Hartford Marathon 2017

Thursday 10/12
Fortunately I was successful in selling my NLCS game ticket via StubHub, recouping most of what I had paid. The dates weren't set when I bought the ticket and it ended up that I couldn't attend the game because I had this marathon to run.

After work, I went home to change into more comfortable clothes before heading out to LAX where I took an evening American Airlines flight. These red eye flights always sound like a great idea to save money until it's time to get on one!

Friday 10/13
The plane landed at Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) early in the morning. Since I had a couple of hours before my connecting flight into Hartford, I walked over to the food court to get some breakfast at Chick-fil-A. I never knew they served breakfast. I got their bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit sandwich meal which came with hash browns and a drink. Their hash browns were more like tater tots. I like tater tots. I don't normally get coffee, but when I take a red-eye flight, I will definitely have some coffee.

Chick-fil-A breakfast

For the second leg of the trip, it was a short flight over to Bradley International Airport (BDL). After I got off of the plane I started looking for the bus stop to catch the Bradley Flyer (30) into Downtown Hartford. For some reason Google Maps was taking me over to the bus stop over at Schoephoester Rd and Hamilton Strand. Since I still had some time before the bus would arrive, I didn't mind taking that walk around the outside of the parking structure. However I ended up back at the airport bus stop as there was shade and a place for me to sit. It was only $1.75 to ride it one way.

Catching the Bradley Flyer

I was planning to get off at Pearl St and Trumbull St. However the bus driver was saying something that I didn't quite catch when we got to Central Row and Old State House. Everybody was exiting the bus, so I thought that I should get off as well. It didn't matter much since it was only 1 block away from where I wanted to get off. From there, I walked over to the XL Center, the location of the expo.

The expo was really well organized. When I entered, they directed me to an open station where they assigned me a bib number for the marathon. I'm seeing more races do this so that they don't have to print out bibs for no-shows. After getting my bib, I picked up my long sleeve race shirt and a huge clear plastic bag that was to be used for gear check.

Expo

Race shirt

Since I thought it was a bit too early to try an early check-in, I walked over to the nearby CVS to pick up some drinks. I got 2 cans of my favorite tea, water, and a Powerade.

Drinks

I then walked over to my hotel, The Goodwin Hotel, to see if I could check-in. If not, I was planning to just wait in the lobby. It never hurts to ask. My room was ready, so they allowed me to check-in early without extra cost. Thank goodness because I was exhausted. I took a shower and rested a little bit while watching some TV.

The Goodwin Hotel

For lunch, I hoofed it over to the nearest McDonald's. Along the way I checked out the arch over at the nearby Bushnell Park. The arch was part of the race's iconic finish line. They were mostly done with the setup already for tomorrow's race. Once I arrived at McDonald's, I used their app on my phone to purchase 2 Quarter Pounders with cheese for the price of 1. Apparently this particular McDonald's wasn't located in a very nice area. There were a bunch of shady people here, so I left as soon as my food was ready. I took them back to my room to eat.

Bushnell Park arch

Quarter Pounder with cheese x2

For an early dinner, I was meeting up with my friend at a nearby restaurant called, Salute. About half of the restaurant was reserved, so it looked like it was going to be a busy night for them. I was able to find a seat at the bar. I started with an iced tea and garlic cheese bread. For my meal, I ordered their diver scallops. The bread was recommended by most reviewers on Yelp and indeed it was good. The diver scallops on the other hand was not very good. They were pretty sandy for diver scallops and they came with fried rice that coincidentally looked and tasted like the frozen Kirkland brand that you can get at Costco. I love scallops, but unfortunately I found the dish to be disappointing and not worth it.

Garlic cheese bread

Diver scallops

Back at my room after dinner, I laid out my flat runner before hitting the hay. Even though I packed arm sleeves, it didn't feel cold enough to put them on in the morning. Instead I opted for a mylar blanket.

Flat runner

Saturday 10/14
I got ready and met up with my friend at her hotel at 7 am to walk over to the starting area at Capitol Ave. We stood in front of the capitol building to wait for other Marathon Maniacs to show up for the pre-race photo. It's always cool to meet new people that share this same crazy passion for running marathons!

Marathon Maniacs

My friend had purchased PRE Perks, so she was able to go use real restrooms. For me, I got in one of the portapotty lines before heading into the corrals. Since I wasn't assigned a corral, I started in the open corral. With the tendinitis in the left ankle, I haven't had the chance to build up the endurance. So I planned to start out with whatever felt comfortable and hoped to just come in under 5 hrs. With the singing of the national anthem and an invocation prayer, it was time to run a marathon!

Start line

The race started promptly at 8 am with the first six miles or so on the western side of the Connecticut River. This part of the course had a lot of turns which took us through downtown Hartford and Riverside Park. After that we crossed over to the eastern side of the Connecticut River via Founders Bridge. The course continued to have a bunch of turns, taking us through Great River Park and past Center Park. I liked some of the names of the relay teams that I came across. One, I believe, was called, "Someone Call An Uber." I got through the halfway point a few minutes over 2 hrs.

About mile 12: Someone call an Uber!

The second half started with an 8 mile or so out and back section on Main St. I love out and backs as I get to see those ahead of me as well as those behind me. Things went south both literally and figuratively at around mile 18-19. The left ankle got really sore. Then the left toes, left glute, and left hamstring were all cramping up. As I was deep in my suffer-fest, it was funny to see Big Bird out on the course! That was a good distraction from the task at hand. I ran a portion of a mile with Michele who just recently joined the Marathon Maniacs (MM 14047). I could not keep up with her as my legs were starting to cramp up again. The downhill coming off of Founders Bridge really hurt my left ankle. I had to slow down a bit for the soreness to subside before running the final stretch to the finish line.

Between mile 21 & 22: It's Big Bird!

Finish line

Finish: 4:45:03
Click here for my Garmin data.

After crossing the finish line, I got my medal, a bag of snacks, and a water bottle with some water in it. I thought that the water bottle was a nice touch. It's always good to get a finisher item that's useful.

Finisher medal

Post race goodies

I was kind of surprised that I finished about an hour faster than most of my recent marathons. I thought I did a pretty good job at managing the soreness in my left ankle. That was my 47th State where I've completed a marathon, only 3 more to go! I only have Massachusetts, Mississippi, and Rhode Island left. I'll be running the Mississippi River Marathon in February and Providence Marathon in May. I still want to qualify and run the Boston Marathon for my 50th State.

I wasn't in the mood to stick around the post race area, so after giving away my free beer ticket, I started making my way back to my hotel. Along the way I saw that they had a McDonald's booth. They're usually never at the marathons that I've run in the past. They gave me two coupons, 1 for free french fries and 1 for a free breakfast sandwich. Nice! I also bumped into Michele, the Marathon Maniac that I had met on the course. We talked a little bit about our upcoming races before going our separate ways.

McDonald's booth

Ronald McDonald!

McDonald's coupons

Since the course ran right by the back door for my hotel, I decided to sit at the curb and wait for my friend to run by before going up to my room. It looked like she had picked up a fellow Marathon Maniac running buddy during her race. It's always great to have good company during a marathon which most undoubtedly helps make the miles go by.

A couple of Marathon Maniacs heading for the finish line

I went up to my room, got cleaned up, and vegged out while watching some TV. I didn't leave my room until it was time for me to go get some dinner. I decided to check out the nearby Trumbull Kitchen. Since I was dining solo, I found a seat at the bar. I started things out with my usual iced tea. Then after looking over the menu, I ordered their calamari appetizer and the Miso Glazed Atlantic Haddock. The food here cost about the same as the place that I went to yesterday, but it was much better in presentation and taste. If I ever come back to Hartford, this would be my go-to spot.

Iced tea

Rice Flour Crisped Calamari

Miso Glazed Atlantic Haddock

After dinner, I headed back to my room to catch game 1 of the NLCS. I still wished that I could've been in there in person. It was good that the Dodgers were able to win game 1 against the defending champion Cubs. The Cubs have always played the Dodgers tough.

NLCS Game 1

Sunday 10/15
I woke up super early to get ready to catch an early morning 4 am bus ride to the airport. The only people out were people heading home after a night of drinking and cop cars patrolling the streets. While waiting for the bus, I was beginning to doubt if the bus even ran that early on a Sunday morning. Thankfully like clockwork, the bus showed up at the posted time.

After arriving at the airport, I finished off my water before going through the TSA checkpoint. I then stopped by McDonald's for breakfast before heading over to my gate.

Breakfast at McDonald's

Thankfully my flight home was a direct flight. I even got to finally see Spider-Man: Homecoming. I thought that this was a much needed reboot. While I thought Andrew Garfield was a decent replacement for Tobey Maguire, the villains in The Amazing Spider-Man 1 & 2 were horribly done, especially Electro and Rhino. Tom Holland did a great job portraying Peter Parker as a brilliant young kid, which was a part that was sorely lacking with Tobey Maguire's turn in the Spidey suit.

Spider-Man: Homecoming

As soon as I landed in LAX and made it back to my car, I headed down South to Disneyland. I stopped by Los Feliz Five & Dime in Disney California Adventure to see if they had the Oogie Boogie annual passholder hoodie still available in my size. No dice. I then hopped over to Disneyland to check out the Star Wars: The Last Jedi name badges exclusive for annual passholders located over at TomorrowLanding. They looked pretty cool, so I didn't go home empty handed. I then rode a couple of my usual rides, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters and Star Tours before heading home. In between I enjoyed a Dole Whip Float from the Tiki Juice Bar as it was a blazing hot day!

Dole whip float

Long Beach Marathon 2017

Saturday 10/7
I had a late start getting to the expo. It opened at 9 am, but I didn't roll into Long Beach until a little after 10 am. I parked at the usual parking structure located on 3rd St between Pine Ave and Long Beach Blvd. The first two hours were free. From there I walked over to the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center for the expo. One thing new for this year was that they were checking bags at the entrance. I hate that that has now become the norm. :(

Expo

After I picked up my bib, I picked up my race shirt. I thought that the race shirt was a little bit better this year compared to recent years. At least they didn't have graphics printed all over the place. I like things kept simple.

Race shirt, front

Race shirt, back

After getting my shirt, I made sure to visit the Beach Bum Club area before I forget. There was a person stationed near the entrance checking our status. She verified that it was my 6th year in the club. That meant that I get the long sleeve Beach Bum hoodie!

Beach Bum Club

6th year!

Beach Bum Hoodie

After going through all of the vendor booths, I stopped by the Long Beach Marathon booth to sign up for next year's race for $90 which was the discounted rate for Beach Bum members. With the processing fee, it came out to $98.61 which is still a great price for a marathon. I only need to run this race 4 more years to get my name enshrined on a bench on the Long Beach Run of Fame Bench in Lighthouse Park!

Signing up for next year

Expo haul

After I was done with the expo, I drove over to Disneyland to a hit a few rides before dinner with my friend. I was trying to save my stomach for the dinner buffet, but was getting hungry, so I ended up getting a Dole Whip Float at the Tiki Juice Bar over at Adventureland to tide me over.

• Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters
• Ghost Galaxy
• Tiki Juice Bar
• Star Tours

I met up with my friend at the nearby Red Lobster in Garden Grove to partake in the infamous Endless Shrimp deal. There was a Dodger game on, so we sat at the bar. Beyond the initial order, I had about 12 refills. The majority of my refills were the Scampi and Mediterranean shrimp. The two new flavors this year was the Mediterranean Shrimp and Nashville Hot Shrimp. The Mediterranean was good, but the Nashville Hot Shrimp was horrible.

Two new flavors!

Nashville Hot Shrimp and Mediterranean Shrimp

We both tapped out a bit early since we both had races tomorrow. When I got home, I decided on my flat runner for tomorrow's race. I went with one of my Dodgers race shirts to show support for my team in the playoffs.

Flat runner

Sunday 10/8
Instead of parking in the lot by the Convention Center, I decided to go back to pre-paying for parking at one of the parking structures for $12. I picked the same one that I parked at for the expo. I rolled into the parking structure a little before 4:30 am and it appeared that I was among the first to park there. As it got closer to 5 am, I got my stuff ready and walked over to the nearby Hyatt Regency just off of Pine Ave to use their restroom. After I was done, I made my way over to the starting line.

Start line

At about 30 minutes before the start of the race, I started bumping into some familiar faces. I took a bunch of photos with my Marathon Maniacs friends. I also said hi to a Marathon Maniac that was pacing the 3:25 group. I see him here every year so it seems.

Pre-race Marathon Maniacs from Robert

3:25 pacer

I didn't go out with reckless abandon like I usually do at the beginning of a race. Everything felt ok, but the left ankle was getting a bit sore from the downhill section at around mile 5. I was able to see my old friend from the Runner's World forum at her usual cheering spot. By the time I reached the 10k mark, I had to pull over and walk. Sure my left ankle was bothering me, but my bigger problem was with my GI. It was starting to revolt. I kept an eye out for a portapotty or beach restroom. The doors were all locked at the first restroom. Then at the second restroom, some of the spectators informed me that the ones in the back were unlocked but they were dirty. I didn't care, things were going to explode if I didn't take care of business! It was indeed filthy inside the stalls, but it was an emergency and I managed. I resumed running, but I tried not to push the pace as the GI distress was worse if I ran too hard. At this point, I just wanted to get off of the beach bike path.

Yum Yum

Once off of the bike path, the roads were wider and I was able to slow down even more and try to let things calm down. I was passed by a firefighter running while wearing his gear. He was running to raise funds for Aidan who was suffering from Astrocytoma. The tumor on the boy's spine led to paralysis and breathing issues. Here's the Go Fund Me page. Life is just not fair. :(

Thankfully I was able to duck into an available portapotty between miles 11 and 12. I think that visit finally cleared everything out of my system. Dude! No more, Endless Shrimp the night before a marathon! I felt pretty empty and exhausted. I spotted one of my trail running friends just as we were running up Nieto Ave. I couldn't quite keep up with her, so I dropped back and eventually bumped into my good friend as we were approaching the halfway point. We ended up running the rest of the race together.

Then on the way out to Cal State Long Beach, we bumped into several of our friends running on the other side of the course heading for the finish line. Then as we were done with our loop of the college, we got to see our friends that were behind us.

Pacer Jen

Sun's out, guns out!

Photo from Dexter

Shortly after reaching mile 20, we saw our friends while headed west on Atherton St at Bellflower Blvd. They had made a pit stop at the AM PM for a soda. Boy, did that sound good!

Where's my soda?

There's the soda!

As we approached mile 23, my friends that were pacing the 5:25 group caught up to us. Both of us were too cramped up to be able to keep up with them.

Pacers Cindy and Laura

Somewhere around mile 25, one of our friends caught up to us and slowed down to say hi. Then as we approached mile 26, we saw our friend Ed the Jester doing his thing. He always sticks around after his race to cheer on every last runner out there!

The Jester Ed!

Finish line

Finish: 5:40:52
Click here for my Garmin data.

After crossing the finish line and getting our hard earned medal, we staggered through the line for the post race drinks and bag of snacks.

Medal

Post race snacks

The volunteers ended up giving me and my friend each a flat of C2O pure coconut water. It was getting a bit heavy having to carry it all the way back to the car! My friend gave me a ride back to my car over at the parking structure.

LA Dodgers Foundation 10k 2017

Saturday 9/30
I left home for Dodger Stadium a little bit later than I had planned. So when I rolled up to my usual Chevron gas station to fill up my tank, it was really crowded. I drove further down the street to another nearby Chevron where their gas cost a little bit more and was able to snag the last available pump. Was everybody's tank empty all at the same time? After that it was pretty smooth sailing up to Dodger Stadium. I took my normal route, 60 West, 101 North, 110 North, exit Dodger Stadium. Per the race instructions, the Downtown Gate would not be open for the expo, so I made a left on Stadium Way and entered through the Sunset Gate. The parking attendants and signs directed us up to the Top Deck where parking was a tad disorganized and chaotic.

Packet Pick Up at the Top Deck

First I picked up my bib on the first base side and went over to the third base side to pick up my shirt. I wasn't liking this year's shirt. It was black and didn't have nearly enough blue. Included in the race packet was a small tube of sunscreen. After I got my stuff and was ready to head out, I was spotted by my friend. We have been running a lot of the same races in the past several years and it has been uncanny the way we would run into each other at expos and races without any prior planning.

Front side

Back side

Race packet sunscreen

I got back into my car and drove down to Disneyland for a day at the parks. I always like to get to the park coming off of the 5 freeway so I can take the ramp directly into the Mickey and Friends parking structure. I didn't stay too long. I thought about staying long enough for the Monsters After Dark version of the Guardians of the Galaxy ride, but decided to leave that ride for tomorrow.

When I got home, it was time to lay out my flat runner. Since the bib was the shape of a baseball, I thought it would be fitting to wear my Star Wars night Dodgers shirt with BB-8 on it.

Flat runner

Sunday 10/1
Just as the last several years, I drove up to the Downtown Gate just off of the 110. I got there about 15 minutes before 6 am and there were already several lines of cars parked there waiting to get in. Everything was per the usual until it got closer to 6 am which was the published time that they would open the gates. In the final instructions, it said that the Downtown Gate would be open on Sunday, but Stadium Security rolled up and motioned for all of us to turn around and head over to the Sunset Gate.

Once I parked the car, I got myself ready and headed to the pavilion area to use the restrooms before heading to the starting corral. I noticed that for this year, they had more backdrops for people to use in their pictures. I ended up talking to a friend that was working a booth a little before going inside the corral.

The corral was pretty empty with less than 30 minutes before the start of the race. I thought that that was a bit strange. Shortly thereafter, the race announcer got on the mic and beckoned the 10k participants to make their way into the starting corral. Eventually I bumped into my friend that I saw at the expo.

Empty corral

A few moments before the start of the race, they brought to the stage some of the Dodger alums of yesteryear. This year they brought out Al Ferrara, Kenny Landreaux, and Mickey Hatcher. Then with the singing of the national anthem, it was time to run a challenging 10k around Dodger Stadium!

Dodgers alums Al Ferrara, Kenny Landreaux, and Mickey Hatcher

From what I could remember, the course remained the same. The first mile was a steady climb up to the Top Deck. I went out a bit too fast as my legs felt like rubber when I got up there. With this rolling course, any long climb would be followed by a downhill section. It would be best if you got in some hill training before running this race. I focused on running with a constant effort throughout the rest of the race. I was even able to muster up a decent sprint during the final stretch. It was good to be able to maintain what averaged out to be a 8:30 min per mile pace for the 10k. I'm definitely slowly building back up my endurance. Also thank goodness the morning temps weren't as hot as previous years!

Can you find me?

Photo from Mickey Williams Photography

I'm one of the runners in the background

Photo from Mickey Williams Photography

Finish: 52:42
Click here for my Garmin data.

After crossing the finish line, I got my medal from Mickey Hatcher. I thought that was pretty cool. He was so happy to do so. After getting my medal, I got some post race snacks and drinks. I walked over to the pavilion area and found a spot to put down my stuff so that I could enjoy my apple before heading home. I didn't take the cool down walk around the warning track this year because I didn't want to walk all the way to my car and back. They only allow you to carry water while out on the track.

Medal and post race snacks