Rock n Roll Seattle Marathon 2016

Friday 6/17
I took an early morning Southwest flight out of John Wayne airport. I always prefer flying out of here over LAX. It's a lot cleaner and the whole boarding process isn't as hectic. I landed at SeaTac airport a little before 10 am. I made my way over to the Link station to catch the light rail into downtown Seattle. I purchased a day pass for $6 since I was staying up in Lower Queen Anne and was going to meet up with my friends for dinner down in the International District later in the day. I got off at the Stadium station and walked over to the CenturyLink Field Event Center for the Rock n' Roll Expo. I got there at about 10:30 am and there was a line of people waiting to get in. For some reason I had thought that it would be open at 10 am, instead they opened at 11 am.

Once inside, it was the usual routine: pick up bib, pick up shirt, sign up for next year's race. They gave me a cotton t-shirt for registering for next year's race. They also gave me a shirt for Las Vegas because I mentioned that I was planning on volunteering for the race.

After being done with the expo, I made the walk over to the Ivar's at pier 54 for some lunch. There was still a lot of construction taking place, but this year it was open for business. I got an order of fish n' chips and a bowl of white chowder. It's not the best seafood in Seattle, but I do look forward to eating it every year.

Fish n' chips and a bowl of white chowder!

After eating lunch, I made the long walk up to Lower Queen Anne to check into my hotel. Most years that I've been coming to Seattle for this race, I have been staying at the Inn at Queen Anne. It is practically located across the street from the start line. The finish line used to also be at the Seattle Center, but this year it was moved down to the CenturyLink Field. I'm guessing that the new course wasn't finalized until very close to race day as the final instructions were not available until a few weeks at most before the race.

Inn at Queen Anne

Per my usual routine, I went through my expo haul and threw out the advertisements and stuff that I didn't need. I then laid out my flat runner to make sure that I had packed everything that I needed for the race.

Expo haul

Extra registration shirts

Flat runner

I then watched some TV and took a nice nap. I woke up to go meet up with my friends for dinner. I walked over to the Westlake Village Link station to catch the light rail down to the International District. Once there, I walked over to the Uwajimaya super market to buy my Powerade and water. We had dinner reservations at Tsukushinbo at 5:30 pm and I was a bit early, so I found a seat in the food court area and waited. Once dinner time approached, I walked on over to the restaurant. It was sprinkling a bit, so I stood under the awning to wait. This year they were a bit tardy in opening the restaurant. When it came time to order I decided to order the 3 item dinner combination instead of the usual sashimi combination or chirashi. It was more food for less money. My 3 choices were saba (mackerel), tempura, and salmon shioyaki. I also ordered their salmon yukke to check it out. It was pretty much a salmon tartare with pine nuts. They were able to split the checks this year which was way more convenient. Since my last visit to Seattle, they had extended the Link light rail line all the way up to the University of Washington. So when we were done, I walked with a couple of my friends to the Link station to take the light rail back to my hotel.

3 item dinner combination

Salmon yukke

Annual carbo-load dinner. Pic from Michael.

Saturday 6/18
I didn't have to wake up super early as I was staying very close to the start line. That put my mind at ease after last weekend's near debacle at the Hatfield & McCoy Marathon where I was really late in getting to the start of the race. I made sure to get up at the first alarm instead of snoozing and waiting for the secondary alarms.

After checking my gear bag and using the nearby restroom, I headed over to the starting line area. Per the usual Seattle weather, there was a threat of rain for the race, but ultimately it never did rain. As the start of the race approached, I went inside my corral and spotted a couple of my Marathon Maniac friends nearby. Between the four of us, we've complete quite a few number of marathons!

Start line

Lots of marathons have been run between these folks! Pic from Karen.

Things started off feeling pretty good, but I knew that it wasn't going to last very long. This year, instead of running straight into downtown, we hopped onto the Alaskan Way Viaduct where we ran a short out and back before heading into downtown. Man, that was a steep short climb up Seneca St! There were some downhills and rollers heading down to Rainier Ave. The right hip was really bothered by the downhills. At around the 10k mark, I thought I had spotted one of my friends. I kept calling her name and thought she couldn't hear me because of her music, except it would turn out not to be her. She finally told me that she wasn't who I thought she was... oops! I apologized and backed off. Creeper alert! Thank goodness it happened to be time for my scheduled walk break. Also my left foot was getting quite sore and bothering me. From Rainier Ave, we made our way onto Genessee Ave, up 43rd St, then to Lake Washington Blvd where we finally split off from the half marathoners. We headed over to Seward Park, where we ran the Shore Loop. This was my favorite part of the course. We reached the halfway point just as we were finishing the loop and leaving Seward Park.

The second half involved a lot of walking for me. We head up Lake Washington Blvd, where we rejoin the half marathoners. As we got closer to the I-90, they had the Wear Blue: Run to Remember tribute to those that have fallen in combat. It's always hard to keep a dry eye through this section of the course. After a short out and back, we made our way up to the I-90. This was my least favorite part of the course. There was no shade when we were outside of the tunnels and when we were inside, the roads were heavily cambered and the air was stale. It was quite a relief when were finally done with the tunnels and were heading to the finish line with the CenturyLink Field and Safeco Field in sight. After one last circular incline up the Royal Brougham Way, it was a right turn on Occidental Ave for the finish line.

Click here for my Garmin data.

After getting my medal, grabbing a few drinks and a PowerBar, I made my way over to the UPS trucks to pick up my gear bag. After throwing my stuff into the bag, I got in line to pick up my finisher jacket. Then I made my way into the beer garden after they checked my ID for my Michelob Ultra. Since it took me longer to finish this year, there wasn't a whole lot of people in the beer garden.

Finish at CenturyLink

After I was done with my free beer, I made my way over to the bus stop at Jackson St and 5th Ave to catch the #1 bus up to Queen Anne. I only had to wait a few minutes before the bus showed up. It was $2.50 for the bus ride and it dropped me off right across the street from my hotel at 1st Ave and Republican St. Super easy and super convenient!

After getting cleaned up, I took a nice nap before doing a little research on where to eat for dinner. I didn't want to go very far, so I walked across the street to eat an early dinner at the Triumph Bar. I started things off with the pFriem IPA on draft, which was my kind of IPA since it wasn't overly bitter. It was early still, so I got to order off of the happy hour menu. I ordered their pork belly mac and beef tongue tacos. The flavors for both items were good, however the pork belly was way too dry for my taste. I got a Double Mountain Kölsch for my second beer. I must say that I'm starting to like the kölsch style of beer. The waiter suggested the breading pudding for dessert. I don't have much of a sweet tooth, but I said, "what the heck, why not? I just ran a marathon this morning!" That was a really good bread pudding.

pFriem IPA

Pork belly mac

Beef tongue tacos

Double Mountain Kölsch

Bread pudding

Sunday 6/19
I slept in a bit before waking up to pack up my stuff and to get ready to check out. After I checked out, I made the trek down to Pike Place Market to eat lunch at Cutters Crabhouse. In contrast to yesterday, the weather was really nice and sunny without a rain cloud in sight. It was Father's Day, so most people there had made reservations. I was by myself, so I was able to just find a seat in the bar area. I started things off with an Elysian Superfuzz Blood Orange pale ale, one of favorites. After looking over the menu, I decided on getting the Cutters Signature Louie salad and their clam chowder. They brought out the chowder pretty quickly. My waitress also brought out some bread to go with the soup. Shortly thereafter, she brought out the salad. Man, that was a really good salad! It was one of the best Louie salads that I've ever eaten. I finished my meal off with a Pike High Five hopped honey ale. It was a sweet and flavorful beer. You can definitely taste the honey.

Alaskan Way Viaduct

Elysian Superfuzz Blood Orange pale ale

Clam chowder

Cutters Signature Louie

Pike High Five hopped honey ale

After lunch, I walked by the Pike Place Market to take my annual picture inspired by the movie, Sleepless in Seattle.

I then made the trek over to the AMC Pacific Place over on Pine St and 6th Ave to catch a movie before heading to the airport. I decided on watching Central Intelligence. It was incredibly predictable from start to finish... even the feeble attempt at a plot twist could be seen from about a mile away. But the combination of The Rock and Kevin Hart was absolutely hilarious! It was funny as heck! I am sure that they will do many more movies together in the future.

After the movie, I walked over to the Westlake Village Link station and took the light rail to the SeaTac airport to catch my evening flight home. I made my way to the Ivar's for one last serving of fish n' chips.

Fish n' chips at SeaTac

The flight was delayed due to a mechanical issue. It's never good to see one of the engine doors open. I don't think anybody really mind since everybody wanted to see the end of game 7 of the NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers. We started the boarding process as soon as the game ended with the Cavaliers making history by being the first team to come back from being down 1-3 in the finals to win the title. Some of us waiting for the flight joked that the pilots really wanted to see the end of the game and it never really had anything to do with the engine. Thank goodness we left just in time to make the curfew for landing at John Wayne airport!

Hatfield & McCoy Marathon 2016

Thursday 6/9
I had scheduled a red eye flight with American Airlines out of LAX to Charleston, WV with a layover in Charlotte, NC. It always sounds like a good idea until it's time to take the flight. I can never sleep on the flight, but this time I'll have my neck pillow that I got from a Dodger game to help me sleep. I'm not sure why there was so much congestion getting into LAX at the Sepulveda exit off of the 105. I should've followed Waze and have taken the 405 instead to get to Parking Lot C. Once I finally got past the long line of cars, it was smooth sailing.

Friday 6/10
The small regional plane that I took into Charleston was one of those turbo-prop planes. It was my first time flying in one of those and it was pretty cool to see the propellers. It was small enough that I needed to valet check my duffel bag. I'm sure it would've fit in the overhead compartment, but the employee working the gate was adamant that I check my bag. So I obliged. We landed at the Yeager Airport in Charleston at about 12:30 pm. We exited onto the tarmac, I grabbed my bag, and headed to the Budget rental car counter to pick up my car. They gave me a gray Hyundai Elantra.

It was about a 2 hr drive out to the expo at Belfry High School. My cellphone coverage was spotty at best. You get what you've paid for when you go with T-Mobile. It's cheap and service is only good if you're in large or major cities. It was a good thing that I downloaded the maps in Google before flying out here. It was super hot as I parked and got out of the car. The packet pick up and expo was located on the floor just above the basketball court. The whole process took only a few minutes. I was assigned a bib number, given a ticket for the pasta dinner, and my race shirt.

Expo at Belfry High School

I was pretty hungry and didn't want to wait for the pasta at 4 pm, so I hopped back into my car and drove over to the nearby McDonald's. I ordered a Double Quarter Pounder with cheese meal and ate it inside the restaurant. Man, those fries were good! After I was done, I drove to the nearby CVS to buy some water and Powerade. Then I drove into Williamson to check out the place so I would know where to park and the location of the finish line. It was a pretty quiet area for a downtown.

Lunch at McDonald's

I drove back to the high school and checked out the expo for a little bit. I bought a home brewed Cream Soda for $2. It was pretty good, not as sweet as the more well known commercial brands and he said that he used cane sugar. I bumped into a few of my Marathon Maniacs/50 States friends on the way to the dining area. I had a little bit of the spaghetti with meat sauce with a dinner roll. They also gave us drinks. The sauce was a bit too runny for my taste, but you really can't complain with free food.

Homemade Cream Soda

Carboload meal

I was feeling kind of exhausted, so I didn't stick around for the skit at 6 pm. I drove up to Logan to checked into my hotel at the Best Western Logan Inn. I timed the drive so I would know how early I needed to wake up for tomorrow's race. It took about 40 minutes. The first room that I was given was not bad, however the TV was not working. They then switched me to another room on the same floor. The TV was working, but the room had a musky smell. It didn't really bother me so I didn't ask for another room.

Best Western Logan Inn

I went through the expo haul and laid our my running clothes and gear. I certainly was not looking forward to running in the heat. I took a shower and watched a little bit of TV before setting my alarms and going to sleep.

Expo haul

Flat runner

Saturday 6/11
I heard the first alarm, shut it off, and went back to sleep. Apparently I slept through my secondary alarms. I woke up feeling as if it was already much later than when I wanted to wake up. It was already 6:20 am! The race started at 7 am and I was a good 40 minutes away! I quickly changed, grabbed all of my stuff and headed to my car. I drove as fast as could without really speeding because I was in West Virginia and if I were to be pulled over, there would be a good chance that I would be hassled and detained even longer. I rolled into the Food City parking lot, the starting location of the race, and they were already in the process of breaking down the starting area. I went over to ask if I could at least run the second half. The race director told me to hurry and just head South on the 119, that I would still be able to catch up to everybody else. I hurried back to my car to grab what I needed and took off.

There were two other runners that started late. They were running a bit faster than me, but eventually we caught up to the back of the pack runners by the second mile. After that I eased off the pace knowing that I had a long hot day ahead of me. It was a pretty scenic course and there were some steep climbs through the first 7.5 miles. There were many rollers all along the way and I found that I still had to take it easy on the downhills as it still aggravated my right hip whenever I try to run them harder. It got warmer as the day went on. Fortunately we were shaded from the sun. It was pretty cool to see a pen of ponies along the course.

Up, up, up!

Ponies!

I crossed a wooden suspension bridge at the Tug Valley Country Club as I got to about mile 19. It was quite a sensation as it was pretty wobbly. I felt slightly nauseated. Most of the race was shaded, but near the end, there was little to no shade. I kept dumping water on my head at every aid station. As we got back on the 119, a Dairy Queen was right near the corner. I was told that may runners would make a pit stop here. There was an aid station right in front. After dumping some water on my head, I decided to skip the DQ stop and head for the finish line. Some local from a pickup truck shouted something at me, but I couldn't make out what he was saying. I don't think it was anything encouraging. Once I headed into town, it was a sight for sore eyes (and legs) to see the finish line with a Hatfield and a McCoy both at the finish line to greet me.

Wooden suspension bridge

Click here for my Garmin data.

It took me 6:05:23 to finish the race, but with the late start, my official gun time was 6:15:33. A pretty slow marathon, but I'll definitely take it!

I'm glad that this race took care of us, yet did not baby us. Most races would've canceled or cut the race short with such warm weather. As soon as I crossed the finish line, there was someone there to give me my medal along with a cold towel and direct me to the tent where there was plenty of refreshments and food. Most of my Marathon Maniacs/50 States friends were there under the tent where we traded race stories. After I cooled off a bit and was feeling better, I got my mason jar and went out to the finish line to see a few of my fellow Maniacs finish their race.

Finish

A couple of Maniacs

My friends didn't want to go searching for the shuttles for a ride back to their cars, so they started walking back to their cars at Walmart which was about a mile away. But I was determined not to have to go back out into that heat since Food City was a little bit further. I asked around and eventually I found the school buses for a ride back to my car at the Food City parking lot. That was just another perk of a small town race, a personal ride back to my car.

I drove back up to my hotel in Logan and got clean up. I rested and watched some TV before thinking about going back out in search of food. There was a Huddle House next door, but I didn't want table service. I just wanted something quick so I can get back to my room and veg out. I was pretty wiped out as I didn't want to drive a little bit further for some McDonald's. Instead I settled for Whoppers at the Burger King just down the road from the hotel. The drive-thru guy even had a 2 for 1 coupon for me to use. I took the food back to my room to eat. The Whoppers didn't taste very good, but the fries definitely hit the spot. Next time I'm going to put on my big boy pants and drive the extra distance and get McDonald's! :)

Finisher medal and mason jar

Burger King

Phineas and Ferb episodes were on and they were showing some of the best ones, including the crossovers with Star Wars. I watched that until I got tired and went to sleep.

Phineas and Ferb

Sunday 6/12
I had a morning flight out of Charleston, so I got ready, packed up my stuff, and headed up to the airport. I found a small gas station to gas up the rental just before heading up the hill to Yeager Airport. This time the plane wasn't so small. I was actually able to take both of my carry-on bags onto the plane. Unfortunately I had about a 6 hr layover at Charlotte. I started off by getting some breakfast. It probably wasn't a very smart choice, but I stopped at Stock Car Cafe. I found a seat at the bar and ordered their Over the Wall breakfast and coffee. It was just a classic breakfast with eggs over easy, bacon, and some breakfast potatoes. Honestly I could've made the same food better at home.

Coffee

Over the Wall breakfast

After I paid my bill, I just waited around my gate for my flight home. I certainly had plenty of time to catch up on everything. If I still had my gold status, I probably could've gotten on an earlier flight without having to pay an extra fee.

Along the way home, I stopped by my favorite ramen shop to eat a bowl of ramen for dinner. State number 45, done. It was a great race experience and to think that it almost didn't happen because I was tired and slept through my alarms! It would've been a shame to fly all the way over there and not to have run the race. It would've been a regular vacation. :)

Rock n Roll San Diego Marathon 2016

Saturday 6/4
I had a late start getting down to San Diego. Per the usual, I encountered a bunch of traffic while driving down the 5 freeway. There's usually less traffic taking the 15, but the route isn't as scenic. I got into San Diego around 10 am. I drove to the small parking lot on 10th Ave, located just south of Market St. This time around the kiosk to pay for parking was actually reading my credit card. It was a flat $7 to park for up to 9 hrs.

Gaslamp Quarter

From there it was a short walk over to the Convention Center where I crossed the tracks at 5th Ave. The expo was pretty much the same Rock n' Roll expo that I've come to known since running my first back in 2003. However the decor has changed slightly. They have been streamlining things and making things look more generic, so that everything can be reused at another Rock n' Roll race. It's a financially smart decision to use less race specific decorations. I didn't spend too much time there since I had already signed up for next year's race on National Running Day. What I found a bit odd was that they were passing out small samples of Michelob Ultra. I don't think they have done that in a while.

Legacy runners

Beer at the expo

I thought about eating somewhere in the Gaslamp Quarter, but ultimately decided on driving over to Phil's BBQ to eat some delicious ribs for lunch. Parking wasn't bad yet since I was there before noon. Since I was dining alone, I headed straight for the bar section and found a seat at the bar. I started things off with a Ballast Point pale ale and ordered a full rack of baby back ribs with a corn on the cob as my side. They have some of the best ribs on the west coast. I could've easily eaten another two racks.

Ballast Point pale ale

Full rack baby back ribs and corn on the cob

After lunch I drove over to the nearby Modern Times Beer to buy some coffee to take home for my coworkers. Since I was there, I found a seat at the bar and had two of their beers, Nitro Black House coffee stout and Fruitlands passion fruit guava gose. I would've very much liked to try some of their other beers, but I still had to drive up to my hotel in San Marcos. I will have to return here the next time that I'm in the San Diego area.

Nitro Black House coffee stout

Fruitlands passion fruit guava gose

Ethiopia Chelelektu coffee

I rolled into San Marcos at about 2:30 pm. When I first booked my room, it was still called the Ramada Limited. According to the lady at the front desk, it had changed to a Days Inn a couple of months ago. It had some pretty bad reviews, but it wasn't too bad for just a one night stay. It was definitely one of the most affordable hotels/motels in the area. I liked that at the counter, they had a sign warning people not to come here for a party. If you do, you will be kicked out and the room fee will not be refunded. Once I got to my room, I started sifting through my expo haul and threw away what I didn't need. I then watched some TV and took a nap.

Expo haul

Originally I had planned to only visit the Belching Beaver Brewery Tavern & Grill to have dinner and to check out some of their beers. However the Waze app on my phone took me to the tasting room at the Belching Beaver Brewery where they had some catered food, but it wasn't what I was craving. I'm glad that I had stopped at this tasting room as it was a much more relaxed atmosphere. I had a flight of 4 of their beers: Rabid Beaver, Hop Highway, Beaver Buzz, and Here Comes Mango. Of course I loved the Beaver Buzz because it was a stout, but the Here Comes Mango was a surprise. It was better than I had expected for a fruit beer. I bought one of their Hawaiian looking t-shirts before leaving for their tavern.

Belching Beaver shirt back

Belching Beaver shirt front

Parking was much harder to come by at this location. It was pretty nice and new inside. They had a good ambiance and decor going here for a restaurant. Since I was by myself, I went to the bar area to look for a spot. Since I love their peanut butter milk stout, I started things off by checking out their Viva la Beaver chocolate peanut butter milk stout. The Mexican chocolate they used was called Abuelita. I guess you can improve on something that's already good! The chocolate made it even better!

For my meal I ordered their caramel pork chop. It came with caulimash and vegetable. I don't have much of a sweet tooth, so I didn't eat much of that caramel glob. The pork chop was indeed very tasty and moist. Definitely something you should order if you're a big meat eater and looking for something besides red meat.

Viva la Beaver chocolate peanut butter milk stout

Caramel pork chop

On the way back to my room, I stopped by an Albertsons to pick up some water. I laid out my running gear before going to sleep.

Flat runner

Sunday 6/5
The race as with all of the other years that I've run this race started on 6th Ave on the west side of Balboa Park. However this year, the finish line was at a new location near the Waterfront Park. It seemed like for this year, the race organizers were pretty late in publishing our options as to where to park and how to get to the starting line. I thought my best option was to find metered parking (free on Sundays) somewhere in downtown and walk up to the start. I found a spot at the corner of A St and 6th Ave. The meters did have a new sign on them that said that there was a 2 hr time limit. I don't think that I've seen that before. I decided to take a gamble, grabbed my stuff and started heading up to the starting area. It wasn't too long of a walk. I ended up walking up there with two runners running for Team in Training.

Start line

After I went to the portapotties and checked in my gear bag at the UPS trucks, I headed to the start line to say hi to my friend who has been the regular race announcer at a majority of the Rock n' Roll races. It's always good to see her at these races. Then I went to go meet up with one of good running friends. We've seen each other at a lot of races all over the country these past couple of years!

My race announcer friend

My good friend Heather

Corral 5

I started out of corral 5. I went out pretty conservatively and there were plenty of people running around my pace. This year, the course was changed quite a bit. We headed out to North Park and up to Normal Heights. There was a lot of rollers. They had the wear blue: run to remember tribute to fallen soldiers at mile 5. I think that was the last good mile that I ran. After that mile, I had trouble dealing with my sore left foot and sore right hip which turned out to be an issue with my IT band. During one of my many walk breaks, I saw people passing out shots of tequila. I took one. Then about 50 yards ahead, there was a guy in a kilt passing out shots of whiskey. I took one as well. Couldn't hurt at that point, in fact it should help me deal with my injuries. As the course was taking us towards Hillcrest, I spotted a fellow runner that looked very familiar. It turned out to be somebody I knew from Honolulu. I usually only see him in December when I'm over in Honolulu for the marathon.

Shot o' whiskey!

I bumped into a couple of my friends on the way over to Sea World and Mission Bay. On top of dealing with a sore left foot and a sore right hip, I was also dealing with leg cramps. However it was fun catching up with some of my friends that I usually only get to see at races. As I was getting closer to the finish line, we ran up 5th Ave. I peeked over on A St to check if my car was still there. It was a relief to see that my car was right where I left it.

Finish line

Click here for my Garmin data.

After getting my finisher's medal, grabbing a few drinks and snacks, I started heading over to the post race area over by the Waterfront Park. I guess my friends were keeping an eye out for me as they spotted me as I was headed to go pick up my gear bag and finisher's jacket.

Medal

Maniacs

The lines were ridiculously long for the finisher jacket even though they had separate lines for men and women. As I was getting close to the end of the line, I saw my friends from Hawaii. Since it was practically the end of the line, I joined them in line. Once in line, it did move rather quickly.

Finisher jacket back

Finisher jacket front

After getting my jacket, I had to hurry back to my car to go meet up with my friends for lunch up in Rancho Bernardo. I was off by about 45 minutes in my predicted finishing time, so I was going to be late. As I was walking back to my car, I was hoping that I didn't get a parking ticket. Fortunately I didn't get one. After I changed out of my wet clothes, I started making my way out of there. Traffic was pretty snarled as they had to route us around the race course. I eventually made it onto the 94 freeway where I connected with the 15 north. From there it was pretty smooth sailing up to the Urge American Gastropub to meet up with my friends. I had a couple of beers along with their Wild Whiskey Pork Chop. The pork chop came with a Wild Turkey whiskey glaze and topped with fried onions. It also came with roasted garlic mashed potatoes and crispy Brussels sprouts. The pork chop was delicious, however I don't like my Brussels sprouts burnt.

Pork chop

Each year the drive home feels longer and longer than the year prior. I was starting to doze off near the end. My gas tank was low and I had to exit to get some gas. Getting out of the car and pumping gas helped me wake up a bit.

This year was my 14th consecutive Rock n' Roll San Diego marathon. I'll be back next year for my 15th in a row, however I'm starting to consider ending my streak since I don't want the pressure of always having to run this race. The race does have special meaning for me since it was where I ran my very first marathon. I just want to be able to take time off from running if I happened to be dealing with an injury. Knowing me, I'll probably change my mind as I continue to slowly recover from my current list of injuries.