I drove down to the Irvine Transportation Center to catch the Amtrak bus down to downtown San Diego. Originally I had booked a train ride leaving at about 7 am. However they were doing track work, so they switched it to bus service with the earliest bus leaving at about 8 am. There was a light rain for the majority of the day. The bus ride was pretty nice, but it took longer than the train especially with the driver not really knowing where to go for each station stop. He was constantly checking in to see where he needed to park the bus. Eventually we were about 20 minutes behind schedule.
After being dropped off at the Santa Fe Depot at about 10:30 am, it was a short walk over to the expo at the Broadway Pier. I've run this race a handful of times and the expo was just as well organized as I had remembered it to be. They had signs everywhere that told you what to do and where to go next. I picked up my bib and walked through the expo to the back of the pier to pick up my race shirt. I then went back inside to check out the rest of the vendor booths and to wait for my friends to show up.
Race shirt, front
Race shirt, back
Expo haul
After seeing my friends and giving them their race packet from Surf City, I headed over to Horton Plaza to catch a matinee showing of A Wrinkle in Time. I had time before the show, so I checked out my options for lunch at the mall food court. The choices weren't very good. I settled for a steak burger meal at Steak Escape. The food was edible and okay at best, but it was a far cry from the menu pictures. The ~$9 price was reasonable, but I would not eat here again unless I absolutely had no other choice.
"Steak" burger meal
I'm a pretty big Disney fan, but this movie was not my cup of tea. Compared to Annihilation this wasn't quite as weird, but it was definitely out there. The acting by Deric McCabe as Charles Wallace was just not convincing for me. It was somewhat unnatural. No kid of that age talks that way! As for Oprah being in the movie, she was quite distracting for me. Every time she had screen time, I just thought of powdered donuts because of her extra frosted lipstick. As usual with most movie adaptations, my conclusion has always been that I will have to go read the book in order to appreciate the story. So with this movie, it was a thumbs down for me.
After the movie, I then walked over to WorldMark San Diego - Balboa Park to check in. After getting my room key, I was again invited to a free meal with an obligation to attend an hour long sales presentation. I was giving a care package and 2 bottles of water. My room was just as nice as the last couple of times that I've stayed here.
Check-in care package
My favorite fast food joint was just across the street and it's my go to place before a race, so it was a no-brainer for me to get dinner there. I ordered my food on the mobile app. However when I tried to check-in on the app at the restaurant, it kept giving me an error. That was a pain in the butt, because it was raining. I went back to my room to wait to see if the app will start working as I was trying to use a very nice mobile order only deal, any sandwich for $1. However the app never worked that evening after waiting a couple of hours. So eventually I went down and used a not-as-good deal, $1 off a large Double Quarter Pounder with cheese extra value meal.
Nice view from my room
Large Double Quarter Pounder with cheese extra value meal
After finishing my meal, it was time to lay out the flat runner for tomorrow's race. Then I watched a bunch of TV before calling it a night.
Flat runner
Sunday 3/11
At a little after 6 am, I started my walk down Park Blvd to the starting area by Petco Park. Fortunately I ended up walking most of the way with a fellow participant. There were quite a few sketchy characters all along the way. Once I got down there, I was then in the company of thousands of other participants. I crossed over to the Hilton San Diego Bayfront via the Harbor Dr pedestrian bridge. Even though I had brought along a mylar blanket, I waited in there until it was closer to the 7:30 am start time. Fortunately I was able to find one of my friends in wave 2.
Start line
When wave 2 was released, I took off feeling pretty good. My plan was to average about 8 min miles for the first half of the race and bank some time before reaching the long climb up Washington St. The early parts of this course was pretty much the AFC half marathon in reverse, so it was pretty easy running through familiar streets. Everything felt good through the first 10k, however I started feeling the usual tendon tightness in my left foot and ankle as I ran up Barnett Ave just outside of the Marine Corps Recruit Depot. I ended up pulling over for a walk break as I got to the aid station at around mile 8. I was tired, hot, and starting to cramp up. That was a bad sign as I had not reached the long climb yet! I took 3 walk breaks going up Washington St. My friends caught me somewhere around Hillcrest. One of them decided to run with me the rest of the way since it was a training run for her. Her company helped turned my negative thoughts into getting the most of my gimpy left leg. Fortunately I was able to find a stride that was able to handle the decline and also to stave off the leg cramps.
Finish line
Finish: 1:58:27
Click here for my Garmin data.
If it weren't for my friend running those last couple of miles with me, I probably wouldn't have finished under 2 hrs. I had mentally thrown in the towel when she found me. After getting our finisher medal, we met up with our friends from San Diego.
Medal
From there we went our separate ways. I saw a couple of my friends on the way out. It might be cool to finish on the warning track, but personally I thought it was quite crowded as a lot of people stayed on the track to wait for their friends to finish. Just as you get off of the track, they had set up a selfie section for you to take your own post race photos with the field as your backdrop. Going a bit further, they handed out post race drinks and snacks as well as a sturdy tote bag to carry everything.
On the way back up to my room, I asked the concierge to move my WorldMark presentation up to 12 pm. After getting cleaned up, I took a complimentary Uber ride over Wyndham Harbour Lights for the presentation. After checking in, I was met by the representative that manages my account. I got my free meal which was a sandwich and some coffee. He was busy with another group, but he had another guy talk to me while I waited for him to finish. Unfortunately they both informed me that my "Golden Tree" had been chopped down because I had declined to buy more credits when I last attended another presentation during my stay at the WorldMark San Diego Mission Valley. Obviously I didn't understand the ramifications. Oh well, it wasn't as if I could afford to buy more credits in the next 10 years.
I then walked over to Horton Plaza to catch a matinee showing of Death Wish. I thought it was a very good remake of a classic. It was a pretty entertaining movie with good character development and pacing with the story. It will certainly appeal to those that have ever felt like they wanted to take justice or matters into their own hands. The timing of this movie release however is rather bad as this movie obviously took a very pro-guns stance to the issue of home or self protection. Politics aside, this movie was a thumbs up for me.
On the way back to my room, I noticed a restaurant called Crab Hut. The food looked pretty good through the window. Later that day, I decided to come here for an early dinner. I thought the decor inside was pretty cool. Since I was by myself, I found a seat at the bar. You could order seafood by the pound and have it spread over your table or order dishes from the menu. Since I wasn't in the mood to get messy, I decided to go with ordering a their spicy jambalaya and a bowl of their gumbo. Both of them were pretty good and some of the best Southern food that I've had outside of New Orleans.
Gumbo
Spicy jambalaya
Monday 3/12
I'm not sure why I thought it was a good idea to take a 4 am train ride back up for work. I got ready, dropped off my room key at the front desk, and made the walk over to the train station. It didn't feel particularly safe making the walk at dark o'clock. Once I got to the station at about a quarter before 4 am, I got in the line for general boarding. There were already people there waiting to board. It was a nice quiet ride up to Irvine. I reached my destination at about 20 minutes before 6 am. From there I drove into work. Even though I had to wake up at an ungodly hour to catch the train, it was still worth not having to drive all the way down to San Diego and back. I'm just getting too old for that sort of stuff. :)
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