Rock n Roll Seattle Marathon 2011

Before the race
I took a Friday afternoon flight out of LAX with Virgin America. On the plane I ended up watching episodes of "Good Luck Charlie". Good wholesome Disney television show. Once we landed at SeaTac airport, I made the short trek over to the Link light rail station. $2.75 one way to Downtown, what a deal. I got off at the Stadium station and walked over to the expo.

Virgin America

Riding the Link light rail

I got my race packet, shirt, and bag. Then made my way through all of the booths. I had no intention or need of buying anything. But I knew that I wanted to check out if they had a deal for next year's race. Indeed they did... $65 for the marathon. I couldn't pass that up. Somehow I screwed up and signed up for the half-marathon, but they said they'd get that changed.

As I was headed out over to the International District, I bumped into Maniac Hideki. It was sprinkling a little bit, but never enough for me to take out the umbrella. I stopped by Uwajimaya and bought some drinks and snacks. Then I headed over to Maneki to eat dinner. Last year I timed it wrong and wasn't able to eat there.

Uwajimaya supermarket

Snacks

I got there right when they were opening for dinner at 5:30pm. The food was definitely as good as touted on Yelp. I ordered the chirashi and ika maru yaki. That was plenty of food. Both were good and I most likely will return next year to try other stuff on their menu.

Maneki - ika maru yaki

Maneki - Chirashi

After filling my belly with delicious food, I made my long trek up to my hotel in Belltown. I know that I could've taken the bus for free, but walking was pretty much my "shakeout run" before the race. I stopped by a Walgreens on Pike and 3rd to pick up some pre-race Orange Juice.

I checked into the Belltown Inn and just relaxed in my room. Got my race stuff ready. I watched a little bit of TV before going to sleep.

Belltown Inn - urban blight

Race day
Race morning, I got ready and walked over to the shuttle stop across the street from The Westin hotel. It seems that they're cutting costs this year. They used the yellow kiddie school buses not designed for adults this year instead of the nice tour buses. Luckily it was just a short drive down to Tukwila.

Also this year they didn't have Cytomax at the starting area. Kind of disappointed since the final instructions said they would have some. That kind of threw a monkey wrench into my plans. I had planned to fill my handheld with Cytomax but I had to fill it with water and the electrolyte tablet that I was planning to use during the 2nd half of the race. Since I was only trying to survive the race, it didn't really matter. It's always good to be flexible and be prepared with plan B.

I sat down at a curb and waited for the start of the race. The Marathon Maniacs all gathered around 6:20am to take the group photo. I checked my gear bag at the UPS trucks and headed for my corral.

Marathon Maniac group photo

Goals
Goal was to just finish and have fun along the way. 3 months of rest from marathons awaits me at the finish line.

1st half
I started near the back of my corral with the 3:40 pace group. The pace group leader kind of took off a little bit fast. I stopped following her near mile 3. I really could only fake my way through 10k. After that everything fell apart. Near mile 8, there was a line of people carrying flags to remember those who gave their lives serving in the military. They were the group that wore blue to remember. I had to run clear to the left side of the road so I wouldn't get too emotional. The race was already getting hard as it is. I made it to the halfway mark at about 2:10 and just completely switch it into fun time mode.
1: 8:15
2: 8:14
3: 8:45
4: 9:16
5: 9:22
6: 8:28
7: 9:39
8: 10:05
9: 10:05
10: 10:30
11: 10:37
12: 12:02
13: 13:44

2nd half
Not much running in the 2nd half. Thank goodness I got so much support from the Team in Training coaches. Again I had trouble on the steady climb at miles 17-18. I felt so out of shape. Even the downhills felt like uphill. My quads really cramped up near the end. The S-caps I was taking was barely helping. I could only manage a jog down the finishing chute.
14: 11:13
15: 15:53
16: 14:34
17: 16:11
18: 16:17
19: 14:13
20: 15:20
21: 15:37
22: 16:23
23: 16:24
24: 13:40
25: 12:56
26: 16:47
26.2: 2:20
Finish: 5:26:52

After the race
After I crossed the finish line, my legs pretty much locked up. The overly eager medical folks quickly took me over to the medical tent. I just told them that I needed electrolytes. One of them realized that I knew what I was talking about told me to keep on walking, there were some Cytomax further down.

I really love this course. It's not the easiest, but I love running along Washington Lake. I just might run this race every year especially if they keep offering deals at the expo.

By the way that I felt during the race, I was 100% certain that I would stick to the plan and not run a marathon for the next 3 months (July - September). The only race that I'm tempted to enter is the ET Midnight Marathon. We'll see if I can resist. :)

Shirt, bib, and medal

Medal

On my way back to the hotel, I stopped by Uwajimaya to pick up some victory beers. I don't bother with the cheap swill, MGD64, that they give out at the beer tent anymore. Again I didn't take the bus because walking after a race helps speed up the recovery for me. It felt really far far far away. Once I got into my room and sat down, my legs started burning from the lactic acid buildup. Ouch!

I ate snacks and watched some TV. It would've been good to eat with my beers, but they did not have twist off caps. I didn't have anything that I could use to open them, so the beers had to wait. After getting cleaned up, I walked back out to the Pike Market Place to eat an early supper and buy a souvenir bottle opener.

Coedo beers, Shikkoku and Kyara

Pike Market Place

window shopping at the souvenir shop

Bottle opener

I walked up and down the waterfront to see what was available. I eventually ate at Ivar's Fish Bar. I think next time I'll just have chowder only. I always have a hard time eating solid food too soon after a race. The fried oysters were decent, but I should just stick to raw oysters.

Ivar's Fish Bar - fried oysters & chips and white clam chowder

I walked back to my hotel, drank my beers and promptly took a nice long nap/sleep/coma.

I woke up the next day. Spent most of the morning just watching TV. I got checked out of my hotel and headed out to explore Seattle. I walked up to the Space Needle, but didn't feel like going up. I'll do that next year. I walked back to the waterfront to eat a nice lunch at Elliott's Osyter House.

Space Needle

Norwegian Pearl docked at Pier 66 - I want to go on a cruise one of these days

I had a nice huge imperial size Maritime IPA. That really hit the spot. I had the waitress pick out a half dozen small size oysters. She also recommended the Dungeness crab cakes. She was right. They were good. I would eat here again even though their beer selection was very limited.

Maritime IPA, imperial size

Elliott's Oyster House - half dozen raw oysters

Elliott's Oyster House - Dungeness crab cakes

I climbed the Harbor Steps a few times this weekend. If I lived here, this would be a nice place to hang out or run stairs. Since my flight was in the evening, I headed over to the AMC theatre to watch a movie. I ended up watching Green Lantern 3D. It was a pretty good movie for a comic book nerd like me. Plus Blake Lively was pretty dang hot! Afterwards, I walked back to the International District station and took the Link light rail to the SeaTac airport. Seattle, I'll see you again in a year. :)

Harbor Steps

Green Lantern 3D

Rock n Roll San Diego Marathon 2011

Pre-race
San Diego is dubbed the 'Finest City in America'. It is my favorite city to run a race. The San Diego Rock n' Roll Marathon also happens to be my favorite marathon, one which I plan to run every year. My first marathon was this race back in 2003. This year was my 9th straight year running this race. This race has evolved quite a bit. It went from a marathon only event to having their focus switched to the half marathon last year.

I drove down early Saturday morning to attend the race expo. I parked at my usual spot and walked to the San Diego Convention Center. I finally remembered to bring my Injinji compression socks that I bought last year. They did not fit correctly, offering no compression for my chicken legs. They allowed me to exchange it for 3 pairs of toe socks.

Health & Fitness Expo @ San Diego Convention Center

I was talking to the Disney rep about the cost for Goofy's Challenge when I heard a familiar voice from behind me. It was my friend Danica at the RunRacing booth! I swear, one day I will run Long Beach again. Last year I ran Chicago instead of LB. This year I'll be running Portland.

Chicrunner working at the expo

I left the expo to go eat lunch and perhaps check into my hotel. First I stopped by Ralph's to buy some drinks and snacks. They didn't have my regular OJ, so I tried an Odwalla Strawberry C. For lunch, I tried out one of the Tajima restaurants in Kearny Mesa. There's two of them. I tried out their newer one. I ordered their spicy tonkotsu ramen with thin noodles and live sweet shrimp. The ramen was pretty good, really flavorful. The shrimp was good as well. I ate the head fried.

Odwalla Strawberry C - much better than regular OJ

I then headed over to my hotel, the Ramada. Apparently they were having electrical issues. But they just told me to come back at 3pm if I wanted to check in. That was fine. I wasn't really in a hurry. I hung out in the lobby checking my email, facebook, and twitter. I found out the Desiree Davila was going to be at the expo. She came really close to winning Boston this year. So I headed back to the expo to go meet her.

Spicy thin noodle tonokotsu ramen at Tajima restaurant #2

Amaebi (sweet shrimp)

Fried head

Since I've already been through the expo, I just sat down at the Dodge booth. A legacy runner, Maniac Deo spotted me. He hurt his ankle but was walking the race to maintain his legacy status. Desiree was very cool to meet in person. Very down to Earth. She signed my bib and a poster. I also took a picture with her. I wished her well and hope that she wins next year's Boston.

Desiree Davila (2nd at Boston 2011)

Autographed poster from Desiree Davila

I drove back to the Ramada and was able to check in. They upgraded me to a suite which came with 2 fridges. One underneath the TV and one behind the wet bar.

Suite at the Ramada

TV, fridge, and microwave oven

After watching a little TV, I went back out to eat dinner. I ate at the other original Tajima. The parking for this place was very limited just as it had been when I was going to school. I wish that there were these ramen shops back then. I had the thin noodle tonkotsu ramen with kakuni and geso karaage. The pork was pretty darn good.

Thin noode tonkotsu ramen with kakuni and geso karaage (squid tentacles) @ Tajima restaurant #1

Participant shirt and bib

Race Day
I drove over to Old Town to pick up my friend Maniac James. We drove over to the airport parking lot and took the shuttle to the start. We hung out in front of the UPS trucks before I checked my gear bag and went over to the nearby church to take the Marathon Maniac pre-race photo. After taking the picture, I headed over to my corral. While jogging there, the left injured leg felt uncomfortable.

Race plan
Get to half at about 2:10
Finish second half in 3:00

1st Half
In order to force myself to start slower, I started at the end of my corral. I didn't care what pace I ran, I just wanted to keep it at a comfortable stride. I took a gel at 30 minutes into the race. When I took my walk break at about 1 hour into the race, my legs just didn't want to go any more. I took a S-cap and went into jogging mode. They really addressed one of the biggest issue with last year's race and that was the section on the 163. This year they closed down both sides of the freeway. The northbound was for the full marathoners and the southbound was for the half marathoners. Problem solved. The camber still sucked, but at least the congestion was gone. They also closed down both sides of Friars Rd. starting at Fashion Valley Mall. I got to the halfway point at 2:09:xx.
1: 8:54
2: 8:36
3: 8:47
4: 8:27
5: 8:26
6: 8:41
7: 10:19
8: 10:03
9: 10:11
10: 12:07
11: 10:32
12: 11:32
13: 12:01
Mile 13: 2:08:36

2nd Half
Even though I was taking it easy, I bonked pretty hard on a nice downhill to mile 18. I sat down as even walking was getting hard. I got up, turned the corner and headed straight for a bus bench. I sat down and tried to collect myself. I got out my Nutrilite chews and started eating them. After a few minutes, I got up and started walking. My least favorite part of the course again this year was the 3 mile bike path at Mission Bay. It's just too narrow. The jog around Fiesta Island was only about 2.5 miles this year. I actually don't mind this section, but we were really exposed to the sun, which was out in full force by now.
14: 11:54
15: 13:54
16: 13:47
17: 14:24
18: 17:15
19: 19:48
20: 14:11
21: 15:25
22: 14:42
23: 14:36
24: 15:16
25: 15:42
26: 13:49
26.2: 1:59
Finish: 5:25:17

Post-race
After crossing the finish line and getting my medal, I walked over to the UPS trucks and picked up my gear bag. On my way over to the shuttle line, I bumped into my friend that is in charge of the San Diego RnR race. I thanked her for fixed the major course issues from last year. The shuttle line was really short this year. However, there is a lot of congestion coming and leaving the Sea World area. The short ride took what seemed forever. The first stop was the Old Town Trolley station. Then it took the rest of the riders to the Airport Parking lot. Post race logistics also fixed.

After finding my car, I drove over to Tajima restaurant #2 to eat my post-race meal. I ordered the beef tataki and the chirashi bowl. I love surf and turf after a marathon. This weekend was great. I ran my favorite marathon and found a new restaurant that I liked. There was more items on the menu that I wanted to try.

Beef tataki

Chirashi bowl

Looks like my current endurance is only good for about a 10k. My next race is the Seattle RnR Marathon. After that most likely I'll be taking 3 months off from marathons.

Laguna Hills Memorial Day Half Marathon

Pre-race

I originally had planned to volunteer at this race. That's the honest to God truth. I sent in my volunteer info at least a month out and never once received a response from the coordinator. As the race got closer, my body felt great. Since the legs responded much better than I had hoped for at the Pasadena Marathon, I was very much curious to see how much the legs can handle.

This is one of my favorite half marathons. Mostly because it is done in remembrance of those that fought for our freedom. I have ran some of my worst half marathons here, but it was also here that I first ran a sub 2 hr.

Race morning, I showed up at about 5:15am to the parking lot next to the starting line. This was actually the first time that I've had to register on race day. I filled out a scan-tron and went to pay for the race. Since I was the first person, the volunteer coordinator at the late-reg tables used me as an example. So technically, I helped with volunteering. :) They were able to take credit cards at this race. I bumped into a few of my friends before going back to my car to shed some layers.

Hoo-rah!

Starting line

Friends

Right before the race, they had a little Memorial Day tribute. After the presentation of the colors, there was a moment of silence for remembrance. The national anthem was sung and it was time to run 13.1 miles.

Presenting the colors

Right before the start

My goal for this race was to finish in about a 2:10. The time was not important, I just wanted to test things out and finish without any additional damage. I didn't want to wreck myself about a week before the race in my most favorite city, the San Diego Rock n' Roll Marathon.

The race

Right from the start the legs felt great. But I knew I could not sustain that effort since aside from races, I've been running 0 miles a week. When I saw my split at mile 1, I told myself to slow down. There was a steady climb at mile 2 and a nice downhill down to mile 3. I was somewhat tempted to turn off at the 5k finish line. But man, the left leg just went dead after I took my first walk break. I took off my arm sleeves as it got pretty warm. The next several miles were rollers until we get to the dirt trail section. The uphills felt better than the downhills but I could not push. I took a S-cap at about mile 6 and a gel at mile 8. Once we leave the dirt trail, it is a couple of miles on a bike path to the finish. I took another S-cap about 1:30 into the race. I kind of gave up on mile 11. But I tried to run with my coworker when he passed me. That helped get me closer to my goal of 2:10 for this race. If he hadn't been there, I would've finished in the 2:20 neighborhood. The little hill coming up to mile 13 was a doozy, but I've ran this race enough times that I was not surprised by it. The finishing chute was super crowded as usual with no passing room ending with a 90 degree left turn for the finish line.
1: 7:39
2: 8:08
3: 8:09
4: 9:24
5: 10:12
6: 9:20
7: 10:01
8: 10:01
9: 11:32
10: 11:09
11: 12:57
12: 11:23
13: 11:35
13.1: 1:08
Finish: 2:12:38

As for my race strategy, it was definitely not a smart one. I wanted to perform a stress test on the legs. Turns out with my current level of fitness, my legs can only sustain that kind of pace for about 3-4 miles. Too bad there's 10 miles left. But knowing this will help with my race in San Diego. I definitely will not be running those sub 8 and low 8 paces until I am healthy enough to start putting in the necessary training.

Post-race

After getting my medal, I made my way over to the table of refreshments. I picked up a piece of banana and a bottle of water. On my way over to the t-shirt table, I picked up a Zico drink. I chugged that Zico as my calves were burning and cramping. I then headed over to the finishing chute to watch and cheer on the runners.

Chicrunner finishing with Kristy

Finished!

After congratulating my friends, I walked to the shuttle stop to get a ride back to the mall for my car. By the time I got on the bus, it was standing room only. Our bus driver dropped us off in the weirdest location taking a gazillion turns in the parking lot. So it was a nice longish walk back to my car.

Participant shirt, bib, and medal

Back of the shirt

I stopped by Santouka at the Costa Mesa Mitsuwa to eat ramen. My race is not finished until I eat my ramen. :) The food court was not open yet so I bought some snacks to munch on while I wait. My calves were still burning and cramping. Ouch. When I finally ate my ramen, that took care of the leg cramps.

Santouka - Shio ramen & natto set

Pasadena Marathon 2011

Pre-race stuff
Back when they decided to move this race from February to May, they sent out an "in training" shirt to those that opted to run on the new date. It worked out for me since I sustained a pretty nasty injury back in early February.

In Training shirt

A lot of my "training" consisted of resting and eating lots of ramen. Also there was a lot of limping through a bunch of races.

Anyways May rolled around and I took Friday off from work to attend the expo. I parked at my usual spot at the Paseo Colorado parking garage. I made it over to the Pasadena Convention Center. I was about 30 minutes early so the expo wasn't open yet. There was already a bunch of runners milling around.

It seemed like the entire expo was not ready to be open at noon. Most of the vendors were not ready. More importantly, there was not enough volunteers to deal with the initial rush. The few volunteers that was there were really stressed out trying to pass out bibs and shirts.

I talked to the guys at the Team in Training booth about joining IronTeam. It seems like they didn't have any idea about the group training for an Ironman.

Race shirt and bib

I bought another Ink n' Burn shirt where a portion of the proceeds go to support the disaster relief in Japan. This would make a great shirt for the Honolulu Marathon or the Tokyo Marathon.

Gaman!

On my way out, I got a bunch of Soy Joy bars from the Soy Joy booth. They were giving out one of each flavor.

The next day, I drove out early to volunteer at the Palos Verdes Marathon. Almost all of the Marathon Maniacs I cheered on during the race, I would see in the Pasadena Marathon.

Race day
I ignored all of the parking directions provided to us. I took back streets that got me to the parking structure without seeing one other car. Good thing I used to go to PCC. I took a quick nap and then went out to the starting line to watch the start of the bike tour. I took a quick picture of the starting line and felt a few drops of rain. I saw Maniac Lan in the VIP tent and she snuck me in. In there I bumped into Maniac Dale and @spectorjosh. I wished everybody a great race and went back to my car to get ready. I grabbed my stuff and headed towards the starting area. I bumped into my old TNT friends at the portapotty lines.

I bumped into more Maniac friends as I got into the starting corral. The national anthem was sung and right on cue, it started to drizzle.

Goal was to finish around 5:30.
Backup goal was to just finish however long it took.

First Half
The drizzle turned into a steady light rain. The first mile was very congested but it felt good. It was the first time since February that I've ran without any discomfort. But I knew it wouldn't last. Mile 2 felt great. But after I saw my split, I kept telling myself to slow down. I saw Maniac Mitch spectating at the mile 4 marker. My bro's friend passes me on the way to mile 5. Mile 6 had a huge downhill so I wasn't pushing the pace. My lack of fitness really caught up to me on my way to the Rose Bowl. I pretty much hit the wall at mile 8. It did not help that my right hip flexor was hurting. I walked a bit to alleviate some of the pain. We Rock Andrea passes me, but I would see her again around mile 10 since she stopped for a potty break. Even though my race had become a big struggle, I loved this portion of course as I got to see some of my faster friends run by on the other side. The rain pretty much started to let up by the time I exited the Rose Bowl and reached the halfway point. I got there in about 2:18. The climb out of the Rose Bowl is a long steady one. It slowed me to a crawl this year. Maniac Rocco passed me around this stretch.
1: 9:00
2: 8:24
3: 8:46
4: 9:33
5: 9:44
6: 8:22
7: 10:07
8: 10:18
9: 12:02
10: 11:11
11: 13:22
12: 11:35
13: 14:17

Mile 4 from Maniac Mitch

Second Half
The 2nd half was tough. It got sunny and I had to walk and jog the whole way. I was passed by a few more of my maniac friends. Some tried to help me out, but I hate holding people back. Once I got through miles 20-22, I knew that the worst was over. The rest of the way to the finish line was mostly downhill. My ailing left leg started to feel tender and sore which kind of had me worried. I backed off a bit at mile 25. At least everything felt okay when I walked. I love the finishing chute for this race. I was cramping up but I tried to just jog as fast as I could. Number 60 overall was in the books!
14: 13:56
15: 16:17
16: 15:10
17: 14:12
18: 13:29
19: 16:26
20: 16:27
21: 13:32
22: 14:07
23: 14:50
24: 14:43
25: 16:02
26.2: 16:23
Finish: 5:32:16

Post-race stuff
I cramped up pretty badly after crossing the finish line. I grabbed a can of FRS and after drinking it everything started feeling better. I also mixed a bottle of Nuun just in case. I was very happy with finishing number 60 with relatively no major discomfort. Since I pretty much met my goal, I am more hopeful that I can get through the rest of my races this year. I seriously didn't think that I would have completed this many after running my first one back in 2003. I'll be at 100 before I know it.

Finisher's medal

I walked back to the corner of Hill and Colorado to cheer on my friends. Maniac Fancypants Ed also was there when he finished his race. After cheering for awhile with Ed, I walked back to my car and headed to my favorite restaurant in the area, Steer n' Ale, to eat a steak.

Super-stockyard steak