Long Beach Marathon 2024

Saturday 10/5
I started the day early with the Crystal Palace v. Liverpool match at 4:30 am. Liverpool won with an early goal from Diogo Jota. Then I followed that with the Arsenal v. Southampton match at 7 am. There were 5 matches from which to choose and I wanted to watch to see if Arsenal would lose. The Saints scored first in the second half with a goal from Cameron Archer. I was hopeful for a Gunner loss, but unfortunately, a few minutes later Kai Havertz would equalize. They would go on to score 2 more goals, 1 from Martinelli and another from Saka.

The race expo didn't open until 10 am. I didn't want to get there too early and run into the early rush, so I didn't hit the road until about 9:15 am. Navigation had me take the 91 over to 710. I parked at my go to parking structure, the City Place Lot C on 3rd St as the first 2 hours were free. I headed down The Promenade and crossed the pedestrian bridge to get to the expo at the Marina Green Park. The entrance was at the eastern end of the park. Per the usual, I picked up my bib, race shirt, and a sturdy tote bag. In the bag were just 2 coupons.

Race expo

Bib pick-up

Race shirt

Back of race shirt

Tote bag

Goodie bag contents

After that, I went through the rest of the expo. Normally, I would sign up for next year's race. However, this time, I refrained from doing so, as I wanted to leave the weekend open in case I want or need to run the Staten Island Half Marathon to complete my 9+1 for a guaranteed spot in the NYC Marathon. Also, I had been having a cash flow issue as I had to pay for car repairs. Race registrations had been on hold until I recover.

Next year

Long Beach Registration

I stopped by the Golden State Challenge table as I had received an email saying that I would be receiving a gift. I thought we needed to run at least 4 races before we got something. I asked one of the ladies there to confirm. I had run Surf City and Santa Barbara Wine Country with Long Beach making it my 3rd race. She told me that they give out small gifts along the way. For 2 races, I would get lip balm. For 3 races, I would get a small towel. After I told her that I never got anything when I ran the 2nd race, she tried to give me the lip balm as well, but I declined. I only took the towel. She saw that I was wearing my Boulderthon shirt and told me that she had run the half. She would be running the half tomorrow. Just to check, I asked if she would also be running Chicago next weekend. That was a negative for her.

Golden State Challenge

Towel for running 3 races

Then I checked out the vendor booths where I got samples from Chargel, Rivalz snacks, ZICO coconut water, and Ghost hydration drink. I had to fill out my contact info in order to get some pasta samples from ZENB. I also got another towel from one of my favorite airports, Long Beach Airport.

Race expo samples

I dropped off a few pairs of retired shoes in the donation bin before going over to the participants name wall to look for my name. I bumped into my friend, Luis, who had run the 5k this morning. Lastly, I got an Yakult sample on the way out. There was a huge line for purchasing pre-paid parking. I decided that I would just pay at the gate tomorrow.

Participants name wall

Found my name

Luis

After lunch, I went out for my usual 5 mile jog/walk around the neighborhood. The weather was blazing hot, but I think my body was starting to get used to it. For the race tomorrow, I decided to go with my Buc-ee's t-shirt.

Sunday 10/6
I got ready and left the house at a little before 3 am and arrived at a rather empty City Place Lot C at just before 4 am. As with most years, I took the 22 freeway instead of the 91 as the road was pretty devoid of anyone at that hour. As I was entering the parking structure, there was a sign at the ticket gate that there would be no free 2 hour parking and the max would be $13 today.

City Place Lot C

I chilled in my car for a bit before grabbing my stuff and heading out. Just as yesterday, I walked down The Promenade and headed over to the Hyatt Regency to meet up with my friend, Albert. It would appear that the hotel was cracking down on non-hotel guests or vagrants going inside, so the 2 valets told me that I cannot go inside unless I had a room key. I told them that I was supposed to meet my friend in the lobby. One of them, while appearing pretty skeptical with my story, opened the door for me. I found my friend and we sat down and waited in the lobby for a bit. While waiting, I noticed that they had signs up that the lobby restrooms were closed for service. I told my friend that we should probably leave as the hotel was clearly trying to deter non guests from using their facilities. Whether it was a homeless issue or not, I do not want to be a part of the problem. I had no problem using one of the porapotties near the start line.

After I took care of that, we walked down Shoreline Dr to check out the start area. For some reason, they had volunteers stationed at the entrance to the 1st corral as if they wanted to keep people away from the start line. I was planning to start near the back of corral 1 and he wanted to start further back, so we went our separate ways. I ducked back out to use the portapotty again. As the weather forecast called for a pretty warm day, they wanted the marathoners in the corrals ready for a 5:30 am start. However, the course was not cleared until about 5:45 am. I was glad that I had made that second trip to the portapotty as during that delay, a few runners hopped out of the corral to go pee at nearby trees and bushes.

Corral 1

Eventually, we were allowed inside corral 1

I started the race off at a pace that felt comfortable. Coming into the race, I wanted to run as many miles at a 9:30 min per mile pace. I went a little bit faster than that for the first 2 miles (8:52, 9:14), so as I started heading up the bridge on Queens Way, I decided to take a walk break. I went through the 10k mark feeling pretty good as I ran through the parking lot and headed towards my least favorite section of the course, the dreaded beach bike path. That section was about 3 miles. This year, it wasn't too bad as I had done a lot of training on concrete sidewalks. Once I reached the aid station near mile 10, I picked up a Chargel and took a walk break. The slight incline up Livingston Dr followed by a steep climb up Nieto Ave got my heart rate up a bit, so I ended up backing off of the pace as I cruised towards the lollipop turnaround at the Marine Stadium. I reached the halfway point at about 2:08.

Mile 5.4: Around the lighthouse

Around the Rainbow Harbor

For the next 3 miles, I continued at the 10:30 - 11:00 min per mile pace. I wanted to make sure that I had enough to cover the incline up to mile 18 at Cal State Long Beach. As I neared the right turn onto campus, I saw a lady up ahead wearing a 100 marathon club shirt. Since she was walking, I chatted with her just to see if everything was okay. Her name was Jane. She (bib #23471) turned out to be quite the prolific runner from Liverpool, UK. I believe she said today was her 270th marathon! It looked like she runs a lot of races put on by Phoenix Running. I will have to keep that in mind if I'm ever in the UK and looking for a race to run. She told me that she usually runs these marathons faster, but her body wasn't cooperating today. Before pulling over to take my usual picture with the Walter Pyramid, I gave her a few pointers about the course just up ahead. I told her to take it easy going up to mile 18 and that there would be a nice downhill section after reaching that aid station.

Near mile 17 BFE

By the time that I had made it through the miles on Cal State Long Beach campus, my pace had dropped down to a 12 min per mile pace. It was a jog-a-thon, but I was still in good spirits. Right before hitting mile 19, I stopped to use one of the portapotties. Then as I approached mile 20, I heard the familiar Hawaiian music being played by a group of guys off to the side. I stopped to take a selfie with my friend, Mark, but my phone was so wet, I couldn't get it to switch to the front-facing camera.

Near mile 20 Mark playing Hawaiian music

The last 10k were not easy, but I kept to that same 12 min per mile pace. As I was walking the climb at Nieto Ave and approaching mile 23, I saw my friend Lea pass me. I caught up with her on the downhill to say hi before going back to my slow pace. Once we made the right turn onto Ocean Blvd, we hit mile 24. This was another part of the course that I did not like as we had to zig-zag through the half-marathoners for the next 2 miles. The right lane was supposed to be for the marathoners. However, there's so few of us, so it was understandable that the half-marathoners would naturally fill the vacuum. I thought that I could sneak in under 4:40, but I was 17 seconds too slow.

Near mile 22.5 on Appian Way

About 2 miles to go

Approaching the finish line

Finish: 4:40:16
Click here for my Garmin data.

I felt pretty spent after crossing the finish line. My legs definitely did not feel fully recovered from last weekend's marathon. It was much easier running at sea level with a nice marine layer for almost the entirety of the race. I must say that it was fun running in my Buc-ee's shirt. There were plenty of spectators and volunteers that liked it and thought it was a hoot! I received my finisher medal and continued down the finisher chute where I picked up the usual banana, some snacks, and drinks. I used the plastic Target bag that I had brought with me to carry everything. The exit for the chute was crowded with people waiting for their runners to finish. Once I made my way through, I headed over to the Hyatt Regency to use their restroom to get cleaned up before going to find some food.

Finish line

Finisher medal

Finisher medal and post race goodies

I decided to check out Shenanigans Irish Pub & Grille as they were participating in the AAdvantage Dining program. Out of the restaurants in the Shoreline Village, this place was the least crowded. Crowds of people were at Yard House and Tequila Jack's. Since it was just me, I found an open seat at the bar and started things off with coffee. She made sure to let me know that breakfast ends at 11:30 am. There was nothing on the lunch/dinner menu that looked good to me, so I put in my order for their steak & eggs before the cutoff time. I got the steak medium rare and eggs sunny side up. For my sides, I got hash browns and sourdough toast. It was not bad, but at $32.81, it was pretty pricey. My biggest beef was that there was very little Irish about the restaurant.

Breakfast menu

Lunch/dinner menu

Coffee

Steak & eggs with hash browns and sourdough toast, coffee

Boulderthon 2024

Saturday 9/28
I had an early morning Southwest Airlines flight out of LAX, so I got ready and arrived at the usual LAX Economy Parking Structure right at 3 am. I had pre-booked parking, so the gate opened as soon as it read my license plate. After finding a vacant EV parking spot, I hopped on the shuttle for a ride over to terminal 1. It was early, so the TSA security screening at the eastern end of the terminal was not yet open. Once they started to open, they told us that unless we were an airport employee, to head to western end and go through the TSA screening there. Once I got through that, it was pretty cool to see that the terminal had been decorated for Hispanic Heritage Month.

LAX Economy Parking Structure

El Salvador

Colombia

Puerto Rico

Mexico

Guatemala

On the flight over to Denver, I watched 2 EPL matches. First was Newcastle v. Man City. Even though the match was played at St James' Park, I was expecting City to easily dominate the Magpies. City scored a goal late in the first half and Newcastle equalized in the second half. The match ended in a 1-1 draw. Then I caught parts of the first half of the match between Brentford v. West Ham. Mbeumo scored in the first minute! He also did that against the Spurs last weekend.

EPL, snacks, and drink

Newcastle v. Man City

Gvardiol scores with an assist from Grealish

Gordon with the PK to equalize

Brentford v. West Ham

Mbeumo likes to score early!

The plane landed at Denver Airport at about 9 am. After getting off of the plane into concourse C and using a restroom, I made my way over to catch an Automated Guideway Train System (AGTS) train over to the Jeppesen Terminal. I then headed outside to catch a shuttle ride over to Payless Car Rental. My reservation had 10 am as the pick-up time. I thought that I would need to wait off to the side before I could get a car. However, when we were dropped off, I saw that the line to be helped was pretty long, almost out the door with only 1 employee at the counter. Eventually, there would be 3 employees. By the time I reached the counter, it was already past 10 am. Not sure if it was because I had booked my reservation through Southwest Airlines or if the employee was taking shortcuts, but he never asked me the usual standard questions (i.e. purchasing extra insurance, taking care of the gas situation, tolls). He just hand-filled out a single slip of paper with my reservation info and the parking stall of the vehicle. Then he handed me the keys. The vehicle had some damage on the trunk, so I made sure to document that before leaving the lot. The car was scanned by the guy at the gatehouse before he raised the gate arm for me to exit.

Waiting for the car rental shuttle

Long line

About one hour later

Toyota Camry

Damage to the trunk

From there, I started my drive out to Boulder. The drive took roughly an hour. I decided on parking at the 14th and Walnut Parking Garage. It was also a RTD bus station. The entrance on Walnut St was a bit confusing as it was right next to the entrance for the busses.

14th and Walnut Parking Garage

Parking garage stairs

After exiting the garage, I headed north on 14th St to reach the Pearl Street Mall. It looked like the race expo was just part of an outdoor mall of vendors. I first headed east and checked out all of the vendors within that block. Then I saw signs that directed people in the other direction for bib pick-up. Once I found the tent, I showed them my QR code and was assigned a bib number. Then I walked further down to pick up my long sleeve race shirt. This one will be a keeper as I liked the design and the material was a polyester spandex blend.

Directions

Long sleeve race shirt

Back of race shirt

Expo goodies

Before heading out, I decided to grab something to eat. I'm not a pizza guy, but I decided to get a small personal sized pizza at Pizza Colore. I ordered their 8" Meathead pizza. It came with pepperoni, sausage, meatball, and Canadian bacon. They had seating in the back, but I opted for a table outside as the weather was really nice.

Pizza Colore

8" Meathead pizza

While eating my pizza, I checked to see if any of my friends were nearby. One was almost to the race expo, so I hung around a bit longer before heading out. I picked up some free samples from a couple of vendors. After meeting up and getting that obligatory selfie, I started heading back to my car.

Free samples

Heather and Brandon

I drove down to Westminster which was about 30 minutes away. On the way to my hotel, I stopped at the Northview Shopping Center to buy some snacks and drinks at H-Mart. I'm starting to really like drinking Pocari Sweat for my races.

Drinks and snacks from H-Mart

After that, I drove over to the nearby La Quinta Inn. I arrived a bit early, so the lady at the front desk told me that I needed to wait until the check-in time at 3 pm. I had no problem waiting in the lobby. Once I got checked in, I was assigned to room #240 in the last building on the other end of the lot. It was somewhat sketchy as there obviously were some long term tenants staying there, just bumping their heavy bass and hanging out on the railing. Thankfully, I found my room to be clean, but not everything was functioning. There was a broken tissue dispenser on the floor and the remote for the TV didn't work. I was able to find the physical on/off button on the TV to at least watch something.

La Quinta Westminster

I went through my race packet and laid out my flat runner to make sure that I had packed everything for my marathon tomorrow. I went through one bag of shrimp chips and was feeling pretty beat, so I took a short nap.

Flat runner

At about 6 pm, I went out to get dinner. I drove over to the nearby Chick-fil-A in Arvada. Per the usual, I placed my order on the mobile app. I finally got to try their Honey Pepper Pimento Sandwich. I got my sandwich with a grilled filet instead of the standard breaded chicken. I made it a meal and got the Berry Parfait w/ Granola as my side, and a medium Sunjoy for my drink. That sandwich was not bad, but I probably should not be eating any jalapeños the day before a marathon!

Honey Pepper Pimento Sandwich meal

Honey Pepper Pimento Sandwich

Sunday 9/29
I got ready and left the hotel at about 5:15 am to head up to Boulder for the race. Today, I decided to park at the 15th & Pearl Parking Garage. I arrived at about 5:40 am and there was already a line of cars heading into the garage. It wasn't until the 3rd floor where there started to be vacant spots. I found a nice spot at a corner. I backed into the spot so that it would be easier to get out. I made sure to take pictures of the parking garage so that I would be able to find my car after the race.

15th & Pearl Parking Garage

Outside of the parking garage

I then started walking over to the start line where I found a group of pacers. My friend, Heather, was pacing the 5 hour group. We got a quick selfie before I went to check out the start line and used a portapotty. After the pacers took their pre-race photo, I walked with her to go look for gear check. Along the way, we bumped into a bunch of Marathon Maniacs/Half Fanatics. Most of them were from the Seattle area.

Heather on pacing duty

Checking out the start line

After getting a group selfie, we chatted a bit before we started heading our separate ways to get ready for our races. About half of us were running the marathon and the other half running the half marathon. Lorinda and I stuck together since we were planning to start the race at around the same pace. While waiting in the starting corral, we got to see a very beautiful sunrise.

The mostly Seattle gang

Beautiful sunrise

The race was scheduled to start at 7 am. We were released in waves. I didn't cross the start line until about 10 minutes later. Since this was the first marathon in 3 consecutive weekends of running a marathon, my goal was to get through it in one piece and hopefully complete it in under 5 hours. I used to be notorious for running the first mile as if my hair was on fire. Lately, I have been much better with my pacing. With this particular race, I really was not prepared for the 3 H's. High altitude, hills, and heat! We headed out east on Pearl St with the first 4 miles being a gradual downhill. I kept it to about a 9 min/mile pace. The next 2 miles were rollers. That was followed by 2 uphill miles as we ran up N 75th St. The climb would continue as we turned right onto Lookout Rd. I saw up ahead, my friend Lorinda had pulled over to use a portapotty. The course finally crested at mile 9, so the next mile was a nice downhill to the left turn onto N 95th St. She would catch up to me. I tried my best to stay with her with the next 3 miles being rollers. We reached the halfway mark at 2:10 and change.

Mile 14 was a nice downhill, but that was followed by 2 miles of climbing. She dropped me shortly after we made a right turn onto Lookout Rd and reached mile 16. While the next few miles had some downhills, I was definitely riding that struggle bus. There was no shade, so the heat was getting to me. At about mile 20, we made a left turn onto N 57th St with the majority of the remaining 10k being uphill. A little after mile 21, we ran along Independence Rd next to the Boulder Municipal Airport. At mile 22, we hopped on the Cottonwood Trail which took us around the western perimeter of Hayden Lake. It was nice to get a little bit of shade. We then got on the Wonderland Creek path which took us to Christensen Park and Valmont City Park. At about mile 24, we ran through the underpass of the 157 Foothills Pkwy and got on the Goose Creek Path. I was unable to do any sustained running as I felt like I would pass out. I guess I wasn't the only one suffering as I passed a runner that was dry-heaving. I made sure he was okay before continuing. At about mile 25, we hopped onto Folsom St and reached the Mapleton Mile. All that was left was about a mile along Mapleton Ave. Unfortunately, it was gradual uphill. I jogged here and there, but I was pooped! Thank goodness it was all downhill to the finish line after a final left turn onto 14th St.

Mile 18.8 barn on Jay Rd near the Boulder Feeder Ditch

Mile 20.6 Ukraine, Wales, and USA at 4075 N 57th St

Finish: 5:09:45
Click here for my Garmin data.

After crossing the finish line, I received my finisher medal and can of water. I was pleasantly surprised to see my friend, Almi. She did not run today, but she paced the 4:20 group for the Colorado Springs Marathon yesterday. She asked if I had done the marathon double this weekend. Unfortunately, my body is not very durable, so I try to stay away from running such a challenge. After getting a selfie, I got a bag of post race goodies and continued along the finisher chute. The runner that I checked up on came by and thanked me. At the chute exit, I saw Lorinda waiting for me. Gina, crossed the finish line shortly after me. She beat me per chip timing. After getting a printout of our results, we went our separate ways.

Finisher medal

Almi at the finish line

Post race goodies

As I was making my way out of the parking garage, I noticed that there was an Audi that was parked at the end of a row. Well, it looked like someone had taken the turn a bit too tight and knock the front end off! Not sure if the person that had hit the car left a note, but based on how everyone looked, I would guess that it was a hit-and-run. What a bummer and not cool!

As I was headed south on 28th St, I was behind a pick-up truck. As we came up to the Arapahoe Ave intersection, the driver abruptly hits the brakes and then makes a right turn. That caused me to slow down just as the light was turning yellow. However, unlike Southern California, the yellow lights here were very short! As I entered the intersection, I could see the red light camera going off. Oh, fudge! I guess, I should expect a ticket in the mail.

I got back to my hotel at about 1 pm. This marathon kind of wore me out as I was really dragging. I slowly got myself out of my salt-caked clothes and got cleaned up as I got ready for the one hour drive out to Greeley to visit my friends. I left the hotel at about 3 pm as the agreed upon meeting time was 4 pm. Google Maps had me taking the 85 freeway. I missed and drove by their house as it was wasn't visible from the street.

After I found their place, we caught up a bit before heading out for an early dinner. They took me to one of their local favorites, Austin's American Grill. On the drive over, they pointed out the different parts of the UNC (University of Northern Colorado) campus. I must have been hungry. I took a pic of the menu, but not my New York Strip Steak with a loaded baked potato!

Visited the Clavirs in Greeley

On the way back to my hotel, I took the 34 over to the 25 freeway as I wanted to check out Buc-ee's. It used to be where you needed to at least get to Texas to see one, but they're now this far west. The convenience store looked about the size of a Wal-Mart. It would seem about a third of the store was merchandise and the other two thirds was food and beverages. The men's restroom was very large and kept clean. This looked like a nice place for a pit stop on a long road trip. I ended up buying a t-shirt.

My first Buc-ee's t-shirt

Besides watching the usual episodes of the 'That Built' documentaries on the History Channel, I caught a show called, USAFacts presented by Steve Ballmer. USAFacts is a not-for-profit, nonpartisan civic initiative making government data easy for all. Besides being the founder of USAFacts, Ballmer is the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers and the former CEO of Microsoft. The particular episode was about the US national debt.

Monday 9/30
I had planned to check out of my room right at 11 am. However, housekeeping showed up a bit early. She didn't really understand English, but I told her that I was just about ready. I dropped off the room keys at the front desk before heading out. I drove over to the nearby Cracker Barrel to get some breakfast. I started things off with coffee. While waiting for the waitress to swing by my table to take my order, I noticed that they had New York Strip Steak n' Eggs as a new item on their menu. I was tempted to ordered that, but in the end I went with my usual Country Boy Breakfast. I got it with sirloin steak tips, grits, and hash brown casserole.

Country boy breakfast

After finishing and paying for my breakfast, I decided that I would catch a matinee movie as I had several hours to pass before I had to head to the airport to catch my evening flight home. There weren't too many movies available that I really wanted to see, so I settled on The Wild Robot. The movie was scheduled for 1:30 pm, so I drove over to the Road Runner Sports on the other side of the 36 freeway to see if they had any running belts. The one that I currently use is starting to become worn out. Unfortunately, they had a very limited selection.

I then hopped back in the car and drove over to the AMC Westminster Promenade 24. It was well air-conditioned, so I sat in the lobby and waited until it was closer to the showtime before going in. While waiting, I noticed that some people were having issues trying to purchase movie tickets via one of the self-ticketing kiosks. Eventually, an employee came out and reset each machine. People need to start using the mobile app! I went into this movie with pretty low expectations. I decided to give it a chance since the reviews were mostly good. I thought that it was going to be a Baymax/Wall-E rip-off movie, but it turned out to be pretty darn good! You may or may not need tissue for this one!

AMC Westminster Promenade 24

After the movie, I had nothing else to do, so I decided to start heading to the airport and return the rental car early. Along the way, I exited at Havana St to fill up the gas tank at the 7-Eleven/Conoco Gas Station. I selected this gas station as it was showing as the cheapest in the area per Google Maps.

When I arrived at the Payless Car Rental site, I had the guy at the gatehouse fix my email address as I had not received any of the rental documents. The guy that checked me in had entered an incorrect email address. This guy showed me the email address that was entered and it wasn't even close.

I got on the shuttle for a ride over to the airport. The line for the general TSA security screening was long, but it moved at a decent pace. While in line, a mother put her child on her roller bag. However, that bag fell over with the kid's head striking the ground! Poor kid was wailing for a while! Some people just really shouldn't be having kids.

After getting through that, I took a AGTS train over to concourse C. It was a rather lengthy walk to get to gate C56. Along the way, I noticed that there was a long line for every restaurant in the concourse. I opted to just eat my post-race snacks from the race and bought an iced tea from the Black Canyon Market & Goods.

On the flight home, I ended up watching WWE Monday Night Raw. The feed for live television was terrible. The audio was fine, but the picture would freeze quite often. You could wait it out or re-select the channel to get the video to start again.

I would prefer a match with Bron Breakker instead of Sami Zayn vs Gunther

The flight arrived at LAX pretty much right on schedule. After getting off of the plane and using the restroom, I made my way out to the curbside to wait for a shuttle ride back to the economy parking structure. I had entered 10 pm as my exit time and I made it with plenty of time to spare. The gate opened automatically when I approached. I noticed that there were a couple of vehicles stuck at other gates. Only one time did I need to find and scan the QR code in order for the gate to open.

Catching a shuttle ride back to my car