Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend 2011

Travel
On Thursday night I took a red-eye flight out of LAX to Orlando on AirTran. It was my first time flying with this airline. I've heard horror stories about AirTran, but it was a good flight with a layover in Atlanta. Once I reached Orlando, taking the Disney's Magical Express was painless. Disney is indeed a very well-oiled machine. Everything was very well organized for the entire race weekend. It was really easy to get around without having to rent a car.

Disney's Magical Express

I stayed at the Pop Century resort, one of the cheapest Disney resorts. I've read some bad reviews, but I was pleasantly surprised when I got to my room. Everything was new and I was definitely pleased with the room.

Pop Century Resort

1950's Jukebox

1950's Hotel Rooms

My Room

Packet pickup & Expo
After I dropped my stuff off in my room, I took the bus over to the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex to attend the expo. I picked up my race packet in the HP Field House. Goofy runners had their pickup separately upstairs. I then headed over to the Jostens Center to pick up my shirts and peruse the expo. I did pretty good. I only bought a Goofy's Race and a half Challenge polo shirt and signed up for the Disneyland Half Marathon to avoid paying the Active.com fee.

ESPN Wide World of Sports

Expo

Pre-race#1
For dinner, I met up with my friends and their family to eat a pre-race meal at the House of Blues. I ordered a Smokehouse BBQ Burger and a Guinness. We stopped by Ridemakerz which was pretty cool... like a Build-a-bear for little boys.

Downtown Disney

I woke up a little after 2am to get ready for the race. I got on the shuttle around 3:30am. It was a nice walk to the gear check area. I checked my bag around 4:30am and headed over to the starting area. I got into my corral A at around 5am and jogged around to warm up. Then I lined up near the front. I was able to spot my friends. They showed on the screens the race that was simultaneously taking place in Baghdad. After the usual Disney pre-race show and the national anthem, the race was ready to begin.

Saturday Donald Duck Half Marathon
The pyrotechnics was nice and warm. I started off at a comfortable pace and tried very hard not to follow my two fast friends. It was a gradual incline for most of the beginning two miles. I took walk breaks at every 5k. I took a salt cap at 10k and a Clifshot gel at mile 10. I struggled on a heavily cambered off ramp around mile 11. It really exposed my weak right ankle. Snow White passed me here. Somehow I broke through the struggle in trying to stay in front of her. But I didn't let it get out of hand and paced myself since there was a very noticeable discomfort in the ankle. Snow White passed me again briefly after we crossed the mile 13 marker. I overtook her when I kicked it in for the finish line. I turned around at the finish and thanked her for pushing me from mile 11 to finish sub 1:50.
1: 7:40
2: 7:45
3: 7:50
4: 8:21
5: 7:54
6: 8:17
7: 8:33
8: 8:21
9: 8:45
10: 8:46
11: 9:15
12: 8:40
13: 8:31
.1: 0:44
Finish: 1:49:29 (according to the official results I finished in 1:48:59)

Shortly after getting my Donald Duck medal, I headed over to the refreshment tent. I grabbed a bottle of water, a blueberry muffin, banana, can of Coke, and a Powerade. Then I headed over to the gear check tent to get my bag. I put on my jacket and threw all of the treats into my bag. I walked over to the bus stop and headed back to my hotel.

Postrace#1 and Pre-race#2
I cleaned up and headed to the cafeteria to eat lunch. I got a chicken Caesar salad, potato chips, and a juice drink. I went back out to expo and bought a pair of shorts.

For dinner, I went back to the cafeteria to eat a bacon cheeseburger, potato chips, and juice. I watched the football game on TV before falling asleep.

Pre-Marathon Carboload meal

Again I woke up a little after 2am to get ready for the race. I got on the shuttle around 3:45am this time. As we got off the bus for the walk to the gear check area, I was mistaken for a Japanese by two Japanese girls. I kind of wished I had kept up with my Japanese since this happens quite often. I checked my bag around 4:30am and headed over to the starting area. I got into my corral C a little after 5am. Then I lined up near the front with the 4 hour pace group. After the same Disney pre-race show and the national anthem, the race was ready to begin.

Sunday Mickey Mouse Marathon
Not much going on here. It was just a survival race so I used my usual strategy. Run the first half in under 2 hours and take walk breaks every 5k until the halfway point. For this race, I started out of corral C. Things felt okay and a bunch of us in the 4 hour pace group ran into the back of the corral B walkers within the first mile. They had a 5 minute head start and it boggles my mind why they started in corral B. Then by about mile 7 there was discomfort in the right foot. The 2nd half was just pain management. Whenever my right foot hurt too much, I took an extended walk break of about 2 minutes. Since I wasn't running much, I stopped a few times to take pictures with characters. I took pictures with Russell from Up and Frozone & Elastigirl from the Incredibles.
1: 8:41
2: 8:47
3: 8:34
4: 9:13
5: 8:37
6: 8:46
7: 9:17
8: 8:59
9: 9:17
10: 9:37
11: 9:23
12: 9:05
13: 9:47
14: 11:06
15: 10:59
16: 12:58
17: 12:27
18: 13:29
19: 12:02
20: 12:06
21: 13:23
22: 11:58
23: 12:22
24: 14:37
25: 12:47
26: 13:08
.2: 2:04
Finish: 4:43:27

I picked up my Mickey Mouse medal and the Goofy medal. Took a picture. Then headed to the refreshment tent. I picked up water, Clif Builder's protein bar, a blueberry muffin, banana, and Powerade.

The 3 medals

Post-race#2
I took the bus back to my hotel. After getting cleaned up, I stopped by the cafeteria and ate a Beef & Bleu sandwich and chips. Then I fell asleep watching TV again. I woke up to eat dinner at the Fulton's Crab House at Downtown Disney. I had 2 Black & Blossom beers, the scallops for appetizer, and the New York strip steak medium rare & crab claws. The waiter said that they were known for the crab claws and yes, they were good.

Beef & Bleu sandwich

Black & Blossom

Scallops appetizer

New York strip steak and crab claws

My return flight went through Atlanta. I received an email telling me that my flight was canceled due to a severe snow storm. I called the airline and booked a new flight 1 day later. Which in hindsight turned out for the best. Originally I was going to spend just a few hours at Epcot before heading to the airport. Instead I extended my stay 1 extra night and spent all of Monday at Epcot. It was a pretty good experience for my first trip to Disney World.

Free Marathon Monday at the Epcot center

I took the shuttle over to Epcot. I activated my free pass for completing the marathon and entered the park. I saw Stitch and took a picture with him. He's one of my favorite Disney characters of all time. I then went on the Spaceship Earth ride which was pretty neat. Then I stood in line at the Character Spot to take pictures with the usual Disney characters: Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Pluto, Donald Duck, and Goofy. Then I met up with my friends and their families. We took the tour around the world sampling the different foods and drinks of each country. Halfway through it there was a nice downpour of rain. We took shelter underneath some roof awning. It let up after a while. When we were done with all of the countries, we headed over to Teppan Edo in Japan for dinner. Good stuff.

As long as I can afford it, I will try to run Disney World every year! If you call yourself a Disney fan and run marathons, this is a must-do race!

Operation Jack Marathon

This marathon for me was an unscheduled race. I had planned for Honolulu to be my last marathon for the year, but I couldn't resist supporting my friend Sam (Operation Jack) and Train4Autism. I got to Manhattan Beach a little after 6am. As I was walking over to the registration area to pick up my bib, I bumped into Kathy. I should aspire to be a super volunteer like her. After saying hi to a few of my friends, I jogged back to my car to change.

People who know me would know that I hate the beach. In particularly the sand. But I'd do just about anything for charity.

Manhattan Beach

My right leg has a lot of issues, so I knew it would take me a while to cover 26.2 miles. I kind of already had in the back of my mind that I would just drop at the half so I would be able to see Sam finish his epic quest.

The race started promptly at 7:30am. I started off at a low 8 min pace. There were no mile markers and I don't wear a GPS watch, so I have no idea what was my exact pace. I made sure I did not accelerate as I had just strained my hamstring 2 days prior. Things were going ok up to the first turnaround. But shortly thereafter things started to go wrong. GI issues and right hamstring tightness were the first things to hit. You go to the well too many times and eventually you'll come up empty. The legs just did not want to go. The right hip got very tight so I just started walking a lot. When I ran, it felt like the right leg was going to fall off. I tried to rally for a sub 2 finish, but there was nothing there. I was kind of upset having to drop out at the half.

DNF 13.1 miles - 2:03:07

It was cool to see the race getting some media attention from channel 4! I usually watch channel 7 so I kept thinking the reporter was Gordon Tokumatsu when in fact he was Ted Chen. Opps, my bad. All Asians look a like, right? :)

Ted Chen from Ch4 interviewing Tiffany

While waiting for Sam to finish, I took a few pictures of my maniac friends. Ed is a running machine. Nothing can stop this guy. Danica jumped for my camera, but I was unable to capture it in time.

Ed finishing the 1st half of his marathon

Danica finishing the half marathon

The first place marathoner came in at about 3:07. It turns out he was the guy that set the world record for the most miles ran on sand in a 24 hour period.

Christian Burke coming in 1st for the marathon

I snapped a photo of Sam heading for the finish line with Jack. I'm glad I was able to catch this moment. If I had gone back out to slug through the 2nd half, I would've missed it. There's always a silver lining. After a brief interview with Ted Chen, his wife Tiffany hands him a nice trophy for completing his epic quest.

Sam finishing No 61 with Jack

Ted Chen interviews Sam

The rest of the Felsenfeld family

61. Done.

Congratulations graffiti sign

The post race celebration meal was held at the nearby Four Daughters Kitchen. I tried to wait for everyone to show up, but I got too hungry. I ordered the Leila's famous burger and a root beer. I ate it all while waiting for everyone else. It was a good delicious burger and the fries were good as well. I hung out for a little bit before making the drive home.

Leila's famous burger at Daughters Kitchen

Shirt and medal

It was pretty cool to see this little piece during a news segment after my morning run. Even though I could not complete my own race, it was really cool to see Sam complete his quest and to be part of his mission to bring more awareness to Autism. I really hope that this is just the beginning of something big.

Here's the full piece: link

2010 Honolulu Food-a-thon

Travel and stuff
This year I flew on Hawaiian Airlines out of LAX on Thursday night. On the flight I watched a documentary on the Brothers Cazimero. Cool stuff. The girl sitting next to me had her music on pretty loud. I could hear her music even though she was wearing earphones. Once we landed in Honolulu, I took the shuttle over to my hotel.

The plane

I checked into my room at the Aqua Aloha Surf Hotel. The room was pretty dang tiny. There was no room for a desk. I kind of had to use the dresser as a desk. But there was a microwave oven and a fridge in the room. After getting settled, I went to sleep. It rained pretty much throughout the night.

Aqua Aloha Surf Hotel

Tiny little room... no space for a desk

Expo, packet pick-up, and food
The next day it was raining a little bit. I tried to walk to the expo in the rain but I started to get soaked since my shorts was not water resistant. So I went into an ABC store and bought an umbrella. If my right calf wasn't jacked up, I would've just ran to the Convention Center. I picked up my race packet and walked through the expo. The race lost Nike as one of their sponsors. You could tell because the expo was much smaller and the official race merchandise was not as good. It wasn't too bad, but not Nike quality. Before leaving the expo, I ate a sample of Zippy's chili. Good stuff.

Honolulu Marathon expo

I met up with my friend Ryan and we went to eat ramen at Gomaichi. I ordered the zasai tan tan men. It was good! I would love to come back here and try the other items on the menu. We stopped by Wal-Mart to buy stuff. I somehow decided to buy an Ironman mask and repulsor to wear during the race. It turns out that the repulsor was a bit too clunky to wear while running.

zasai tan tan men at Gomaichi

For dinner I walked over to Tenkaippin for some ramen. Good thing the rain had let up because I had left my new umbrella in Ryan's car. I ordered the kotteri ramen. The flavor was good, but the broth was way too thick for my liking. It had the consistency of gravy. But it's good enough that I'd eat it every day.

kotteri ramen at Tenkaippin

The next day I went back to the expo. Even though the rain had stopped and the weather was perfect, I decided to take the trolley to the expo instead of walking. I caught the trolley in front of the Duke Kahanamoku statue right next to the beach.

Duke Kahanamoku statue

Waikiki trolley

As I got off of the trolley, someone called out to me. It was a fellow maniac. She noticed my Las Vegas marathon shirt and said she remembers seeing me in the Vegas marathon when I was walking. I ate another sample of Zippy's chili. Then I walked over to the Ala Moana Center food court to eat lunch. I thought about eating at Curry House, but instead I tried out Sobaya. I ordered the ten don with soba. It was at best fast food quality, edible and got the job done... hunger gone. I think next time I will have fish and poi at a different stand.

ten don with soba at Sobaya inside the Ala Moana Center food court

Ryan and I went to carbo-load at Genki Sushi. I thought the face wasn't too genki. Nowhere near good sushi but some of it wasn't bad. The spicy tuna, natto, and ikageso sushi was pretty good. They kept filling up my cup with hot tea, so the service was good. I tried to ask if they had mirugai or amaebi, but they didn't know what I was talking about. I tried the hot dog sushi which was kind of like eating spam musubi.

Genki Sushi - kaiten style

hot dog sushi

After dinner we went to Bubbies for some mochi ice cream. I got vanilla, lychee, and green tea. After I got dropped off at my hotel. I got all of my race stuff ready for the next day.

mochi at Bubbies

Pre race stuff
I ate 3 Larabars and drank my usual orange juice. I got ready and walked over to Kapiolani park to ride the bus over to the start. I hit the portapotties a few times and waited near the start line.

gender specific portapotties

"Nothing new on race day" is pretty much the golden rule to running a marathon.
New things for me on race day:

1. iFitness belt to carry my camera (first time)
2. Ironman mask
3. Cytomax in my handheld

Goals A, B, and C: have a fun race and finish

1st half
I lined up near the front to get a clean start. I took off the mask at the first aid station. It was hard to breathe, I couldn't drink anything, and had no peripheral vision with the mask on. I tried tying it to the iFitness belt, but it kept bouncing up and down. So I held the mask as I ran and I was very tempted to give it to some kid. The right calf was already bothering me before I got to the 5k mark. I had a hard time climbing up Diamond Head with the bad leg. I had to walk a few times before the half which prevented me from arriving there under 2 hours.
5k: 0:25:44
10k: 0:54:07
21.1k: 2:03:35

2nd half
I got tired of carrying the mask so I ended up wearing it on the back of my head for the rest of the way. There was a lot of walking since the calf was hurting. As usual it led to ankle and hip discomfort as I compensated for the calf strain. Near the top of Diamond Head, I finally took out my camera to snap a picture of the ocean view. I forgot to take a picture of the pink Hello Kitty house. Near the finish line, I slowed down to put on the Ironman mask. As I ran in, the spectators were getting a kick out of the mask. The announcer gave me a shout-out saying it must have been hot running in the mask.
30k: 3:13:42
40k: 4:45:00
Finish: 5:00:33

A view from the top of Diamond Head

Ironman running the final stretch

Post race
After finishing I walked over to take a picture with the hula girl. She really liked the Ironman mask. Then I went over to pick up my finisher's keychain and finisher's shirt. I returned to my room and got cleaned up. I then recovered by drinking my beers. After watching some tv and taking a nap, I went back to Genki Sushi to continue my recovery.

Ironman loves hula girls

Finisher's shirt

2 of my buddies waiting for me in my hotel room fridge

The next morning, I went back to Kapiolani Park to pick up my finisher's certificate and to meet the champions of the race. The line was long to pick up the certificate. They also gave out a newspaper with the official results. I then got in line to meet the champs. I was able to get autographs from both of them.

Women's champ - Belainesh Gebre 2:32:13

Men's champ - Nicholas Chelimo 2:15:18

Before leaving for the airport, I stopped by Running Room where my friend works. After saying my goodbyes, I headed over to Zippy's to eat some chili. I ordered some with a large Orange Bang. Good stuff. I walked back to my hotel, checked out, and got picked up by the shuttle bus for the airport. It was kind of sad going to the airport. I wish I could've stayed longer.

Zippy's chili

Post race thoughts
The iFitness belt worked great. It works much better than my SPIbelt. Anyone want a slightly used SPIbelt is welcomed to have it. Just drop me a line or an email edit - SPIbelt already spoken for. The Ironman mask was obviously a bad idea. It's great if you want to get a taste of what it's like to run with asthma. I have no idea how Darth Vader does it every year. But it did make for good photos. The Cytomax worked pretty well. I mixed it a little thick since I decided to run the race without sucking down gels.

Can't wait to run it again next year!

Rock n Roll Las Vegas Marathon 2010

Expo, food, and stuff
I drove up early on Friday to Vegas. I made pretty good time and got there in about 3 hours with a quick stop in Primm. I headed straight for the expo. I parked at The Palazzo since most people were probably parking at The Venetian. I got to the expo site about 30 minutes before they were open and there was a very long line. The expo was pretty good, the usual rock n' roll expo that I've become so accustomed to attending. I picked up a few Larabars. I like eating them before races. They're not too sweet. I signed up for The Country Music Marathon only because my race this year was cut short by a severe storm. I was leaving the expo when they were announcing that Josh Cox was being interviewed on stage. So I turned around and went back in to listen to him and his quest to break the world record for the 50k at the Arizona RnR event. Right before they concluded the interview, I headed straight for the Nissan autograph line. I was third in line. Took a few pictures with him and had him sign my bib.

Josh Cox 50k American record holder

race shirt and bib signed by Josh Cox

It was around 1pm and I was getting hungry. So I drove over to Monta Noodle House to eat the highly recommended tonkotsu ramen with nitamago. I also ordered gyoza which was not very good. The ramen was good. Much more my style. The broth is not as rich as Santouka's.

tonkotsu ramen

For dinner I ate the garlic shrimp rice plate at Ohana Hawaiian BBQ. Can't wait to eat the good stuff in Hawaii! Fruit of the sea! I love shrimp more than I love steaks.

Saturday morning, I went back to the expo. I went back mainly to buy an iFitness belt. The SPIbelt that I have doesn't work too well, so it was time to buy a replacement. Went back to Monta for lunch. This time I ate their miso ramen and a small pork belly rice bowl. It was a much better choice than the gyoza. I will have to try Raku next time I'm in Vegas. They're 2 doors to the left of Monta but they're only open for dinner.

I headed out to the Rio Carnival World Buffet for the Marathon Maniac dinner. But I decided to go about an hour earlier since I didn't want to eat too late. I was approached by a fellow maniac, Galen, while I was waiting in line. He figured I was a runner because of my physique. Well it turned out that I didn't need to wait in the line, but I wasn't in too big of a rush. Next time I'll remember that I can use the kiosk to pay for the meal. The food at the buffet wasn't all that appealing to me. I kept getting veggies, fried rice, dim sum, and some duck. I didn't even eat a single cocktail shrimp or crab leg. But it was a lot of fun eating with the maniacs. They are such a colorful bunch. It turned out that Galen was there early because he thought Vegas was on mountain time. It was fortunate for me since I had someone to eat with me while we waited for the others to show up.

Rio Carnival World Buffet

Eating with Marathon Maniacs at Rio

Race day
Race morning was a little bit of an adventure for me. The parking instructions said to exit Russell Rd, go west on Russell Rd, turn right on Polaris Ave, turn right on Hacienda Ave, and then turn into the parking lot. I first tried to get on Russell Rd from Las Vegas Blvd, but the road was blocked off way before Russell Rd. So then I hopped on the 15 freeway and took the Russell Rd exit. But the street was coned off at Polaris Ave. So I drove further down to Valley View Blvd which was also coned off. But the taxi in front of me drove around them and I followed him. Hacienda Ave was also coned off, but the officer let us through because we told him we were going to the Mandalay parking structure. Good thing I always leave super early.

I went up to the 2nd floor of the convention area where there was a lot more space and the bathrooms were essentially empty. It gets pretty busy on the 1st floor. As it got closer to 6am, I headed outside to the Mandalay Bay sign to meet up with other Marathon Maniacs for a pre-race photo.

Pre-race Maniac photo underneath the Mandalay Bay sign

I then headed over near the bag check area and started warming up. I checked my gear and waited in the portapotty line for one last time. I jogged over to corral 5. As they were moving up the corrals, somehow our corral got combined with corral 4.

Goal A: run 1st half in sub 1:50 then finish around 4:30
Goal B: finish sub 5
Goal C: finish without hurting a new body part

1st half - wheels came off by 10k
My race almost ended during mile 1. A big dude sidestepped right into me trying to avoid a walker. I smacked right into his back. I apologized and told him those darn walkers need to stop starting in the first 4 corrals! I saw my friend Mitch taking pictures right at mile 2 exactly where he said he would be waiting. The right calf started to feel tight at 5k. I knew there was no chance for a sub 1:50 in the 1st half. It was getting really tight by 10k. I took off my gloves as it was getting warm. I started to just cruise near the 15k mark because there was just too much discomfort from my right calf. As we approached Mandalay Bay I considered running straight and bail at the half, but my legs had me taking the right turn to run the 2nd half. There was a nice hill (freeway overpass) leading up to the halfway mark. I saw a few halfers doing a u-turn since they turned right by mistake.
1: 8:10
2: 8:04
3-4: 16:56 (8:28 avg)
5: 8:20
6: 8:23
7: 8:25
8: 9:31
9: 9:16
10: 9:39
11: 9:28
12: 9:27
13: 9:42

2nd half - lots o' walking!
The tight calf led to hip discomfort. So I did the usual walk/jog to the finish line. I liked the 2nd half this year compared to the other 2 years that I've ran in Vegas. I got to see some of my friends on the out-and-back sections. Maniac Galindo caught me around mile 17. Andrea spotted me and I must have given her a confused look because she yelled out her name. I was concentrating on hobbling along with my jacked up hip so I didn't recognize her. Deo and Jeri caught me around mile 20. I ran a little with Jeri while talking about our marathon battle scars. Casey caught me around mile 22 who went on to finish with a PR. I thought it was kind of funny when we took a lap around the huge Hustler building. I wasn't liking the Endurolyte salt caps too much. I felt like I was popping them like I was addicted to salt. I eventually switched to regular salt packs from the medical tent. I tried to run most of the last 2 miles but still had to walk some to alleviate the discomfort in my right hip.
14: 11:16
15: 11:07
16: 12:25
17: 14:02
18: 12:34
19: 13:31
20: 12:56
21: 12:38
22: 13:41
23: 15:51
24: 13:58
25: 11:08
26: 11:06
26.2: 1:30
Finish: 4:43:04

Finish line thoughts
I hung out with Casey for a little bit. We thought it was funny seeing a runner smoke a cigarette shortly after crossing the finish line.

I don't like Endurolytes. They do not work as well as Salt Stick caps for me. I bought S Caps to try next. But I might just start getting my salt supply from McDonald's.

Post race celebration

1. PBR at Planet Hollywood, lots of country music played here. yeeeeehaw!
   • 2 Guinness, my favorite beer
   • Big Bossman salad, huge and most unhealthy salad I've ever ate
   
   
   PBR - good place if you like country music
   
   
   Big Bossman Salad
   
   
2. XS at Wynn-Encore, hosted bar for 1 hour. Can't say no to "free" drinks! I'm sure the race reg fees covered the cost.
   • Grey Goose vodka martini
   • Red Bull with vodka
   • Grey Goose vodka martini extra olives
   
   
   XS - go go dancers!
   
   
3. Dick's at Excalibur
   • 2 24oz Widmer Hefeweizen