The last time I ran this race was back in 2021 when it was held in the first week of June. The conditions were not ideal as the temperature had gotten into the mid 90s before I crossed the finish line! I started my road trip at about 6:30 am. Even with the longer battery range, I still opted to get a charge in Barstow. I got a charge at the Tesla Supercharger Lenwood Rd location instead of the newer nearby Tanger Way station. Although the newer station had 70 superchargers, it was located all the way on the other side of the outlets. It was also one of the stations that was opened to non-Tesla vehicles.
Tesla Supercharger Lenwood Rd, Barstow, CA
Per the usual, after plugging the car in for a charge, I walked over to the nearby Starbucks to get some coffee. I ordered a grande pistachio latte on the mobile app and then used the restroom before going over to the counter to wait for my drink. Once I got my drink, I walked back to the car to wait for it to finish charging.
Grande pistachio latte
Normally, I would prefer to stop at Primm for my next pit stop. However, this time I decided to continue on until I rolled into Las Vegas. It wasn't quite Las Vegas, but I decided to exit at St Rose Parkway and charge the car at the Tesla Supercharger station located in the M Resort parking lot. Even though the onboard navigation had directed me to head left at the fork to enter the parking lot, that entrance was actually fenced off. I made a u-turn to enter from the other end. After plugging in the car for a charge, I walked over to the M Resort to check it out and to use their restroom. The last time I was here was back in December of 2013 to eat at the Studio B Buffet after running the Hoover Dam Marathon. Well, that buffet no longer exists. From this article, it would appear that it did not survive the COVID pandemic. I did check out Anthony's Prime Steak and Seafood. Besides opening for only dinner from 5 pm - 10 pm daily, they do have a brunch buffet on Sundays from 11 am - 1:30 pm. I'm always up for a nice surf & turf, so I just might have to come back here for a meal on my next race in the Vegas area. After I was done checking the place out, I walked back to the car.
M Resort
Tesla Supercharger M Resort, Henderson, NV
Old school phone booth
Take a seat
Anthony's Prime Steak & Seafood
The next leg took me out to St George, UT. Per the usual, I really enjoyed driving this picturesque stretch through the Virgin River Gorge and Canyon! I exited the freeway at Dixie Dr and headed for the Tesla Supercharger station. The station was pretty packed, but I was able to pull into one of the remaining vacant stalls. After plugging the car in for a charge, I walked over to the adjacent Cracker Barrel to get lunch. Before getting a table, I went to use the restroom. Once I was seated, I ordered the usual Country Boy Breakfast with hash brown casserole and grits as my 2 sides.
Tesla Supercharger St George, UT
Country Boy Breakfast
After I was done with my meal and paid my bill, I continued on with the short remaining drive up to Hurricane, Utah to check into the Super 8. I arrived at the motel just after 3 pm. I exited the car to be greeted by a very strong gust of wind. I guess that was why I saw some tumble weeds along the way here. I checked in and was assigned room #214. I had reserved a suite as it was same price as a regular room for a WorldMark owner. It was nice to finally reach my destination and relax a bit. Race packet pick-up wasn't scheduled to start until 5 pm and since my friends were going to roll in around 5:15 pm, I decided to time it so that I would get there around the same time. I passed the time by watching some episodes of Bob's Burgers.
Super 8 Hurricane, UT
Bob's Burgers S13E22: Amelia
Bob's Burgers S1E3: Sacred Cow
When I drove over for packet pick-up, I parked in the small lot at the corner of State St and 100 W St. They had already closed the gate so that vehicles could not drive any further south from that point. Just as I was getting out of my car, I saw my friends pulling into the same lot. It was still pretty windy outside, but I waited for them before heading over to the Hurricane City Leisure & Recreation Center.
Race shirt
Back of race shirt
Drawstring bag
Goodie bag contents
Robert & Karen
After we got our race packet, we went our separate ways. My friends were staying a bit further away and had packed their own dinner. For me, I drove over to the nearby Wendy's to grab a few burgers. Fortunately for me, they had a current mobile app deal with the Dave's Single for $1 and Double for $2. The deal required a purchase, so I got their Jr Cheeseburger Deluxe to go with the Dave's Double. I took my food back to my room to enjoy while watching more episodes of Bob's Burgers.
Dave's Double for $2
Jr Cheeseburger Deluxe
Bob's Burgers S1E6, Sheesh! Cab, Bob?
After finishing dinner, I laid out my flat runner for tomorrow's marathon. The Gatorade Zero with Protein drink powder was a mistake as it was a couple years past the expiration date and it was super thick when I mixed it with water. I ended up pouring it out since I didn't want to chance it with the packaging stating that it contained milk ingredients. Eventually, I just opted for plain old water. I then took a shower and watched the usual Friday Night SmackDown before calling it a night.
Flat runner
Saturday 3/9
I got ready and was planning to head over to the starting area at about 6 am. Unfortunately, I had a total brain fart moment. I left both of the room keycards in my room and shut the door only to realize that I had forgotten my backpack. I loaded my bag into the car and headed over to the lobby to wake up the hotel manager. It took a couple of calls on the telephone before he woke up to get me another keycard. That little snafu led to me arriving at the starting area at about 6:30 am. I guess that's why I always prepare to arrive very early in case something unforeseen or stupid happens.
Latino Heat
I started the race hoping to maintain approximately a 4:30 marathon pace. However, eventually Robert and I just ran together at whatever pace that both of us could handle. For the most part, I was a tad faster than him on the uphill sections, but he would catch up to me on the downhill sections. Eventually, he had to take a portapotty stop, so I went on ahead exiting the Southern Parkway at Sand Hollow Rd at about mile 11. I reached the halfway and turnaround point on Dixie Springs Rd in just over 2:01 which was ahead of my desired goal time.
Turning onto Sand Hollow Rd nearing mile 11
I slowed the pace down and started to take walk breaks so that I didn't overexert myself. Eventually, Robert caught up to me. We were going back and forth with each other, but for the most part, we stuck together. I would run ahead on the uphill sections and he would catch me on the downhill sections. My right hip did not like the downhill and any little road camber. I could only keep up with him until mile 22 before I had to start taking walk breaks. There wasn't much cover from the sun, so I was definitely starting to overheat a bit. Eventually, I caught up to him at about mile 25. Even though my left foot was threatening to cramp up, we stuck together for that final run in to the finish line.
Long uphill climb
Headed to the finish line
Running in stride together
Finish: 4:23:18
Click here for my Garmin data.
Shortly after crossing the finish line, we were given our finisher medal and a printout of our results. My friend placed first in his age group while I finished fourth in mine. We then made our way inside the rec center to get some post race drinks. He opted for soda while I poured a cup of the chocolate milk. After going over how our races went, we started heading out to our cars.
Finisher medal
Post race chocolate milk
It was a pretty uneventful drive down to Las Vegas. However, along the way I did get passed by a very speedy black BMW with the plates, LUCIFER, in the section through the Virgin River Gorge. I rolled into the Vegas area after about 2 hours of driving. The first thing I needed to do was to check out Zippy's as it had finally made it to Hawaii's ninth island, Las Vegas. I found the parking lot to be very crowded. I was quite fortunate to come across a vacant spot. Once I went through the entrance, I found that the place inside was much bigger than I had expected! There was a take-out line to the left, a bakery line straight ahead, and a line on the right for those wanting to dine-in. I was hoping to skip the long wait and get a seat at their counter. When I checked in and left my cellphone number, I wasn't sure if she thought that I wanted a table. It ended up being about a 45 min wait after I went back up to check with her again to see if I could get a seat at the counter. From the counter, I got to see how chaotically busy it was! I ordered their Meat Lover's Breakfast with eggs sunny side up. About 10 minutes later, it was brought to me with eggs over easy. The server had entered it wrong. It took about another 5 minutes for the cook to correct that mistake. Eating at a Zippy's in Las Vegas was about the same as eating at a Cracker Barrel in Las Vegas. There was just too many uninitiated people coming here purely for the sake of it being a popular establishment. There's nothing particularly good about Zippy's. It's barely a step above a McDonald's over in Hawaii. So if you're not already a fan, there's nothing here that's a "must eat" for you. Most likely you won't appreciate it or get why it's so popular.
Meat Lover's Breakfast
After finishing my meal and settling the bill, I started my drive up to the Craig Marketplace to charge up the car at the Tesla Supercharger station. Along the way up there, I came across a black Mercedes with the plates, MESAIAH. I had to chuckle as I had seen Lucifer earlier. Originally, I was planning to wake up early tomorrow to charge up the car when the kW rates were significantly cheaper. However, the screen showed that it was already that low at this particular location. I have found that they tend to do that to get people to charge at newer locations.
Tesla Supercharger Craig Rd, Las Vegas, NV
While waiting for the car to finish charging, I opted to go get a drink over at the stand alone Starbucks that was located right next to Craig Rd. I tend to avoid those that are located inside a Target or supermarket. On the mobile app, I ordered one of my usual go-to drinks, a grande salted caramel cream cold brew. I used one of their restrooms before waiting at the pick up counter for my drink. Once I got my drink, I found an open table where I enjoyed my drink while catching up on social media.
Starbucks
Grande salted caramel cream cold brew
After I was done with my drink, I walked back to my car. Once it was done charging, I headed down a few blocks to check into the La Quinta Las Vegas Summerlin Tech for just a one night stay. When I checked in, I was assigned to room #219. I relaxed a bit in my room before going back out to pick up dinner.
I placed an online order for dinner at the nearby Jollibee that had just recently opened in the Cheyenne Commons shopping plaza. The pick-up time was scheduled for about 6 pm. My order was for the usual 2 pcs Chickenjoy palabok fiesta with pineapple quencher. I also added an ube pie as they don't always have those year round. It was somewhat of a lengthy wait as the entire staff looked to be mostly preoccupied with the drive-thru orders. Eventually, I got my food and took it back to my room to enjoy.
2 pcs Chickenjoy palabok fiesta with pineapple quencher and ube pie
Sunday 3/10
I woke up early to catch the Aston Villa v. Spurs match that started at 6 am. With the beginning of daylight saving time and losing an hour, it was equivalent to a 5 am match. I caught the first half of the match before heading down to the lobby to grab some breakfast. I thought about eating it down there, but eventually just took it back up to my room. While the first half went scoreless, the second half had the Spurs netting 2 quick goals in succession, the first one from Maddison and the second one from Brennan Johnson. It was later followed by a clear red card challenge by John McGinn. Not sure why he was even complaining about that red card! That didn't lead to more goals right away. It wasn't until stoppage time where the Spurs scored 2 more goals, one from Heung-Min Son and another from Timo Werner. The match ended with the Spurs winning 4 nil.
Hotel breakfast
Villa v. Spurs
Madders
Eventually, I packed up my stuff, got ready to leave, and dropped off my keycards at the front desk before hopping into the car for the drive home. I hit the road at about 8:15 am. While I should have just enough juice to get all the way home, I didn't want to bring the car back on empty, so I ended up getting off in Hesperia for a pitstop at the Tesla Supercharger located in the Highway Desert Gateway parking lot. When I was plugging in the car for a charge, I thought it was pretty cool to see the snow-capped mountains off in the background! Originally, I was going to go to the stand alone Starbucks instead of the one inside Target. However, both locations were incorrectly marked on the map. The coffee shop was actually on the other side of Cataba Rd next to Mexico Lindo. I eventually made my way over to Target to use their restroom and to get a drink at the Starbucks inside. My experience with this Starbucks further reinforced why I usually avoid these locations that are inside another store. One, they don't let you use the mobile app to place your order. Two, their menu was very limited. Three, the quality of their drinks was subpar. Four, they were understaffed which meant a long wait. Pretty much everything that the couple ahead of me in line ordered was out of stock. It took a while before they settled on their third or fourth choice. Fortunately, they had what I wanted, a vanilla sweet cream cold brew. It was a bit weird not having the foam in my cold brew. That extra wait almost led to me having to incur an idling charge as the car had already reached the charging limit and was still plugged-in for about 5 additional minutes. I believe the Tesla charging stations still have a 5 minute grace period, so I just had gotten there in time to unplug it.
Tesla Supercharger Hesperia, CA
Starbucks inside Target
Grande vanilla sweet cream cold brew
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