Havasu Half Marathon 2023

Friday 4/14
I got ready and hit the road at about a quarter to 7. After about an hour and 15 minutes of driving, I rolled into Barstow to get a quick charge at the Tesla Supercharger. After plugging the car in for a charge, I thought about walking over to the nearby Starbucks to get a drink, but I decided to get just enough charge to ensure the car had enough juice to make it into Needles.

Barstow, CA

It has been a while since I've driven out to Needles. They had since built out 2 more charging locations. I opted for the Tesla Supercharger next to Wagon Wheel. This was as good a time as any to check out this restaurant. After plugging the car in for a full charge, I went inside. I made a quick stop at the restroom before getting a table to order some breakfast. After looking over their menu, I ordered their steak and eggs with grits, white toast, and coffee. I thought that the food was good and the service was great. This just might be a regular stop for me if I ever have to head out in this direction again. I paid for my meal by scanning the QR code on the check. I washed my hands before returning to the car.

Needles, CA

Wagon Wheel

Steak and eggs with grits, white toast, and coffee

As I got back to my car, I ended up having a chat with a long retired military guy who was quite chatty. He was also waiting for his Tesla to finish charging. He started talking to me because he noticed that I was wearing a Dodgers shirt. I think he followed the Yankees when Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris were battling for the home run crown. Maris would set a new record at 61 home runs, beating Babe Ruth's previous record of 60 home runs. Looks like he was an electrician. He explained to me the difference between alternating and direct current. Yeah, I remember learning all of that back in my undergraduate studies. We then got on the topic of how everything in CA has become so dang expensive. To which he told me that him and his wife had bought a place out in the nearby Mohave Valley and was in the middle of relocating. He also tried to guess my country of birth. He guessed China. Close, but not quite. Turned out that he has been to Taiwan. I always enjoy having conversations with someone that's much older.

I rolled into the Super 8 parking lot just after 11:30 am. That was too early to check into my room, so I decided to walk around and time how long it would take to walk over to the London Bridge Beach, where the race would start and finish. The walk took about 30 minutes. I tried to get an early check-in at about 12:30 pm, but the guy at the front desk told me that my room won't be ready until 3 pm. I then walked over to the nearby In-n-Out to get a drink and to pass some time.

London Bridge #COYS

Arnold Palmer

The Shoppes at the London Bridge

I returned at about 2 pm and my reserved room still wasn't ready. The guy told me that there was a room ready if I don't mind taking a room with 2 queen beds. That would be swell. I wasn't sure why a room with 1 bed was going to take longer to be ready. I was given room #302 on the third floor. The room was definitely showing its age. The door lock looked pretty new, but unfortunately the deadbolt wasn't properly aligned to the strike plate. I only had the swing bar latch to help secure the door. The air conditioner wouldn't turn on, but come to thing of it, that might have been a good thing since that area of the room smelled like someone's pet had done its business and they weren't able to clean out the odor. Both the bed sheets and towels were washed, but they had their stains that wouldn't wash out. Oh well, you get what you've paid for! It was one of the cheapest room rates in the area. I found a cleaner section of the sheets and took a nap.

Race packet pick-up was scheduled to start at 4:30 pm. It was starting to get mighty warm outside, so I decided to drive over. Picking up my race bib and shirt was really quick. The volunteer checked my ID and had me sign a waiver sheet before handing me my assigned bib. Before heading back to my room, I drove back to In-n-Out and joined the drive thru line to pick up dinner. I ordered the usual 2 Double Doubles, both with onions.

Race packet pick up

Race shirt

Double Double x2

After getting back to my room and finishing off the 2 burgers, I laid out my flat runner for tomorrow's race. I then took a shower and watched some TV including the usual Friday Night SmackDown before calling it a night.

Flat runner

Saturday 4/15
I didn't know when I would leave after the race, so as I got ready for the race, I also packed up everything so I could store my bags in the car. It was a pretty dark and quiet walk over to the start line. I ended up bumping into a guy named, Paul (bib #45), a retired law enforcement officer while walking across the London Bridge. We talked about that famous Baker to Vegas relay race. He was running the Lighthouse Challenge which included a 5k after running the half marathon. Since he will be running 2 races and I no longer drink alcohol, I gave him my beer ticket. Once we got to the start area, we went our separate ways.

After using a portapotty, I came across my race announcer friend, Rudy. After I said hi to him and grabbed a quick selfie, I found an empty bench for me to sit down. I stretched out the IT bands a bit as they were feeling a bit tight. I would venture to guess that my legs have not fully recovered from the REVEL Mt Charleston Marathon that I had run 2 weeks ago.

Race announcer Rudy

Start/Finish line

The race was scheduled to start at 6 am. As I was making my way into the starting corral, I heard someone call out my name. I was a bit surprised as I wasn't expecting to run into anyone I knew at this race. It was Brianne, a fellow perfect Disneyland Half Marathon legacy runner! I also ran into Ginny. I should've known that she would be here. She is fast closing in on half marathon #333, the minimum number required to qualify for the Half Fanatics Hall of Fame!

Brianne

Ginny

I positioned myself next to the 2 hour pacer (bib #1223 Nicholas). We started chatting and it would turn out that he works at the Rivian office on Jamboree in Irvine. That's pretty dang close to where I work! I told him that I would try and keep up with him for the first 8 miles. Shortly we were joined by a floating pacer (bib #1222 Daniel). The race announcer informed us that there would be a 10 minute delay as the course was not yet secured and ready. While we waited I had a brief chat with Kasey (bib #1233) from nearby Bullhead City. She told me that her and her friend were heading up to Laughlin right after the race for an event on Sunday. "There's no rest for the wicked," was what she told me! :)

After the national anthem was sung, the race started at 6:10 am. The first 2 miles felt okay. I thought it would be wise to take a walk break every 2 miles. However, when I started that third mile, my energy level plummeted. I tried to hang on to the tail end of the 2 hour group, but they just kept putting distance on me. The short steep climbs when we turned onto Kirk Dr and then Piper Dr brought me to a walk. This was just way too much struggling before even reaching mile 4!

Here we go!

Running along the Shoreline Trail was nice, but I was already running on fumes. The turnaround point went much farther than the last time that I had run this race. We didn't turnaround until about 7.7 miles. When I finally reached the steep climb up to the London Bridge Resort parking lot, I was pretty much wiped out! I had to take an extended walk break to try and regroup. After crossing the London Bridge for the 2nd time, I continued along McCulloch Blvd and hopped onto the Island Trail at about mile 9. That floating pacer really helped us out during this section. He was offering words of encouragement to everyone that he came across. That loop on that trail was about 3.7 miles which meant I only had about half a mile left to the finish line. While I was able to gradually speed up for the finish line, it wasn't much of a strong finish.

Running along the Shoreline Trail underneath the London Bridge

Finish: 2:16:53
Click here for my Garmin data.

Finish

After receiving my finisher medal and a bottle of water, I thanked that pacer for encouraging us out there. I then picked up a banana and looked for a nice shaded spot to eat that banana and drink the water. My legs were cramping up a bit.

Finisher medal, post race banana and water

Once I had recovered enough, I started heading back to the Super 8. The walk felt much longer after having run a half marathon. I grabbed my bags from the car and went up to my room to take a shower and rest a bit before driving home. Unfortunately, I caught the last parts of the Spurs v. Bournemouth match just as Danjuma scored the equalizing goal. The match was headed for a disappointing 2-2 draw, but with 6 mins added stoppage time, I knew that something Spursy was likely to happen. True to form, they let in a late goal at 5 mins into stoppage time, losing to the lowly Cherries.

Spurs v. Cherries

I then watched the first half of the Man City v. Leicester match before heading out. After dropping my room key off at the front desk, I hopped in the car and drove up to the same Tesla Supercharger in Needles. Even though I was planning to charge the car to almost 100%, I wasn't there too long since the battery wasn't even half empty. I made sure that I had enough charge to get into Victorville.

Needles, CA

It has been a while since I last had a pitstop in Victorville. It was just as I had remembered where it's a pain in the ass to make that turn onto Amargosa Rd after exiting the 15 freeway at Bear Valley Rd. Although I love to eat at the Cracker Barrel there, I decided to get something quicker at Ono Hawaiian BBQ after plugging in the car at the Tesla Supercharger. I ordered the kalbi short ribs plate. The guy told me that it would be about a 15 mins wait. That was fine since I had to wait a bit for the car to finish charging. I used their restroom and then found a table to wait for my food. It was shorter wait than 15 minutes. Thank goodness as my appetite definitely returned with a vengeance. I devoured everything rather quickly.

Victorville, CA

Kalbi short ribs plate

The rest of the drive was fine except for the section through the Cajon Pass. It was stop and go traffic. However there was even a little bit of drama when the traffic finally loosened up a bit. A few bikers on loud Harleys were driving recklessly while cutting through traffic. Somehow a CHP cruiser was able to corral 2 of them over to the side of the freeway. I saw a third biker that was able to get away as he slowed down and started looking behind for his friends.

Later that evening, I headed down to Fullerton to finally eat dinner at the Summit House. I've been wanting to come here for quite some time. I was supposed to meet up with my good friend, but she had to cancel last minute. Parking was scarce at the top as there was a wedding event. I opted to just park at the lower parking lot down by State College Blvd and walking up to the entrance via the ramp. I got there slightly earlier than my reservation to let them know that it'll only be a table for 1 instead of 2. The maitre d' made it sound like I would need to wait until closer to my original reservation time before my table will be ready, but after stepping outside for a brief second, it seemed like they were already looking for me as my table was ready. After being seated and having a chance to look over the menu, I got the Summit House cut prime rib and Summit House salad. I wasn't too fond of the salad, but the prime rib was not bad. I still prefer Gulliver's Restaurant down in Irvine. After I was done with meal, I did take a peek at the dessert menu, but my stomach was full. Maybe next time! I paid my bill and used their restroom before heading back down to my car. The parking lot down there reeked of pot. Well, other people besides restaurant goers do park there to use the East Coyote Hills Trail.

Summit House entrance

Dinner menu

View from my table

Bread

Summit House salad

Summit House cut prime rib

Dessert menu

REVEL Mt Charleston Marathon 2023

Friday 3/31
I would've liked to have made it all the way to Primm, NV, but I opted for a stop at the Tesla Supercharger in Baker, CA. I probably could've held my pee, but the car didn't think it had enough charge to get all the way there. After I plugged the car in for a charge, I used the restroom, and returned to the car to wait. It was a short wait as I only charged it enough to get me into Las Vegas.

Tesla Supercharger Baker, CA

I was planning to charge the car at the Tesla Supercharger at The LINQ, but first I stopped at the Cracker Barrel to get some breakfast. The place was pretty packed, but I didn't have to wait long before I was seated at a table. I ordered my usual Country boy breakfast with sirloin steak and my 2 sides were hash brown casserole and grits.

Country boy breakfast

After I was done and paid for my meal, I made my way over to the charging station at The LINQ. This will be one of the few times that I venture out to The Strip. I only come out here because the charging rate per kW is the lowest in the area. However, on top of the charging costs, only the first hour is free for Tesla drivers to be in this parking lot.

Tesla Supercharger The LINQ

After the car was done charging, I drove over to the World Market Center to pick up my race packet. I pulled into the parking structure and found a parking spot on the 3rd floor. As I opened the door to the elevators, I came across my friends from the Seattle area as well as a couple of snowbirds living out in Arizona. It was a quick hi and goodbye as we went our separate ways. I forgot where the race expo was so I guessed on going down to the ground floor. It turned out to be a good guess. From there, they had signs directing me to the entrance of the expo. It was a quick in and out procedure for me as I didn't see anything that interested me after picking up my race packet and finding my name on the participants name wall. I did bump into my friend Deo on the way out. He was waiting in line to take a picture.

World Market Center

Race shirt

Goodie bag contents

Participants name wall

After I was done with the race expo, I started heading back to my car. Along the way, I stopped at the restroom before getting into an elevator. From there I drove over to La Quinta over in Summerlin. I tried to check-in early, but the lady at the front desk was telling me that they were going to charge $20 if I want to check in before 1 pm. I asked her if I still had to pay for early check-in if I'm a Wyndham Diamond member. She said that she would need to talk to her manager. Since I wasn't in a hurry, I told her that that wasn't necessary, I'll just wait in the lobby until 1 pm. I spent most of that time checking work email. When 1 pm rolled around, I got my room keys from her. I went back to my car to get my bags and went up to my room. I was assigned room #418. I used the stairwell to get up to my floor. Coincidentally, it would turn out that the elevator on the western end of the building wasn't even working.

Once I got to my room and got situated, I went through my race packet and goodie bag to check out the contents. I also took the time to lay out my flat runner to make sure that I had everything for tomorrow's marathon. I hope that what I'll be wearing will be enough to keep me warm at the starting area before the start of the race!

Flat runner

After watching TV for a couple of hours, I went back out to pick up dinner. I opted for my usual McDonald's prerace meal. I placed my order ahead of time on the mobile app before driving over. I had selected picking up my food at the counter. However, once I had parked the car, I noticed that they had several signs on the doors saying that the lobby was closed and to use the drive-thru. I hopped back in my car and joined the long line of cars. Once I got up to the ordering speaker, I informed the guy that I was picking up my mobile order.

I enjoyed the 2 Quarter pounders with cheese back at my room. Both tasted fine. However, on some rare occasions, eating at McDonald's will give me late night diarrhea. This was one of those times. Thankfully, it wasn't too bad and I was able to go back to sleep.

Miraculous World: New York - United HeroeZ

Saturday 4/1
The marathon bus loading over at the Asurion Corporate Office off of Grand Montecito Pkwy was from 3:15 am to 4:15 am. Since it takes about 15 mins to get there, I timed my morning routine with a departure time of about 3 am. When I got there, I made the mistake of just following the car in front of me. It turned out that that person didn't know where to go, so we ended up turning onto Rome Blvd. I stopped following and turned right on Riley St and looped back around. This time, I turned in at the first parking lot entrance right after Rome Blvd. I found a nice spot near the southern end of the lot where I gathered my stuff and headed to the first bus in line. It was a smaller party bus with black lighting which caused everyone's running shoes to light up. I tried to catch a quick cat nap on the ride up to the starting area.

The driver informed us that the temperatures were in the lower 20's when we were dropped off at the starting area just shortly after 4 am. The staging area was in the parking lot of the Mt Charleston Lodge & Cabin. The race would start back up the road near the cul-de-sac. While hunkering down for the wait, there was a bunch of snow all around piled quite high which was not the case last year. The guy on the loud speaker took a break from playing music to inform us that in the week leading up to the race, they weren't even sure if the snow would melt enough for the course to be open for a race. It was only in the last few days where it became possible for the race to take place as planned. Still, there was plenty of snow all along the sides of the road. It was pretty much a snow wall. This made it difficult for the larger buses to make that turnaround.

Early morning shuttle ride

Fast Eddie

Lorinda

The race was scheduled to start at 6 am with the gear truck closing at 5:30 am. I was huddled together with my friend near the gear truck. She was nice enough to share the blanket with me. As 5:30 am approached, I finally took off my jacket and checked in my gear bag. I had a sudden urge to pee, so I headed back to the portapotties.

Gear check van

I was near the back of the pack of people heading up to the starting line at the cul-de-sac. I couldn't really feel my toes and my endurance was not quite where it needed to be for a marathon, so I went out at a modest pace. I wanted to take it easy for at least the first half marathon. Having run this race last year, I knew that there would be an incline during the loop through the Spring Mountains Visitor Gateway parking lot at around mile 5. I pulled over and took some pictures. I was then putting my phone away, but I wasn't really paying attention to where I was going. Well, I stumbled onto either a large rock, an ice block, or something else, which had me taking a dive into the gravel and rocks off to the side. I popped right back up, but my right hand and elbow took most of the damage. My right pinkie was quite bloodied. Thankfully, I always carry paper towel with me. I used it to stop the bleeding. My right knee and hip were also scratched up, but thankfully didn't break skin.

Near mile 5

Right before I tripped and fell

Stephanie near mile 16

Mile 23

During the last mile, I ended up chatting with a fellow runner that I had been leapfrogging for almost the entire race. When I told her that I had run a marathon in almost all 50 States, she asked which one I had run for Iowa. She was from New York and originally from Iowa. I told her that I ran the Wabash Trace Marathon and that it was nice running through the cornfields along the Wabash Trace Nature Trail. She told me that she was more into ultrarunning and had been attempting to get back into shape.

Last mile

Finish: 5:00:02
Click here for my Garmin data.

Well, that was a doozy. Even though I was not in the best of shape, I should've finished well under 5 hours. However given the circumstances, I'll gladly take this finish! After receiving my finisher medal, a bottle of water, and a bag of post race goodies, I made my way over to the medical tent to get my wounds cleaned up and bandaged.

Finisher medal

Post race goodies

Post race wound care

After getting my wounds taken care of, I went over to the sweet treat tent to pick up my donut. I don't have much of a sweet tooth, but I'll certainly have one after completing a marathon! I stopped over at the beer garden to give my beer ticket to my friend, but it looks like I had taken too long today and she had already left. I did find Eddie still there, so I gave the ticket to him instead.

Mmmm... donuts

Before heading out, I stopped by the results tent to get my race results printed out. I then headed over to get my bag that I had checked at the start. As I walked up, a volunteer had already found my bag and brought it over to me. I then headed over to the sidewalk to get in line for a shuttle ride back to my car. While waiting in line, I was handed a gospel tract.

Gospel tract

Back at my room, it was pretty uncomfortable taking a shower. The cuts on my finger and elbow stung a little. To make things worse, the water wouldn't stay hot. I ended up taking a partial cold shower. I vegged out a bit until my appetite returned around 3 pm. I eventually rolled out of bed and drove over to the nearby In-n-Out to pick up an early dinner. Per the usual with practically any In-n-Out restaurant, there was a long line for the drive-thru. The parking lot was also full, so I got into the drive-thru queue. Once it was my turn, I ordered 2 Double Doubles, both with onions, and a Neapolitan shake. When I got to the window to pay for my food, I asked if I could use tap pay. The employee said yes, but kept wanting me to select my payment on the phone first to which I responded telling her to just tap her point of sale device with my unlocked phone and it'll automatically default to it. She told me that that was her first time seeing any mobile device do that.

Back at my room, I started streaming part one of Wrestlemania which started at 5pm. I tuned in early and watched the pre-show build-up and commentary while eating my dinner. It was quite an entertaining first night of Wrestlemania. It was great to finally see Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn defeat the Usos to become the new undisputed tag team champions.

In-n-Out drive-thru

Double Double x2 and Neapolitan shake

Sunday 4/2
I got up at about 5 am just a few minutes ahead of my alarm. While packing up and getting ready, I watched Premier League Mornings as well as the first half of the West Ham v. Southampton match. I dropped off the room keys at the front desk before hitting the road. Originally, I had to planned to charge the car full at the Tesla Supercharger at either the Las Vegas North Premium Outlet or again at The LINQ. It was 16 cents per kW before 8 am at both locations. Eventually, I opted for neither and drove down to the Tesla Supercharger at Primm. It was 26 cents per kW, but I could get breakfast at McDonald's while I waited. Those other 2 locations did not have any convenient options.

West Ham v. Southampton

Tesla Supercharger Primm, NV

When I arrived at Primm and had plugged the car in, I placed my order on the mobile app for a sausage egg McMuffin sandwich and a large coffee for 99 cents before walking over. The place was pretty packed inside with a long queue of cars in the drive thru. When I got my food and sat down to eat it, I noticed that the traffic on the freeway heading south was at a crawl. That's rather unusual. Once I was done with my food, I used the restroom before heading back to my car. I would then join that long queue of cars. It took forever just to even turn onto the freeway. There must have been a major accident. However, I never saw any indication of one. My only other guess would be something had happened at the inspection checkpoint that required a temporary shutdown. Thankfully, once the traffic started moving, there wasn't any other delay for the rest of the drive home.

Sausage egg McMuffin and coffee

Beep beep! Road runner in the drive thru!

Long slow moving queue to get on the 15 south

Wednesday 4/5
So this morning, I found a hotel charge on my credit card. Even though I had booked my stay with Wyndham Reward points, they went ahead and charged me for the stay. I gave them a call and the guy that I spoke to said that he'll have his manager call me back later in the afternoon. At about 12:30 pm, I received that call back and was also emailed a new hotel folio to show that I was charged and then issued a refund. I was told that I should see the refund within 3-5 business days.