I had been dealing with some pain in my left kidney from an apparent case of food poisoning on Tuesday night from some Thai take-out. Since I didn't have a fever, was still producing normal amounts of urine, and no blood in the urine, I never did go to urgent care to get it checked out. I ruled out kidney stones as that's usually my right kidney and the pain was different. Thankfully it progressively had gotten better throughout the week, but the pain would come and go. I did consider just canceling the trip, but ultimately decided to go as I would be in pain either at home or in Solvang. Might as well be in Solvang. I got ready and left the house at a little before 9:30 am for the drive up to Solvang.
There was decent amount of traffic along the way. After driving about 2.5 hours, I decided to pull off the freeway in Santa Barbara for a break and to use the restroom. Normally, I would make a pitstop at the Five Points shopping mall to either charge the car and/or get some coffee at the Starbucks. This time however, I drove over to the Target across the street to get some snacks and to use their restroom. I ended up buying a box of Triscuit for $6.49. One thing I noticed with the drive was that the Tesla seat was extremely comfortable especially with the kidney discomfort. A big thank you to the person or persons that designed that seat!
Target
After paying for my item, I hopped back in the car. Navigation kept routing me through highway 154, but I opted to continue along the 101. During the final stretch up the highway 246 exit in Buellton, I realized why it didn't want me to come through here. There was construction and some sections were down to a single lane.
I then pulled into the Buellton Shopping Center to get a quick lunch at Carl's Jr. Normally, I'm a McDonald's guy. However this particular location was participating in both the AAdvantage Dining program and Upside. On the mobile app, I ordered a Cali XL burger. I replaced the grilled onion with raw onion and added pickles. Honestly, they had much superior burgers to McDonald's.
Cali XL
After I was done with my burger, I walked across the parking lot to get some salty snacks and water at Albertsons. They had much better prices here than the Target in Santa Barbara. I bought a bag of Cape Cod potato chips for $3.99 and 2 one gallon bottles of spring water for $3 plus 20 cents CRV.
Cape Cod chips and gallon of water
Next I drove into town to go pick up my race packet at Solvang Park. As with each of the years that I'd run this race, I was able to find nearby street parking and walked over. Once again, it was really quick. After getting my bib, I picked up my race shirt and a cloth tote bag.
Race shirt
Back of race shirt
Race swag
After I got back to my car, I drove the very short distance over to my timeshare rental, WorldMark Solvang to see if my unit was ready for an early check-in. Thankfully, it was. I was assigned to unit #1305. One of the first things that I had noticed when I got into my room was that they had gotten rid of the Murphy bed. Hopefully, that was due to my complaints about the bed being worn out and having to pay so much in maintenance fees.
WorldMark Solvang
Balcony
Pool
I got settled into my room and laid out my flat runner for tomorrow's half marathon. The concierge had called wanting to give me a care package. I knew the game and told him that I would stop by his desk when I go back out to pick up an early dinner.
Flat runner
At about 5 pm, I headed out to pick up dinner at the nearby Viking Tower Pizza. True to my word, I made a stop at the lobby to check-in with the concierge. However, he wasn't there. The folks at the front desk told me that he had just stepped out.
I really liked their garlic chicken pizza last year, so I ordered the same thing again. Go with what worked, right? In addition to being part of the AAdvantage Dining program, they were also with Upside. Instead of waiting around, I decided to take a stroll around and do a little bit of window shopping. Apparently my pizza was ready for a while by the time I had returned.
Viking Tower Pizza
Small garlic chicken pizza
With my pizza dinner in hand, I stopped by the lobby again on my way up to my room. Again, I was told that the concierge had just stepped out. I told them that I will be going up to my room to enjoy my pizza. Just as I got to my room and had put down my pizza box, I heard a knock on my door. It was the concierge with a care package. Per the usual, he wanted me to do an owner update via a tablet. I declined. The care package was mostly junk food. He highlighted the Danish pastry. Unfortunately, I had to toss that as I wasn't about to eat unpackaged food after my recent bout of food poisoning. I did appreciate the water and Starbucks Frappuccino.
Care package
After finishing the pizza and taking a shower, I watched a bunch of TV before calling it a night. I wanted to get in as much sleep as I could as the left kidney was still causing some discomfort especially when I was lying down.
Saturday 5/9
I actually got some decent sleep this time. However, the left kidney still did not feel 100%. I got ready and left the unit shortly after 6 am to walk over to the start line next to the Solvang Elementary School. After using one of the portapotties, I bumped into the usual suspects, Ginny and Sean. We chatted a bit before we started getting ready for the 7 am start time.
Ginny and Sean
Start line
This was my 4th time running this race, so I was pretty much honed in on the best strategy for this course. I knew not to go out too fast as the first half was a steady incline up to the infamous Corkscrew Hill at mile 7. I made sure to keep each of the first 6 miles just under 9 minutes per mile. As I was cruising along, I noticed that a "Barbie runner" was passing me. It turned out to be one of the runners that I followed on Instagram. She looked way too good while running at a strong pace! She would duck into a portapotty, but would still catch up and beat me by almost 10 minutes! Although there were some long stretches of downhill after getting to the top of that hill, I needed to save something for the final climb at mile 12. Just before the climb, I came up to Gabe, who would normally be on pacing duty. He told me that he was really struggling, so I wished him well and pushed on. As with previous years, I was pretty worn out by the time I got to the top. It took a while for my legs to recover for that final stretch to the finish line.
1: 8:27
2: 8:29
3: 8:50
4: 8:52
5: 8:58
6: 8:57
7: 9:43
8: 8:40
9: 7:54
10: 8:12
11: 8:26
12: 9:27
13: 8:37
13.1: 0:54
Finish: 1:54:26
Click here for my Garmin data.
After crossing the finish line, I was feeling pretty worse for wear. Even though I got through the race relatively okay, I don't think it was recommended given my kidney discomfort going into the race. The finisher medal that I received was unique and really cool looking!
Finisher medal
Close-up of medal
Side 2
As I was getting my post race bag of goodies, I noticed my friend, Albert off to the side. I wasn't aware that he was running in this event. He told me that he had run the 5k. Normally I would stick around and chat, but I had to excuse myself as the discomfort in my left kidney was getting worse. I knew that I needed to stay hydrated. I stopped for a quick selfie with the famous windmill on the way back to my unit.
Post race goodies
Albert at the finish line
Post race windmill selfie
After getting cleaned up and taking a shower, I ended up taking a nap as I felt completely worn out. I slept through lunch, but woke up just in time for the tail-end of brunch at the Craft House at Corque which ended at 3 pm. I ended up sitting at the bar. The place was pretty empty except for a couple and a bridal party getting some drinks. I ordered some coffee and their Craft House Breakfast. Unfortunately, the coffee was tepid at best. Thankfully, the breakfast was good.
Tepid coffee
Craft House Breakfast
After getting back to my unit, I did not go back out again as I was planning to leave early the next day. I wanted to get a head start on the drive home and to charge the car up a bit at the cheaper charging rates earlier in the morning.
Sunday 5/10
I was definitely feeling worn out as I didn't pack up and leave until a quarter to 7 am. Needless to say, I did not arrive at the usual Tesla Supercharger station in Santa Barbara in time for the cheaper charging rates. After plugging the car in for a quick charge, I walked over to the Starbucks to pick up some coffee and breakfast. I ordered a tall flat white and egg pesto mozzarella sandwich. I had already bought a lunch item on 5/4 and a latte on 5/5. So I needed the breakfast item to earn 75 bonus stars.
Tesla Supercharger Five Points Shopping Mall in Santa Barbara
Tall flat white and egg pesto mozzarella sandwich
Egg pesto mozzarella sandwich
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