Operation Jack 2011

Pre-Race
This event is, was, and always will be special to me. Sometimes you do things in life not knowing where it'll take you. I got into marathon running kind of by accident. It was supposed to be one of those one-and-done-cross-off-the-bucket-list things. After completing a few, one of my friends told me that I should run for some personal cause. I've ran for Team in Training (fight against leukemia and lymphoma), Team Duke (fight against cancer), and Team WorldVision (bringing clean water to people in Africa). They were all worthy causes, but they weren't causes close to my heart. I then met Sam Felsenfeld through the Runner's World forums. Long story short, he wanted to do something about the fight against autism since his son, Jack, is autistic. My younger brother is also autistic and I spent most of my life being his caretaker. I was happy to hear after last year's event that they were going to make it an annual event. So even though I'm slowly returning from an injury, I knew I had to be out there. If it were any other race, I would've skipped it especially with all of the races I have in January right around the corner.

I have been aggressively rehabbing the right ankle to try and be ready for the Goofy's Challenge at Disney World. I have hit rock bottom and am definitely on my way back. But unfortunately none of my rehab consists of running... only weights and bicycling. Nothing can replace actual running.

The Operation Jack marathon had a cut off time of 6 hours. Currently my legs can give me about 5.5 to 6 hours for the marathon, so I figured I'd give it a go. At the very least I would jog the half marathon.

I left for Manhattan Beach at about 5am. I got to the Verandas parking lot at about 6am. I got my stuff ready and walked over to the starting area. Just like last year, there was only race day packet pick up. Everything was very organized. Even though the number of participants increased by about 3 fold, it was still a relatively small race. I bumped into and chatted a little with my friend Jo Jo Starbucks. But he had to get ready to take the early start for the marathon. They had an early start for those needing more than 6 hrs to finish the marathon. They started 45 mins earlier than the normal 7:30am start. I probably should've joined him. Of the two of us, he's currently the faster marathoner.

Starting line area

Packet pick-up

Awesome volunteers!

The nicest and most kind-hearted person that I've ever met!

A lot of my running friends were at this race. After chatting with them and taking a few pictures I had to get ready to run the race. I used the nearby beach restroom and checked in my gear bag. I didn't bring the camera with me for the race. I lined up somewhere in the middle of the pack. I had no clue how much the leg had progressed.

Deo MM#22

Most of the Marathon Maniacs and Half Fanatics... there were more!

After a few pre-race announcements, the race was ready to start. They used a cheerleading megaphone, but I couldn't hear a single word except for the guy with a very loud voice. For this race, I wanted to do a little stress test of the right ankle for the first few miles and then adjust from there. I had a few benchmarks that I set in order for me to continue on the second loop for the full marathon. I would have to reach the halfway point at 2:15 - 2:20 for me to continue on. Plan B would be to finish the first loop at around 2:30 and drop out.

The Race
The first mile was okay, but the right leg felt awkward. Shacky caught up to me and ran with me saying that he wanted to run between 9:30 - 10 min miles. That sounded good to me, but it looked like he took me on a little progression run. After passing the mile 3 marker, I reached my scheduled walk break and I let him go. As I was approaching the Ballona Creek bridge, there was a peloton crossing it. I guess it was good timing for me, as we all know some cyclists act as though they are riding in the Tour de France. By mile 6 on the Ballona Creek bike path, I had seen most of my friends heading back and I was starting to really fatigue. Mile 7 included my second walk break. My right leg started to fall apart. I started to feel discomfort in my right knee and hip. I've done some conditioning but the body was just not used to the pounding. Starting at about mile 10, two blisters developed on my right arch. It felt like I was stepping in glass. That's one of the main reasons why I hate running near the beach. Sand inevitably gets into my shoe and causes blisters. I walked here and there to ease the discomfort in my right leg. Around mile 12, I had decided that I would drop out, so I attempted to pick up the pace and get it over with sooner rather than later. The finish line was very narrow and somewhat confusing. The good volunteers kept attempting to turn me around for another loop. But I had to keep telling them that I was dropping out. :)
1: 9:39
2: 9:31
3: 9:20
4: 10:46
5: 9:34
6: 10:16
7: 12:58
8: 10:43
9: 11:51
10: 13:18
11: 13:46
12: 13:35
13.1: 12:11
Finish: 2:27:18
Gun time: 2:27:40

Post-Race
I got the nice dog tag medal for completing the half marathon. I skipped all of the post-race food table. I usually have no appetite after a race. Instead I drank the rest of the Powerade in my handheld and got my gear bag. I got my nice cotton race shirt. I prefer cotton. I wish more races would give out cotton race shirts. I have way too many polyester blend tech shirts. I don't like wearing tech shirts other than for running and I actually do stuff besides running. I then stuck around chatting with my friends that finished the half marathon. I cheered on and took pictures of finishers. I stuck around until it was time for lunch.

Shirt, medal, and bib

Dianasaur and Steph

Maniac 4546

Sam Felsenfeld

The always colorful Ed

Jenny finishing her first marathon!

Deo finishing 52 marathons in 365 days!

Ed cheering in the runners

Noel

David

I was kind of upset with my horrible run. Two years in a row I've signed up for the full marathon, but both years, I've had to drop out at the halfway point. I would very much like to run a better race, but I had to quickly remind myself that my race performance was irrelevant. I've done what I came to do... support a great cause and not injure myself any further.

For lunch I had originally planned to eat a nice burger at Four Daughters Kitchen. When I got to my car, I planned on getting an In-n-Out buger. But as I got on the freeway, I ended up driving over to Torrance to eat at the Mitsuwa food court. I ate a chicken katsu plate at Katsuhana. My comfort food. :) Oh how I wish I lived closer to Torrance.

Later that evening, I caught a channel 7 news piece on the race. How awesome is that?! I love this race and I hope you will join me next year as a runner or a volunteer!

Katsuhana - chicken katsu

Here's the new piece on ABC7. I hope you will join me next year!

Honolulu Marathon 2011

Thursday 12/8
I was feeling a little under the weather leading up to my trip to Honolulu. Must have caught something in the crowds during the Las Vegas half marathon. It seemed like everyone around me was either coughing or sneezing. But there's nothing like fresh air and sunshine to make me feel a bit better. I flew out on a Thursday morning flight out of LAX. This was my 2nd time flying with Hawaiian Air. It was about a 5 hr flight with a breakfast burrito as part of the meal service. They are much better than American Airlines.

 

Welcome to Honolulu!

After landing, I found the bus stop where I waited among a bunch of smokers. It seemed like I was the only one not smoking. I got off the bus near the Ala Moana Center. I walked over to Taiyo Ramen to eat a late lunch as it was about 2pm local time. This ramen shop was a Korean owned restaurant. The TV was showing a Korean drama and the menu was full of Korean items. I ordered the tonkotsu ramen. It was decent but very plain, nothing special. I would love to come back to try some of their Korean food.

tonkotsu ramen

After eating my ramen, I walked over to the Hawaii Convention Center to attend the Honolulu Marathon expo. I picked up my bib and race packet, signed the graffiti wall, and visited all of the booths. I was a bit disappointed when I was told that there wouldn't be any official Adidas race merchandise for sale due to miscommunication. You could still place an order but everything was in Japanese. It looked like they scrambled and produced some generic merchandise that looked like they were recycled from last year.

I took a picture with Joggl at the Munich Marathon booth and headed out towards Waikiki to check into my hotel.

Joggl tells me to run the Munich Marathon

I was a little weary when I went to check in to my hotel, Kuhio Banyan Club. There was a lot of bad reviews for this place but it was very very cheap. The check in process was long because they did everything old school on paper. They also gave out old school keys. I was also given a safe key and a remote for the TV. There were hefty penalties for losing any of them. The front desk was only open from 7am through 10pm each day. If you're locked out during off hours, you would have to pay $45 for someone to come and let you in.

The suite was very spacious. It came with a kitchen, microwave oven, and refrigerator. The bed was a Murphy bed which can be hidden into the wall during the day. I dropped my stuff off and went back out to an ABC store to buy some pretzels and Kona Fire Rock pale ale to start the carbo-loading process. :)

Murphy bed

Good to be back to where the palm trees sway

Let the carbo-loading begin!

I went back out for dinner at Zippy's. I got a large bowl of chili with rice, a scoop of macaroni salad, and a large Orange Bang. Good stuff, I wish there was a Zippy's on the mainland.

Zippy's!

Friday 12/9
I went back out to the expo. I got there around 10:30am and was just in time to see Toni Reavis moderate a panel of pro athletes. Brandon Laan debuted in the marathon event at the Honolulu Marathon in 2009 finishing fifth in a time of 2:25. Patti Dillon, 4-Time U.S. marathon record holder and 4-time Honolulu Marathon champion ('78-'81). Greg Meyer, the last American male to win the Boston Marathon ('83). They gave out last minute tips. Basically don't try anything new and don't go too crazy carbo-loading or you'll be fertilizing somebody's lawn on race day. :)

Toni Reavis

Brandon Laan, Patti Dillon, Greg Meyer

There was a special guest at the Phiten booth, but I don't know recognize her. Everything was spoken in Japanese and my nihongo is really limited. I believe she was an actress that ran a pretty fast time for her first marathon, either a 3:15 or 3:25.

After leaving the expo, I walked over to the nearby Ezogiku Noodle Cafe to eat more ramen. I was told by one of my maniac friends to eat the ramen set. I ordered the mini ramen set which was a shoyu ramen that came with gyoza and fried rice. The ramen was pretty plain, nothing spectacular. At least the gyoza and fried rice was good. If I had known how plain the ramen would be here, I would've gone to Gomaichi Ramen instead.

mini ramen set

I then walked back to my hotel and relaxed. My legs were already starting to feel like I've done too much walking. The first day was tougher since I had my carry-on baggage with me. For dinner, my maniac friend picked me up to go eat at Side Street Inn. The food here was good. It was also recommended by my Hawaiian friend who said to try the kim chee fried rice, pork chop, and spicy garlic chicken.

gizzards

pork chop

kim chee fried rice

Saturday 12/10
I went back to the expo to meet up with my Hawaiian friend. I stopped by the Phiten booth to buy a new limited edition Hawaiian Phiten necklace. My friend took me to Nico's Pier 38 for lunch. I ordered the furikake seared ahi. It was very delicious.

For my last meal before the race and turning in for the night, I went down stairs to eat at the restaurant in front of my hotel. I ate at Marukame Udon. The line was super long. Everyone in line was Japanese so it must be good. While waiting in line, the rain started coming down pretty hard. Fortunately I was able to hide underneath the awning. Even with the rain the line grew longer. I'm not a big fan of udon, but it was definitely good and allowed for a lot of customization.

large hot ontama

Sunday 12/11
I didn't actually sleep much. I napped on the couch. The nightclub next door had music playing all through the night. If you're a light-sleeper this place is not a good place to stay. I got ready at around 3:00am and headed for the bus at the Honolulu Zoo. Along the way, I was yelled at by some drunk ignorant racist white guys. Apparently they don't like Japanese people spending money in Hawaii. If they only knew just how American I am. Oh well, such is life.

I caught one of the many school buses. After being dropped off at the Ala Moana Park, I headed to the public restroom just west of the starting line. I was told that lots of local runners congregated here. It was also a nice place to hang out to stay out of the rain.

race gear

Goal A: finish around 5:30
Goal B: finish around 6:00

The race
I lined up somewhat close to the front and there was a lot of walkers there as well. They were even blocking slow joggers such as me. Once we got around them, it was a little bit easier to run or jog unimpeded. From the get go, I felt really sluggish as if I was wearing ankle weights. I felt under the weather and lacking energy. The humidity didn't help. I tried to maintain an even effort and just plug away. There was still discomfort in the right leg. It was much easier to go uphill so the climb up Diamond Head wasn't bad at all. There was a few big downhill sections after cresting Diamond Head around mile 8-9. My bad leg did not like the downhill. It was here that I swore that I've ran my last Honolulu Marathon! There was a lot of headwind heading out to Hawaii Kai. Heading back to Waikiki, the weather started to get warm but overall this was the cooler Honolulu Marathon I've ran. Around mile 23-24 as we're heading up on the Diamond Head again, I just decided to start run more instead of babying the right leg. It's always easier to run uphill with my bum leg. At the mile 26 marker, I pulled off to the side and put on my Panda Bear beanie for the last .2 stretch. It was also starting to rain so the beanie came in handy.
1-4: 45:18 (11:19)
5: 11:37
6: 11:09
7: 11:23
8: 11:28
9: 11:52
10:12:06
11: 13:20
12: 12:39
13: 14:57
14: 14:30
15: 14:10
16: 14:13
17: 15:31
18: 15:24
19: 16:22
20: 16:14
21: 17:18
22: 18:29
23: 18:44
24: 17:30
25: 14:48
26: 13:08
26.2: 1:55
Finished: 6:04:05

I got my shell lei and headed towards the t-shirt and medal area. They were handing out malasadas this year at the finish area, but I didn't see them which was okay since I don't like them. They should hand out beef jerky. This year, the finisher's shirt was made by Adidas which was much nicer than last year's made by a local company. But I still miss the ones made by Nike. I then went back to the little pond to take a finisher's photo with the hula girl. It was perfect timing as the rain had stopped. I know during parts of the race, I swore to myself that I won't come back to run this marathon again, but man, I can't wait to come back again next year! :)

Finisher's shirt

I hoofed it back to my hotel and got a text from my friend. I took a shower and joined him and his friends at Home Bar and Grill for a post-race drink. It felt like a very long walk from my hotel to the bar. I was starting to look for an aid-station along the way. :) I had a Blue Moon and a Kona Longboard. But then I wanted to eat something and one of his friends recommended that I get the negi toro. Good recommendation! It was delicious. My friend gave me a ride back to my hotel. I'm sure I would've sat down at a bus bench if I had walked back.

negi toro

I rested until dinner time. My maniac friend picked me up to join up with other maniacs for dinner at Uncle Bo's pupu bar and grill. They had cute waitresses here. I ordered the dynamite shrimp and kalua pig fried rice. Although they were not inexpensive, both items were very good. It was good meeting some maniacs from Japan and Australia.

dynamite shrimp

kalua pig fried rice

Monday 12/12
Next morning I packed up, checked out, and headed to the Kapiolani Park to pick up my finisher's certificate and newspaper. I thought about waiting around to meet the winners but I had no idea when they were going to show up so I left to walk around a bit.

I hiked over to the Ala Moana Center and over to the Phiten store to help loosen up the legs. The legs felt better from the walk, but my shoulder was getting sore from carrying my bag. I then hiked back to Waikiki to eat at Ramen Nakamura. I ordered the oxtail ramen with mini fried rice. It was pretty expensive for ramen, but it was good. It was more of a Chinese style ramen.

oxtail ramen with mini fried rice

I then waited at the bus stop to catch a bus headed for the Honolulu airport. I like this airport. It is very spacious and open. Hopefully, I'll be back next year if I can afford it! I'll start putting money away. :)

Aloha, see you next year! maybe :)