Los Angeles Marathon 2015

Friday 3/13
On the way home from work, I stopped by BevMo to pick up some mini bottles for the pub crawl on Sunday. They would be much easier to carry since stores aren't open that early in the morning.

Saturday 3/14
I got to Downtown LA at about 10 am to attend the race expo. I parked at a tiny parking lot on Flower St and Pico Blvd for $8. These lots used to be $5, but now most of them are starting to charge $10. Either way, it's still cheaper than parking at the Convention Center. It was a short walk over to the Convention Center. Once inside, I had to walk to one of the big convention halls which was probably the closest to Staples Center.

I must say that the LA Marathon race expo is starting to have the feel of a marathon major. I've run Chicago, Tokyo, Berlin, and New York. Those expos are humongous and it just feels like you're a part of something special when you're at those expos. I'm hoping that the LA Marathon will continue to improve and become a major soon. They will be hosting the USA Olympic Marathon Trials next year, so that's a very good sign!

Expo time!

After picking up my race packet and shirt, I got in the first line I saw to pick up my beer garden bracelet. I always carry my ID with me when running a marathon, but this would help me get into the beer garden much quicker!

Getting a beer garden bracelet

While going through all of the booths, I did the usual thing of finding my name on the wall of fame. This has become the thing to do for race expos. It's a nice way for the participants to see how they're part of something big! I still liked it the best when they had our names on the pace cars a few years back.

After I was done with the expo, I met up with one of my good friends since I had some time to kill before I was to meet up with another friend for lunch. We talked a bit about the ambassador program for the LA Marathon. One of the perks was that they were able to get an early sneak preview of the finisher's medal. I've been thinking about getting involved one of these years.

I then got back to my car and headed out to pick up my friend to go eat lunch out in Santa Monica. We ate at Stout where I had a burger and a couple of beers. I ordered The Morning After burger. With the burger I had a couple of Ballast Point Grapefruit Sculpins. This beer is starting to become my favorite non-stout/porter beer. The burger wasn't too fancy, but it was pretty good with the fried egg and chipotle ketchup, two of my favorite ingredients for a burger. It was such a nice day, so we took a walk down to the pier. The weather for the weekend was perfect for going to the beach, but way too warm for running a marathon!

Carboloading with Alison

The Morning After

Nice day for the beach!

Afterwards, I drove out to my coworker's baby shower. They had a lot of delicious food. Most of which wasn't stuff that I would normally eat before a race, but how I can I say no to brats and sauerkraut?! Plus my friend and I was going to run it as a pub crawl, so it didn't really matter what I ate. I had to leave the party pretty early since I needed to get my butt home to sleep.

Brats and sauerkraut at a baby shower

I went through the expo haul and got my race gear and costume ready for tomorrow. My friend and I decided to run it this year as Batman and Robin. A few years back we ran it as Superman and Wonder Woman. Some day I should probably get Lasik eye surgery done to fix my eye sight so I can actually wear masks without being blind as a bat. :)

Expo haul

Back of shirt

I'm Batman!

Sunday 3/15
I got up super early to get ready and head out to Santa Monica. This is the least favorite feature of this point to point course, the bus ride to the starting line at Dodger Stadium. I had pre-paid online a few days earlier for parking in Santa Monica for $10. I have been parking at this beach lot at the corner of Bicknell Ave and Ocean Ave for the past few years. I met my friend here before we made the trek to the buses at the corner of Olympic Dr and Main St. We were on the bus before 4 am. If you ride with me, you'll never be late! :)

Riding the bus at dark o'clock

We were dropped off at Dodger Stadium where it was still empty. I went through the bag check security and the girl confiscated my grocery bag that I've used in almost every race for my handheld bottle in case it leaks. I think she was following too closely the rule about no bags to be used besides the clear ones given to us at the expo. Oh well, I didn't make a fuss. She was just doing her job.

We hung out in the field level of Dodger Stadium where eventually we met up with a bunch of our friends. I went to use the restrooms before the lines got long. This year they weren't letting people get down past the infield seats. They had a bunch of security people there making sure people didn't go there. Before heading out for the pre-race Marathon Maniacs photo, we bumped into the Ambiguously Gay Duo, Ace and Gary! They thought it was funny for them to bump into the Dynamic Duo. :)

Batman and Robin

The Ambiguously Gay Duo meets The Dynamic Duo!

I checked my gear bag and went for one last use of the restrooms before joining everybody next to the stage for a pre-race photo. The music at the stage was too dang loud for me. Man, I'm getting old. While my friends where dancing to the music, I grabbed my friend and headed for the corrals. Apparently some of my friends didn't make it into their corrals because they were too busy dancing. This year they were pretty strict in shutting down the corrals right on time. If you didn't make it in your corral, you had to start from the general corral in the back!

Marathon Maniacs

Drink#1

We waited in corral D for the start of the race. Man, it already felt warm. As the corrals filled up, we noticed that the Legacy Runners were assembling pretty close to us. That's pretty cool that they've run all of the LA Marathons! This year would be their 30th consecutive! It was great that they gave the legacy runners a special bib so that they stood out. We congratulated every legacy runner that we came across out on the course. The longest streak that I have for any race would be the Disneyland Half Marathon. It'll be the race's 10th year later this year!

Corral D

Legacy Runners Assemble!

My friend is such a bad ass runner. She has completed the Badwater Ultramarathon, so the warm weather actually felt cool to her. Plus the Catalina Marathon that she ran on Saturday didn't slow her down much. I had a lot of trouble keeping up with her as my legs were done before we got to mile 18. I was hoping to get through mile 20 before things fell apart. Her idea of a pub crawl was about a 4:30 marathon including the beer stops. Too bad that all I had for the day was about a 5:18.

Here's how it went down... we started the race off at a modest pace, nothing faster than a 9:18 which was the big downhill leaving Dodger Stadium. There was no way that I was going to push the pace with my black costume and the weather. As always it was pretty cool to hear the taiko drums as we jogged up 1st St to the Walt Disney Concert Hall before we reached the top at Grand Ave. We cracked open our mini bottles as we hit mile 5. I choked on my Scotch Whisky. Apparently it's hard to drink that stuff while running. It tasted like mouth wash. :)

We then headed up Sunset Blvd towards Hollywood Blvd. As we hit mile 10, there was a 7 Eleven right at Taft Ave. Perfect! It was one of the few places open that sold alcohol. We shared a Dos Equis tallboy. I was burping a lot for the next mile or two.

Drink#2

After passing the El Capitan Theatre, we made a left turn at Orange Dr and head back down to Sunset where we turned right. Before we got to mile 14, we stopped in at the Saddle Ranch Chop House for our 3rd drink stop. We used their restrooms and each had a pint of Blue Moon.

Drink#3

I was able to hold it together through mile 17 as we ran through Rodeo Dr. After that, I was having to take walk breaks after crossing each mile marker to cool down. As someone that cramps in 50 degree weather, this was when things started to become a struggle for me. As we approached mile 20 at Sepulveda Blvd, we stopped in at the Westside Jr Market at Camden Ave to buy another beer.

Santa Monica Blvd around mile 15

Drink#4

The next 10k was a death march for me. Per the usual, the leg cramps surfaced during the section through the VA. I walked a whole bunch up San Vicente where there was a lot of people out cheering and offering ice and other various salty snacks. My friend of course was urging me to run more, but the best that I could do was a shuffle. As we neared the final turn onto Ocean Ave, I was finally able to muster up some sort of a run for the remainder of the last mile.
1-2: 19:21 (9:40)
3: 9:18
4: 9:50
5: 10:39
6: 10:49
7: 10:59
8: 9:52
9: 10:09
10: 10:15
11: 15:13
12: 10:22
13: 11:24
14: 17:52
15: 10:15
16: 11:16
17: 11:39
18: 13:31
19: 13:46
20: 16:36
21: 14:58
22: 14:34
23: 15:10
24: 13:51
25: 13:10
26.2: 13:58 (11:38)
Finish: 5:18:48

Just let me tell ya... wearing black was not a good idea for a warm marathon day, but for the most part it was a very fun marathon. My friend really knows how to make it fun! At the very least we beat our last pub crawl by over 15 minutes and my solo pub crawl by over 3 minutes. I wonder what we'll wear next time.

We bumped into our friend in the finishing chute. She was being interviewed. She had recently finished beating breast cancer and just paced her sister to a sub 5 marathon. She was the real superhero! They passed us at about mile 23-24. My friend wanted us to run with them, but I just couldn't get my legs to move.

After picking up my gear bag, we made our way to the beer garden to get our final beer. We then headed back to our cars. Along the way, we stopped in at Bruno's Italian Restaurant because my friend wanted to buy some of their cannoli. They're supposed to be the best here. We chatted with a fellow runner who had also finished the race and was eating at the bar.

Drink#5

After getting back to my car and changing out of my wet clothes, I drove home. The traffic was horrible. I initially went up Ocean Park Blvd, but it wasn't any better. So I then cut back over to Pico Blvd and hopped on the 10 freeway. At least on the freeway, I wouldn't have to deal with lights and stop signs. Along the way home, I stopped at In-n-Out to pick up a Double Double. My stomach wasn't feeling too well, so I just went with one burger this time.

Lower Potomac River Marathon 2015

Saturday 3/7
I took a Saturday morning Jet Blue flight out of LAX to Reagan National Airport with a layover at Boston Logan Airport. Before catching my flight, I stopped by the nearby Ralphs to buy some bananas and some sports chews. I had completely run out of gels and Shot Bloks. All I could find were some Gatorade Prime Energy Chews. I guess they will have to do.

Never a dull moment!

During my layover, I ate a meal at a Boston Beer Works near my gate. I started things off with a Strawberry Chocolate Stout. I liked this one. For my meal I ordered the Classic Burger with cheddar cheese and bacon. I finished things off with a Bunker Hill Blueberry Ale. It was pretty cool to see the blueberries sink and float up to the top. It almost looked like a lava lamp.

Strawberry Chocolate Stout

Classic Burger with Cheddar Cheese and Bacon

Bunker Hill Blueberry Ale

It was then a short flight down to Reagan National Airport. It's always pretty cool to see things from above the clouds. Once we landed in DCA, I took the rental car shuttle over to the counter for Budget. They gave me a black Ford Focus.

After getting my rental car, I drove down to my hotel, the Country Inn & Suites at Lexington Park/California, Maryland. Getting out of the airport area was a bit complicated even with GPS turn by turn directions. Everything seemed to go in circles. It took about 1.5 hours to get to the hotel. Along the way, I stopped by a 7 Eleven in a city called Mechanicsville to buy some drinks. In the week leading up to the race, I had worried about having to drive in snowy or less than ideal conditions. It would turn out that the weather had turned for the better and the roads were cleared up before I got there. Phew! Yea for no treacherous driving conditions!

When I finally reached the hotel and checked in, it was about 9:30 pm. The guy at the front desk was super nice. One of the nicest I've come across in my travels around the States. My room was just up the stairs from the lobby. It was easy enough to get to without having to use the elevator.

It's was already kind of late when I checked-in, so I didn't feel like going back out to search for food. I ended up eating a bag of jerky that I had in my backpack. Then I got my race gear ready for tomorrow. The race director had sent out email reminders that daylight savings starts at 2 am on Sunday. We would lose an hour of sleep. So I changed the clocks before going to bed. I wouldn't want to fly all this way to miss the race!

Sunday 3/8
I got ready and drove down to The Paul Hall Center to pick up my shirt and bib. The drive from my hotel was about 30 minutes. The walk from the car was a chilly one. After picking up the cotton race t-shirt and my bib, I went back to my car to change. I noticed that my info on the bib was handwritten. Between the cotton race shirt and the bib, it was nice to be running an old-school type race. I prefer a cotton shirt. There would be no chip timing either.

Race shirt and bib

A bunch of the Marathon Maniacs gathered to take the customary pre-race photo. It's funny how we keep seeing the same people at a lot of races including smaller races. I had just met one at the Mercedes Benz Marathon in Birmingham, Alabama a couple of weeks ago. As the start of the race got closer, the race director instructed us that it was time to head over to the starting line. She walked us over to the start and the race started promptly at 7:15 am.

Marathon Maniacs Pre-race Photo from Greg Burress‎

The start was very low key. It was just a line in the road and a couple of cones to signify the starting line. There was a countdown and off we go. I stuck to the usual plan. My right lower leg had been feeling better, so I ran the first 10k at a harder effort. I kept it at around a 8 min per mile pace. There had recently been a snowstorm that had gone through. Most of the snow had melted and the streets were cleared. However there were some spots with black ice. Having come from sunny Southern California, I was not used to slipping and sliding while running on the roads. Whenever we were on the 249, we ran on the wide shoulder of the road as none of the roads were closed to vehicular traffic.

Running with the eventual female winner at around mile 5. Photo from Jeanne Larrison.

Snow on the ground! Photo from Jeanne Larrison

1: 7:50
2: 7:58
3: 7:55
4: 7:58
5: 8:05
6: 7:52
7: 8:23
8: 8:45
9: 9:01
10: 8:54
11: 9:21
12: 9:53
13: 10:16
Half: 1:53:19

There were a few rollers here and there as the second half was all on the 249. The final turnaround was just before reaching mile 19. There was a police officer stationed there to make sure runners were able to cross the road safely. Then we head straight for the finish heading south down the 249. The last two miles were not fun for me. The legs had cramped up and I had to walk most of it. I would think that the Gatorade Prime Energy Chews were not providing my body with the electrolyte replacement that I'm used to with the Margarita Shot Bloks. Even the last .2 miles to the finish line was more of a painful hobble than a jog or a run.
14: 10:35
15: 11:06
16: 11:01
17: 11:27
18: 10:38
19: 12:04
20: 11:45
21: 11:45
22: 11:27
23: 12:56
24: 12:31
25: 14:56
26: 14:56
26.2: 2:20
Finish: 4:31:39
Gun time: 4:31:42

Maryland was my 33rd State.

I was supposed to finish under 4:30, but the leg cramps during the last 4 miles really slowed me down. After crossing the finish line, they gave me a medal and tore the bottom tag off of my bib to signify that I've finished the race. I then walked back to my car and changed out of my running clothes before going back into the hall to use the restroom and eat the post race food in the dining area. The spread consisted of salad, pasta, and a dinner roll. I got a little of each and an iced tea. The awards ceremony started at 12:15 pm so we got to applaud and congratulate the winners of the race as well as the age group winners.

Low key finish line

Post race food

Medal

Driving back to my hotel was somewhat interesting. I had no cell coverage at the hall, so I couldn't load the map on my phone. I had to go by memory. That reminded me of the good old days of memorizing Thomas Guide maps. Everything was fine once I reached an area where there was cell service.

I got cleaned up once I got back to my room and proceeded to veg out while watching various movies on TV. One of my favorite movies, Father of the Bride, was on. For an early dinner at about 5 pm, I dragged myself out of the hotel room and drove across the street to eat at Red Robin. I had the usual post race burger and beer. I started off with a big Sam Adams Boston Lager for my beer. For my burger, I got their Royal Burger. The burger came with a fried egg. It was actually a pretty good burger.

Royal Burger

Monday 3/9
After checking out of the hotel, I made the drive up to Reagan National Airport. Before returning the rental car, I stopped by a Shell Gas Station in Suitland, MD to fill up the tank before returning it. My trip back home to LAX had a stop at Boston Logan Airport. While waiting for my flight into Boston, I ordered a big roast beef sandwich with hot peppers and onions from the Potbelly Sandwich Shop. The hot peppers really warmed me up. My head was sweating by the time I finished the sandwich.

Big Roast Beef Sandwich with hot peppers and onions

After hopping on my connecting flight in Boston, I made it home to LAX and was in my car by 9:30 pm. I was hungry for some burgers, so I drove straight home to my hometown In-n-Out drive-thru. Man, the drive-thru took forever! It would seem that everybody in my neighborhood had the same idea. 30 minutes later, I was finally at home ready to devour my two Double Doubles!

If you're Asian, you wouldn't want to be caught dead riding the Death Cab! :)

Double Double x2

LA Chinatown Firecracker 10k

Saturday 2/28
In the morning I drove out to Pasadena to ride the Metro Gold Line into Chinatown. I rode the rail so I wouldn't have to deal with finding a parking spot. I got to the Sierra Madre Villa station at a little after 9 am. It was roughly a 30 min ride to the Chinatown station for $1.75 one way. Then it was a short 2 small block walk up W College St to get up to the expo/race area on Broadway. I picked up my bib, t-shirt, and tote bag. Afterwards, I went and picked up a doggy bag of chow mein as a complimentary carbo-load meal for runners. It was hardly a meal, more like a snack. It was decent but it was already getting a little cold. After finishing my snack, I opened up my fortune cookie. My fortune read, "there will always be delightful mysteries in your life." Sure, but I don't really like mysteries. :)

Complimentary "carbo-load" meal

My fortune

Since I haven't been to Chinatown for decades, I decided to walk around and view a few spots that the race website had suggested. I first visited the Bruce Lee statue. It was pretty cool, but it didn't really resemble him particularly the face. I also saw the statue of Sun Yat Sen, the first president and founding father of Taiwan, the Republic of China. There was some live entertainment near the gate. It was okay, but not my type of music. I checked out the wishing well before heading out. It was a pretty big elaborate wishing well with many specific targets for your coin.

Bruce Lee statue

Sun Yat Sen

After checking out a bit of Chinatown, I rode the Metro rail back to my car and drove back home to eat lunch at a nearby In-n-Out. I had the usual Double Double x2. This time I decided to get a chocolate shake. Besides gels or sports drinks, I almost never eat anything sweet these days.

Double Double x2 and a chocolate shake

I went through the expo haul which included a sample bag of rice. It happened to be a brand that Asians don't buy. I just found it funny that they would include that in the goodie bag. :) I picked out my clothes for the race. Since we would be running up to and around Dodger Stadium, I thought the LA Marathon shirt was appropriate.

Expo haul

Race gear

Sunday 3/1
At about 6:30 am, I rode the Metro Gold Line to Chinatown. It was time to go run a 10k and drink two free beers in the beer garden. I brought a throwaway jacket in case it rained. But it didn't so I checked it at their bag check. The bag check service was only provided to those that took the Metro.

Beer tickets

Bag check

I then got up to the front of the finishing chute just to the left of the starting corral to watch the start of the 5k race. Shannon Lee gave a little speech before the start of the race. Then there was a little dragon dancing up and down the corral before they lit the firecrackers. It was super loud and it produced a lot of smoke. Unfortunately for me and a whole bunch of people around me, we were standing downwind and it just overwhelmed us.

Starting line

Shannon Lee

Run away! Run away!

As I was getting away from the smoke, I ran into some of my running friends. They were running both the 5k and 10k. They asked me to hang on to their 10k bibs while they ran in the 5k. The timing chip was on the bib and it would've registered a time for the 10k bib if they carried it with them while running the 5k. The 5k began at 8 am and the 10k started at 8:30 am, so they had about 30 minutes to get back and pick up their bibs. I had waited for my friends in the starting corral at a specific location to give them their bibs. They finished just as the 10k race was about to start. I was stuck behind a lot of people running the race slower than me, but it was the easiest spot for them to see me. My goal was only to finish under 50 minutes, so it really didn't matter. It was a challenging course and it would be near impossible for me to set a new PR.

The first three miles were mostly uphill, followed by three downhill miles. During the first mile I dodged a lot of slower runners. The second mile was the toughest with the steepest climbs for the race. We ran on roads that had a lot of potholes. I paced myself pretty well and was able to keep on passing people. The third mile flattened out a bit and we would reach the highest point of the race. The fourth mile was a big downhill mile. I haven't clocked a sub 7 mile in such a long time. The fifth mile was still mostly downhill, but it was starting to flatten out. The final mile to the finish line was a roller. I was sort of tired by this point, so I had no kick to the finish line.

Nearing the finish line, pic from Deo

1: 7:52
2: 8:51
3: 8:18
4: 6:58
5: 7:22
6.2: 9:51 (8:12)
Finish 49:13

I kind of liked the challenging course. I just might have to run this race more often. But next time I'm going to have to start closer to the front, so I don't have to dodge so many people in the first mile.

After crossing the finish line, I got my medal and got in line to enter the beer garden. After picking up my beers, I hung out at the Angel City Brewery table near the DJ. I even took a picture with one of those Instagram frames as I waited for my friends to show up. Eventually I found my friends near the exit of the beer garden. The place was packed to the gills making it super hard to move around! We each ended up having more than two beers as our friends and random strangers were giving us their beer coupons. They should probably increase the size of the beer garden in the future.

Beer garden

Nice medal for a 10k

Instagram

We spent so much time in the beer garden that I was the last person to pick up my bag from bag check. They were almost done tearing down everything when I finally made my way there. I then hoofed it over to Philippe the Original to eat lunch with the same friends that I hung out with in the beer garden. This place has always been super popular. Everybody has always been telling me to eat here. Their food is affordable and supposed to be good. There were many lines to the counter and I got into a shorter line to order my food. I ordered their roast beef sandwich and a Red Trolley Ale. We were able to find a spot to eat. It was a decent roast beef sandwich especially with their spicy mustard sauce. I personally don't see what the fuss is all about. It wasn't anything spectacular or something that I'd go out of my way to go eat. But heck if my friends want to go... sure, why not?

Roast beef sandwich and a Red Trolley Ale

Put some spicy mustard on it!

After eating our food, we walked back to the Chinatown Metro station to catch the Gold Line home. My friends went South and I went North back to my car in Pasadena.