UCSD Triton 5k

Sunday 6/7
I didn't think that I would drive all the way down to San Diego to run a 5k especially having just been down here last weekend for the San Diego Rock n' Roll Marathon. But I haven't been back to visit my Alma Mater, so I signed up pretty last minute to run this race. I had been running a bunch of marathons lately and I thought it would be nice to see how fast the legs would move in a shorter race.

After making the all too familiar drive down to good ol' La Jolla, I parked my car at the Hopkins parking structure near RIMAC. Everything seemed so familiar yet there were so many new buildings since I was last here. Per the race instructions, I walked over to the P357 parking lot to pick up my race packet. They had signs everywhere pointing to that lot.

After picking up my race packet and using the portapotties, I walked back to my car and took a nap. At about 45 minutes before the start of the race, I started making my way over to the starting area. There was a lady leading some silly warm up exercises while participants after participants were crossing the starting line to get into the corrals. I know it's just a 5k, but they might want to control the flow of traffic next time. I positioned myself in Wave 01 designated for speedsters running under 20 minutes. They even had signs telling you where to line up. I thought today would be as good as any to attempt a sub 20 minute 5k. I don't run enough of them to know how fast I should go out in the opening mile.

King Triton!

The mile markers were pretty much non-existent. There was a girl supposedly positioned at the one mile mark at the back of Galbraith Hall. If that was true, I ran a 6:15ish for the first mile. I knew that I there was no way that I could hold that for another 2 miles, but I kept up the effort. There were short climbs here and there. During the last mile, my legs were spent and I really slowed down. They felt like rubber. I had absolutely no kick during the final stretch on the track.
1: 6:15
2-3.1: 15:57 (7:35)
22:12 (7:09)

After crossing the finish line, I got a bag of water and some Stone IPA. Not bad to have Stone IPA at the end of a 5k. After cooling down with the beer, I went through the rest of the finish line festival to check out the different booths. There was a booth about sharks and one handing out Monster drinks. I picked up a Monster for my friend who drinks them.

Since I have not been on the campus in ages, I basically took a walking tour of the entire campus. I took pretty much the same route as the race. It was also the first time that I got to see the Triton statue just outside of Price Center. I even stopped by the mud huts to visit my old dorm, Beagle Hall. I've been out of college for almost 20 years, but it felt as if it was just yesterday. I bought an alumni polo shirt at the bookstore before leaving. Their selection was quite lacking. All they had were mostly t-shirts. I might have to write a letter to the Alumni Association to have them remedy the lack of alumni wear.

Sun God

They're still painting the anchor

Good ol' Beagle Hall

On my way home, I swung by the Ballast Point Brewery out in the Scripps Ranch area to pick up a six pack of the Habanero Sculpin IPA for my friend. Since I was there, I might as well drink some samplers. It was quite crowded with a tour bus full of people going through, but I found a spot and got samples of Piper Down, Indra Kunindra, and Indra Kunindra Bourbon Barrel Aged. I loved the Piper Down, but it was interesting to taste the curry beers. Never had one before. I prefer the bourbon barrel aged version probably because I like the taste of bourbon.

Beers on tap

Right to left: Piper Down, Indra Kunindra, Indra Kunindra Bourbon Barrel Aged

Habanero Sculpin IPA

Rock n Roll San Diego Marathon 2014

5/31 Expo
I parked at the parking structure on 10th Ave just South of Island Ave. I noticed that the traffic was unusually congested getting to the structure. I would find out later that there was a graduation ceremony taking place at Petco Park which drove up the price for parking at this structure from the usual $6 to $10. I guess it's still cheaper than parking at the San Diego Convention Center parking lot which was $15.

It was a short walk over to the convention center. I picked up my race packet and my race shirt before checking out the very familiar expo. I was out of my Clif Shot Bloks, so I decided to buy a box of salted watermelon GU for $25. It was a new flavor. The lady even threw in a nice GU water bottle. I bumped into a few of my running friends as I was picking up some Lifeway sample products that I promptly ate for breakfast. Then I made my way to the Rock n' Roll area to I sign up for next year's race. It was $95 for the full marathon plus $9.99 for processing fees.

Yeti!

Breakfast!

I picked up my race day parking pass that I had pre-paid online for $15 which came with a wrist band to ride the shuttle to the starting area. I went back to the stage area to meet up with some friends and to listen to Meb Keflezighi, who had just recently won the Boston Marathon a little month ago. It was pretty cool to hear him talk about his tactics and experiences during that race. That prestigious race couldn't have been won by a nicer guy! I've met him several times in person and he has always been friendly and very humble.

After leaving the expo, I went searching for lunch. I had a craving for some In-n-Out burgers. I first stopped by the Pacific Beach location, but there was no parking and I didn't feel like getting in the super long drive-thru line. So I hopped back on the freeway and headed over to the one in Kearny Mesa. The parking was just as horrible there, but I was able to find some street parking across the way. I got myself two Double Doubles, one for each hand. I was so hungry, I probably could've eaten two more. Before heading to my hotel for the night, I walked over to the Mitsuwa across the street to buy a some drinks and a bento box for dinner.

I checked into the Holiday Inn Express in Sorrento Valley. I liked this quiet location. I enjoyed a 6-pack of some Stone Go To IPA while going through my expo haul and watching the Dodgers game on TV. Apparently I didn't notice it when I bought the 6-pack that somebody had swapped out a bottle with a Saison which I don't particularly like but it was a nice change in taste after drinking several IPA's in a row.

After watching the Dodger game, finishing my dinner, and drinking all of the beers, it was time to lay out the race gear and go to sleep. Sometimes it's hard to sleep the night before a race, but drinking a bunch of beers sure helps.

Chicken katsu bento

All empty

Race gear

6/1 Race Day
I got ready, checked out of the hotel, and drove out to park at my assigned parking spot. This year I was assigned the parking structure at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront located adjacent to the San Diego Convention Center. I waited inside the hotel for a bit before going back out to catch the shuttle to the starting area. It was still dark when I got off of the shuttle. I looked for a banana and some water before going over to wait by my UPS gear check truck. I checked my gear bag before heading over to the usual spot for the pre-race Marathon Maniac photo at the corner of Nutmeg St and 6th Ave at the stairs of St Paul's Episcopal Cathedral.

Marathon Maniacs pre-race photo from Paula

This would be the 12th consecutive San Diego Rock n' Roll Marathon for me since the time when I ran my very first marathon back in 2003. So it would be very easy to understand that this marathon has special meaning for me. I am very familiar with the ins and outs of this race. The weather usually gets pretty warm, but I thought that I was good enough to run a sub 4:20. I ran the first 10k at a harder effort. Then when the course went on the bike paths at Mission Bay, I eased off because that cement surface really beats me up! I got to the half in about 1:53. The second half would have a bunch of significant climbs but they were all runable sections. The seemingly never-ending 2 mile-ish climb on the 163 really demoralized me. I tried to recover and rally during the last couple of miles, but leg cramps kept threatening to lock up the legs. I do love that the current course ends with a long section of downhill ending at the Gaslamp Quarter. I was somewhat disappointed that I didn't finish sub 4:20, but I'm always okay with finishing a marathon under Oprah's 4:29:20. :)

Starting corral

1: 8:11
2: 8:14
3: 8:03
4-5: 15:59 (8:00)
6: 8:34
7: 9:00
8-9: 18:09 (9:05)
10: 9:06
11: 9:02
12: 9:01
13: 9:02
14: 10:13
15: 10:17
16: 9:48
17: 10:23
18: 10:57
19: 11:08
20: 10:28
21: 14:54
22: 13:39
23: 11:31
24: 12:39
25: 11:31
26.2: 13:34
Finish: 4:23:22

After crossing the finish line, I grabbed the usual water, Gatorade, and Power Bar before heading over to the UPS trucks to pick up my gear bag. After getting my bag, I headed over to Petco Park to grab my free beer and relax a bit before heading home. While I was enjoying my beer in the shade, I had a nice conversation with two ladies. They sure had a lot of questions for me concerning being a Marathon Maniac and not popping any pain pills. Apparently they also do not like to be reliant on pharmaceuticals. I bumped into a few of my friends before heading home. I liked that the post-race festivities were held inside the beautiful Petco Park.

Along the way home, I stopped by my favorite ramen shop, What's Up Men, to eat some lunch. They had a new item on their menu so I gave it a try. It was Reimen, some cold ramen noodles, which was nice since it was a bit warm to be eating a hot bowl of regular ramen. I also ordered the kurobuta sausages and an Asashi draft beer.

Reimen, sausages, and beer

Rock n Roll Liverpool Marathon 2014

5/22 Thursday
It was a very last minute decision for me to go run this marathon. The registration was included in the Rock n' Roll Global Tour Pass, so the only cost that I would have to eat was the non-refundable hotel registration that I had pre-paid if I had decided not to go. So on Monday I finally pulled the trigger and bought the airfare after weeks and months of waiting for the price to drop. It just did not budge.

I left work early to get to the airport. It was a nonstop United flight to London Heathrow airport. We pretty much boarded on time. Score! A lady traded me her window seat for my middle seat so she could sit together with her friend but then the captain announced that there was a problem with the plane. Just when I thought that I was experiencing some good luck. There was apparently a leak in one of the fuel tanks. So they had to drain it, repair it, and reload the fuel. They gave us the choice of staying on the plane or getting off. Most of the passengers elected to get off. I got off to go find something to eat.

I was pretty happy to see The Counter as an available choice but it would turn out that this was a sub-par Counter. I've eaten at The Counter elsewhere but they were never this bad. For the price you pay, you'd expect to get a gourmet burger but you're better off eating at a McDonald's as you know what to expect no matter which McDonald's you eat at, even at an airport. Don't expect your burger to taste the same as it would at a regular Counter location. The taste was just off. Service at this location was not very good. There was clearly a lot of arguing going on among the staff in the open kitchen while there was a backlog of orders to fill. There's not a whole lot of tables to sit at nearby, so I took it to go and ate at the gate.

After about a 5 hr delay, we boarded again and we were finally off for London. The captain told us that the flight was very close to being canceled and praised the maintenance crew.

1/3 lb beef, brioche bun, Tillamock cheddar, horseradish aioli, red onion, pickle chips, sprouts, and pepperoncinis

During the overnight flight, I finally got caught up on some movies that I have yet to see: The Lego Movie, Monuments Men, and Captain America. The Lego Movie was pretty entertaining and awesome! I thought that the Monuments Men was a bit boring. I kept falling asleep. Captain America was pretty good. I couldn't believe that it took me this long to finally see it!

5/23 Friday
I landed in London Heathrow a little before 5 pm local time, about 5 hours behind schedule. After going through customs, I changed some of my USD for UK Pounds. When I was planning this last minute trip, I couldn't find an acceptable train schedule, so I had to plan to rent a car. Boy, it was expensive to drive in the UK! I rented with Enterprise and their service was top notch! The lady at the airport counter tried to sell me every insurance they had. I had to pass on all of it. I assured her that I would drive very slow! After paying for the car, I hopped on their shuttle to pick up the car. After doing a walk around with the car, it was off I go.

I had recently changed my cell service from Verizon to T-Mobile because of their unbeatable international data plan. Thank goodness it worked perfectly in the UK. I had printed out maps just in case. After getting acquainted with sitting on the right side of the car and driving on the left of the road, it was actually pretty easy driving in the UK probably because it's so dang expensive. I liked that they had turnabouts instead of stop signs. Google Maps did keep things interesting by routing me to some 2 lane back roads instead of the major roadway because it calculated it being faster. It was raining pretty good as well, so I had to stay alert even though I was pretty tired. Thank goodness I survived the near 4 hour drive and arrived at The Dolby Hotel. I rolled into my hotel's parking lot at about 11 pm. I bought an outlet adapter in the hotel's vending machine so that I could charge up my tablet and phone.

Hello bed! So tired!

Smallest bathroom that I've ever seen!

5/24 Saturday
I slept in and didn't leave my room until about noon time. I walked over to the JD Sports at Liverpool One to pick up my race packet. The pick-up spot was just a little counter tucked in the corner of the sports store right as you enter. They were interviewing runners just outside. I was their first and served as their guinea pig. There was a wind gust that blew down the sign behind me. They got that fixed for the next runner.

Interviewing runners

I then made the long hike (~3.5 miles) over to the famed Anfield soccer stadium. Two of my friends back home are huge soccer fans and they told me that I definitely should go visit the Shankly Gates. Along the way, I walked through the Everton Park Heritage Trail which felt like it was all uphill but it was very beautiful.

The surrounding buildings just before you get to the stadium was pretty dilapidated. The stadium itself was pretty nice and impressive. After visiting the shop and buying a couple of scarves, I went around to see the Shankly Gates. It was starting to rain a bit, so I didn't stick around very long. I even had to pull out my umbrella for a little bit as I started heading back to my hotel.

After all of the walking, I was pretty tired, thirsty, and hungry. So I stopped in a convenience store and bought some snacks and drinks. Then I went in a Lobster Pot for some fish and chips before heading back to my hotel. It was served with salt and vinegar. It was fast food and nothing fancy, but now I understand why they're known for this combo! I would categorize it as comfort food. The weather was a bit gloomy and rainy, and this was the perfect food for that sort of weather. I was fortunate to find a small table near the back of the place to enjoy the food. I wish that there were places like this back in the States, but all we have that's similar over in the US are Long John Silver's and they're not very good.

Fish and chips

For my usual pre-marathon meal, I walked across the street to the McDonald's. I love that you can walk into any McDonald's anywhere in the world and expect pretty much the same quality and quick service. They were having some sort of USA promotion menu with a different sandwich for each week. This week was the New York Classic. I've visited New York several times and I'm pretty sure that they're not known for their burgers or a type of burger. I was curious, so I ordered it along with my regular Big Mac and took it back to my room to eat. The NY Classic was a strange burger to say the least, but it wasn't horrible. At least the Big Mac was a good constant.

Big Mac and New York Classic

After scarfing down the two burgers, I got my race gear ready. Then I just relaxed while watching the Real Madrid v. Atlético Madrid fútbol match on TV. It was an entertaining game. The heavily favored Real Madrid was trailing pretty much the entire match, but they scored late to tie up the match and eventually won.

Race gear

Real Madrid v. Atlético Madrid

5/25 Sunday
It was pretty convenient to be so close to the starting area. The full marathon started at 9 am. But I walked over to the starting area to watch the start of the half marathon which started a full hour earlier at 8 am. I milled around the Albert Dock area until it was closer to the start of the marathon. I then hit the portapotties one last time and checked my gear bag before heading to the corrals. I bumped into a few Marathon Maniacs there taking pictures. There was only a few of us on this side of the pond for a marathon.

The Beatles

Starting corral

The first half pretty much took us through city streets. This was not a flat course. There was a lot of ups and downs. I could tell that the majority of the runners were serious runners. Everybody was running the tangents. There were no silly costumes or tutus. Everybody was pretty much wearing club singlets. Per the usual strategy I ran harder for the first 10k (52:57), coasted into the halfway point (1:54:50), then run as much as I could to the 20 mile mark (3:07:40) before I was allowed to walk. The second half was really green and beautiful. We ran through several parks: Princes Park, Sefton Park, and Otterspool Park. It actually got a bit sunny and warm as I ran along the River Mersey. It then started sprinkling as I approached the finish. We finished right next to the Echo Arena.
1: 8:32
2: 8:03
3: 8:21
4-5: 16:45 (8:22)
6-9: 35:56 (8:58)
10: 8:17
11: 8:57
12-13 18:59 (9:30)
14-15: 19:52 (9:56)
16: 9:09
17: 12:35
18: 10:17
19: 10:33
20: 11:17
21: 10:48
22: 11:59
23: 11:06
24: 13:27
25: 10:02
26: 10:32
26.2: 1:43
Finish: 4:17:08

After picking up the finisher medal, we went inside the Echo Arena to pick up so snacks, our finisher shirt, and our gear bag. I love races where you get your shirt after the race which makes you earn your shirt. Then exiting the arena, I grabbed a Cobra beer. It was definitely better than the usual Michelob Ultra that I'm used to getting at a Rock n' Roll marathon event. There was a lot of people in the finish area but I was able to find a spot to sit down. I'm glad that I came here for this marathon. I love exploring a new part of the world and experiencing new things like driving on the other side of the road.

Finish with a post race Cobra beer

For dinner, I set out to get some bangers and mash. I checked out The Smugglers Cove over at the nearby Albert Dock. I tried to get a table without a reservation, but they were packed so I had to find a spot at the bar. The restaurant had a nice ambiance. It was dark and sort of felt like the Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland. So the restaurant was appropriately named. I also loved the design of their menus. After finding a spot at the bar, I finally ordered a beer (West Coast IPA) that was tapped straight from a cask and their bangers and mash. The bartender put in my order, but about 15 minutes later I was told that they were out. It was a bit weird that they had me pay right away, so they had to credit it back to my credit card. I asked for recommendations on what else was good on the menu. I was told that the Hanging Kebobs were good. So I got the Hanging Beef Kebobs and this time I asked if I could start a tab. They held on to my credit card and gave me a key with a number on it. When the food was brought out, they pour the garlic oil on top, so that it drips down the skewer. He was right, it was very good... nice, and delicious. I finished it off with a Loweswater Gold which was also tapped straight from a cask.

Phoenix Brewery West Coast IPA and their cool looking menu

Hanging beef kebab

Cumbrian Legendary Ales Loweswater Gold

5/26 Monday
I packed up all of my stuff, checked out of my room, and started on my long drive down to London Heathrow Airport. There wasn't many cars out on the roads that early in the morning. After several hours and a few hundred miles behind the wheel, I was starting to get used to sitting on the right side of the car and driving on the left side of the road. Also I was finally accustomed to exiting the freeway on the left side. Before returning the car, I drove to a nearby gas station. Boy it was expensive to fill up the car. I didn't use an entire tank of gas and it was 53.55 Pounds to fill up 38.55 Liters. That's almost 100 USD! Thank goodness I had no car issues and was able to bring the car back to Enterprise in one piece and without a scratch.

I was at the airport pretty early for my flight back home so I figured that I would have an English breakfast before catching my flight. After perusing the area for my options, I ended up at The Harlequin. I ordered their Harlequin Full English Breakfast and it was good! It included some delicious bacon! I received good service even though I was sitting at a table tucked in the corner. The only thing that I could complain about was that they gave me water in a dirty glass. Besides that, it was an excellent breakfast experience which is hard to come by at an airport.

The Harlequin Full English

On my flight back home, I continued to catch up on movies that I've yet to see: Ride Along, We're the Millers, and Elysium. Kevin Hart is one funny actor. We're the Millers was a pretty dang funny movie. That one kept me awake. Elysium was a bit predictable, but not too bad for a sci-fi movie.