After work and dinner, I headed out to LAX to catch a red eye flight that would take off just a few minutes after midnight. It wasn't a direct flight and the layover would be a couple of hours in DFW. I was able to get an exit row seat for the first leg.
Saturday 2/21
The plane landed in DFW at about 5 am local time. I made my way over to my gate and found a nearby McDonald's to eat breakfast. I ordered the usual Sausage Egg McMuffin meal, but this time I got a coffee instead. This was one of the rare times that I drank coffee, mainly because they charge extra for substituting it with orange juice.
Breakfast in DFW
I got into Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport a little after 10 am local time. As I was walking through the airport towards the car rental counters, I saw an interesting wall. According to AL.com, it was a 100-foot-long, 14-foot-tall "living wall" that graces the corridor near Concourse C. The wall features 8,000 plants belonging to 60 species indigenous to the state.
Welcome to Birmingham
As for my rental car... they got me again. They asked if I wanted to upgrade to a Toyota Yaris for $10/day more. Sure, why not? It's pretty easy to make a few extra bucks off of me. Then I started to wonder what the heck kind of car would I have gotten if I hadn't "upgrade" to a Yaris? And since when was a Yaris an upgrade? :)
In any case, I hopped on the freeway and drove over to the expo. I found free street parking on 16th Street just South of Kelly Ingram Park. I walked over to the Boutwell Auditorium for the race expo. It was a pretty nice expo and I even got to sample some beer from Good People Brewery.
Expo
After finishing with the expo, I got back in my car and drove to a nearby Publix to buy some bananas, snacks, and drinks. It was here at the parking lot that I noticed that there was a little ding on the side of the car. I hadn't noticed it when I picked up the car at the airport. I didn't worry too much about it as it looked liked they had marked the damage with some yellow marker. It was either that or a yellow car or pole swapped a little paint.
I then drove over to my hotel for the weekend, La Quinta Inn & Suites Birmingham Homewood. But first I stopped by the nearby McDonald's to pick up some lunch. I ordered a Big Mac combo. It was too early for me to check in since the room was not yet ready. So I found a place in the lobby and ate my lunch. While I waited, I was able to charge my phone while one employee diligently vacuumed the entire lobby.
Lunch
Finally at about 2:30 pm, my room was ready and I was able to check in and get some rest. I caught part of the Matrix on TV just as they were showing one of my favorite parts of the movie... the part where Cypher sells out his friends for a steak, wine, and a cigar. :)
My favorite part in the Matrix :)
Snacks and drinks for the weekend
I went through the expo haul. I liked that they gave us a "Gotta Go Poncho", a Marathon Energy Bar, and a pair of throwaway gloves. Free stuff, much less anything useful is hardly ever given out these days at race expos. I laid out my running clothes before going out to eat dinner. The forecast threatened to have rain so I had the gloves ready just in case. If the weather is ever cold or rainy, I'll always bring out the calf sleeves just to stay warm. I don't think they're very effective in preventing calf cramps.
Expo haul
Flat runner
For dinner, I decided on eating at the O'Charley's just down the road from my hotel. The place was super busy at about 6 pm but I was able to snag the last spot at the bar. When I was finally able to get the overworked bartender's attention, I ordered a beer and their chicken fried steak with bacon mashed potato. It was so busy that it took about a half hour for the food to come out. Did I mention that it was busy? :) There were so many people there either waiting for a table or for their to-go order. The chicken fried steak was okay, it's not something that you can really mess up. Having said that, I've had better elsewhere. The bacon mashed potato was good... anything with bacon is good! :)
Chicken Fried Steak
Sunday 2/22
I got ready and drove out to the start pretty early. I was able to park in the parking structure right next to the starting line at the Boutwell Auditorium. I walked over to the auditorium and bumped into a bunch of Half Fanatics and Marathon Maniacs. I guess I had accidentally stumbled upon the meeting spot for the pre-race photo. After the photo we pretty much all scattered and went our separate ways to take care of last minute pre-race stuff.
As we waited for the start of the race, the rain started to come down. Fortunately it was never a hard rain, just a very light rain. My friend and I waited in the parking structure to shelter us from the rain before actually lining up in the starting corral.
Marathon Manics pre-race photo from Stacy Bolyard
Waiting for the start
The race started off at about 7 am. I took off at what felt like a pretty easy pace. I kept speeding up over the next two miles, so I thought that I best slow things down a bit and not run anything under 8 mins per mile. After mile 7, I decided to take an early walk break. I felt tired and I also didn't not want to aggravate the right calf again. For some reason, after I started running again, I got dialed into a 9:30 - 9:45 pace. I kept that pace through the first loop of the double loop course. Normally I would fall back to my slower pace for the second half of the marathon. But since I was already running somewhat slower, I guess I didn't need to slow down even more. It wasn't until mile 18 that I started to fade. I was starting to think that I had a good chance of beating my marathon PR (4:13:19). But eventually my calves started cramping up from miles 21-23 during the section with a steady gradual climb. It took me a couple of miles to get the calves loosen up during which I was passed by the 4:15 pace group. I was able to hang on and keep them in view before catching and passing them on the final stretch to the finish line.
1: 8:35
2: 8:16
3: 8:08
4: 8:26
5: 8:45
6: 8:40
7: 8:45
8: 9:49
9: 9:22
10: 9:45
11: 9:28
12: 9:50
13: 9:26
14: 9:40
15: 9:29
16: 9:45
17: 9:37
18: 9:59
19: 9:59
20: 10:26
21: 11:24
22: 12:19
23: 12:01
24: 10:05
25: 11:31
26: 9:52
26.2: 1:40
Finish: 4:15:04
This was a very urban marathon. With the gloomy weather, the cloud cover and the light rain kept the temperatures pretty comfortable. There were some steady climbs here and there, but it wasn't a very difficult course. The second loop was somewhat easier to tackle mentally since you already knew what to expect. My goal was to finish in about 4:15 and I was only 4 seconds off of that goal.
After picking up my medal and finisher's towel, I made my way over to the auditorium for some post race food and drinks. I like races that give out finisher towels. Very few races give them out. They are much more useful than medals. At this point with the number of races that I've run, I could do without more medals. Once inside the auditorium, I got in line for some food provided by Jim 'n Nick's Bar-B-Q. The line was fairly long, but it moved quickly. You had the option of turkey or pork. I got the pork sandwich and it came with cole slaw and a bag of chips. I found a seat at a table near the front right next to the stage where there was live entertainment which happened to be very loud for my quickly aging ears. :)
Finish
Post race BBQ
Pulled pork sandwich, chips, and cole slaw
On my way out, I saw a bell where you could ring if you set a new PR. It was close but no cigar. I had about 3 bad miles that cost me a new PR. I guess I really can't expect too much since I've been traveling and running so many marathons. Right before leaving the auditorium, I was looking at the results on the board. They had people there that printed out your results. Thank goodness that getting out of the parking structure was pretty easy. I couldn't wait to get out of my running clothes and take a hot shower.
Close, but no PR for me
Finisher's towel
Medal and results
While I was relaxing in my room, I received a few emails informing me that both of my return flights had been canceled. Apparently there was a storm coming through Dallas, Texas as well as Birmingham, Alabama. Their phone lines for customer service was slammed. Their phone system said that the wait would be over 2 hours, so I left a call back number. I didn't receive a call back until about 3 hours later and then I was on hold for about 10 minutes. First, the lady that was helping me was going to re-book me for a flight on Tuesday instead of the original Monday departure. So I made her look again and she was able to find me a seat on a US Airways flight on Monday but the connection would be in Philadelphia instead. I told her that I didn't care where I connected so as long as I got home to LAX on Monday.
Monday 2/23
After a good night's sleep, I got my stuff packed up, checked out of my room, gassed up the rental car and headed over to the airport to get out of town before the storm rolled on through. My original flight was at about 5 pm in the evening. It saved me money with my rental car as my new flight was at 11:10 am. I had a short layover in Philadelphia. While in Philly I bought a bag of beef jerky to tide me over until I got home. Once I landed at LAX, I made a beeline for the In-n-Out near my house before heading home. I ordered my usual meal, two Double Doubles... one for each hand! :)
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