Shortly after 8 am, I got a ride down to the ARTIC (Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center) to catch a 9:10 am Greyhound bus ride down to San Diego. Lately for my trips down to San Diego, I've opted for a bus ride as the Amtrak service had become quite unreliable. Per the usual, I picked the bus with the cheapest fare, but next time I should pay attention to the final destination of the bus. This particular bus (Greyhound US0831) was headed for Tijuana. It made stops at Santa Ana and Oceanside before reaching Old Town San Diego. The bus was pretty packed and wasn't very clean. A part of me wondered if some of the passengers were actually self-deporting.
ARTIC Greyhound bus stop
The bus was slightly late pulling into the Old Town Transit Center at about 11:30 am. It was scheduled to arrive at 11:15 am. This transit hub can get pretty wild as it's a popular hangout for the homeless. I was probably the only person there that actually scanned my Pronto app to pay the $2.50 fare to ride the trolley. While I was doing that, an older Asian guy asked me where he should wait for a ride into Downtown SD. I told him to follow me since that was where I was also headed. While we were waiting, I found out that he wanted to get to the Civic Center station. While I was waiting for the green line trolley to get to the convention center, I told him that he should wait for the blue line trolley. Both lines boarded from the same side of the platform.
I got off of the trolley at the Convention Center station. This year, the race expo was located in halls A and B of the San Diego Convention Center. It was a zoo when I got there! There were so many people where I just wanted to get my stuff and leave! After picking up my race bib and shirt, I came across a sign to register for next year's race. I scanned the QR code and found a spot off to the side to register for the marathon for $109. It used to be much cheaper for early expo registration. I then came across Athletic Brewing booth where I sampled their Upside Down Golden. Not bad. They have some non-alcoholic beer that are actually quite good. I then stopped by the Rock n Roll booth to show them my registration confirmation email for the not-so-free t-shirt. After that I quickly went up each row before heading for the exit. I used the restroom prior to leaving.
Race expo
Bib pick-up
Race shirt
Back of race shirt
Marathon participants by last name A-K
Found my name
2026 pre-sale
Athletic Brewing
Rock n Roll
Free shirt for early registration
The Original
I walked up First Ave to go eat lunch at Tender Greens. I ordered the grilled salmon plate with seasonal vegetables and baby arugula as my 2 sides. For my drink, I got the green tea. They gave me so much arugula where it looked as if they were trying to get rid of it.
Tender Greens
Grilled salmon plate with baby arugula and seasonal vegetables
After I was done with my meal, I started heading over to the Starbucks on Sixth Ave and B St. As I was walking up Fifth Ave, I bumped into my friends heading down to the race expo. After a quick chat, we went our separate ways. I placed my order for a grande salted caramel cream cold brew on the mobile app before going inside to wait for my drink. This particular location did not have a restroom for customers, so it was empty. The only people that came inside were actual customers.
Robert and Karen
Fountain
Starbucks
Grande salted caramel cream cold brew
With a cold coffee in hand, I walked over to the WorldMark San Diego Balboa Park. I was about an hour or so ahead of the check-in time, so they had me stop over with the concierge to go over the usual stuff. Even though I said that I had attended an owner update 2 weekends ago, the guy still signed me up to go to another one with a $40 refundable deposit. The incentive was a $100 Tango gift card for an hour of my time. I scheduled it for 2:30 pm tomorrow after the marathon. I then returned to the front desk where I was assigned to unit #403. I took the stairs to get up to my room. I unpacked and decompressed a bit. Eventually, I put on the Yankees vs. Dodgers games. The Dodger bats were on fire! By the 3rd inning, the Dodgers were already up 0-10!
Check-in snacks and water
WorldMark San Diego Balboa Park
View from my room
Yankees vs. Dodgers
At about 5:15 pm, I walked over to Flamin' Pho & Sushi Bar on Sixth Ave and Cedar St for an early dinner. Honestly, the pho and sushi combination did not sound appealing at all. However, I decided to check it out as it was a participating restaurant with AAdvantage Dining. I ordered their large house special pho. While the basil, bean sprouts, and jalapeños didn't look too fresh, overall the bowl of pho was actually pretty decent. I was pleasantly surprised at how generous they were with the meat.
Flamin' Pho & Sushi Bar
Sriracha sauce
Large house special pho
With a full belly, I headed back to my room. I laid out my flat runner for tomorrow's marathon while I caught the remainder of the Dodgers game. The only offense from the Yankees were a pair of home runs from Aaron Judge. Kike came in to pitch so they wouldn't have to use up another pitcher on a blowout. After the game, I took a shower before I start winding down and calling it a night.
Flat runner
Kike pitches to close out the game
Sunday 6/1
I got ready and left my room at about 4:30 am. I made the walk up Sixth Ave to go meet up with my friends over at the Starbucks on Fifth Ave and Laurel St. I got there just after 5 am. People seemed to have the same idea as the place was pretty packed mostly with people in line to use the restroom. Per the usual, I placed my order for a grande blonde vanilla latte on the mobile app.
Starbucks
Grande blonde vanilla latte
After my friends were done using the restroom and I got my coffee, we started heading over to Balboa Park. We headed over to the UPS gear check trucks. I told them that that was an ideal location to wait as it wasn't too close to the starting corrals so the lines for the portapotties were fairly short. After we were all done with our pre-race routines, we headed over to corral 6. They weren't checking bibs for corral assignments, so we could've started in any corral. I wasn't planning to go out too fast, so I was fine with where we were.
UPS gear check
Sarah
Mary and Theresa
Before entering corrals
Corral 6
This was one of those "just get it done" races. On 5/30, during my regular after work 5 mile walk around my neighborhood, my old pair of shoes fell apart about halfway through. I kept walking, but the thread was flapping around, adding a bit more height to the forefoot. Apparently, it was causing a quite noticeable discomfort in my right Achilles. The soreness continued to increase in the next 2 miles until the thread completely detached from the sole. That was probably one of the dumbest things to do 2 days before a marathon just to save a few bucks!
Course map
I started the race with my friends, running a comfortable pace at about a 9 min mile. Something new this year was that we made a right turn on Robinson Ave instead of University Ave. I would find out later that the course alteration was because the Hillcrest Farmers Market had been temporarily moved onto University between Park Blvd and Herbert St while they finish building out the Normal St Promenade. We made a left onto Park Blvd to get onto University Ave. Then it was back to the normal course as we turned left onto 30th St to head up to Normal Heights. It was a pretty warm and humid day, so I started to pull back on the pace after about the 5k mark. My friends started pulling away from me as they were both running the half marathon. I was cruising along until I reached the short steep climb at Robinson Ave and Georgia St during the 10th mile. I decided to walk those climbs, during which my friend, Eddie, passed me. After the climb, we made our way back onto Robinson Ave. We didn't get back onto University until Sixth Ave. At about mile 11.3 at Brant St, I caught my friend, Dan. At this point, I was running at about a 10 min mile. I held that pace until I got through the halfway mark.
Dan at about mile 11.3
I tried to take advantage of the downhill section through Presidio Park, but I had to make sure that I didn't overdo it and hurt the lower back or hips. Once I got down to Taylor St, I took a walk break to adjust my running belt. It was getting a bit too loose. It could have been a combination of me slimming down a bit or just the elasticity was worn out. Next was the dreaded 2 mile section along the San Diego River Bikeway. I never liked this section as the course got quite narrow and it was an exposed area. Thankfully, we still had the cloud cover. After getting onto Sea World Dr, I was beginning to have to take regular walk breaks to stay ahead of those pesky leg cramps. As I made the left turn onto Friars Rd, I had a pretty big dip in energy. The sun was out and it was starting to cook out there! Since I was reduced to a walk, I started eating my Maurten bar. That section through Mission Valley really wore me out! Just as I was nearing the ramp onto 163, I saw my friend Eric. We chatted a bit until he stopped to talk to some of his friends that had come out to cheer. Per the usual as of late, I walked most of the section on the 163. I was able to run some of it when I bumped into Chavet. She had been doing high mileage training, so she was going at a speed where I could keep up. However, once we got to the top, I had to let her go as my body was not going to let me hammer those downhill miles. I was a bit surprised to pass my friend Eddie with less than 2 miles to go. Even though I had gotten my legs back a bit, I decided to walk up Fifth Ave to reach the mile 26 marker. From there, I ran the final downhill stretch to the finish line.
Chavet near mile 24
Finish: 4:46:25
Click here for my Garmin data.
I thought that that went about as good as it could. The right ankle was achy, but it held together and didn't really cause any problems. It got quite warm near the Mission Valley area which slowed me down quite a bit. Once again, I stayed ahead of those pesky leg cramps by keeping my heart rate at around 140 bpm or below. While I was hoping to be around 4:30, I was happy with finishing anywhere under 5 hours.
Finisher stats
After receiving my finisher medal, I took an obligatory selfie with it. I then bumped into Chavet with Eric shortly joining us. They told me that they had trouble finding parking this morning so they didn't cross the start line until about 20 minutes after me. After grabbing some post race snacks and water, we started heading out of the finisher chute. At the end of the chute, I saw my friend, Karen. She had run the half marathon and was waiting for Dan. As I was about to head out, I saw a couple of strangers holding some funny signs. I got a selfie with them first before heading out.
Finisher medal
Close up of medal
Finish line
Eric and Chavet
Post race snacks and water
Karen
No, I did not poop my pants!
From there, I headed over to Tender Greens to pick up lunch. This time around, I placed my order on the mobile app for a grilled salmon salad. While I waited for my food to be ready, I got the restroom code from one of the employees to empty my bladder. It sure beats using a portapotty as I got to wash my hands afterwards. On the way back to my timeshare, I took B St to cheer on my fellow runners. I said hi to Paul as I came up to Eleventh Ave. This guy has been a fixture at this particular race since I had been running this race back in 2003. He would position himself at the last mile and remind runners to relax their shoulders. Solid advice and reminder as our running form tend to get sloppy that late into the race.
"Relax your shoulders!" - Paul Greer
Back at my room, I enjoyed my salad. Normally, I would eat a salad if I had run a bad race or if I missed my goal. However, this was one of my favorite salads. Also I was hoping for the salmon to help with any inflammation in my body. Afterward, I took a shower and relaxed a bit.
Grilled salmon salad
At about 2 pm, I went downstairs to check with the concierge for an Uber ride over to the Club Wyndham Habour Lights property for my agreed upon owner update that was scheduled for 2:30 pm. Due to the marathon, the traffic was terrible with a ton of road closures in the downtown area. However, my driver seemed quite impatient as he was not going to follow the GPS directions. It was obvious that he knew the area quite well, so he was able to get over to another street where there was no traffic. For once, the owner not-an-update was not so painful. I sat in with another couple on a Travel & Leisure (formerly Club Wyndham) presentation. Then afterwards, I spent the remainder of my time with my rep. For once he did not show me one single offer sheet. I hope to god that they had put that on my account. I'm very fed up with their constant bullshit hassle! He was just there solely to answer any questions. It did seem as of late that they had been pushing or steering owners to convert their WorldMark credits into Wyndham Reward points to gain access to more properties. However, they're not quite accurate in touting that most places can be reserved for 15,000 pts per night. Sorry, man, I'm not a newbie. The better locations are 30,000 pts per night!
Snack and drinks
Travel & Leisure (formerly Club Wyndham) presentation
On the way out, I received my Tango gift card incentive via email, but I foolishly declined an Uber ride back. Instead I opted to walk back where I had to dodge a bunch of homeless people and reefer smoke. I stayed in my room for the rest of the day watching my favorite series on the History channel. I was just plain too tired to go back out. I thought about getting a bite to eat from McDonald's for dinner. In the end, I did not as there wasn't any good deals and I just wasn't hungry enough for me to go back out.
BAIT, across the street
Monday 6/2
I woke up fairly early to start getting ready for my trip home. While the McDonald's across the street was open 24 hours, the dining area was closed each night at 11 pm and did not open until 7 am. They weren't quite ready to open up right at 7 am, so there was a bunch of us waiting outside for them to open. On the mobile app, I ordered a steak, egg, & cheese bagel sandwich. Then I used a reward deal for a large coffee for 99 cents. Boy, the homeless problem was still quite rampant in downtown San Diego and the businesses that wanted to be survive definitely had to adapt.
Breakfast at McDonald's
Steak, egg, & cheese bagel and large coffee
At about 11:30 am, I checked out of my unit and dropped off my keys at the front desk. I then started my hike up to Balboa Park to catch my 12:20 pm bus ride home. I got there a bit too early, so I walked over to the Air & Space Museum and the San Diego Automotive Museum to pass some time. It was sunny and a bit warm, so I quickly found some shade to cool off a bit before the bus showed up.
Air & Space Museum
A-12 Blackbird
San Diego Automotive Museum
The bus was pretty full as well for the ride home. This time I was able to put my duffel bag in the cargo hold. Man, the driver had the A/C cranked up really high! Everyone onboard eventually put on an extra layer. It was still cold even after putting on my windbreaker! Even though we came across some traffic near the Costa Mesa and Orange Crush area, the bus arrived at the ARTIC about 10 minutes early. That worked out great as I needed to use the restroom. The downstairs men's restroom was being serviced, so I had to take the escalator up a floor to use the one upstairs.
ARTIC
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