I took an early Virgin America flight out of LAX. I got to the airport super early because they tend to do freeway maintenance during the weekend. Getting there early meant that it was pretty quick getting through the TSA security check. As usual, my flight was delayed about an hour due to fog at SFO. Once in the air, it was a quick short flight.
Watching satellite TV onboard the Virgin America
As I waited for the BART train, I ran into a friend who was running the half marathon. He got off at the Civic Center station and walked over to the expo. I got off at the Embarcadero station and took the free bus ride at the Hyatt over to the expo. I saw him leaving as I was headed over to the bib pickup area. I guess it was faster to walk.
Expo
The expo again was held at the East Concourse at the SF Design Center. I said it before and I'll say it again, this place was too small for a race of this size. It was just way too crowded in there! I had my bag with me and it was hard to move around. Normally I'm in-and-out of expos, but this time I had to visit the Solutions booth several times. First I got changed to a faster wave so I could start with my friend and pace him for parts of the 1st half. Then I had to visit them again because when I registered for next year's race I realized that my registration was under someone else's login. They couldn't fix it there on the spot. So they told me to email them and they'll fix it in about 2 weeks when they get back to the office. It would turn out that that person and I sort of knew each other on the Runner's World forums. What a small world.
I stopped by the RunDisney booth to check out the Disneyland half marathon medal. The medal was the same with an updated lanyard. I can't wait to run the race again. I also stopped by the Ink-n-Burn booth to check out their stuff. I bought a nice pair of arm sleeves. They were giving out a very nice drawstring bag for making a purchase. I bumped into a few friends. After taking a few pictures with them, I really wanted to get the heck out of there. I hate crowded places.
Disneyland half marathon medal for this year
I love Ink-n-Burn stuff!
Maniacs!
Food and Hotel
I took the bus back to the Hyatt. Then I walked over to the Super 8 to see if I could check in early. No dice. So I hoofed it over a few blocks to the Burger Bar at the Macy's. I thought about getting a head start with the beers, but instead I went inside Macy's to charge my phone a little bit while I waited for my friends to show up. This place had a good beer menu and you get to customize your burger. I didn't feel like making my own burger so I ordered the Black Jack Burger. It came with ciabatta bread which was a nice change from a regular burger bun. For my first beer I got the 21st Amendment Back in Black beer. It was a good beer. For my second beer, I got a Lost Dog. It was good as well. Burgers and beers are a good combo.
21st Amendment Back in Black
Black Jack Burger
Lost Dog
After we went our separate ways, I was finally able to check into my room. The building was pretty ancient and located in a not so very nice area. I was advised by my local friends not be outside when it was dark... how comforting to know. :) The elevator felt a little bit rickety, but I was on the 6th floor so it was either that or the stairs. Forrest Gump was playing on one of the channels so I watched it until it was time to go back out and get my usual pre-race dinner (McNuggets and a Big Mac) at McDonald's. There were many foreigners there so I sort of fit right in. I took it back to my room. I wouldn't recommend staying at this Super 8. I stayed here to save a few bucks, but if you can afford it stay somewhere newer and nicer.
Race gear
The usual meal
Sunday
I woke up pretty early to get ready because it was somewhat of a long walk to the starting area. I was almost ready to head for the start when I got some bonus bowel movements. Thanks to the extra sit down time, I was almost late in meeting up with my friends. Along the way to the start I walked with a girl that wasn't sure which way to go. I pointed her in the right direction. It was her first time running this race, so I told her the locations of those dreaded hills. She was going for a 3:35, I believe a BQ for her.
One of my friends' worked about a block away from the starting line, so he was able to let us use the nice restrooms instead of waiting in those long lines for the portapotties. My friend and I checked our bags at the UPS trucks and headed over to wave 3.
Starting corral
The Race
We were attempting to run a 1:59 for the first half. I was going to hang with him as far as I could. It was pretty crowded at the beginning but we kept it slow. The first mile was a little slower than I had liked so I picked up the pace for the second mile, but my friend would not follow. So I slowed down until he caught up. I wanted to run an even 9 min but he was content on going slower. I took him to the start of the Golden Gate Bridge and told him that I couldn't go with him any further. I had started getting back spasms while crossing the bridge. I felt incredibly out of shape. I had to shorten my stride and tried to not get discouraged. It was good seeing some of my friends on the bridge. The back would eventually loosen up a little bit. But then it was the right foot's turn to give me problems. By the time I reached the halfway point at 2:14:32, I decided to just shut things down and do my usual 3hr 2nd half. There was no point in risking another injury just to come in under 5 hrs. Getting through the park was tough as the course really narrowed and you had the fast runners from the 2nd half marathon zooming past you. I moved way to the side of the course to stay out of their way. Once we got out of the park, the rest of the race was much more comfortable with less crowding issues. I thought about going inside a McDonald's at the mile 22 mark, but stop briefly for a photo and a quick Facebook update.
McDonald's "aid station" at mile 22
Once the AT&T ballpark was in sight, I knew the race was almost over. We ran by a bunch of tailgate parties. Running by the ballpark was one of my favorite parts of the race. My legs were cramping up pretty badly as I ran down the Embarcadero. It was more of a little trot than running.
1: 9:30
2: 9:02
3: 9:30
4: 9:15
5: 9:04
6: 10:35
7: 10:02
8-10: 32:32 (10:51)
11: 9:41
12: 11:54
13-14: 24:48 (12:24)
15-16: 28:49 (14:25)
17: 12:53
18: 12:59
19: 13:43
20-22: 41:12 (13:44)
23: 15:26
24: 12:59
25: 14:27
26: 13:39
26.2: 2:21
Finish: 5:14:19
Post Race
As soon as I crossed the finish line, everything locked up. I shuffled a little further down and leaned against the fence. I took a S-cap and tried to get the muscles to loosen up a little bit. I walked over slowly to get my medal. Then I grabbed a Jamba juice and walked even further down to get in a long line for the LA/SF Challenge medal. Getting this second medal was definitely worth the trip. I hung out with my maniac friends for a while before we headed our separate ways.
Sweet bonus LA/SF Challenge medal!
The long walk back to my hotel helped loosen up the legs. I took a shower, got cleaned up, and rested a bit in my room watching the TV. Later I went out for an early dinner at Super Duper. I got the Super Burger with everything and a spiked cookies n' cream milkshake. The milkshake was okay but you can barely taste the alcohol. The burger was really good. Definitely a good recommendation by one of my local friends. I could've eaten a few more burgers, but stopped at one.
Spiked cookies n' cream milkshake
Super Burger with everything
Monday
The next day I hung out in my room until it was time to check out. I timed it so that I would get to Katanaya right when it opened for lunch. I got the Katanaya Ramen which had everything in it including fried chicken and gyoza. It was a little bit weird, but not bad.
Katanaya ramen
I then walked over to the AMC Metreon 16 to watch the Dark Knight Rises. The movie had great reviews and was heavily hyped by everyone. I did not like the story or the character Bane. They could've done way better character development with Bane and made his lines easier to understand since he wore a mask that was never explained. Joseph Gordon-Levitt did a great job and surprisingly so did Anne Hathaway. I never really liked any of her acting that she has done so far. I'm glad Christian Bale toned down the stupid "I'm very constipated" Batman voice in this movie. It was an entertaining movie, but I expected more. It was similar to how the Transformers movies failed with so much potential because all the director seemed to care about was the special effects. The football scene was dumb.
After the movie, I took the BART to SFO for my flight home. I had dinner at Burger Joint. I had a cheeseburger and it was nothing special. I also had a refreshingly tasty Red Tail Ale. If there was a theme to this short little weekend trip it would definitely be... Burgers and Beers!
Burger Joint cheeseburger and Red Tail ale
1 comment:
That expo was MADNESS. Way too small of a venue for all the people.
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