Rock n Roll St Louis Marathon 2011

Travel, expo, and stuff
I took an early flight out of LAX. Have I mentioned that I don't like flying with American Airlines out of LAX? The AA employees at LAX are horrible. The ones at Ontario are fine. They really need to fire these grumpy employees. Maybe it was just too early for them. :)

When I boarded the plane, I looked outside and it was dark and pretty foggy. As we got up into the air, I sort of missed having free alcohol with Southwest airlines. Coffee with Bailey's Irish Creme is really good early in the morning. But I love Dr. Pepper so everything was good.

Foggy morning at dark o'clock

I got into Lambert airport and took the Metro rail into Downtown St. Louis. I took it all the way to the Convention Center so it was very convenient. Walking to the expo, my right ankle was occasionally achy. It was a sporadic discomfort. But I could walk without a limp. I walked through the expo and decided to sign up for the San Antonio RnR Marathon to replace the New Year's Eve race. That way I would still qualify for the Rock Idol medal this year. I also picked up my Super Six medal or was it Stupid Six? :)

No boozing on AA

Lambert Airport Station

St Louis RnR Marathon Expo

I then walked over to my hotel which was a few blocks away. I must say that it is much nicer to stay at hotel with more stars. It's definitely worth the extra money. The only thing wrong with this place was that one of the buttons on the remote was sticky.

Later that evening, I met up with my Marathon Maniacs friends to head over to Lombardo's Trattoria for the pre-race meal. Since we were the first ones to get there, we had a little time to kill before everyone showed up. I had a Guinness while we waited. The dinner was very well organized. We had their flash fried spinach and toasted ravioli as appetizers. The spinach reminded me of eating dried seaweed. I wasn't impressed with the ravioli, but at least it was meaty. We also had a salad. For my entree, I had the Capellini Anthony. I must say that I'm not a big fan of Italian food. But it was fun meeting some more Maniacs.

Guinness

Flash fried spinach

Toasted ravioli

Inside of the toasted ravioli

Capellini Anthony

Marathon Maniacs

Race Day
I walked over to the starting area. I knew it was going to be a long day when the ankle was still achy. I stopped to stretch it out. It was kind of hard locating the pre-race water station. After I found it, I mixed my drink and headed over to the spot for the Marathon Maniacs photo. There was a lot of barricades as they were setting up the finishing chute. I missed the photo. They were finishing just as I got there. I checked my gear bag and stood in a portapotty line.

Goal: finish, preferably sub 7.

I was assigned to corral 3, but I knew my right ankle was jacked up, so I started at the back of corral 14. Power-walking or race-walking is not easy. The right ankle was not feeling it. I had more discomfort than I did at Portland. I wanted to keep most of the miles around 15 minutes per mile. It is quite a mental task to convince yourself that you're going to be walking all of the 26.2 miles.

Another guy starting jogging/walking with me a little after the halfway mark. We sort of helped each other get through the race. My ankle was toast. I think I would've been able to cover the distance quicker if I were by myself. But having someone to talk to made the mental part of it easier. I was definitely losing focus. The sag vehicles started to circle us like vultures when we were nearer to the finish. I was very tempted to climb into one of the vehicles.

I trotted down the finishing chute after crossing the mile 26 marker. The Penguin liked the fact that I took the entire allotted time to finish.
1: 12:18
2: 12:59
3: 13:48
4-5: 28:22 (14:11)
6: 13:51
7: 14:39
8: 15:36
9: 15:39
10: 15:42
11: 15:35
12: 16:47
13: 16:34
14: 17:30
15: 15:49
16: 16:43
17: 16:44
18: 17:03
19: 17:20
20: 17:52
21: 17:52
22: 18:22
23: 19:03
24: 18:30
25: 18:59
26: 18:30
26.2: 3:04
Finish: 7:05:10

Overall: 3351 out of 3354
Division: 339 out of 339
Gender: 1877 out of 1877

Post-race
That was a rough "race". I executed the plan, was off by 5 minutes or so, but man it was mentally tough. I don't think I aggravated or hurt the tendons any further since I could walk pretty much the same the next day. I just felt sore in different places than if I had ran. It was not easy coming in DFL in almost all of the categories. Only 3 women finished behind me.

I had to rush out of the ghost town of a finisher's chute to go get my gear bag. Hardly anybody was left except for those breaking down the event. My bag was one of few left on one table. The guy breaking down the gear bag area was watching the bags. It was very stressful being one of the last finishers.

Medals

As I was walking back to my hotel, I looked through the window at Hooters and I saw a guy wearing a Maniac jersey. It turned out to be my friend, Marathon Mitch. I hung out with him for a little bit. The waitress kept asking if I wanted to order food. I told her that I would be back for dinner and the baseball game.

I showered and relaxed in my room. Later I went back to Hooters for my recovery meal. I had 3 big daddy beers (25oz each), tater tots, and some wings. Their food wasn't bad at all. My waitress was the same one that served my friend. She kept stopping by my booth to watch the game with me. She blamed me for the Cardinals losing since I had stopped ordering more beer. But after 75oz, I was good... what ankle soreness? :) As for the wings, I prefer to eat them naked.

Goose Island Honker's Ale

Hooters - Lots of tots

Hooters - Breaded spicy garlic wings

Hooters - Naked spicy garlic wings

Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat Ale

Goose Island Summertime

I tried to sleep in, but still woke up before sunrise. I watched the morning news and ESPN. Finally it was close to noon and time to check out. I grabbed my stuff and hiked up over to the Rooster for some lunch. I first stopped by a convenience store to buy some drinks since I was so thirsty. At Rooster, I ordered a crepe. The sausage was good, but I have to say that I don't like crepes. But it's always good to try new things.

Rooster - German sausage with spiced apple crepe

Since my flight was later in the evening, I hiked back to Kiener Plaza. I took a few pictures of the Old Courthouse and the Arch. The first few I took had the OccupySTL people in it, but it sort of ruined the picture. So I took more without them in it. After sitting on a bench in the plaza for a bit, I got up and hiked out to Busch Stadium.

Kiener Plaza, Old Courthouse, and the Arch

I took a few pictures and visited their souvenir store. I had thought about buying something, but wearing red would be a little weird for a Dodger fan. There was a Metro station right across the street from the stadium. So I took it to the airport for my flight home. I wish Los Angeles would hurry up and expand their rail system. I hate having to drive everywhere.

Busch Stadium

Busch Stadium

Jack Buck

Ozzie Smith