I got dropped off at Ontario Airport at about 10 pm to catch an evening flight out to NYC. With a late flight, the airport was pretty empty once I got through TSA screening. I don't think that I have ever found myself here in terminal 4 during Chick-fil-A's hours of operation.
Once on the plane, I watched Challengers. The tennis in this movie bothered me the most. Each of the actor's form was really terrible. Also I did not like this look for Zendaya. I supposed it was inevitable that all Disney child actors will take on edgier roles to try and shed their Disney image. I was tired, so I kept fading in and out. I don't feel the need to re-watch this one. What I saw was enough. I would not recommend this movie especially if you're a tennis fan. 5/10
Friday 8/23
My flight landed at DFW Airport and docked at a gate in terminal D at a little after 5 am. According to the AA mobile app and the flight board in the terminal, my connecting flight was scheduled to fly out of a gate in terminal C, so I hopped on the Skylink for a ride. I went to the Starbucks near gate C21 to get some coffee. On the mobile app, I ordered a Venti Blonde Vanilla Latte by cashing in my stars to pay for the drink. While drinking my coffee, I noticed that the gate for my flight got changed to terminal A.
Venti Blonde Vanilla Latte
After I was done with my coffee, I hopped back on the Skylink for a ride over to terminal A. I had pretty much trained my gut to be very regular, so I had to find a restroom to take care of the morning BM before it was time to catch my flight.
Morning BM :)
Toys R Us between A28 and A29
On the flight out to Newark, I watched Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. Honestly, I watched this movie because there was nothing else that looked remotely interesting. This was just a rather mindless action movie to pass the time. 6/10
The plane landed at Newark Airport and docked at terminal A at about 1 pm. I got on a shuttle for a ride over to catch the AirTrain. That took me over to the Newark Liberty International Airport station to catch a NJ Transit train into the NYC Penn Station. I purchased a ticket for $16.80 before heading to the platform to wait for the next train to arrive. The price of the ticket included the cost for riding the AirTrain ($8.50).
NJ Transit
From Penn Station, I walked up a few blocks to eat lunch at Go! Go! Curry! Normally, I would place my order with the employee working the register. However, this time, I noticed that they had a little ordering kiosk off to the side. The screen was a bit glitchy on the bottom, but I was able to place my usual order, a home run with fukujinzuke.
Go! Go! Curry!
Home run with fukujinzuke
After I was done with my meal, I hoofed it all the way up to the NYRR Runcenter to pick up my race packet. I was assigned a bib number when I scanned in my QR code. I then headed to the merchandise store in the back to get my race shirt.
NYRR Runcenter
Race shirt
Back of race shirt
After I cooled down a bit, I walked up to Columbus Circle to catch a D train down to Brooklyn. I got off at the 36 St station. From there, it was a short walk over to my hotel for the weekend. For this trip, I was staying at the Wyndham Garden Brooklyn Sunset Park. Even though it was already 3 pm, the person checking me in told me that my room wasn't ready.
That's no problem. I decided to walk over to the nearby Industry City to check out their Japan Village. There was a ton of traffic right around Costco. A car came close to hitting me. I went into the Sunrise Mart to buy some drinks and snacks for the weekend. While going to pay for my items, I noticed that there were signs letting customers know that there was a $10 minimum to pay by credit card. I definitely won't have a problem with meeting that limit. There was so much that I wanted to buy!
Japan Village
When I returned to the hotel, I interacted with a different employee. He told me that my room was still not ready. Since it was already after 4 pm, I believe he eventually got permission from his manager to move me to another room. He checked me into room #611.
Elevator
Strange looking shower head
View from my room
I relaxed in my air conditioned room until about 6:30 pm. I headed back to Industry City to get some dinner. Even though it was a warm day, I decided on getting a bowl of ramen at Ramen Setagaya. I had checked out their website before deciding to eat here. I ordered a bowl of their classic tonkotsu ramen. All of the nearby tables were occupied so I ended up sharing a larger table with another guy that was about done with his ramen. It was not bad, they used the thin straight noodles that I like. It reminded me of Shinsengumi's ramen back home. After I was done with my ramen, I walked around Sunrise Mart a bit to cool down before heading back to my hotel.
Ramen Setagaya
Classic tonkotsu ramen
Various sparkling water
Back at my room, I went through some of my snacks and laid out my flat runner for tomorrow's race. I then took a shower and called it a night. It's very rare for me to run a 12 mile race, so I prepared for it the way I would for a half marathon.
Flat runner
Saturday 8/24
I left the hotel at about 5 am. I caught the R train from the 36 St station. It came to a stop at 4 Av-9 St station. The conductor announced that they were told to stop there due to police activity. She advised passengers to switch over to the F train as they were not provided with an ETA. I took her advice and transferred over to the F train, taking it to Jay St-Metrotech station where I caught the next C train. I got off at 103 St station. From there, I headed into Central Park and cut over to East Dr. I used a portapotty before checking out the start line and finding my starting corral.
Social distance
Central Park
Start line
I was one of the "early" few that positioned myself in the starting corral. There was less than 30 minutes before the 7 am start, but the corrals were practically empty. I'm not sure exactly why for NYRR races that participants are in no rush to get into their corrals. With less than 10 minutes before the start of the race, I bumped into Team for Kids coach Ben!
Corral F
Corral E
Coach Ben
Walking up to the start line
First 6 miles: 53:13
My goal was to average about 9:00 min/mile overall for this race. It was quite congested at the start of the race. I ended up tailing a couple of runners that blazed a path for me. The weather was a bit on the warm side with rather high humidity. I wanted to run the first 6 miles a bit faster before it got warmer. I guess I had run Central Park enough times to know the loop pretty well. The first mile took us through the Harlem Hill (aka Great Hill). Shortly after getting through that hill, we came up to the three sisters which took us through a little over 2 miles. The next couple of miles were mostly downhill or flat. Then came Cat Hill as we approached mile 5. Mile 6 would be fairly flat.
Second 6 miles: 55:21
I eased off on the gas for the start of the 2nd loop. The heat and humidity combination was beginning to get to me. I got over Harlem Hill, but I felt tired. I decided to walk part of the 1st sister. It was my one and only walk break. I had to let my body cool down. When I started running again, my legs really didn't want to go. I was slowing down with each successive mile. It wasn't until I had gotten past Cat Hill where my legs finally felt revived and allowed me to run that last mile a bit faster.
Finish: 1:48:34
Click here for my Garmin data.
That was a decent training run to get me my 4th race in the 9+1 program. My Garmin pace ended up being 9:00 min/mile on the dot with the results showing 9:03 min/mile. That was close enough in my books. Since it was a training race, there were no finisher medals passed out at the finish line. They were passing out drinks in paper cups, apples, and small bags of mini pretzels.
Post race snacks
I supposed I have been coming to NYC enough times where I didn't need the assistance of a map to know how to get out of Central Park. I caught a C train from 96 St station. I got back to my room at about 10 am, just in time to catch the Tottenham v. Everton match. It was good to finally see the Spurs dominate a lesser opponent, winning 4-0. I ate the apple and finished off the rest of snacks while watching the match.
I didn't go back to Industry City for food until almost 3 pm. For my last visit to this place for this trip, I ate at Gohei. I ordered their gyusuji. It was udon with beef tendon, daikon, and stewed konnyaku. I liked that the broth was clear. I prefer that over a thick rich broth. It wasn't used to the flat udon. It looked more like regular noodles.
Gohei
Gyusuji: beef tendon, daikon, and stewed konnyaku
Before heading back to the hotel, I stopped at Sunrise Mart to buy some more snacks and drinks. I wasn't planning to come back out for food, so whatever I bought would have to tide me over until tomorrow morning when I head to the airport for my flight home.
Drinks and snacks
Sunday 8/25
I woke up pretty early to get ready for my trip home. I had the news on while I got ready. The tension in the Middle East looked to be ratcheting higher. I am not optimistic at all that peace will be reached within my lifetime.
No peace in the Middle East :(
I checked out of my room at just before 3:30 am to start heading over to LaGuardia to catch my morning flight home. I caught the R train which should take me all the way to 74 St/Roosevelt Av station. However, once again, the train stopped at 4 Av-9 St station. Instead of waiting to find out why, I switched over to the F line which I stayed on until I got to the 74 St/Roosevelt Av station. I then waited with a bunch of people for the Q70 bus. I rode that bus over to terminal B.
There was a long queue for the TSA security check, but I was there early enough with plenty of time to spare. Once I got through that, I stopped at Starbucks to get my morning coffee. Per the usual, I skipped the line and placed my order on the mobile app. Once again, I went with my usual Blonde Vanilla Latte. Since I was cashing in my stars, I went with a venti size. I found a vacant table to enjoy my coffee with a CLIF bar before heading over to my gate.
Venti Blonde Vanilla Latte
One day, I will need to come back for the US Open!
On the flight over to DFW, I ended up watching 1917. While I love any movie that has to do with actual history, I have found watching war movies to be rather emotionally difficult. This one was a bit easier to watch than Saving Private Ryan. The realism with movies these days make it as if you were right there! This movie was very well done and I could easily see why it won so many awards. 9/10
The plane landed at DFW at about a quarter after 10 am local time. After looking at my food options near my gate, I decided to get an early lunch at the Whataburger. When in Rome, right? Per the usual with most places these days, I skipped the line and placed my order using one of the ordering kiosks. The pickup location was on the other end of the restaurant. I ordered a Bacon & Cheese Whataburger and made it a Whatameal. For my drink, I got their orange juice as a healthier option to soda. Also it was only slightly more than the cost of a bottle of water. For my fries, I got some spicy ketchup, one of the best condiments out there for fries!
Whatameal: Bacon & Cheese Whataburger, medium fries, and OJ
On the flight into ONT, I ended up watching No Hard Feelings. I'm not a big fan of Jennifer Lawrence's acting, but this turned out to be much funnier than I had expected. Overall, this movie reminded me a bit of Can't Buy Me Love and Kaley Cuoco on The Big Bang Theory. 7/10
The plane landed a bit early at Ontario Airport, so after I had gotten off of the plane and used the restroom, I waited at the baggage claim area for my parents to come pick me up. That worked out for the best as the crowds were mostly gone when they arrived at the curb.
ONT baggage claim
