After working a half day and eating lunch, I headed out to Ontario Airport for an early evening flight out to New York. Normally, I would leave my car at one of the airport economy lots. However these days, it costs $18 per day. To save money, I got dropped off at the airport. The first leg of my trip was a short flight out to Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport.
Charging my phone prior to my flight
Ready to take off
Can you hear the theme song?
Obstacle Course
ONT > PHX
I had a rather long layover in Phoenix. Once I got off of the plane, I checked out the restaurant options on the directory. I then walked over to concourse B to eat dinner at Matt's Big Breakfast. Since it was Halloween, all of the waitresses were dressed up as characters from Napoleon Dynamite. I started things off with a coffee. I ordered their steak & eggs. I always love places where I can eat breakfast for dinner. After I was done with my meal, I walked back to concourse A and watched 2 episodes of Agatha All Along while waiting at my gate for my next flight.
Matt's Big Breakfast
Coffee
Steak & eggs with sourdough toast and coffee
"America's Friendliest Airport"
PHX > JFK
The second leg of my trip was a red eye flight out to John F. Kennedy International Airport, During the flight, I finally got to watch The Beekeeper. It was a very good entertaining action movie. Jason Statham was an incredible badass in this one.
Jeremy Irons is such a good actor
Friday 11/1
The plane landed almost an hour early at JFK Airport in terminal 8. I thought about taking the LIRR from Jamaica Station, but the first AirTrain that arrived was headed over to Howard Beach. I didn't really care, so I hopped on. From there, I took the A train over to 59 St-Columbus Circle Station. I stayed underground for as long as I could before I exited at 57th St and walked over to the Chick-fil-A on 8th Ave for breakfast. I knew about the Turnstyle Underground Market, but this was my first time actually walking through it. Too bad, it was still early and pretty much nothing was open yet. Once I had reached Chick-fil-A, I pulled up the mobile app and cashed in some reward points for Chick-n-Minis and a medium fruit cup. The only thing I paid for was coffee. While eating my breakfast, I noticed that there were a ton of people out jogging along 8th Ave.
Dunkin' vs. Starbucks at JFK Terminal 8
Howard Beach Station
Chick-n-Minis, medium fruit cup, and coffee
After I finished eating my breakfast, I started heading down to the Javits Convention Center. To avoid all of those people out running or jogging, I headed west over to 10th Ave. I stopped in at the Target along the way. I bought 2 bottles of Alkaline water and a bag of Siete tortilla chips. While using self checkout and the Target mobile app, I used up the rest of the balance on my gift card and paid for the remainder with my credit card.
Once I arrived at the convention center, I went downstairs to use the restroom. I then sat at the charging station to charge some of my devices while I waited for my Seattle friends to arrive. When they showed up, we got in the queue to wait for the race expo to open.
Javits Convention Center
Waiting in line for the expo to open
Seattle friends
When the race expo opened, I started things off by picking up my race packet for the marathon, followed by my bib and beanie for the Abbott Dash For The Finish Line 5k. I then got my long sleeve race shirt. Once we had everything, we then went though the rest of the race expo. The only official race merchandise that I wanted to check out were the gloves and arm sleeves. Thankfully, they weren't that great, so I didn't feel tempted to buy either one.
Bib pick-up
5k beanie
Long sleeve race shirt
Back of race shirt
Obligatory photo with bib
Sabrina at the pacer booth
Ponyflo!
Oat milk vanilla nitro cold brew coffee
Yakult sample
Words of encouragement from myself
Another bib picture with large medal background
Lorinda's message
Found my name on the participants name wall
I run for steaks!
Colorful truck
Once we were done with the expo, we went our separate ways. I walked up to the Junior's on 49 St in Times Square to eat lunch. Since I was by myself, I went straight to the counter and found an open seat. I ordered their Reuben sandwich. The meat was stacked high and it was not bad. After I was done with the sandwich, I ordered a slice of their strawberry cheesecake. Boy, that cheesecake was quite dense!
Miraculous Ladybug!
Reuben sandwich for lunch at Junior's on 49th St
Super thick strawberry cheesecake
Then I walked over to the Club Wyndham Midtown 45 to see if I could check in early. Fortunately, my room was ready. I was assigned to unit #1901. After getting my room keys, I had to make that stop at the concierge station for that inevitable invite to another owner update/presentation. I politely declined, but the guy wouldn't relent. Obviously, I became increasingly irritated and upset. He knew that I was upset, but just kept pushing as if his job depended on it. Eventually, I just left, saying that I was going up to my room. These guys are f'n aggressive! Since becoming an owner back in 2016, this guy was the absolute worst!
Other than that incident, I found this property to be very ideal for this race. The location was very convenient. It was just a few steps from the start line of the 5k on Saturday and only a few blocks from the bus pick-up at the NY Public Library on Sunday. I found everything in my unit to be clean and in good working condition except for the air conditioning in the living room area. The thermostat was stuck on the ON setting the entire time. Thankfully, there was a separate thermostat for the bedroom.
I eventually took a nap and woke up to head back to the convention center to attend the NYRR member happy hour meet and greet event. They brought out 2 American professional athletes competing in the marathon, Aliphine Tuliamuk and Kellyn Taylor. I had photographed the 2 of them in other marathons in the past.
Coach Ben!
Happy Hour/Meet and Greet
Aliphine Tuliamuk, Kellyn Taylor, and Coach Roberto Mandje
NYRR pint glass
Grover!
Originally, I was going to pick up dinner on the way back. I was still feeling pretty full from lunch! Instead, I went straight back to my room. I watched the final episode of Agatha All Along while eating the entire bag of chips. Next was the usual WWE Friday Night Smackdown. I took a shower and laid out my flat runner before calling it a night.
View of Empire State Building on the walk back
Flat runner for the 5k
Saturday 11/2
I woke up at about 6:30 am and took my time to get ready. I didn't leave my room until about 8:15 am when my friends texted me. It was nice to be just a couple of blocks from the start line. This morning was the Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5K. My friends opted to start out of corral E, while I started out of corral D. The volunteers weren't really checking corral assignments.
Near 45th St and 1st Av intersection
Starting corral
The first mile was super congested. I ran at about a low 8 min per mile pace when I finally was able to find some space. However, I was having issues with my belt. The hook holding the bib was not very secure, so my bib was coming loose. I eventually took my belt off to hold onto the bib as I needed to make sure that I had my bib to post a finishing time and receive race credit for my 9+1.
5k finish: 25:42
Click here for my Garmin data.
Shortly after crossing the finish line, I had a conversation with a fellow runner from Wigan, UK named Tim (bib #11366). We had a good laugh as I told him that I would be wearing my Tottenham jersey for the marathon on Sunday. He was originally from London and a West Ham supporter. We went our separate ways when I saw my Hawaiian friend, Glen, off to the side of the finisher chute. Eventually, the Seattle crew came through and joined us.
Glen at finish line
We grabbed our recovery bag and started heading out of the park to go get breakfast. First we checked out The Shops at Columbus Circle for some food options. We tried to get a table at Tartinery Café on the 3rd floor, but it was about a 20 min wait. We then headed over to Carnegie Diner followed by Brooklyn Diner. It was the same 20 min wait for both locations. Glen was getting cold, so we hopped on the subway for a quick ride down to Times Square to eat at the Junior's on 45th St. There was no wait for a table when we got there. I ordered coffee and their steak & eggs with grits and rye bread. The waitress didn't write down any of our orders, so she made a couple of errors when our food was brought out. The place was quite packed when we were leaving.
Post race recovery bag contents
Junior's on 45th St
Waitress messed up my order
Fixed
Once I got back to my room, I Chromecasted the Peacock stream of the Bournemouth v. Man City match. Up the Cherries! I cannot believe both Arsenal and City lost their matches today! It would appear that this year, there won't be a clear favorite that will run away with the league title. It better not be the Gunners!
I finally took a shower before heading back out to Times Square for the Marathon Maniacs photo at the Father Duffy Square bleachers. I met Jorge Garcia. I've seen him before, but never formally met him until today. We talked mostly about the World Series and the Dodgers. He actually spent the money and went to a couple of the games! I also met a fellow Taiwanese Maniac that was about my mom's age. Incredible!
Father Duffy Square
Marathon Maniacs photo at Father Duffy Square
Jorge and JC
Asian Marathon Maniacs
Back at my room, I watched the remaining second half of the Wolves v. Palace match. Then followed it with the remainder of the WWE Crown Jewel PLE. I caught the triple threat match between LA Knight, Carmelo Hayes, and Andrade. All 3 were very good at their craft!
WWE Crown Jewel
For an early dinner, I placed an online order for food from Gai Chicken & Rice as it was just across the street from where I was staying. I ordered their steamed dark meat bowl and a side of roasted chicken. I wasn't expecting it to be good, but it turned out to be pretty decent and quite affordable! Per the usual, after my meal, I laid out my flat runner, took a shower, and called it a night. With the end of daylight saving time, we gained an extra hour of sleep.
Steamed dark meat bowl, added a side of roasted chicken
Flat runner
Sunday 11/3
I met up with my friend at about 5:20 am for a bus ride from the NY Public Library over to the marathon start village at Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island. In the first 3 times (2009, 2013, 2015) that I had run this race, I had taken the ferry. The last 3 times (2016, 2019, 2022), I opted for the bus. While I prefer taking the bus, you do get a nice early morning view of Lady Liberty while taking the ferry.
Per the usual, after getting off of the bus, we got into one of the many lines to go through one of the metal detectors. I was already regretting that I had forgotten to pack my arm sleeves or a throwaway long sleeved shirt. All I had was my mylar blanket from Chicago. Before we hunkered down for the long wait, I took my friend over to the cache of portapotties where the lines were usually short. They were located near the charity tent away from the 3 colored start villages. Even though it was pretty early, we saw that some of the portapotties were already out of toilet paper! We then headed over to the orange start village. Once we got there, we got our free souvenir Dunkin' beanie and a bagel. This year's beanie was thinner than prior years. We found a spot to sit down next to the therapy dog area. My friend was starting in wave 2 which was scheduled to start at 9:45 am. I was in wave 4 which had a 10:55 am start.
Orange start line village at Fort Wadsworth
After sitting around for 30 minutes, I was already feeling a bit antsy. We got up and walked over to the pacer tent area to see if our friends were there. Indeed they were! We got a the obligatory pre-race photos before heading back to check out the therapy dogs.
Friends at the pacer tent
Pacers
Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge
Therapy dog
Since my friend was starting out of the pink start village, we started heading over there. She still had time before she needed to get into her corral, so we checked out the therapy dogs there as well. The golden retriever there was not having it when it was our turn. The owner told us that the dog needed to take a break. Well, that wasn't very therapeutic! :)
This dog didn't like us, wasn't very therapeutic
Another view of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge
PK entering corral F for the wave 2 start
After sending my friend off for her race, I started walking around looking for a sunny spot to wait for my start. At this point, there was barely any wait for a portapotty as the majority, if not all, of them were out of toilet paper. While waiting, I did see them replenish the toilet paper, but only for those in the charity tent!
Can see the runners making their way across the bridge
At about 10:15 am, I made my way to the entrance of corral A. As soon as I got inside, I got in line to use a portapotty one last time to empty out the bladder. This was my first time starting out of the orange corrals which would be the left side, top deck of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. It was pretty cool being in corral A as we were walked right up to the start line. Out of the 3 start lines, the best definitely was the blue start line. The starting stage was over there along with any of the special guests.
Orange corral A of wave 4
4:05 pacer giving us a pre-race pep talk
Walked up to the start line
So close to the start line!
1st half: 2:07:10
The first 2 miles were pretty much running over the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. I made sure to take it easy in the first mile as my legs were definitely not fresh coming off of the Marine Corps Marathon last weekend. For the most part, I stuck to a 9:15 - 9:30 min/mile pace. It was quite interesting how much of each borough that I now recognize as I continue to come back for NYRR races. I recognized the Sunset Park area in Brooklyn as I had stayed in that area for one of the races to complete my 9+1. I was cruising along until about mile 10 when I definitely started to feel fatigued. I pulled over for a walk break before continuing. I knew that I had to slow my pace down when I crossed the Pulaski Bridge into Queens and reached the halfway point a bit earlier than I had planned.
2nd half: 2:27:15
I was now running about a minute slower per mile. As I reached the Queensboro Bridge, I found that it was easier for me to run at a slower steadier pace than to keep taking walk breaks. Even though I was starting to labor, I was still feeling okay. Now in Manhattan, my mood was definitely lifted once I got onto 1st Ave at about mile 16 to the sound of the roaring crowds. My strategy at this point was to take it easy all the way up to the Willis Ave Bridge. I was taking a walk break after reaching each mile marker. Unfortunately, I really hit the wall when I crossed into the Bronx borough and reached mile 20. For the next 2 miles, I started eating my "emergency" Maurten bar to try and revive the legs. Crossing the Madison Ave Bridge took me back into Manhattan with a little over 5 miles to go. Eating that bar definitely worked as I was able to run each successive mile faster. At E 90th St, I made the turn into Central Park to hop on East Dr. I took my last walk break after reaching mile 24. It felt great to have a strong finish for those last 2 miles and pass so many people on the way to the finish line.
Marathon finish: 4:34:25
Click here for my Garmin data.
My past results:
2022: 5:32:11
2019: 5:02:41
2016: 5:34:08
2015: 5:26:45
2013: 4:35:36
2009: 4:39:32
After having bad races in the last 4 times that I had run this race, I was finally able to post a decent time and set a modest personal course record. While I was hoping to be just under 4:30, today's effort was close enough especially having beaten my previous best that was set 11 years ago!
My 7th NYC Marathon finish!
Shortly after crossing the finish line, I got a tap on the shoulder. It was a fellow Spurs supporter. He told me that he had been following me since he saw me in the Bronx. We were both delighted to find out that the Spurs had beaten Villa 4-1 earlier today. He told me that he was a local and occasionally goes to Flannerys for matches. One day, I'll have to go check that place out. We took a selfie before going our separate ways. #COYS!
Fellow Spurs fan!
I spotted Coach Ben just as I was getting my finisher medal. I caught up to him to take a selfie. Such a huge marathon and we still managed to run into each other! We then received our post race recovery bag of goodies before going our separate ways.
Finisher medal
Coach Ben!
Post race recovery bag
Instead of getting our ponchos outside of Central Park, we actually got it for our long walk out of the park. The finish line was at about 67th St. We finally exited at 77th St. Initially, I headed south with the crowd along Central Park West. Eventually, I exited the finisher chute and headed 1 block west to Columbus Ave. I continued south along Columbus Ave until I reached Broadway. I took that down to The Shops at Columbus Circle to maybe get my free burger at Shake Shack. They had security checking bags and the place looked extremely crowded, so I left as I didn't want to deal with the hassle.
Post race zombie walk towards the park exit
I can tell you how to get to Sesame Street!
I then headed down to 57th St to walk down 6½ Ave. I took that to 50th St and continued east for my hotel. Back at my room, I eventually got cleaned up and went back out to get dinner. I walked a few blocks north to the Morning Star Cafe on 2nd Ave. Since I was by myself, I found an empty seat at the counter and ordered their steak & eggs with white toast and coffee. It was a pretty chill spot to get a meal. As I had said before, I always like places that let's you order breakfast food for dinner.
Coffee
Steak & eggs with white toast for dinner
Back at my room, I was winding down to call it a night when I received a phone call from Isabel at the front desk. She was telling me that she had another reservation for another room just for tonight under my email address and name. I told her that that was not made by me. Eventually, I went down to the lobby to try and get things cleared up. She told me that it was booked through Extra Holidays. She gave me the confirmation ID and told me to give them a call. I found it odd that she could do absolutely nothing from her end besides marking the reservation as a no-show. When I tried logging into the Extra Holidays website under my email address, I was given a 'user does not exist' message. This whole incident seemed very fishy. Part of me thinks that that asshole of a concierge was messing with me. In any case, I will have to be extra vigilant in making sure that my identity has not been compromised.
Monday 11/4
I woke up extra early to pack and get ready to head over to LaGuardia for my flight home. I checked out of my room at about 4 am. Originally, I was going to catch the 7 train from Grand Central-42 St Station on Lexington Ave. There was a bunch of construction happening so I didn't see a subway entrance. I then headed over to Grand Central, but the doors were locked. Eventually, I just said screw it and headed up to the Lexington Ave-53 St Station to catch the E train over to 74 St-Broadway/Jackson Hts-Roosevelt Av Station. From there, I waited for the Q70-SBS bus for a ride to terminal B. It always confuses some non-regulars that the bus will stop at terminal C first before stopping at terminal B.
Flight home from LGA > DEN
The first leg of my trip home was out to Denver Airport for a quick layover. Thankfully, there were no delays, so I made it to my gate with plenty of time before they started the boarding process for my flight out to Phoenix for my second leg.
The plane landed at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport at about 10:15 am local time. Since I had a couple of hours to pass, I walked over to concourse B to eat lunch at Matt's Big Breakfast. The place was pretty packed when I showed up. I opted to sit at a shared high top table as that was what was first available. By the time the waitress came by to take my order, the place had started to clear out. It was the same waitress as on Thursday and she recognized me. What can I say, I'm a creature of habit. I ordered the same thing, steak & eggs with sourdough toast and coffee.
Eating lunch at MBB in PHX
The final leg took me home to Ontario Airport. When I got off of the plane, I was pleasantly surprised to see that they already had the airport decorated for Christmas. I found a vacant seat near the baggage claim area to wait for my ride.
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
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