During the summer, I normally take Fridays off of work. But not this Friday. I had work to do. I left work as soon as everything was done hoping that I would make it in time for the expo. Traffic wasn't too bad until I got into North County San Diego. According to the radio, there was a huge accident. I tried getting off of the freeway to go down PCH, but that was super crowded as well. I then drove inland and almost stop at Kaito Sushi in Encinitas to eat, but I kept heading south. Eventually I hopped back on the 5 freeway. I was still about 30 minutes away when the expo closed at 7pm. So off I went to eat dinner before checking into my hotel.
I stopped by Tajima to eat a bowl of extra chashu ramen. I then went across the street to Mitsuwa to buy some snacks before heading over to the nearby Four Points Sheraton to check in. There was a very fancy feel about this hotel. They even had a 9 hole golf course. The room rates were really affordable probably because not a whole lot of people need to stay in Kearny Mesa. I spent the rest of the night just snacking and watching TV.
Tajima - extra chashu ramen
Four Points Sheraton
Snack time
Saturday
I drove out on the 163 down to the Convention Center at about 10am, giving myself a little preview of the most dreaded part of the course. I tried to give myself enough time to make it through the expo and to meet the 4 time Ironman World Champion, Chrissie Wellington. I parked at the Horton Plaza parking structure and walked over. With validation, you get 3hrs of free parking.
The expo was incredibly crowded. I ended up spending a good chunk of change at this expo. I signed up for the Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge, for which I received a nice sling bag. I also registered for next year's San Diego Rock n' Roll Marathon for $95. It was a pretty good bargain for signing up so early. I bought 2 pairs of Injinji mid-weight socks and a box of GU chomps.
Another runDisney bag
First time seeing Pepto Bismol at a race expo!
Fueled by McDonald's!
Oh my! Chicrunner! :)
I barely got through the expo in time to get a good seat to listen to Chrissie Wellington. I made my way over to the stage area and sat in the first row. She talked about her humble beginnings and how she got into triathlons. The moderator also had her talk about her last IM World Championship in Kona. She went into it injured from a bike crash and still won. She said that your finishing time isn't always indicative of how deep you had to dig and how much you put out there on race day. That was her smallest margin of victory, but she had left everything out there on the course. She said that there's something satisfying knowing that you have nothing left after crossing the finish line.
After her time on stage was up, she was going to be signing autographs at the Brooks merchandise area. There was a lot of people fighting their way through the expo to get to the autograph line. I got in line and bought her book, A Life Without Limits. She signed my bib, a poster, and the book. She was one of the nicest professional athlete that I've met.
Up on stage
Med-City Marathon finisher meets 4 time Ironman World Champion
I then had to leave the expo to make sure that I vacated the parking structure before the 3hrs was up. I dropped off my expo bags in my car and went across the street to Ralph's to pick up some Odwalla drinks. Before driving off I went into the mall to validate the ticket. I then headed back to Kearny Mesa for some lunch at Sakura. This place is always packed and there's no restaurant sign on the outside. I guess when the food is good, all you need is word of mouth and Yelp. I had the cold tofu and seafood fried rice. Good stuff.
Cold tofu
Seafood fried rice
I then went back to my hotel room and sifted through my expo bags to throw away the junk. This was one of my more enjoyable expos. I might change my mind after I see the credit card statement. :)
A little bit later, I went back outside to pickup dinner. I drove to a nearby McDonald's. I ordered what's starting to become my regular pre-race meal, 20 piece chicken McNuggets and a Big Mac. I laid out my gear before going to sleep.
Expo goodies
Carboloading with McDonald's
Sunday
I drank my Odwalla Strawberry C and got ready. I checked out and arrived at the old San Diego Sports Arena at around 4am. I believe it is now known as the Valley View Casino Center. Parking was easy and very convenient with the shuttles just a stone's throw away. I relaxed a bit in my car listening to some tunes on my iPod shuffle. I boarded the shuttle at around 5am for the short ride over to starting line at Balboa Park.
I met a fellow Marathon Maniac (MM#4975) on the shuttle. It was his first San Diego RnR Marathon, so I showed him the ropes. I sat at a curb near my UPS truck for the most part. Near 6am I dropped off my gear bag and went over to the spot for the Marathon Maniac pre-race photo. We went our separate ways after the photo.
Starting line at dark o' clock
Portapotties are good enough for this guy!
I was assigned to corral 5. It was the corral for runners shooting for a 3:40 finish. I guess I had different plans last year when I signed up. But that pace is feeling much easier these days, so I did not start in a slower corral. In the corral I saw two runners dressed up at Fred and Wilma Flintstone. I talked to them a little bit before the race and found out that they had ran the Nanny Goat 100 miler just last weekend. What a small world since we knew almost the same group of crazy people. :)
Starting in corral 5
Fred and Wilma Flintstone!
Goal: run the 1st half in 2:00 and coast in on fumes... finish in around 4:30
The Race
I ran at what felt like a nice and relaxed pace from the first step. But by mile 3, I was feeling that same sharp pain in my right ankle. This was where I caught the PF Chang's dragon. I slowed down the pace and jogged a little bit with the dragon. Somehow the pain went away right after the 3:40 pace group passed me. I increased the pace a bit to see if I could follow for a bit. I kept myself just a few steps behind the 3:40 pace group. The pace-leader's pace was all over the place. He flew by Petco Park and slowed down a bit at around mile 6, but I made sure not to pass the group. Once I saw the dreaded 163 looming ahead just around mile 8, I decided it would be best to not press my luck and let the group go. I would have to work too hard to keep up especially going up the 163. The camber really made the gimpy right ankle sore. Even when I got to the downhill section, I could not take advantage of the free speed. I just focused on keeping an even effort. I got through the first half in 1:59:36.
1: 8:32
2: 8:48
3: 9:09
4: 8:14
5: 7:52
6: 8:24
7: 8:57
8: 10:04
9: 9:50
10: 9:50
11: 9:36
12: 9:38
13: 9:41
I was feeling ok, but I could feel the lack-of-stamina starting to set in. I kept telling myself to hold it together until mile 18 or 20. I was trying to keep all of the miles under 12 minutes until I hit the wall. Things started to get hard once I got on the concrete bike paths in Mission Bay. It felt like I had strapped on some lead ankle weights. The wheels came off a bit at mile 22. The right foot just hurt a little too much that I had to walk more than I'd like. The 3ish miles around Fiesta Island wasn't too bad. I kept taking my usual walk breaks and telling myself that I was almost done. But I knew that if I walked too much, I would miss my goal. I also knew that I was losing minutes every mile, so I tried and managed to speed up a bit on the last two miles. I finished the second half in 2:30:42.
14: 10:18
15: 9:56
16: 10:17
17: 11:00
18: 10:47
19: 11:39
20: 11:53
21: 12:18
22: 14:21
23: 12:04
24: 12:45
25: 11:44
26: 10:53
26.2: 1:45
Finish: 4:30:18
Post-race
After crossing the finish line, I picked up my finisher's medal, bottled water, Gatorade, TruMoo chocolate milk, and Shamrock Farms Rockin' Refuel lactose-free chocolate milk. I finished what's left in my handheld on the way to the UPS gear check trucks. My legs were cramping up, so I took another S-cap with my water. I changed out of my wet clothes and drank the TruMoo. I checked out the finish line area for a little bit before heading out.
Ann at the finish line
I hit the portapotties one last time before boarding the shuttle back to the Sports Arena parking lot. There was no line which meant that they had plenty of shuttles running. I got everything in order and texted my friends that I finished before heading out to the Range in Hillcrest for lunch. The traffic getting out of the parking lot was a bit hairy. Everybody wanted to get on the 8 freeway. Thanks to knowing the area, I was able to bypass the freeway and take surface streets all the way over to Hillcrest.
Medal
I met up with my friends from San Diego. I like hanging out with them. I had a couple of nice refreshing beers and a dish called the Hash. It was corned beef hash with potatoes and some eggs. Drinking the Ballast Point Black Marlin Porter reminded me why a porter is still my favorite kind of beer. Afterward shooting the breeze and all of the talk about everything under the sun, we went our separate ways. I took the 163 to the 15 freeway home. Lately I been staying away from the 5 freeway because the traffic has been bad.
Hoegaarden
Ballast Point Black Marlin Porter
The Hash
I was very pleased with my race, missing my goal by only 18 seconds. It took a while to recover from all of my injuries. But I'm almost finally out of the woods. Pretty soon I can start training for some faster marathons. I must say that this road to recovery has been much tougher than the last one with the stress fracture on the left tibia. I felt like I had hit rock bottom at the St Louis RnR Marathon. At that point, I felt like I should just give up on the whole idea of running. I knew I could've just taken time off, but all of the registration fees would've gone to complete waste. But it did give me a greater appreciation of those back-of-the-packers. Most of them were dealing with some sort of limitation where that's the fastest they could go. Taking 6-7 hrs to finish a marathon is not easy even if you're jogging, walking, or crawling.
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