NYRR Training Series 12M 2018

Friday 7/20
I took an early morning JetBlue flight out of LAX. I gave up trying to find a spot in parking lot C, so I used SpotHero to reserve covered self parking at the WallyPark Premier parking garage. The gate attendant was very courteous when I arrived to get my entrance ticket. When he found out that it was my first time, he instructed me to park in a spot up on the 4th or 5th floor. The first thing that I noticed about this place was that they had padded cloth barriers between parking spots to prevent dings. After I found a spot, I took the elevator down to catch the shuttle to the terminals.

Once I boarded my flight and got seated, I connected and signed into the complimentary WiFi, called Fly-Fi. Before taking a snooze, I decided to watch Red Sparrow. I thought it was a pretty decent story with a nice plot twist thrown in, but some of it was quite bloody and disturbing even for the airplane edited version!

Red Sparrow

After landing at JFK airport and getting off of the plane, I made my way over to the AirTrain. Although I prefer going to Howard Beach, the first one that arrived was headed to Jamaica Station which was what I took. Fortunately I still had plenty of money on my MTA card. I was able to skip the long lines to put money on my MTA card to pay for the AirTrain ride ($5). I took the E train over to 7th Ave Station and walked over to the NYRR Runcenter to pick up my bib for tomorrow's race. The premium for this race was a pair of New Balance socks. I like that NYRR gives out useful items besides the usual race t-shirt. I have enough shirts to last me many lifetimes.

After I was done with that, I headed down to 50th St to check into my hotel. For this trip, I booked a room at the Amsterdam Court Hotel. The reviews for this hotel were average. I booked it because of several reasons. It was rather inexpensive, I had 1 night free on Hotels.com, and I wanted to stay near Central Park this time. Now that I'm a WorldMark by Wyndham owner, I'm trying to wean myself off of Hotels.com and other hotel chains to switch exclusively over to Wyndham properties. Unfortunately during this process I will have to endure sub-par hotels such as this property. The room was incredibly tiny, barely large enough to hold the queen sized bed. Besides the bed, there were two nightstands and pretty much nothing else. There were no chair, table, desk, or even a folding rack to place your baggage. The bathroom was also very tiny. It was so tiny that there was barely a spot for me to put my toiletries and I was constantly bumping into something. However they did have vegetable soap! It was actually nice to use since it didn't dry the heck out of my hands like normal soap.

For dinner, I went to a nearby McDonald's. It has been really hard to pass up such great deals that they've been having on their app! I got a free bacon, egg & cheese biscuit sandwich with the purchase of a $1 cheese burger. I placed a second order for another $1 cheese burger which qualified me for a free order of medium french fries. I took that back to my room.

Free bacon, egg & cheese biscuit sandwich with $1 purchase cheese burger

Free medium fries with $1 purchase cheese burger

After finishing my second McDonald's meal back at my room, I went back out to the nearby Duane Reade to buy some drinks and snacks. I ended up buying a bag of veggie chips which was okay, but tasted a bit too healthy. I snacked on the chips while watching a boxing match on ESPN. I also took the time to lay out my flat runner for tomorrow's race. Originally I thought about buying a bottle of the usual Powerade, but eventually decided to use up my remaining Nuun tablets.

Veggie chips

Alexis Bastar vs Rigoberto Nava

Flat runner

Saturday 7/21
I got ready and took the C train up to 103rd St station. From there I walked with a bunch of other race participants over to the starting area on East Dr. I got there in time to use a portapotty before getting into the corral for the 7 am start time.

Start line

That first mile was surprisingly congested and very slow. I ended up following the pacer that was holding the 7:37 min per mile sign as she carved through the crowd. Once it wasn't as congested, she took off as I maintained about an 8:20 min per mile pace. I thought I could keep that pace for at least 6 miles, but I had to fall back to plan B after the 3rd mile. I was feeling hungry, hot, and out-of-shape. It felt a lot like the second half of a marathon. Since this was a training run, I decided it was best to start taking walk breaks every time I reached another mile marker. I could definitely feel the tightness all throughout my left leg, the glute, hamstring, and calf. Eventually my left foot would cramp up. I had to jog and walk a bit just to get the foot cramps to go away. As I was jogging to the finish line I finally noticed the panther/mountain lion statue aka Still Hunt off to the side on East Dr. I guess that's why it's appropriately named cat hill.

Finish line

Finish: 1:54:58
Click here for my Garmin data.

Completed NYRR race #6 of 9.

Given my recent times for the half marathon, I was expecting to finish under 1:50. However I was really slowed down by the warm weather and tightness in my left leg which eventually led to a foot cramp. I actually had to work pretty hard just to finish where I finished.

After eating a bagel and drinking some water, I headed back to the 103rd station to take the subway back to my hotel. Unfortunately they were doing a bunch of track work during the weekend, so the train did not stop at 50th St. I had a choice to get off at 59th St - Columbus Circle or 42nd St - Port Authority. I chose the latter and headed up to the hotel.

After taking a shower, I quickly hoofed it up to the NYRR Runcenter to meet up with a local friend. I gave him the gift certificate that I had won at the last race. I was glad that it would get used instead of going to waste. It was good catching up with him.

On the way back to my room, I stopped by McDonald's to pick up lunch. I used the app to order a $1 McDouble and a Happy Meal since I saw that a kid had gotten Frozone for his toy. My set is almost complete. I'm still missing Dash and the second version of Jack Jack. :)

$1 McDouble plus Happy Meal

Frozone

I watched a little bit of The Open Championship before walking down to the AMC Empire 25 to catch an afternoon showing of Skyscraper. The Rock has come a long way since the Scorpion King. His acting has definitely gotten better. Although the movie was entirely predictable and quite cheesy at times, it was still incredibly entertaining.

Skyscraper

I stopped in at the Duane Reade on the way back from the movies to pick up some drinks. I was definitely thirstier after running that 12 miler. I probably shouldn't have bought the can of Green Tea as it gave me a little stomach ache. I've been pretty successful at weaning myself off of all sugary drinks. The only exception would be the Powerade or other sports drinks during a marathon.

Drinks

Once again, the McDonald's app was having issues. I finally gave up and placed my order with one of the cashiers. Fortunately the app was still able to display the discount QR code for $3 off an order of $10 or more. I used that to order the Filet-o-Fish and Quarter Pounder with Cheese.

Filet o' fish and Quarter Pounder with cheese

Back at my room, I watched some of the Star Wars marathon that was showing on TNT. I caught some of the Return of The Jedi and most of The Force Awakens. There were a lot of good dialogue in ROTJ between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker as well as the Emperor and Luke Skywalker. I still think TFA was a pretty good film if it wasn't just a rehash of A New Hope.

The Force Awakens

Sunday 7/22
I walked over to the McDonald's one last time for some breakfast. Thankfully the app was working this morning. I used it for the buy 1 Egg McMuffin, get 1 free deal. I checked out of my room early, just a little after 9 am to go catch the morning showing of The Equalizer 2. It turned out that the movie theater didn't open until 9:30 am, so I had to wait outside for about 15 minutes. The MoviePass app said that I was able to watch the 10 am showing, but it was listed as an IMAX feature film. With all of the recent changes, I'm not quite sure which type of movies I'm limited to see. I think the reviews were pretty bad for this sequel, but I thought it was okay. I've certainly seen much worse.

Buy 1 Egg McMuffin, get 1 free

As soon as the movie ended, I got out of theater and headed straight for the nearby Port Authority subway station to head for the airport. Originally I was going to take the E train over to Jamaica Station, but there were no E trains running out of this station. So I quickly switched over to the other platform to catch the A train to Howard Beach. The first train that arrived was an express train headed to Lefferts Blvd. I rode that until Rockaway Blvd station where I got off to catch a train heading to Far Rockaway. I got off at Howard Beach and took the AirTrain over to terminal 5.

One of the things that's starting to annoy me about flying with JetBlue is that your screen controls are on the armrest. Every one of my row-mate sitting next to me would constantly hit the controls and be oblivious about it. They've all looked confused when I tell them to stop touching my controls. Virgin America planes have the controls in the armrest as well, but at least the controls are protected by a cover to prevent the buttons from being accidentally pressed. Anyways the guy sitting next to me was one of those nightmare passengers. Not only did he constantly change the channel or volume for my screen, but he was a messy eater, frequently got up to go to use the lavatory, and constantly moving around bumping me every now and then when I'm trying to sleep. I eventually gave up on trying to catch some Z's and ended up watching the Star Wars marathon.

"You're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."

The plane landed a bit early at LAX. Fortunately there was an available gate so we didn't have to wait forever on the tarmac for an open gate. After deplaning, I walked over to the curb on the upper departure level to catch a shuttle back to the parking structure. I didn't have to wait too long before a shuttle arrived. Thank goodness because the pickup spot was right next to the designated smoking area. Once I was dropped off at the parking structure, I went to the front desk with my entrance ticket and the printout of my reservation confirmation email. The lady then printed out an exit ticket for me to use to get out of the structure. The direction to the exit was very well marked. I just might have to keep using this parking structure in the future.

Achilles Hope & Possibility 4M 2018

Thursday 6/21
After work, I drove up to LAX to catch a JetBlue flight over to JFK. I made pretty good time and arrived much earlier than expected, so I decided to stop by the nearby In-n-Out to grab a quick meal before parking the car and heading to the terminal. Since parking is either really tight or scarce at this location, I got into the drive-thru line which is perpetually long. Thank goodness their drive-thru operation was a well-oiled machine. They had a guy outside taking orders and the line moved fairly quickly. By the time I got to the first window to pay, my Double Double and vanilla shake was ready for me.

In-n-Out

After getting my food, I drove over to the WallyPark Express located at the corner of Sepulveda Blvd and 96th St. To avoid having to search for a parking lot with available spots, I used Spot Hero to reserve parking here. The whole parking process here was a bit confusing as there was no instructions posted anywhere. So even though I had prepaid ahead of time, I still had to take a parking ticket upon entering the lot. I then had to find a spot to park that's not reserved for valet parking. Then you get on the shuttle that's parked kind of close to the building next to the entrance. It'll be the first shuttle in a line of shuttles.

During the flight I re-watched The Incredibles. I definitely had forgotten a lot about this movie. I recall it being a good Disney movie, but it just wasn't among my favorites. This might have been only my second time viewing this movie.

Friday 6/22
The plane landed at about 5 am. I took the AirTrain over to Howard Beach. I'm starting to prefer going here instead of Jamaica Station. From there I took the A Train into Midtown Manhattan. Per my usual routine, I ate the full Irish breakfast and drank several cups of coffee at the Connolly's on W 45th St.

Full Irish breakfast

After my meal, I walked over to the NYRR Run Center on 57th St to pick up my bib and race shirt. I thought about using one of the lockers to store my bags, but I don't think they were big enough to hold both of them.

Bib

Race shirt

I then walked over to the AMC Empire 25 on 42nd St to catch a morning showing of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. When it was time to check-in on my MoviePass app, I had a hard time getting my phone to cooperate. Apparently my phone was lagging pretty badly because it was doing updates. Thankfully I was able to get it going in time to buy the ticket at one of the kiosks.

Here's the normal Jurassic Park/World movie formula:

1. The dinosaurs would be on display or running loose on an island.
2. Annoying kids show up.
3. Dinosaurs escape their enclosures.
4. Make sure the audience knows that velociraptors are very intelligent creatures.
5. T-Rex likes to roar very loud for a long duration of time for no apparent reason.
6. Dinosaurs manages to kill everyone very easily except those annoying kids and the other main characters.
7. Everyone escapes the island.

Well, I'm glad that for the most part, they finally moved away from that overused tired formula for a story. Still, without giving anything away, I didn't think that the story was all that great. It was still about the greediness of man and it was quite predictable with little suspense. I think it's time to retire this movie franchise. However I don't see that happening since it probably will bring in about a gazillion dollars.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

After the movie, I took the subway down to Wall St. Since it wasn't yet time to check-in, I decided to walk around a bit. While heading over to the Oculus, I came across a bunch of food trucks and various vendors all along Liberty St between Trinity Pl and Broadway. Some of the food smelled really good! I checked out the Oculus which turned out to be a huge mall/transportation hub, kind of a sleek modern equivalent of the Grand Central Terminal. I noticed that there was a huge line at the entrance of the adjacent September 11 Museum. I will have to consider visiting that museum in one of my future trips. I also checked out The Trump Building on Wall St since it was just around the corner of where I was staying.

Oculus

The Trump Building

Since this was my third time staying at this hotel in the past 2 months, I had the check-in routine down. It was an hour before check-in time, but I was able to get checked-in and get my room keys by using one of the kiosks in the lobby. I was assigned the room next door to where I was staying last weekend. This room was a tad smaller, but it had way more window. The large window almost took up an entire wall. I unpacked, took a shower, and proceeded to watch the World Cup match between Serbia and Switzerland. I might have dozed off a bit.

Club Quarters

View from room

For dinner, I walked over to the usual nearby McDonald's for a couple of burgers. I used the mobile app to buy 1 Quarter Pounder with cheese and get another 1 for $1.

Buy 1 Quarter Pounder with cheese, get 1 for $1

Saturday 6/23
I woke up early to go volunteer for the Front Runner LGBT Pride Run 5 Miler. I was registered for post race amenities. I missed the local train at the Wall St station, so I hopped on the following 5 express train heading uptown. Unfortunately the express train doesn't stop at 96th or 103rd St, so I got off at 86th St and walked up to 102nd St. From there it was a short walk over to the volunteer check-in location at the North Meadow Softball Field 8. During check-in, we were given a loaner reflective vest to wear, a rain poncho in case it rained, and a volunteer cap to keep. There was also coffee and bottled water.

After some initial introductions and instructions, we went straight to work. We were tasked to set up the post race aid station. We set up 3 layers of water cups. Shortly after the race started and the last runner went by, I was pulled by the finish line volunteer leader along with 5 other volunteers to be assigned to follow one of the top 3 finishers for both male and female. I got to guide the second place female finisher through the finisher chute over to the post race festivities so she could be given her award. That was an unexpected task that turned out to be a pretty cool experience. Then after that task was done, I returned to the aid station to hand out rainbow colored bagels to the finishers. After pretty much all of the runners had gone through, the remaining bagels were given out to whomever wanted them. We also helped pour out the water in the remaining cups that were not handed out. There was one table left for the stragglers. After that we were instructed to go back to the volunteer tent to check-out and return our vests.

Volunteer check-in

Volunteer cap

After I was done with my volunteer shift, I headed over to the 103rd St station to take the subway back to my hotel. Unfortunately they were doing track work, so there were no trains running South at that station. We were instructed to take a northbound train up to 125th St and from there take an express train heading South.

I was able to catch the Mexico vs. South Korea World Cup match back at my room. The game ended with Mexico winning 2-1. After the match, I walked over to McDonald's to pick up lunch. I used the app to get free medium fries with the purchase of a Quarter Pounder with cheese.

Buy 1 Quarter Pounder with cheese, get free medium french fries

After eating lunch, it was time to watch some more World Cup soccer. The 2 pm game was between Germany and Sweden. Germany shouldn't have won that game, but they did, scoring 2-1! Kroos was able to score the winning goal during stoppage time shortly before the match ended. The way that they played, they would've been very fortunate to end with a tie. Oh well, such is sports!

I was pretty tired, so I stayed in my room for the rest of the day. I only went back out to pick up a dinner at McDonald's again. I used the app this time to buy 1 large fries and get 1 free deal. I also decided to get a Happy Meal since they currently had the Incredibles 2 toys.

Buy 1 large fries, get 1 free

After dinner, I laid out my flat runner for tomorrow's 4 miler. It would be my first time running a race of that distance. The weather forecast looked to be humid for race day, so I was glad that it wasn't a longer race.

Flat runner

Sunday 6/24
This was one of the later starting races that I've run. It had a scheduled starting time of 9 am. It felt good to sleep in a bit and not have to wake up at dark o'clock. I took the subway over to Lexington Av - 59th St. From there I walked over to the Balto statue which was really close to the start of the race. There's so many cool things to see in Central Park!

Balto

After taking a picture of Balto, I walked over to the starting area and found a bench to sit down. I waited there until it was almost time to head into the corrals. Before entering the corral, I first used a nearby portapotty. An old high school friend found me near the corrals. Even though he was assigned a faster corral, he decided to start the race with me.

Start line

Since I've never raced a 4 miler, I decide to run it the same way that I would run a 5k. My goal was to keep every mile at or slightly under 8 mins and try to keep up with my friend. The first mile was kind of congested, but I was able to stay fairly close behind my friend. It was nearly impossible to run together. I covered the first mile in 7:35. The second mile was slightly downhill, so I covered it in 7:15. The third mile had a lot of rollers. Between that and the humidity, I was feeling pretty worn out. I couldn't keep up with my friend as my pace dropped, covering the third mile in 8:10. Thank goodness the course finished on a slight downhill. It felt like a bit of a struggle, but I was able to finish that final mile in 7:54.

Finish line

Finish: 30:59
Click here for my Garmin data.

Completed NYRR race #5 of 9. I only have 4 more races to go to secure my spot for the NYC Marathon in 2019! It was nice to take care 1 more race and the volunteering requirement all on the same weekend!

After crossing the finish line, I got a finisher medal. I actually wasn't expecting to receive one for a race of this distance. Then further down the finisher chute, I got the usual apple, bagel, and water. My friend was waiting for me at the end of the finisher chute.

Finisher medal

Apple and bagel

The finisher chute funneled us over to the celebration area at the Naumburg Bandshell. From there my friend went off to do his cool-down run and I stuck around to enter the drawing. I found a spot on a bench to eat my apple and bagel. There was a ballet performance before and during the prize drawing. I wasn't quite paying attention during the drawing since I never win anything. It took me an extra second or two for my mind to register that they had called my number for one of the prizes! I won a certificate for $100 off a CATS' Sport Development Class. Since I don't have kids or even live in the area, I'm going to give it to one of my friends that live in New York. I'm sure he could use it.

Winner!

After the conclusion of the drawing, I walked back to the Lexington Ave - 59th St station to take the subway back to my hotel. After I got back to my room and got cleaned up, I watched the Japan vs. Senegal World Cup match which ended in a 2-2 draw.

After the match, I headed over to check out The Dead Rabbit over on Water St near Broad St. It was my first time coming here and probably like many others, I came here because of the name. There looked to be 3 floors (the taproom, the parlor, and the occasional). I stopped in at the taproom on the first floor. It looked to be a nice spot for a drink. For a second it actually made me kind of wish that I still drank alcohol. So why was I here? Food! After finding a seat at the end of the bar, I looked over their menu and ordered their full Irish Breakfast. It was a bit pricey, but good. I would say that it was one of best on this side of the pond, so it was worth it!

Dead rabbit

Full Irish breakfast

After paying my bill, I went back to my room to catch yet another World Cup match. On the way back, I was stopped by someone asking me for directions to the ferry. I guess I'm starting to look or behave like a local and yes, I knew how to get to the ferry. The match between Poland vs. Colombia ended with Colombia winning 3-0.

For dinner, I went one last time to McDonald's to pick up some food. I ordered a Filet o' Fish sandwich and a Quarter Pounder with cheese which allowed me to use the $2 off mobile order of $10 or more deal.

$2 off mobile order of $10 or more

Monday 6/25
After checking out of my room at around 11 am, I took the subway up to the Go Go Curry on 38th to eat an early lunch. I got the usual Grand Slam with fukujinzuke. It was more than enough food to tide me over until the next day.

Grand Slam

After finishing my meal, I walked over to the nearby AMC Empire 25 to watch Gotti. Although I love a movie based off of a true story, I thought this movie did too much to glorify John Gotti and the gangster life. I was never a fan of John Travolta's acting. This movie further solidified my dislike for his work as he wasn't very convincing in portraying his character. It certainly made me appreciate the brilliance of the Godfather movies even more.

Gotti

After the movie, I took the E Train from the 42nd St - Port Authority Station over to the Sutphin Blvd/Archer Ave/JFK station in Jamaica. From there I took the AirTrain over to JFK Airport. I made it there with plenty of time to spare. I guess it's better to be there extra early than to be stuck on a subway train with no electricity like during one of my previous trips. I took the time to finish off the rest of my water before heading into the TSA screening line.

While waiting in the terminal for my flight home, I noticed that the sole of my shoes was falling apart. I guess it's time to retire this pair from even being a kick-around shoe! I supposed I could reattach it with glue, but what a piece of junk. I will probably never buy another pair of Nike shoes.

Junky Nike shoe falling apart!

The plane landed at LAX at a little after 12:30 am. Based on the sign that I saw at the parking lot, I headed to the arrivals lower level to wait under the red hotel shuttles sign. Unfortunately just as I got there, I saw that a WallyPark shuttle had just left. So I waited for about 15 minutes before I saw another shuttle came by except the driver was in the furthest lane possible. It definitely didn't look like he/she was making any pick-ups. I'm not even sure if I needed to call for them to send a shuttle. I was tired, it was quite late, and I didn't feel like just standing there for a shuttle that may never show up, so I decided to walk over to the lot. It was a nice quiet walk and thank goodness I wasn't harassed by anyone this time. I walked to my car, threw my stuff in the trunk, and drove over to the exit except there wasn't anybody manning the gate. So I drove over to their main building and asked someone for help. She saw that I had used Spot Hero for the parking reservation, so she asked me how much I had paid. I had to pull up my email to verify that I had paid $86.30 which came out to $17.26 per day. After that she opened the gate for me to exit.