This trip was full of difficulties. I had an evening red eye flight with American Airlines out of LAX to Bangor (BGR) with a short layover in Philly (PHL). After eating dinner, I headed to the airport and once again there was a lot of traffic at the Sepulveda exit off of the 105. Once I got through it, I made my way to parking lot C. However I couldn't enter the parking lot. There was a sign that said it was full. In all of the many flights that I've taken out of LAX, I have never been denied entry. I thought that there was a secondary entrance on Jenny Ave, but it was actually on Westchester Parkway. Instead, I mistakenly made the turn in to the parking lot for buses and limos. After I found my way out of that parking lot, I drove over to the parking lot on 98th St and Vicksburg Ave, but even that lot was full! So I drove over to The Parking Spot - Sepulveda that's right next to In-n-Out. Thank goodness they had spaces. I drove to the roof as it was $4 per day cheaper than a covered spot, $17.95 vs. $21.95.
The Parking Spot
I took the stairs down to the ground floor and caught the shuttle to terminal 6. Getting through TSA wasn't too bad. At first my flight seemed to be on time. Their PA system wasn't loud enough so none of us really knew what was going on. However those that were close enough to hear the gate announcements told us that for some reason the wrong plane pulled up to the gate. They had to back that plane out and bring in the right plane which seemed to take forever. There was another flight going out to Toronto at about the same time through the same gate. The goof up caused about an hour delay. Once we were all boarded on our plane, the pilot said that he would try to make up the time, but still my chances of making my connecting flight was pretty slim. It was out of my control, so I got out my neck pillow and went to sleep.
LAX > PHL
Saturday 6/25
As soon as we landed, I had to hurry with my gimpy legs to try and catch my plane in terminal F. I saw on the AA app that they had already put me on the standby list for the next flight. I still had to try. I took the shuttle from terminal C to F. Man, my calves were burning just from power-walking through the airport! As I was approaching my gate, they were making the final call announcement for my flight. I had to break into a jog while carrying my bags. As soon as they scanned my boarding pass, they closed the door right behind me. I hate flights with short layovers especially when coupled with a delayed first leg! But hey, I made it!
PHL > BGR
We landed shortly after 9 am. When I went to the rental car counter to pick up my car, I was informed that I had reserved my car for 10 am, so I found a spot in the airport to pass some time while charging my phone. I went back to the counter at 10 am to pick up my car. They gave me a red Toyota Corolla. Once I found the car in the parking lot, I started my drive up to Lubec which would take about 2.5 hrs. I made a quick stop at a Rite Aid to buy water and Powerade.
Rental car
After a long relaxing drive, I arrived in Lubec and drove over the FDR Memorial Bridge to cross into Canada. The bib pickup was at the Campobello Island Tourist Center. While crossing the border, I had to tell the Canadian border guards that I was running in the marathon tomorrow so they can check me off of the list of participants. That way I wouldn't be required to show them my passport during the race. My bib would allow me to cross unimpeded.
Campobello
After picking up my bib, I crossed back to the US and showed the US border guard my passport as well as my bib. He asked a few questions, scanned the timing chip and checked my trunk. After I was cleared to pass, I drove to Lubec school to pick up my race shirt. After getting my shirt, I drove down the street to check out the place where I'll be staying for the weekend, the Peacock House Bed & Breakfast. I met the innkeeper, Mary Beth, and my room wasn't ready yet, so I asked her for some recommendations for lunch. I walked down to to Water St to check out my food options. They already had the finish line banner up.
Finish line
Based on her recommendations, I checked out Frank's Dockside Restaurant for lunch. I started things out with a Shipyard export ale. It was a pretty decent beer. Then for my meal, I went with the shrimp & clams basket which came with fries and coleslaw. It wasn't anything spectacular, just deep fried breaded seafood, good enough to tide me over to my next meal.
Shipyard Export
Shrimp & clams basket
After I was done with lunch, I took the long way back to the Peacock House walking up Water St and Commercial St. It was pretty cool to see some of the landmarks in the little quiet quaint town of Lubec. Back at the house, the innkeeper showed me to my room. It was the Peacock Suite. It was way too much room for just me! However that was pretty much the only available room in all of Lubec when I went to book my travels.
Peacock House Bed & Breakfast
Peacock Suite
After getting settled in, I went through my expo haul. They gave us what looked to be a clam bag to use as a gear bag. They also gave us some flower seeds. What an interesting item to give to runners! I wasn't too fond of the color of our long sleeve race shirt. It reminded me of split pea soup. I also laid out the flat runner to make sure that I had remembered to pack everything for the race. Then I watched some TV and took a nap.
Expo haul
Back of shirt
Flat runner
Drinks
I rolled out of bed and walked over to the Fisherman's Wharf Restaurant to eat dinner. I saw the restaurant on the walk back to the house earlier in the day. I started with a Sebago Runabout red ale. I then ordered their lobster dinner. It was a 1 pound lobster that came with a dinner roll, fries, corn on the cob, and coleslaw. If you're really hungry, you can pay $4 per additional 1/4 pound. That was some delicious lobster! I found that 1 pound was enough. I don't think that it was an ideal carbo-load meal before a marathon. However I wanted to enjoy some Maine lobster because I never know how I'll feel after running a marathon.
Lobster dinner
Sunday 6/26
T-Mobile was pretty useless once I was outside of Bangor. I had to go into Canada for data service, so I mostly relied on the WiFi at the Peacock House. However my phone for most of my stay remained on Atlantic time which was 1 hour ahead of Eastern time. With that said, I woke up an hour earlier than I needed to when I got up to get ready for the race. Well, better to be an hour early than an hour late.
At about 5 am, I walked over to Lubec Consolidated School for the bus ride to the starting area. The first bus for the marathon didn't leave until 5:30, so I went inside the school to use the restroom and found a place to sit and wait. There I met Bob from Exeter, NH. He was running his very first marathon. I also talked to Steven from Topeka, KS. It was also his goal to finish a marathon in every state. He was wearing a shirt with signatures from people that have dealt with cancer. I noticed that he was wearing the same pair of pink Asics breast cancer awareness shoes that I had worn for about a year for my marathons when one of my good friends was fighting breast cancer.
Lubec Consolidated School
We took an uncomfortable ride on the school bus over to the West Quoddy Head Lighthouse at Quoddy Head State Park. Those seats were definitely not designed for adults! On the way there we saw the walkers that had taken the early start. I noticed that the course was full of rollers. They dropped us off just a few hundred feet from the lighthouse. They had water, a few picnic tables, and a bunch of portapotties for us to use. It was pretty cool to see the Atlantic Ocean from the Easternmost point of the United States.
West Quoddy Head Lighthouse
At about 7 am, they asked us to gather at the starting line. It wasn't a big field for the marathon. Minus the early walkers, there wasn't even 200 people at the start. Not a whole lot of people wanted to line up in the front. After the singing of the US national anthem, they asked if anybody wanted to sing the Canadian national anthem. I think it was one of the volunteers that stepped forward. She asked for help, but she didn't need it, she did a great job!
At about 7:10 am, they shot a loud cannon and we were off. The first mile felt went ok, but my right leg felt sluggish. The right IT band had been giving me trouble and with this weekend being the fourth consecutive weekend while running a marathon, I wasn't expecting it to feel any better. Temperature wise it wasn't too hot, but the humidity was pretty high. By the second mile, I was already starting to struggle. The course was undulating for the next few miles. I crossed the FDR Memorial Bridge into Canada as I approached mile 6. I saw a pretty funny sign as I arrived at an aid station at about mile 8. It read, "caution: athletes in pain." Yeah, that would be me. What was a bit frustrating was that I was running the downhills as slow as I was running the uphills. The downhills were causing pain in the left foot and the right IT band. I went through the halfway point at about 2:20.
Start line
Aid station at around mile 8
There was a little bit of welcomed cool breeze as I ran up Lighthouse Rd. The turnaround point was at about mile 16 near the Head Harbour Lightstation. There were tables with GUs. From there I backtracked back to Lubec. It was pretty sunny without much shade, so I was feeling a bit warm near the end of the race. My legs were beginning to cramp up, so I had to take extended walk breaks at mile 22. There was a long gradual climb up to the Campobello Island Tourist Center. Once there I could see the finish line. It was such a relief to know that the suffering was almost over that I almost shed a tear. I just had to run down to and cross the FDR Memorial Bridge. It was pretty cool that the border guards were cheering us on for that final stretch.
Almost to the turnaround
Click here for my Garmin data.
After getting my cool finisher medal, a girl walked me over to the post race food tent. She made sure that I didn't fall down or anything. That was a cool touch. I grabbed some bananas and a Gatorade. I found Bob and his wife at one of the picnic tables, so I went over to sit with them and congratulate him. He finished about 5 minutes ahead of me. Not too shabby for his very first marathon!
Medal
Back of medal
After I felt a bit more recovered, I made my way over to the Lubec Brewing Co. They had benches outside, but I went inside and found a seat at the bar. There I met Bryce from Houston, TX. He ran a much better race than I did. I also met Roger, a local born and raised in Lubec. It was pretty cool talking to the two of them over a Quoddy Head red ale, that was the only beer they had available.
Lubec Brewing Co
Quoddy Head Red
After I was done with my beer, I headed slowly back to my room. I walked up Main St and came across the Soldiers' Monument and the Lubec Veteran Honor Roll Memorial. It was pretty cool to see a little bit of history that I knew nothing about. Once I got back to my room, I took a nice nap after getting cleaned up.
Soldiers' Monument
Lubec Veteran Honor Roll Memorial
For dinner, I walked down to Water St to eat dinner at Cohill's Irish Pub. I went to grab a seat at the bar and I saw Roger, whom I had just met earlier in the day. So I joined him. Since it was an Irish pub, I started things off with a Guinness. My new local friend suggested the lamb burger or the shepherd's pie. I always trust a local, so I went with the lamb burger. It was a good suggestion! It definitely tasted better than it looked. If you like lamb meat and goat cheese, then you should order this burger. It had a good flavor and was a good change from the usual beef patty. The buns that they used were probably my least favorite part of the meal. It was a bit too soft for my taste. I finished things off with a Baxter Stowaway IPA. The tab handle had the Jolly Roger symbol on it. I guess that was good enough for me to get the beer! Roger and I talked quite a bit about traveling and a little bit of politics. We exchanged cards since I'll need to pick his brain once I start traveling to more international marathons. I saw the couple from Bronx, NY that I was talking to before the race sitting at a nearby table. I went over to say hi. As I was finishing up my meal, a bunch of runners and their friends came in including Lois from North Conway, NH. She's 81 year young and had also finished the marathon! I wonder if I'll even make it to 80, let alone run a marathon!
Guinness
Lamb burger
Baxter Stowaway IPA
Monday 6/27
I slept in. I could smell that breakfast was ready. When I finally rolled down to the dining room, everybody was already there and most have already finished their breakfast. They had brought out fruit, juice, muffin, and prepared an egg dish. It was pretty good to meet a diverse group of people from all walks of life. They were asking me a bunch of questions once they found out that the Bay of Fundy Marathon was my 174th marathon and Maine was the 46th state in which I've completed a marathon.
I left at around 10 am as I wanted to time it so that I could have lunch somewhere near the airport. Before heading out on the road, I did a little research on Yelp and decided on eating at the Eagle's Nest in Brewer. Parking was limited, but fortunately I was able to get a spot just as someone was pulling out. It was a small little operation inside with most of the tables occupied. Since I was dining solo, I just found a seat at the bar where I got a clear view of the action in the kitchen. Their menu stated that they have the biggest and best lobster roll around. So of course that's what I ordered. It didn't take that long for it to come out. There was way more chunks of delicious lobster meat than the roll could hold! They mixed the lobster with light mayo so what you're tasting is the lobster meat. It came with fries, coleslaw, and a pickle. The fries had a hint of seafood to it, so I'm guessing that they used the same oil that they used to fry up their seafood. I like it. It was quite affordable especially for the amount of lobster meat that they used for the roll. It was definitely the biggest that I've eaten.
Lobster roll
After lunch, I stopped at the first gas station and filled up the gas tank before driving up to the airport. I parked the car in the rental lot and returned the keys to the counter. Then I found a nice seat to relax in and to charge my devices. While waiting I again bumped into the couple from the Bronx. It turned out that they were on the same flight to Philly. Once we got to Philly, we all had short connecting flights, so it was a mad scramble to get off of the plane. I made it to my gate just as they were getting ready to board.
PHL > LAX
Once in LAX and we had deplaned, I headed for the median that was under the red sign to catch The Parking Spot shuttle back to the garage. It was a very full shuttle. Once off of the shuttle, I grabbed a bottle of water and headed for the elevators. The elevators didn't go up to the roof. I had to use one of the stairwells. It might have been easier to catch their shuttle than with parking lot C, but it was a lot more expensive to park here.
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