves to keep warm when the weather forecast calls for low temperatures or rain. I'm not sure if the calf sleeves help at all with my cramping issues. As I was relaxing while watching TV, I felt under the weather. I knew I had caught something and was just feeling tired and lethargic.

Race swag

Race gear

Sunday
The first thing I did when I woke up was to check the weather. It looked like we would luck out and not be rained upon for the race. The race did start with a little drizzle but it would clear up quickly. I checked out of my hotel and drove down to the starting area before 5am. I tried to park at my usual spot, but ran into weirdo parking attendants. They forced us early birds to park in a lot so far from the starting line. But for some reason they all left to control traffic at the closer lot that I had originally wanted to park in. So I fired up the car and moved it over to my usual spot.

Starting line

I wanted to try and keep my miles around 8:50 - 9:10 for the first half. This was a course full of rollers so I ran based on effort. Things were going pretty well for the first 8 miles. I tried to follow up the hill at mile 9 with some faster downhill miles, but my left calf started aching more than I would like so I slowed the pace a little to try and alleviate the ache. It was a little disappointing to be going slower on the downhills, but with my achy lower legs I didn't have much of a choice. I got to the halfway point at a little past 2 hours.
1: 8:57
2: 8:18
3: 8:54
4: 9:07
5: 9:12
6: 8:50
7: 9:26
8: 9:12
9: 9:50
10: 9:31
11: 9:13
12: 9:25
13: 9:24

Rocco the pacer

Mile 23

For the second half, I targeted to keep my miles between 11:30 and 12:30. Except for mile 19 where I took a potty break, I was right on target. For most of the miles, I just took a one or two minute walk break when I reach a mile marker. Then I would run as comfortably as I could to the next mile marker. Rinse and repeat. It was a bit hectic when we merged with the half marathoners. Out of the thousands of runners, somehow I was able to bump into one of my friends running in the half. A little after mile 16, we were by ourselves again as the half marathoners had reached their turnaround point. Having run this race multiple times, I knew that we would be heading back to the finish line once we reach mile 18. For me, this was the hardest part of the course as it was a decent climb up to turnaround. Miles 23 and 24 had some gentle steady climbs. As I was headed to finish line and rounding the final corner, I could not run very fast as I was cramping up.
14: 11:58
15: 11:42
16: 11:44
17: 11:57
18: 11:36
19: 13:47
20: 11:44
21: 12:08
22: 11:54
23: 12:09
24: 12:23
25: 11:28
26: 11:32
26.2: 2:05
Finish: 4:37:29

If you run enough, eventually you can pace yourself without a GPS watch. This was one of my better paced races.

I picked up my finisher medal which I liked since I always prefer a classic circular medal. I was feeling pretty nauseated and dizzy as I was exiting the finishing chute after picking up a banana, a bag of snacks, and a bottle of water. I walked over to find a seat to sit down for a bit. I'm sure it was not very wise to run a marathon when the immune system has been compromised. After feeling better, I went over to the expo souvenir area to pick up one of those Triple Crown stickers.

Finisher's medal

Triple Crown sticker

I then had to hoof it down South to Casa de Bandini to meet up with my friends from San Diego. They all ran the half marathon, but they usually will wait for me. Just like every year, the traffic heading towards the 5 freeway was horrible. Once I finally got to the restaurant, I still had no appetite to eat a meal, so all I had was a Stone IPA. We accompanied the girls to check out the Lululemon store in the same Forum plaza. On my way back home, I stopped at the same favorite ramen shop to eat a bowl of ramen. This time I tried their Aka spicy miso ramen and chashu bowl for the first time. It was good, but spicy food doesn't really agree with my stomach these days.

Stone IPA

Aka spicy miso ramen with egg and chashu bowl

Tinker Bell Half Marathon 2013

Friday expo
I left work at noon on Friday to attend the expo. I parked at the usual Downtown Disney parking lot and walked over to the Convention Center next to the Disneyland Hotel. I first picked up my bib and Coast-to-Coast bracelet before going up to the expo floor to pick up my shirt and goodie bag. I was able to meet up with my Marathon Maniac buddies, Casey and Mitch.

"CH" Maniacs

Coast to Coast bracelet

I left the expo at about 1pm. I normally eat lunch at around 11am, so I was starving. I drove out to Gomen in the nearby city of Stanton to eat a bowl of ramen. I've been wanting to check out this place for quite some time. Too bad the weather was getting pretty warm. Ramen tastes way better when the weather is cold or frigid. Everyone working in the restaurant including the cook were Japanese. That's a good sign that the food was authentic. The fried rice was decent and the ramen was not bad. I'll have to come back and eat some of the other menu items.

Tonkotsu shio ramen with half order fried rice

Saturday carbo-load
For lunch, I went to one of my favorite ramen shops, What's Up Men, to eat some ramen. I like their kurobuta sausages. I also got some edamame. For my ramen, I got the Cha miso ramen with eggs and the fried rice lunch combo. This meal really hit the spot. If I could, I would eat here everyday.

Edamame and kurobuta sausages

Fried rice

Cha miso ramen added egg

Sunday race day!
I pulled into the Mickey and Friends parking structure at about 3:30am. For the second year in a row, they gave me complimentary race parking. Last year, the parking ticket did not specify that it was for runDisney volunteers. This year it did. So I guess it literally pays to show up early! I'm still not sure why they gave it to me because I always show up that early for the Disneyland Half Marathon, but have never been given free parking for that race. Oh well, I'm definitely not complaining since parking is about $15 these days.

Free parking!

I used the restroom near the escalators, got my stuff ready, and started heading to the starting area. As I was more than halfway there, I realized that I had forgotten my salt tabs. I know it's only a half marathon, but I'm pretty legendary with my debilitating leg cramps. So I had to turn around and hoof it back to my car to get them. I then jogged to the starting area. I guess I got my warm-up done. I put on my wings and checked my bag at the gear-check tent and headed to the corrals. I bumped into my friend who decided to join me in corral C.

Starting line

Tink sending us off!

At about 5:10am, our corral was released. Just like last year, it was a crowded mess because they continue to put the fastest males in corral C. I'm not even fast and it's already a pain in the butt for me to run that first mile. I decided to take it in stride and just run comfortably with minimal zig-zagging because my right ankle has been feeling sore since having come off of the Goofy Challenge last weekend. I also decided not to stop for pictures. This race was for the women, I don't need to clog up their lines for photos. I finally caught my friend Casey at around mile 12. The finish was a bit deceptive. As we approached you thought you were finishing, but there was still a little out-and-back portion for about half a mile before we made the final turn for the finish line. One of my marathon maniac friends was cheering at the final stretch. She was also at around the 10k mark.

1: 8:50
2: 8:43
3-4: 17:21 (8:41)
5: 8:27
6: 8:22
7: 8:51
8: 8:59
9: 9:20
10: 9:08
11: 9:30
12: 9:07
13: 8:19
13.1: 0:40
Finish: 1:55:35

I picked up my Tinker Bell medal as well as my Coast-to-Coast medal. They cut off the bracelet in exchange for the extra medal. At the finisher's photo line, I bumped into the Marathon Maniac that I had met last weekend at Disney World. What a coincidence. I also took a picture with my friend Casey before I took off. I picked up a pre-packaged snack box, water, and a banana. After grabbing my gear bag, I put away the wings and put on my jacket as it was a bit chilly. I ate the banana on my way back to the car.

New maniac friend

Peter Pan and an orange fairy

Post race stage

The organization of this race was phenomenal. It doesn't get any better than this which is why Disney is so popular. But alas the one big deterrent to this race is the price tag. Disney magic never comes cheap! This was only the 2nd edition of this race and I'm not sure if I want to continue to be a legacy runner. Being a legacy runner with the Disneyland Half Marathon is already plenty expensive.

The goods

Yeah, I'll probably be back

I stopped by the supermarket to pick up some orange juice, water, and snacks. For the first time in a while, I bought some spicy beef jerky. It tasted really good, but I still want to make an effort on eating food with a lot of added preservatives. Later in the afternoon, I drove back to What's Up Men to eat another bowl of ramen. This time I got the kuro shoyu ramen.

Recovery protein

Recovery meal - Kuro shoyu ramen