I woke up early to get ready for the road trip out to Arizona. This would be my first time running a marathon out in Tucson. I left the house a little before 4:30 am to get ahead of any morning work or weekend traffic. The first leg took me into Indio where I exited at Jackson St. The sunrise was blinding my eyes as I turned towards the Indio Towne Center. I plugged the car in for a charge at the Tesla Supercharger station. Then I walked over to the Starbucks to get breakfast. On the mobile app, I ordered the bacon & gruyère egg bites and grande blonde vanilla latte. It was my first time trying their egg bites. It tasted weird as if the eggs were watered down. I used their restroom before heading back to the car.
Tesla Supercharger, Indio, CA
Bacon & gruyère egg bites and grande blonde vanilla latte
Bacon & gruyère egg bites
The second leg took me out to the Tesla Supercharger station out in Quartzsite, AZ. With the change in time zone, I arrived at about 9:30 am local time. After plugging the car in for a charge, I went over to the Terrible's to use their restroom and to buy some snacks. I bought the Snak Club protein power mix before returning to my car.
Tesla Supercharger, Terrible's, Quartzsite, AZ
The third leg took me out to the Tesla Supercharger station in Park West out in Peoria, AZ. It was kind of out of the way, but I thought that the charging rate was significantly cheaper to warrant the slight detour. After plugging the car in for a charge, I walked over to the nearby Handel's Homemade Ice Cream to get a cone. After looking over their extensive menu of flavors, I opted for a small waffle cone of their chocolate malt with caramel. I found an open nearby table to enjoy my treat. It was a bit messy, but did hit the spot as the weather was hot. I used the mall restroom before heading back to my car.
Tesla Supercharger, Park West, Peoria, AZ
Handel's Homemade Ice Cream, chocolate malt with caramel
The fourth and final leg took me out to Tucson. I parked and checked into my room at the no-frills Super 8 near the downtown Tucson Convention Center. After taking care of the paperwork, I was checked into room #113. Since parking was not free over at the convention center, I decided to walk over as it was only about a mile away. On the way over, I took the El Paso & Southwestern Greenway multi-use path. Once I was there, I followed those little arrows pointing the way over to the race expo. Near the entrance, there were a couple of girls passing out cards for a scavenger hunt where we visited the different vendor booths to obtain a stamp on the appropriate square. A completed card would then go into a raffle for a prize. Before doing that I went over to the table to be assigned a bib after showing them my QR code. In addition to my bib, I received a tote bag with some swag and the race shirt. After I was finished with the expo, I used a restroom before heading out. On the way back to the motel, I crossed over to the other side of the 10 freeway via Cushing St and headed south on Freeway.
Tucson Convention Center
Garmin tote bag
Parking map
Race swag
Race shirt
Back of race shirt
Once I got back to my room, I dropped off the race packet before going back out in my car to go get some drinks, snacks, and an early dinner. I drove over to a nearby Target where I bought the usual gallon of water and a bag of potato chips. Since I had recently tried the Boulder Canyon brand and liked it, I went with it again. I was intrigued and tempted to give the ready-to-eat Kevin's natural foods a try. Maybe next time. I must have been tired because even though I had brought a bottle of Powerade from home for tomorrow's race, I had forgotten to buy another bottle for Sunday's race. I'll have to remember to do that tomorrow.
Super 8 Tucson Convention Center
Boulder Canyon kettle style potato chips
1 gallon of water
Kevin's ready-to-eat meals
Originally, I was planning to eat at Portillo's since it was really close to this particular Target. What happened to be even closer was an In-n-Out so that was where I went. Even at about 4 pm, the place was packed. I got in line and ordered my usual, 2 Double Double burgers with raw onions and a Neapolitan shake. Once my food was ready, I found a vacant spot to eat my food.
Double Double with raw onions x2 and Neapolitan shake
Back at my room, I went through the race packet and laid out my flat runner. Even though it was going to be a warm day tomorrow, I decided to go with the fan favorite, Buc-ee's shirt. After watching some TV, I eventually took a shower before going to sleep. Even though the bed was a bit lumpy, I was able to get in a few hours of decent sleep.
Flat runner
Saturday 11/15
I got up pretty early to pack up and get ready for the race. At about 4:15 am, I drove over to the Tesla Supercharger station on W River Rd near Stone Ave to charge up the car during off-peak hours. It was a station with the newer 325 kW chargers. After plugging in, I walked over to Starbucks to get my usual grande blonde vanilla latte. I enjoyed my coffee there while waiting for the car to finish charging.
Tesla Supercharger, River Rd, Tucson, AZ
Grande blonde vanilla latte
Instead of paying for parking near the start/finish line, I opted to park my car back at the motel. I used the restroom one last time before dropping off the room key at the front desk. Then I walked over to the start line. For a portion of the way, I walked near a couple that appeared to be headed to the race as well until they veered off onto a different route. Maybe they were trying to get away from me. Our routes merged at Cushing St. By then, there were plenty of other runners all heading over to the start area on Congress St. I got into a portapotty line as soon as I got there. The timing turned out to be perfect as the national anthem was just being sung as I had finished using one. I ended up positioning myself in corral 2, near the 4 hour pacers.
Portapotty lines
Started out of corral 2, near the 4 hour pacers
The race start was at 6:30 am. I wore my new pair of Nike Air Zoom Structure 25 White Summit shoes. They felt good and did remind me of my old Structure Triax shoes. I went out a bit too fast on that first mile. I backed off on the pace in the next couple of miles until I settled into about a 9:30-9:40 min/mile pace. For some reason, I had thought that the half marathon and marathon courses were the same until near the halfway point. My brain checked-out and I was just grinding out the miles especially when we started running east on Speedway Blvd, right into the early morning sun. At about 6.75 miles into the race, the runner in front of me turned left onto Painted Hills Rd and I followed. Unfortunately, it wasn't until I had reached the mile 8 marker for the half marathon before I finally realized that I had made a wrong turn! I pulled over to the side and took out my phone to check the race course. I had gone too far to turn around, so I continued on. By the time I rejoined the marathon route, I had already covered about 10 miles when I reached the mile 8 marker for the marathon. That was quite demoralizing. With another marathon tomorrow, I started contemplating finishing just the half marathon course. This goes to show that runners need to either memorize the course or pay attention at all turns as you cannot count on there always being a course marshal to direct you! As I approached the course split, I decided to plow ahead and continue on with the marathon.
1: 8:47
2: 9:07
3: 9:51
4: 9:42
5: 9:38
6: 8:59
7: 9:24
8: 10:14
9: 9:10
10: 9:48
11: 9:25
12: 9:52
13: 10:42
14: 11:34
15: 10:53
15.1: 1:00
First half: 2:28:05
Marathon course
Half marathon course
Early in the race
About the halfway mark at University of Arizona
The second half was a total grind as the weather continued to get warmer and warmer. The slow down started at about what was about mile 17 for me. I had to take frequent walk breaks as my heart rate would get too high as I was overheating. During the long stretch on Broadway Blvd, I was passed by the 5 hour pacer. I chatted with him a bit about the 2 mile detour that I had taken. He told me that he had done the same thing, but unlike me, he was able to make up the time difference. I tried my best to stay ahead of the leg cramps, but by about mile 25, the leg cramps had reduced me to mostly walking. I passed my motel and reached the 26.2 mark at about 4:58, but I still had 2 more miles to go to make up for the detour earlier in the race. Unfortunately, the course made a right turn up Grande Ave. On the final stretch on Congress St, I chatted with a shirtless guy. He looked pretty young, most likely college age, and was running his very first marathon. He was a bit shocked to find out that today was my 280th marathon. I advised him not to run a second marathon or else he might end up like me! With the finish line a few blocks up ahead, he powered ahead of me, leaving me in the dust. I jogged as fast as my legs would allow without them fully seizing up from muscle cramps.
16: 11:29
17: 12:48
18: 12:40
19: 13:08
20: 13:03
21: 13:52
22: 13:26
23: 13:44
24: 13:57
25: 15:01
26: 13:51
27: 15:23
28: 15:11
28.2: 1:52
Second half: 2:58:25
Not too far after reaching the halfway mark
Cold wet Tucson PD towel passed out late in the race
Nearing the finish line
So glad to be done!
Garmin Tucson Marathon Finish: 5:26:30
Click here for my Garmin data.
Holy smokes, I was cooked! I really did not need those extra 2 miles! Since my legs were cramping up, I found a spot off to the side to prop myself up so I wouldn't fall over. Eventually, I grabbed an empty fold-up chair nearby and sat at the very end of the table of bananas. Even though my stomach wasn't quite ready for anything solid, I forced myself to eat the chicken burrito and allow my leg muscles to recover a bit. The taste was okay, but it was really dry. Without the salsa, that thing would not be going down the hatch! It took what felt like an eternity for me to finish that burrito! Before starting my walk back to my car at the motel, I swung by the post race area where I took a couple of photos with the giant Garmin watch with my mediocre finishing time. Since it would be a long drive up to Scottsdale, I used one of the portapotties before heading out.
Finisher medal
Close up of medal
Post race goodies
Garmin finish
The drive up to Scottsdale took about 1 hour and 45 minutes. I parked at the Civic Center Library Parking Garage on Drinkwater Blvd. A bunch of other people and I all made the mistake of trying to enter the race expo across the street. The entrance was set up to be just north of the library on the second level which was the same level as where I had parked. I had to show them the email with my bib information to gain entry into the Scottsdale Civic Center park area. I definitely felt out of place at this woman's marathon. I followed the signs for bib pick-up which was the lobby of the Scottsdale Center For The Performing Arts building. The lady in front of me happened to have just paced at the Garmin Tucson Marathon. We kind of had that Spider-man doppelganger moment when we saw that we were both wearing the same race shirt. Next, I got a picture inside the milk fridge and checked out the different columns with the participant names grouped by the number of completed marathons. Before leaving, I checked out those that were speaking up on the stage in the Civic Center East Bowl.
Picacho Peak
Civic Center Library Parking Garage
Bib pick-up
Tote bag
Swag
Race shirt
Back of race shirt
Inside the milk fridge
Runner name columns
61st+ marathon
Close-up
Stage
Thanks for not pooping on my car!
I hopped in the car and drove down to the Pacific Rim & Sushi to eat an early dinner. It was located on Southern Ave, across the street from Mesa Community College. I ordered their Hawaiian plate and a Hawaiian Sun. Man, that was some good food and reminded me of my past trips to Hawaii.
Pacific Rim & Sushi
Hawaiian plate
After I was done with my meal, I hopped in the car and started driving over to the Super 8. I totally forgot about it, but I saw a Target and pulled over to buy a bottle of sports drink for tomorrow's race. Normally, I would buy a bottle of grape Powerade, but I couldn't find any, so I went with Midnight Ice Gatorade.
Midnight ice Gatorade
The hotel was nearby on Main St near Alma School Rd. From what I could gather, this hotel used to be an Econolodge and was recently acquired by Wyndham as a Super 8. They were still in the process of rebranding. After checking in at the front desk, I was assigned to room #230. For the most part, everything in the room was clean and in good working condition. Unfortunately, one of the two bath towels was way too stained. Still overall, it was more than adequate for a one-nighter.
Super 8 Mesa Near Convention Center
View from the balcony
I went through the race packet and laid out my flat runner for tomorrow while catching the tail end of one of my favorite movies, While You Were Sleeping. I thought it was quite the appropriate movie for me to watch in preparation for tomorrow's marathon geared for women. :)
While You Were Sleeping
Flat runner
Sunday 11/16
I got ready and checked out of my room at 4 am. I drove over to the Camelback Miller Plaza to charge the car at the Tesla Supercharger at off-peak rates prior to catching a shuttle ride to the start line. The nearby Starbucks did not open until 5 am, so I timed it for the car to finish charging right about when they opened. While waiting, I noticed that there were a ton of Waymo vehicles driving back and forth along Miller Rd. Just as my car was finishing up with the charge, I placed my order on the mobile app for my usual grande blonde vanilla latte. I then unplugged the car and got into the drive-thru line. It was a quick drive over to the same parking garage that I had used yesterday. After parking the car, I grabbed my handheld bottle and mylar blanket and headed over to the corner of Marshall Way and 2nd St to catch a shuttle.
Tesla Supercharger, Camelback Miller Plaza, Scottsdale, AZ
My usual pre-race coffee, grande blonde vanilla latte
Queued up for a bus ride over to the start line at Westworld
It seemed like none of the female participants really wanted to sit next to me. An older lady named, Rita, from Mississippi eventually sat next to me. We ended up having a nice conversation about our international travels and some of my favorite marathons. She told me that her next trip would be out to Chiang Mai, Thailand with her husband. I told her that my absolute most favorite marathon was the New York City Marathon. I told her that if she plans to retire from marathon running that she should run that one as her last one. The traffic was pretty bad as we got closer to Westworld. I thought the ride would have been quicker, but it took almost an hour!
After getting off of the bus, I noticed that there was a huge line for people to use an actual restroom. I opted for the portapotties. They had a large cache of them and the lines were very short. After taking care of that, I went over to corral 10 to meet up with my friend. As soon as I took a quick selfie, we could feel drops of rain. It kind of started to come down as we moved up to corral 3. It was coming down enough that I got out the mylar blanket so that I wouldn't get entirely drenched.
Found Dan at corral 10
Started out of corral 3
One last selfie before it was time to run
Here we go!
The course was a bit congested during the first couple of miles. The legs felt pretty good, but I made sure to keep it easy. Once the course opened up a bit, I was able to run a couple of faster miles, but I made sure not to dip below 9 minutes/mile. At about mile 5, the course went off of Cactus Rd onto a concrete bike path. We would be running on a bike path for a good stretch until into the second half of the race. I had thought that I was going conservatively enough until the fatigue hit me quite hard during the 9th mile. I started taking walk breaks to try and recover, but it only felt increasingly more difficult as the miles ticked on. It seemed like we ran by a lot of golf courses and parks. Also there were a lot of underpasses.
1: 9:34
2: 9:23
3: 9:00
4: 9:00
5: 9:27
6: 9:21
7: 9:34
8: 9:33
9: 10:39
10: 10:10
11: 11:06
12: 11:25
13: 10:19
13.1: 1:59
First half: 2:10:30
About mile 8.8
Pony!
About mile 11, Indian Bend Wash Horse Sculptures
My body was completely worn out by the concrete bike path. It definitely did not help having run 28+ miles yesterday. Shortly after reaching mile 16, the course finally got off of the concrete surface as I made a right turn onto McDowell Rd. Unfortunately, this section was a long out-and-back climb past the Papago Buttes. They had taiko drummers to help encourage us, but I was reduced to a walk on the way back towards mile 20. I thought it was a good time as any to visit one of the portapotties. After that I headed north on 64th St for a couple of miles. That was followed by a left turn onto Indian School Rd for another out and back to get onto the Arizona Canal Trail. Although this section was on a softer dirt trail, there was no shade and it was getting warm out there! When I reached mile 25, I saw some of the artwork for the Canal Convergence, one being the Polychroma. They must look much better in the nighttime! After making a right turn onto Scottsdale Rd, I knew that I had about a mile to go. I tried my best to run the rest, but my legs were not cooperating. Thankfully, when I made the right turn onto Main St for one last short out-and-back, I was able to get the legs working again for the final stretch to the finish line.
14: 12:03
15: 11:33
16: 12:15
17: 12:50
18: 13:26
19: 13:37
20: 15:12
21: 14:55
22: 13:21
23: 13:40
24: 15:18
25: 14:39
26: 13:24
26.2: 3:44
Second half: 2:57:57
Mile 18, the never-ending climb up McDowell Rd
Papago Buttes
Mr Poopy Butthole!
Scary Terry!
About mile 25, Arizona Canal Trail, Polychroma
Do what you love and what brings a smile to your face!
Finish line announcer Ann!
Every Woman's Marathon Finish: 5:08:26
Click here for my Garmin data.
While I didn't meet my goal of finishing in under 5 hours, I was content with surviving a marathon double this weekend. My gimpy right ankle did get quite sore during the last few miles. I think once again that was due to there being too many turns.
After receiving my finisher medal, I took a selfie with it before continuing down the finisher chute. Off to the side I noticed that there were other finishers taking pictures with Kathrine Switzer. She was the first official female finisher at the Boston Marathon back in 1967 when women were still not allowed in the race. I gave her a fist-bump and thanked her for letting me crash today's race. Before exiting the chute, I received a bunch of post race goodies, a mylar blanket, and a towel.
Finish line selfie
Finisher medal
Post race goodies
Towel
I found an empty spot on a bench in front of the Scottsdale Southwest gift shop to put things down and sort things out. Once I had gotten my bearings, it was time to go meet up with my friend for some brunch. On the way out, I noticed a Zoltar machine! Well, it looked to be knock-off version of it. Oh, don't be so eager to grow up, it's a trap!
Zoltar!
The traffic was terrible leaving the immediate area around the civic center. It was fine once I had gotten a couple of blocks away. We had brunch over at the Brunch Snob on 7th St and Missouri Ave. The place was quite busy at around 1:30 pm. They had to shuffle us around to another table to make room for a larger group. Unfortunately, the waitstaff lost track of us, so we were orphaned for a while. Once we flagged down our original waitress, everything was fine. I ordered their steak & eggs with spicy potatoes and sourdough toast. I got coffee to go with my meal. Unfortunately, the steak was a bit chewy, something that I would expect more from a Denny's. The potatoes were a bit plain and barely spicy. I would opt for the hash browns next time. Other than that, service was great and the rest of my meal was fine. The restaurant decor was pretty nice with a little bit of humor. Even though what I had ordered was a bit of a miss, I would like to come back and try something else on their menu.
Coffee
Steak & eggs
After taking care of the bill, it was time for the long drive home. The first leg took me out to the Tesla Supercharger station at Ehrenberg. It was close enough to the border that my clocks had already switched to pacific standard time. Originally, I was going to go check out the new charging station on the other side of the freeway, but instead decided to come here as it was super convenient to have the Flying J Travel Center there. While waiting for the car to finish charging, I went inside to use their restroom. I bought a can of Starbucks cold brew before heading back to my car. I made sure to get a full charge so that I could make it all the way into Beaumont for my next charge.
Tesla Supercharger, Flying J, Ehrenberg, AZ
$3.99
The second leg took me out to Beaumont just beyond where the freeway splits into the 10 and 60 freeways. I exited the freeway at Oak Valley Parkway to charge up the car at the Tesla Supercharger station. I prefer getting a charge here instead of Indio as the charging rate was cheaper. The rain was coming down a bit so I had to put on my jacket before going inside the Circle K to get another drink. I used their restroom and bought a can of Starbucks cold brew before heading back to my car for the final stretch home.
Tesla Supercharger, Circle K, Beaumont, CA
$4.54
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