In the morning I stopped by Disneyland to get in a few rides before heading down to Carlsbad for the expo. I ended up meeting my friends at the Star Wars Launch Bay for just a moment. We all thought that Chewbacca's head looked really weird. He must have gotten a new hair stylist. :)
On the way back to my car at Mickey & Friends, it was a bit sad to see an empty Lilo parking lot. It's normally packed during this weekend with people setting up for Star Wars the Light Side Half Marathon weekend. This was the first of four Disneyland races that have been canceled for this year as they have gone on hiatus. :(
Empty Lilo parking lot
The drive down to Carlsbad wasn't as bad as I had expected. I pulled up to The Shoppes at Carlsbad and made my way over to the expo which was on the west side of the mall near Sears. The parking lot for the expo was just as crazy as I had remembered from years past. They had 2 people stationed at one busy corner directing traffic. It was crowded, but eventually I found a parking spot. When I walked up to the expo tent, I noticed that there was a booth outside that was taking shoe donations. I wasn't sure if they were still taking donations since I haven't run this race since 2013.
Inside the expo tent, it was pretty much the same well organized expo that I had remembered. After picking up my bib, I got my finisher long sleeved shirt as well as a 1/4 pullover. After I was done with the expo, I went back to my car to get my 2 bags of shoes to donate. I think I had 8 pairs of shoes. One of the pair was the KSwiss Konejo II shoes that nearly ruined my Dopey Challenge. I hope it works out better for the person that ends up with it. I still have no idea which part of the shoe was causing me such great pain.
Shirt front
Shirt back
Pullover front
Pullover back
Drawstring bag
I then drove over to Regal Cinemas Oceanside to check out their movie times as well as to see if there were any good restaurant options. I parked in the parking structure on N Cleveland St just off of Mission Ave. There was a lot of construction in that area. I didn't see any good stand out food options or a movie that I could watch, so I decided to check out the nearby Top Gun House which was located at the corner of N Pacific St and 1st St. It was actually a bit pathetic looking as it was the only structure left standing in the entire vacant lot.
Top Gun House
I then walked back to my car and drove over to my hotel for the night. I stayed at the Ramada Oceanside just up the street. During check-in, the lady at the front desk told me that she only had one clean room ready and there was no elevator access. I was fine with that. However when I got to my room, I was greeted with a very strong odor that smelled suspiciously like reefer. It had to be because I went through my bag of potato chips while watching some TV and was still feeling pretty hungry.
For an early dinner I opened up the McDonald's app and ordered 2 Big Macs and a Quarter Pounder w/Cheese. Lately they have been having some pretty good deals if you use Mobile Order. I drove over to the McDonald's, checked-in on the app, and waited for my food. This confused the cashier as he was wondering why I didn't approached the counter to order. When he finally asked me, I told him that I already ordered and paid on the app.
2 Big Macs and a Quarter Pounder w/Cheese
I brought the burgers back to my room. After consuming them, I laid out my flat runner for tomorrow's race.
Flat runner
Sunday 1/14
I got up, got ready, and packed up my stuff. It was a short quick drive over to the start line over on Marron Rd. There wasn't much signage, but having run this race so many years in the past, I knew where to go. Once I got closer to the starting area, there were a couple of people there directing drivers where to park. After parking, I got out to go use one of the many portapotties. This is one marathon where there's no shortage of portapotties at the starting area. On the way back to my car, I came across an irate driver. Apparently he wasn't coming for the race, he just somehow got sucked into the parking area and wasn't able to find a way out of the parking lot. He was cursing out one of the parking attendants.
As the start of the race approached, I grabbed my stuff including a mylar blanket and headed over to the start line. It seemed like the race crew was a bit behind with the setup as they weren't even ready for the race announcers to start doing their job. I was able to say hi to a few of my friends before the start of the race.
Start line
My buddy, Robert
Despite the somewhat tardiness in setting up the start line, the race started promptly as advertised at 6:15 am. This year was the first year that they would have a new course for the marathon. It would be practically a two loop course with the majority of the course on Carlsbad Blvd. That meant that there would no longer be the out and back up Palomar Airport Rd. One of things that I loved about Carlsbad was the ability to see my friends on the out and back portions of the course. With the new course, it made it even easier as there was less turns. I covered the first half in about 2:08.
During the second half of the race I caught up to a lady from Kent, UK. From the shirt that she was wearing, I gathered that she was running for a Cystic Fibrosis charity. She was struggling a bit and was a bit chatty with everyone around her. I supposed she was most likely trying to take her mind off of the discomfort. We would leapfrog each other throughout the rest of the race. Eventually she pulled ahead during the last couple of miles and I was never able to catch up to her.
Between miles 21 and 22, I ran into Pony Espresso, a LA Marathon legacy runner. He was running the half marathon. He always gets a kick out of the fact that my Marathon Maniac nickname is Pony Express, so similar to his. I wished him well and hoped to bump into him at the LA Marathon in a couple of month.
There was also another lady with tattoos that was always running just ahead or behind me for the entire race. At one point she was sitting down, stretching and massaging her calves, so she was definitely struggling just as much as I was. I ended up crossing the finish line just 1 second ahead of her, but 2 seconds ahead of her via chip time.
Approaching the finish line, pics from Karen F.
Been leapfrogging with this lady the entire race!
Finish: 4:46:43
Click here for my Garmin data.
Finish line
I tried my best to duplicate my performance at the Walt Disney World Marathon, but the sun and the warmer temperature made sure that I would suffer along the way instead. Still all in all, it was fun making a return back to the Carlsbad Marathon.
Finisher medal
After getting my medal and post race snacks, I was stopped on my way back to my car by someone that was collecting signatures for a petition. The petition was to advocate for the humane treatment of animals that are grown for consumption. After a brief conversation, I signed the petition and went along my way. Before I started my drive home, I made sure to drink the chocolate milk as my legs were cramping up a bit and my head felt pretty fried from the sun.
Once I got home, I ate lunch and got cleaned up. There wasn't much time to rest as I had Aladdin, the musical to catch. I got ready and drove on out to The Pantages in Hollywood. When I bought the ticket, I had purchased parking with it. The small parking lot was at 6223 Selma Avenue, between Argyle Ave and El Centro Ave. Unfortunately the QR code for my ticket didn't work to confirm the purchase of parking with the attendant. However when I showed him the website that showed that I had pre-purchased parking, he was satisfied. I would definitely recommend against pre-purchasing parking. If you get there early enough, there should be plenty of available parking for the same price.
Once I got inside, I purchased a nice raglan t-shirt as the obligatory souvenir. My seat was on the mezzanine level on the right side, row D. I thought it was a pretty good seat. I was thoroughly entertained by their performance even though we had the understudy for the role of Aladdin. The guy that was playing the Genie more than made up for any shortcomings! His performance was noticeably the best out of everyone with his unmatched energy! I was glad that I came to see this musical even though I was so tired that I was fading in and out at a few spots.
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