In the weeks leading up to this trip, I wasn't sure that I would be riding the Greyhound or FlixBus again. After doing a quick internet search of the current status of the eroding bluffs in San Clemente, I decided to book a round trip reservation with Amtrak. It wasn't permanently fixed, but it seemed stable enough to count on the ride being there. I got ready and left the house at about 7 am to head down to Irvine to catch a train ride. Along the way, I made a stop at the Starbucks on Irvine Center Dr and Sand Canyon Ave to get some coffee. I placed my usual order, grande flat white, on the mobile app before going inside to wait for my drink.
Grande flat white
With coffee in hand, I drove over to the Irvine train station to catch an 8:12 am Amtrak train ride down to San Diego. After finding a suitable parking spot in the parking garage, I headed over first use the restroom before waiting at the tracks for the train to arrive. I wasn't expecting there to be a whole lot of people, but there was a group of older folks that looked like they were riding the train for the very first time.
Irvine train station
San Clemente Pier
The train pulled into the Santa Fe Train Depot at about 10:20 am. From there, I hoofed it over to the San Diego Convention Center for the race expo. With this being my 23rd consecutive Rock n' Roll San Diego Marathon, the race expo was all too familiar. Per the usual, the process was very well streamlined. After getting my race bib, I went and picked up my race shirt. This year was a bit different. It was a long sleeve hoodie! I liked it as it was very similar to the ones given out at the San Diego Holiday Half Marathon in December. The gear bag didn't have any swag. It only had a registration card with the lowest prices for next year's race as well as their other races.
Race expo
Bib pick-up
Race shirt pick-up
Long sleeve race hoodie
Back of race hoodie
Gear bag
Rock n Roll registration card
Next, I checked out the participants name wall to find my name. After I found my name, I made my way into the official merchandise area. I checked out the hooded sweatshirt for my name as well. Once I made it through all of the merchandise, I came up to the Rock n' Roll booth where they were taking registrations. Since I had already registered for next year's marathon yesterday at home, I showed one the folks there my confirmation email in exchange for a cotton t-shirt.
Participants name wall
Participants name hooded sweatshirt
Participants name shirt close up
Rock n' Roll booth
Early registration t-shirt
Back of early registration t-shirt
Before heading into the vendor booths area, I stopped by the stage with the pacers to say hi and get a selfie with a few of my friends that were pacing this weekend. As for free stuff, I was only able to get a few samples from the vendors.
Half marathon pacers
Rachel
Almi
Grant
All pacers
Kefir sample
Sample Celsius powder
After I was done with the race expo, I walked up to Tender Greens to get some lunch. I mostly decided to eat here as I had kept receiving email notifications that I had expiring reward points. Their reward program was definitely not the best, but with inflation being a bit out of control these days, I don't mind saving a little bit here and there. I redeemed 60 points for a free mint lemonade. I ordered my usual, grilled salmon plate with seasonal vegetables and baby greens.
Tender Greens
Mint lemonade
Grilled salmon plate with seasonal vegetables and baby greens
After I was done with my meal, I started heading over to Ralphs to perhaps buy some snacks. I must say that I was very tempted to try the Funyuns minis in a tube and the "Stuf of Doom" Oreos, but I'm trying to stay away from heavily processed junk food. I also noticed that security was quite tight, most likely to curb rampant shoplifting.
Funyuns minis
"Stuf of Doom" Oreos
Since I still had time to waste before check-in time, I headed back over to the San Diego Convention Center to hang out. There I would have access to air conditioning and restrooms. While hanging out near the exit of the race expo, I bumped into a couple of my running friends that had also finished with the race expo.
Pascal
Willie
At about 2 pm, I started my walk over to my timeshare, the WorldMark San Diego Balboa Park. After being a WorldMark owner for about 10 years, I understood my ownership much better. One of those things was knowing when to show up at the property for check-in to avoid their tactics in trying to get you to attend another useless "owner update" where they would try to sell you more credits. Their cutoff for most properties was at about 2 pm for their sales team to take on another owner or potential buyer.
I arrived at the timeshare at about a quarter to 3 pm and was quickly checked into unit #207. Next was that stop to see the concierge. Boy, was she relentless! Lately, they had been trying to get me to attend an update so they can set me up with a Wyndham Rewards account. I already had one since the beginning of my ownership. She even made a claim that only here in San Diego would she be able to guarantee that my Wyndham Rewards account would be correctly associated with my WorldMark account. I must had repeated myself at least 3 times that I'll take care of that on another trip. Eventually, she gave me some tiny ass water bottles and some junk food before letting me go up to my room.
Gaslamp Quarter
Check-in care package
WorldMark San Diego Balboa Park
I got settled into my room and went through my race packet before proceeding to veg out until it was dinner time. Since I had to tighten my marathon budget, dinner was going to be at the McDonald's across the street! I ordered 2 McDoubles at $2.99 per burger then I added free medium fries by cashing in a reward for the Padres getting a win yesterday. LOL sorry ass team, but thanks for the free fries! :D
McDoubles x2 and free medium fries
McDouble
After dinner, I laid out my flat runner. I kind of wished that I had brought clothes that were more suited for warm weather conditions, but they were all dirty and needing to be washed. Sometimes these races pile up and you just can't do laundry quickly enough! :D
Flat runner
Sunday 5/31
I got ready to leave right before 5 am for the walk up to the start line. However, I found the automatic doors where not opening. There were no signs posted as to why it was closed. I didn't think it was an emergency that warranted me forcing the doors open. When I turned around to see if there was someone awake to let me out. Thankfully, someone actually showed up at the front desk. I asked if he could let me out. His answer was a straight no. When I asked why as I needed to head to the race, he finally told me that I needed to exit via the side fire door. Thanks, you clueless moron. Maybe that's why that idiot was working the graveyard shift.
The walk up to the start line at Balboa Park took about 30 minutes. This year, I decided not to hang out over at the Inn at the Park property. The last couple of years, it looked like they were actively trying to keep away people that were not staying at the property during the few hours leading up to the race. I went up to the start line to say hi to my friend that was one of the race announcers. While there, I noticed a few things. They had changed the corral fencing to ones that looked to be much harder to climb. The portapotties were all moved away from the corrals over to the other side of the park along Balboa Dr. Along the way over to the portapotties, I found the food table where I grabbed a banana and some water.
Start line
Andrea doing race announcing
Start area in Balboa Park
I emptied the bladder one last time before heading inside my assigned corral 4. I hung out off to the side of the corral to wait for my friends. However, they don't like getting to the race early, so I never did meet up with them. I did end up chatting with 2 people that were lined up around me. They turned out to be brother and sister. I caught the name of the guy, Richard bib #30222. He told me that he would be pacing her through the first half before going on to finish his race. When saw the "I Love Steaks!" on my bib, he recommended an all natural Texas beef delivery service called, 44 Farms. I will definitely have to check them out!
Waiting inside the corral
The first corral was scheduled to be released at 6:15 am. From corral 4, I crossed the start line at 6:22 am. As with most years, the weather was on the warm side and quite muggy! I felt a bit sluggish from the get-go. I stuck to about a 9 min/mile pace. For the most part, that pace felt comfortable, but both of my ankles felt a bit sore. I might need to retire the shoes that I had been using for training. That pair definitely looked worn out, but I had been trying to squeeze at least 500 miles out of them. The rollers along University Ave most definitely caused my heart rate to get too high, so I pulled over for a quick walk break after reaching mile 3. When I resumed, I made sure to slow it down a bit. I cruised through the next 2 miles before taking another walk break at about mile 6. My next walk break was at mile 8, right before the course split for the half marathon. Normally for a marathon, I would try to maintain the same effort for another 8 miles. However as I was not feeling very fresh. I had to back off even further with the pace before the wheels really came off! I was feeling pretty tired when I reached the halfway point at Presidio Park.
1: 8:46
2: 8:58
3: 9:16
4: 10:18
5: 9:18
6: 9:49
7: 9:32
8: 9:20
9: 10:37
10: 10:38
11: 10:36
12: 11:00
13: 10:49
Mile 8.4: Maverick!
After the nice stretch of downhill, I had to take an extended walk break to mentally prepare for the section along the San Diego River Bikeway. During this stretch, the guy that I had met in the corral said hi as he passed me. Once I had gotten up to Sea World Dr and reached mile 16, my mind and body just felt done. Once more it was time to dig deep and go to the well, but alas, the well was dry! I would later see him again at about mile 18. His shirt was dirty, his right arm was in a sling, and he had a small wound on his leg. He told me that he had taken a pretty bad fall. Still he was moving better than I was! As I turned onto Morena Blvd, I saw a lady passing out Capri-Sun! Oh thank God! At that point, I would take just about anything! As with most years, I struggled through the Mission Valley section along Friars Rd. Shortly after reaching mile 21, it was time to mentally prepare for the dreaded section along the 163 freeway! It would be about a one mile steady climb. I stuck to running the tangents, but I had to move a few times as the ambulance was using that lane to go assist downed runners. The climb crested at just before mile 24. After that it would be mostly downhill. As I made the turn onto B St, I saw Coach Paul encouraging runners, reminding us to relax our shoulders. As I was saying hi, I got a tap on my shoulder. My friend, Lea, had caught me. My legs were pretty toast, but I tried to follow her. She was pulling ahead until the turn onto 5th Ave for the final short climb up to Ash St. I was able to jog up that hill and pass her. I was thinking that she would come along, but she didn't. Once I got onto Ash St, I turned on the jets and emptied the tank for the final downhill stretch. My friend Andrea gave me a nice shoutout as I crossed the finish line of marathon #295!
14: 11:06
15: 10:55
16: 12:18
17: 13:50
18: 13:24
19: 14:42
20: 14:04
21: 14:59
22: 14:47
23: 16:02
24: 14:31
25: 12:39
26: 11:54
26.2: 3:36
Mile 18.5: Capri-Sun
Mile 22.8: The infamous climb up 163
It was cooking out there on the 163!
Finish: 5:07:45
Click here for my Garmin data.
I might have reached the finish line ahead of my friend, but by chip time, she thoroughly destroyed me by almost 20 minutes! I'm such a notoriously horrible runner when the weather is warm and humid. I struggled mightily after reaching mile 16. Those last 10+ miles were an absolute grind!
Marathon Maniacs!
After getting a selfie, we continued on through the finisher chute where we received our finisher medal and a bottle of water. Just up ahead we saw our local friends, Dan and Karen, underneath an easy-up. We chatted a bit and exchanged race experiences. I was only about 3 minutes slower than Dan. Had we started in the same corral, we might have ran the entire race together! I also chatted with the 4:40 pacer. He looked very familiar. I had met him at the Tucson Marathon where he was also on pacer duty. I continued on to get some post race snacks. I thought my friends were just behind me, but it looked like they had gotten in line to take some pictures in front of the backdrop.
Finisher medal
Close-up of finisher medal
Post race snacks
"He looks like a deranged Easter bunny!"
This was one of the few times where I actually decided to head over to the finish line festival in the Waterfront Park. I pretty much went only because I knew that they were giving out Athletic Brewing non-alcoholic beer. Even if that was all I would be drinking, I needed to queue up in the long line for ID check at the entrance. That was followed by another line for the beer. Man, I do miss chugging a cold one after running a marathon in warm weather conditions! After getting my beer, I saw a fellow Half Fanatic, Brent, who had run the half marathon. He was just out there enjoying the band. On the way out, I chatted with a fellow Marathon Maniac. He was a fellow Dodger fan, so we mostly talked about the Dodgers vs Padres. We both agreed that it wasn't even a rivalry as those Madres had yet to win anything, yet they're the ones that keep making all of the noise until October. Unfortunately, I didn't catch his name.
Line for the beer garden
Line for Athletic Brewing
Brent
Run Wild IPA
I can see why I don't normally visit the finish line festival. It was crowded with half marathon finishers. The water was empty for the hand washing stations next to the portapotties. The marathon finishers only got the scraps and leftovers. As I headed out, I had thought about ordering food from Tender Greens and taking it back to my room. However, I decided to just eat there. Once again, I cashed in some expiring reward points for some free mint lemonade. For my meal, I ordered the Mediterranean steak salad which was one of my favorite post marathon recovery food!
Mint lemonade
Mediterranean steak salad
Mediterranean steak salad
After I was done with my food, I started walking back to my timeshare. I took the marathon route so that I could cheer on my fellow runners. I was able to catch Maricris and get a selfie with her. Last but not least, I said hi to Coach Paul and thanked him for always being out there every year!
Maricris
Coach Paul
Back at my room, I got cleaned up and watched a bunch of French Open matches. I lounged around and took a little cat nap. I had to be careful not to get too comfortable as I had purchased a ticket for The Sound of Music musical for 6:30 pm that evening over at the San Diego Civic Theatre.
Fonseca vs. Ruud at French Open
I decided to get dinner at Tender Greens before the show. I was a bit surprised to see a long line of people waiting to order. The line was slow as it appeared to be of mostly newbies. When it was my turn, I ordered one of my favorites, Tuna Niçoise salad. The food was slow in coming out, so I had to quickly eat my food when it was finally brought out to me.
Tuna Niçoise salad
Thankfully, the venue was pretty much just around the corner. Just to make things interesting, the Ticketmaster app had logged me out. I had to first log onto my password manager before I could log back in. With my mobile app ticket ready, I got in line for security screening. Once I got inside, I made my way up to the balcony level. I used the restroom before finding my seat. I thought my seat was an aisle seat, but it was actually up against a wall to my left. The lady on my right was a bit chatty. I was pleasantly surprised to find this musical quite enjoyable as it was very well done! As per the usual, I got in line to purchase a t-shirt on the way out after the show.
Excellent muscial!
Shirt
Back of shirt
Monday 6/1
I woke up early to pack up and get ready to go catch a 4 am Amtrak train ride up to Irvine. After dropping off the room key, once again I had to use the fire exit again to leave. This time however, they actually left signs so that people would know to do that. With the rampant homelessness in CA, the walk over to the Santa Fe Train Depot can sometimes be an interesting one. What I did notice was that more businesses had hired someone to watch their property overnight. Thankfully, I did not come across very many people awake at that hour.
Early Amtrak ride
I rolled into Irvine just before 6 am, just in time for me to head into work. Along the way into the office, I stopped at The Bagel Shack to pick up some breakfast. I ordered my usual, Old Man's on everything bagel.
Back at Irvine station
Old Man's on everything bagel
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