Inaugural Avengers Half Marathon and Rock n Roll Las Vegas Marathon One Day Challenge

11/14 Friday
After work, I stopped by the race expo at Disneyland to pick up my race packet. They definitely controlled the flow of traffic for parking better this year. Once the parking lots for Downtown Disney filled up, they redirected cars to park in the lot just in front of the Mickey and friends parking structure. That worked out great. When enough spots opened up in the Downtown Disney lots, they redirect the cars to enter that area.

The packet pick-up process was the usual for a Disneyland race. First I went down the ramp to pick up my bib. Apparently when I registered, I had also bought a commemorative pin. So I picked that up as well when I got my bib. I then went upstairs into the expo. First I got my long sleeve race shirt before checking out the booths. Before leaving, I took a picture in front of the green screen. I thought the picture was a nice expo freebie! I also checked out the official race merchandise and bought the Spidey Mickey Mouse ears.

One thing everybody noticed was that Iron Man was inconspicuously missing from everything!

Event guide, bib, and commemorative pin

Long sleeve race shirt

Green screen photo

11/15 Saturday
I saw Big Hero 6 out at the El Capitan in Hollywood. It's always nice to watch a Disney movie at this theater. Before the movie started, they had a laser light show that was kind of like a concert. As for the movie, I liked it. Although it was pretty predictable, it was still very entertaining and funny.

When I got home, I laid out my race gear before going to sleep.

Race gear

11/16 Sunday
I paid $17 and parked in the Mickey and friends parking structure. I used the restroom downstairs before heading over to the starting area. My friend spotted me and we hung out in front of gear check until it was time to head over to the corrals. We both noticed that the corrals were much smaller than the usual Disneyland race.

Staging area

Starting corral A

"Hello. I am Baymax, your personal healthcare companion. I heard the sound of distress, what seems to be the trouble? On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your pain?"

Baymax!

We saw a lot of nice costumes while waiting in the starting corral. Besides Baymax, we saw a guy dressed up as a King's hockey player. Disney even took the time to recognize on stage a race participant that have served for each of the military branches. I thought that that was a very nice touch!

LA King!

Recognizing those that have served

My goal was to finish in about 1:50 with an initial push of about a 7:30 pace. The first two almost three miles in the park went okay. Once we got out of the park and into the streets, we experienced some pretty strong Santa Ana winds. Pushing through the strong headwind while going East on Chapman Ave was pretty demoralizing. I had to take off my visor as it would've been blown off eventually. Mile 5 had us at the Crystal Cathedral. Running through the tree lined parking lot gave us some respite from the winds. Mile 6 had us run up probably the only significant climb for the entire course as we ran up an overpass going over the 22 freeway. Mile 7 had us going onto the Santa Ana River Trail where we were further punished by the wind and the dust that was being blown up into our faces. Mile 8 wasn't too bad as they had a long line of people dressed up as superheroes there to cheer us on. I even saw someone dressed up as War Machine! Mile 9 had us heading towards and running through Angels Stadium. After leaving the stadium I saw what I've never seen at a race before. The winds were so strong that it was blowing away the entire aid station. Water and cups were flying everywhere. I felt bad for the volunteers. I thanked as many of them as I could as I ran by. My right foot and ankle was starting to give me problems so the next couple of miles were a bit of a grind and I knew that I was starting to fall off of pace. It was probably a stupid idea to wear a new pair of shoes for this race. I quickened the pace for the last mile in an attempt to reach my goal but I was nearly a half a minute short.
1: 7:21
2: 7:42
3-4: 16:06 (8:03)
5: 8:18
6: 8:34
7: 9:00
8-9: 17:42 (8:51)
10: 9:03
11: 8:53
12: 8:55
13: 8:07
13.1: 0:45
Finish: 1:50:27

Despite the crazy winds, I had a fun time because it was a comic book themed race and it was organized by Disney. The course was a bit of a tweaked version of the Tinker Bell half marathon course back in January. You can bet that I will be back next year! Hopefully the strong winds won't make a return. A lot of the mile markers were blown over and the clocks were destroyed by the wind!

Mission#1 completed!

After crossing the finish line, I got my medal, took an official post race photo, grabbed a banana and a goody box. I then met up with a few of my friends. We snapped a few group photos before I had to leave for home for a quick shower and a change of clothes. Then it was off to Las Vegas for an evening marathon!

Maniacs!

I drove straight to the Monte Carlo hotel. Along the way I was snacking on a pack of beef jerky. I made pretty good time and got there in about 3.5hrs. I parked the car and got checked in. The check-in line was long but it was moving pretty quickly. Before heading up to my room, I bought some food at the McDonald's in the casino food court. I went with the usual Big Mac and Filet o' Fish. After eating my pre-race meal and relaxing a bit, I changed for the race and started heading over to the starting area to pick up my race packet.

Monte Carlo

Big Mac and Filet o' Fish

The starting area was at the usual lot just across from the Mandalay Bay. It was about 2:30pm and it was swarming with people! I started to look for the solutions booth for race day packet pick up. Back when I registered for the race, I had paid an extra $40 for race day pick up. God knows, I tend to spend that or more at expos so I thought it was a fair amount. If you didn't pre-pay during registration, they had stations set up to collect the $40 if for any reason you had to miss the packet pick up at the expo. Along the way to finding the booth, I picked up a small bottle of water and a banana that were on tables that they had set up. They also had bagels.

After checking my gear bag at the UPS trucks, I started heading towards to the starting corrals. Along the way I got in line to get a free t-shirt from Mazda. The pre-race concert nearby had just started. I must say that Macklemore and Ryan Lewis were pretty awesome and I really don't even know who they are, however I did recognize their name. I'm definitely more of a country music kind of guy. For that free shirt, I had to answer a whole bunch of survey questions concerning my knowledge of and the likelihood that I would buy a car from Mazda. I also had to give them my email address. Sure, why not? I'm already on so many mailing lists. I took the shirt and went back to gear check to put the shirt into my bag. On my way back to the starting corrals, I got in line for the portapotties one last time. I spoke to a lady in line that also happened to be doing the same thing, Avengers in the morning and Las Vegas at night. See! I'm not the only crazy one here! :)

Race day packet pickup

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

I got situated in my starting corral and it just got plain chilly waiting there even though I had on the long sleeved shirt that I got from the Avengers half marathon. So I got out of the corral and waited next to a big moving van that was parked nearby to shield myself from the wind. There were a few people doing the same thing.

Starting corral

When it was time for our corral to be released, it was pretty congested. The first mile I tried to stay behind a girl that was cutting through the mob. Then I realized that there was no way that I could keep up that effort for even a half marathon, so I just went with the flow and tried not to push the pace. Around mile 7, I happen to bump into one of my running friends. I was feeling tired but okay after reaching mile 9, so I kept going straight and went with the full marathoners through the Fremont Experience. This section was my favorite part of the marathon course. I like it more than running up and down the Strip. Too bad the half marathoners do not get to run through here. After reaching mile 10, we headed down an underpass. As I was coming back up, I completely bonked. I thought that I had no chance of completing the race within the 5 hr cutoff. From prior experience with epic bonks, I knew that I had to get some calories and fluids in my body as soon as possible. I took two GU's and drank about a third of my bottle. It was as if I had stalled and just needed to restart the engine. Thank goodness everything was fine again as running up Martin L. King Blvd to the turnaround shortly after passing the halfway point was a grind.
1: 8:23
2: 9:16
3: 8:57
4: 9:24
5: 9:48
6: 9:46
7: 10:08
8: 10:46
9: 10:42
10: 11:54
11: 13:53
12: 11:02
13: 11:39
Halfway: 2:16:52

I was actually feeling pretty good running up Carey Ave. to the turnaround at the Fiesta Rancho Hotel & Casino. During this dark stretch, they even set up a tunnel with a bunch of lights that you get to run through. I made it back to MLK Blvd before I saw the SAG wagons following the last participant. My energy level was down again so I sucked down some GU's and took it easy for a couple of miles. Some of the mile markers were either blown down or missing, but I knew that as we rounded the Stratosphere and got back on Las Vegas Blvd that it was about mile 24. It was such a relief knowing that you only had two more miles to go and that you would finish just under the cutoff.
14: 11:46
15: 10:40
16: 10:45
17: 12:39
18: 13:21
19: 13:15
20: 12:02
21: 11:48
22-23: 23:02 (11:31)
24-25: 25:00 (12:30)
26.2: 14:01
Finish: 4:54:00

Finish line

After grabbing a finisher's medal, I picked up a bottle of water, Gatorade, and other post race goodies. I hung out for a bit at the table with the pretzels. I chatted with the volunteers before moving along. I also picked up a mylar sheet to cover up my legs. I got a can of Michelob Ultra before heading to the UPS trucks. I only took a few sips before throwing it away. After picking up my gear bag and putting on my jacket, I walked over to the Heavy Medals booth to pick up my race shirt. Then I started heading back to my hotel. After taking a shower, I was definitely done for the night. I was out like a light.

Disneyland to Vegas One Day Challenge completed!

11/17 Monday
After getting packed and checked out of my room came my favorite part of endurance running, the post race recovery meal! I drove over to my current favorite buffet on the Strip, the Wicked Spoon for brunch. The quality of the food has gone down a bit since they first opened, but the bone marrow and duck wings are still good. I still love that the cocktail shrimp are served in shot glasses so inconsiderate people cannot create a mess digging into the pile of shrimp.

During my meal, I ended up talking to a couple of older gentlemen sitting next to me. They were from Albuquerque, New Mexico. One of them was wearing the Duke City Marathon race shirt from the race that took place last month. They started talking to me because they saw my USA Olympics Marathon Trials jacket. I guess that I'm still skinny enough that they asked if I had run in the Trials. I believe both were in their 70's yet they looked like they were in their 50's. Running does keep you looking younger! They both ran the half marathon. I definitely will want to still be running when I'm their age.

Plate 1: beef brisket eggs benedict, bone marrow, duck wings, beef brisket, ham, pork belly

Plate 2: duck wings, bone marrow, brussel sprouts, roasted chicken, shrimp cocktail

Plate 3: shitake mushroom, shrimp cocktail, rum baba, brussel sprouts, bone marrow

Madison Marathon 2014

11/7 Friday
I took a red eye flight at 11:30pm out of LAX with United airlines. I would have a layover in Chicago O'Hare airport before landing in Madison, Wisconsin.

11/8 Saturday
During my layover at O'Hare airport, I ate breakfast at McDonald's. I then discovered something that I've not seen before. The toilets had mechanical self cleaning seat covers. No more have to use those paper toilet seat covers. I'm wondering what it uses to clean the seat.

After landing in Madison, I went to go pick up my rental car. The girl at the counter was a trainee. She was trying to sell me on everything with her trainer standing right next to her. I waived the usual insurance, but I'm such a sucker and went with the upgrade to a premium car to help her out. The car she gave me was a burgundy Toyota Avalon with leather seats and seat warmers. Pretty nice for another cold weekend, but the low tire pressure warning light came on as soon as I drove it a few yards. I drove back to the return lot and went back to the rental counter to get another car. This time they gave me a white Nissan Maxima. This car wasn't as nice, but at least no warning lights came on when I drove it.

I drove over to the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center for the expo and parked at the Government East Garage just off of Pinckney. It was a short walk over to the convention center from the garage. I took a bunch of escalators down to the bottom level where the expo was held. Right before you enter the expo, they will even print out your bib number for you if you didn't already know it. The bib and shirt pick up was in the back. I went through the bag and threw away the advertisements before heading out to go get lunch.

I hiked over to the Dotty Dumpling’s Dowry to eat a burger. They have good beer flights if you want to sample a bunch of the local brews. I started things off with the Wisco Road Trip. Then for my meal, I ordered the Melting Pot Burger. It came with Cheddar, Swiss, and Provolone cheese, Jones Diary Farm smoked bacon, and their signature English garlic sauce. I can definitely see and taste why it's their number one selling burger! I finished things off with the Mad City Flight. I've eaten my fair share of burgers and the one I had here easily ranks at the top. I would definitely want to come back here to try other items on their menu.

Taking the Wisco Road Trip

Melting Pot Burger

Mad City Flight

After my meal, I stopped by the Capitol Centre Market to buy water, coconut water, Powerade, and bananas.

It was a bit early to check into my hotel, so I went back to the expo to kill some time. I ended up checking out the course preview video that they had playing on a screen.

Parking came out to be $4.50 when I exited the garage. I drove to the Red Roof Inn just past the airport at Hayes Road. After checking into my room, I took a shower and a nap. The room was pretty much on par with a Super 8, Motel 6, or a Days Inn. It was good enough for a quick trip. The bed was comfortable and clean. Also the towels were clean. For dinner, I walked across the street to eat at Perkins. I sort of had an early Thanksgiving dinner. I ordered their turkey dinner with mashed potatoes and corn. I drank a couple glasses of ice tea with my meal.

Red Roof Inn

Red Roof Inn

Turkey dinner

Before going to sleep, I went through the expo haul. They gave us a bottle of TYR sports drink which I ended up dumping before going through TSA. I then got my race gear ready for another cold race. According to the weather forecast, we were going to be lucky that the cold weather would not be including snow or rain.

Race shirt

Race gear

11/9 Sunday
After getting ready, I packed my stuff into the car while snow was actually coming down. As I drove towards the starting area at the Capitol, the precipitation would go away. I parked in the same parking structure as yesterday and waited in the car a bit before getting ready to go outside. I wore last weekend's throwaway jacket and a mylar heat sheet to cover my legs. After using one of the portapotties, I ended up waiting with a whole lot of people inside the Starbucks just next to the starting corrals. One of the Starbucks employees was definitely irritated with the runners and the huge line waiting for the restroom. I braved the cold and went outside to wait inside the corral. As the race was about to start, I took off the jacket and the mylar sheet and threw them to the side.

My friend warned me about the hills. Boy was she right. I kept that in mind for the entire race. I made sure not to run out hard in the opening miles. The course had us heading out to the University of Wisconsin Arboretum. The hills started coming by mile 4. That would only be the beginning of a rolling course full of hills. If you weren't running up, you were running down.
1: 8:14
2: 8:28
3: 8:32
4: 8:58
5: 9:03
6: 8:49
10k: 53:57

The short climbs here and there was already wearing me out. We ran up to Camp Randall and the Observatory Hill around the University of Wisconsin. There was then a couple mile stretch along Gorman St where we got to see a nice view of Lake Mendota. I crossed the halfway point just behind the 4 hour pace group.
7: 9:21
8: 9:04
9: 9:14
10: 9:56
11: 9:46
12: 9:40
13: 9:38
Halfway: 1:59:39

After crossing the halfway point, we headed up Sherman Ave where we headed up to Warner Park for some more rolling hills. The temperatures during this race was in the low 30's. It felt significantly warmer than last weekend's marathon where it was in the 20's. I actually had to roll down my arm warmers and thought about removing the gloves. It was still cold enough that I kept the gloves on.

Running up a hill

14: 9:58
15: 9:57
16: 10:18
17: 10:52
18: 11:53
30k: 2:58:28

We headed up to Maple Bluff. This was one difficult but scenic course! The short steep climb near mile 24 finally had me taking a walk break. The final mile had one last climb that had my legs begging for a walk break, but you can see and hear the finish line just a block over. I knew it was just a quick u-turn before I saw the finish line.
19: 10:39
20: 11:37
21: 11:28
22: 12:37
23: 11:11
24: 11:20
25: 12:07
26: 11:18
26.2: 1:56
Finished: 4:25:55

This was a much tougher course than last weekend's marathon, so I was glad to find out that I had beaten last weekend's time by 1 second. Progress is progress. :) I love races that gives out free race photos. Usually I only want one race photo, but I really don't want to pay $30 for one especially when I run so many races!

Finish line

After getting my finisher's medal, I picked up a few post race goodies. There was even a booth that printed out your results. I then picked up a free ice cold beer. I sat down at a table to drink it and it got pretty cold. I quickly finished the beer and headed to my car to change out of my clothes and put on some warm clothing.

See you next time!

After I changed, I walked around the corner to the Great Dane Pub for my traditional post race burger and some real beer. I sat at the bar and started off with a Texas Speedbump IPA. For my burger, I ordered the Applewood Bacon Burger with sharp Cheddar and a side of mashed potatoes. It came out with fries, so they brought me some mash potatoes separately in a small bowl. It was a good burger! I had plenty of time before I had to head to the airport to catch my evening flight home, so I had the Devil's Lake Red Lager and an Old Glory American Pale Ale as well to help finish off the burger. During my meal, I had the chance to talk to a few people that had also run the marathon and their friends. Throughout the marathons over the years, I've had so many great conversations with strangers.

Great Dane

Texas Speedbump IPA

Applewood Bacon Burger

After I paid my tab, I headed over to the airport. This time it cost $5 to exit the garage which was the maximum per day. I gassed up the car along the way. This time I was able to not incur the EZ Fuel charge because I was able to show my gas station receipt to the guy at the car rental counter when I dropped off the car. I hung out in a section of the airport where they had some comfortable chairs. I sat there for a spell drinking my bottles of water before going through TSA. I had to toss the TYR sports drink as I had no more bladder space. This time my layover was a quick one in Denver. State #30 done!

Indianapolis Monumental Marathon 2014

10/31 Friday
I took an early morning flight with US Airways out of John Wayne Airport, one of my favorite airports. I parked in the Main Street parking lot and took the shuttle over to the terminal. When I checked in for my flight, I was able to select a seat in one of the exit rows. So much nicer to fly with the extra leg room! I originally had a very short layover in Phoenix, but my connecting flight was delayed a bit before heading over to Indianapolis. Good thing that the expo was open until 9pm.

Yay for exit row seat!

After picking up my rental car, I drove over to my hotel to park the car and check in before heading over to the expo at the Indiana Convention Center. While walking over to the expo, I realized that the Indiana Pacers had a game at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse since there were a quite a few people at the corners trying to sell me tickets.

I went through the expo. Picked up my shirt and bib. Then on my way out I looked for my name on the poster with the names of all of the participants. My first and last name was split up on two different lines. They gave us a small souvenir version of the poster.

Poster with participants' names

My first and last name was split

On my way back to my hotel, I stopped by Noodles and Company to eat a quick dinner. I ordered the spaghetti with meatballs and a side order of the chicken noodle soup. The spaghetti was decent and served well for a carbohydrate rich meal for tomorrow's marathon. The chicken noodle soup also hit the spot as it was hovering around or below 30 degrees Fahrenheit outside.

Spaghetti and meatballs with a side of chicken noodle soup

I also stopped by a Big Red Liquors to see if I could buy some sports drinks or water. They had bottles of water for 50 cents a piece. Apparently the cashier thought I was underage and was trying to buy or steal alcohol. Oh if he only knew how old I was. There was also some unsavory characters staring at me the entire time. I paid for the water and hurried on back to my room. Since I couldn't find any sports drinks, I decided to just go with Nuun water for the marathon.

For this trip, I stayed at La Quinta. I had decided on running this race kind of late and it was pretty much a great find. Although it was close enough for me to walk to everywhere I needed to be, it was located near the outskirts of Downtown. In a way that was good since it was pretty quiet. The room was nice and came with a microwave oven and a refrigerator.

Microwave oven and mini-fridge

This was one of my favorite race shirts. Nice colors with a very simple design. I normally donate my race shirts to Goodwill, but this one for sure is a keeper for me. I got my race gear ready before hitting the hay. With the temperatures in the 20's, I was pretty sure that the arm sleeves and gloves will stay on for the entire race. This was also the race where I would be giving the Root Beer GU's a try.

Race shirt front

Race shirt back

Race gear

11/1 Saturday
I got dressed and jogged over to the Indiana Convention Center. Thank goodness they opened it up because it was cold outside. Since I was going to wear everything for the race, I had no gear bag to check. I brought with me a mylar heat sheet for waiting in the corral. Inside the convention center, they even had a stand handing out bananas and water. While waiting, I bumped into a few familiar faces and a bunch of Marathon Maniacs. We waited inside until it was closer to the 8am start.

The starting line was on Washington St between West St and Capitol Ave with the course heading East.
Here's a YouTube video of the course: http://youtu.be/DygBz7NxxnU

After a few miles around Downtown, the course headed into the suburbs. I ran the first 4 miles progressively faster around the vicinity of the 3:30 pace group. It felt okay, but it was prudent to ease off on the pace as I had been dealing with plantar fasciitis in both feet as of late. The course for the most part was flat. I got through the first 10k in 51:06 which was good for me in a marathon.
1: 8:23
2: 8:08
3: 7:56
4: 7:54
5: 8:35
6: 8:26
10k: 51:06 (8:15)

A little after mile 7, the half marathoners split off. Without the fresh eager to finish half marathoners pushing the pace around me, I eased off further on the pace. I just wanted to run a smart race especially since my legs have been feeling tired and heavy from so many races on consecutive weekends. At the halfway point, we were pretty much as North as we were going to go before we started heading back towards the capitol.
7: 8:41
8: 9:01
9: 8:56
10: 9:20
11: 9:31
12: 9:50
13: 9:48
Half: 1:55:30 (8:49)

I further slowed the pace down to try to make it to mile 20 running at a consistent pace. This section of the marathon has always been a grind for me. I kept sucking down the Root Beer GU at one every hour and a salt cap every 30 minutes.
14: 10:07
15: 10:27
16: 10:42
17: 10:35
18: 10:43
30k: 2:54:41 (9:23)

We ran about 2 miles down the White River Parkway which was a pretty scenic section. I started having leg cramping issues, so I had to start taking walk breaks. We then headed East along the Burdsal Parkway and Fall Creek Parkway before we head South on Meridian. No, I wasn't hallucinating! I did see a rainbow unicorn! I ran with him during the last couple of miles. He's a fellow Marathon Maniac and was running to support a peer support group for women that are going or have gone through breast cancer. Also apparently the girl, Hailey Danisewicz, in the red top set the world record for the fastest above the knee amputee marathon in 4:25:28, which was 28 seconds faster than me!

Mr. Rainbow Unicorn

19: 11:19
20: 12:49
21: 11:53
22: 12:32
23: 12:12
24: 12:21
25: 12:19
26: 11:33
26.2: 1:54
Finish: 4:25:56 (10:09)

It really never gets old. It was a nice feeling crossing the finish line especially with the State Capitol building as the backdrop. State number 29 finished! After getting my finisher's medal, I was given a bunch of goodies in the finisher chute. I got a bottle of water, TruMoo, a banana, and a cookie. In addition to those goodies, I was given a throwaway zip up jacket and beanie to keep warm. My fast friend, Sally, spotted me shortly after I crossed the finish line. She usually finishes about an hour ahead of me. After snapping a photo, I started making my way back to my hotel. I so looked forward to the warm shower!

Finish

Sally at the finish

Medal and post race goodies

For an early dinner, I walked over to the Circle Centre Mall to eat at the Granite City Food & Brewery. Per the usual after running a marathon, I went with a burger and beers. I started off with their beer sampler for $4.95. What a great deal to check out 8 different beers. For my burger, I got the Bison burger with bacon. All of their beers were pretty decent. Couldn't go wrong with any choice. The burger was flavorful, nice and tasty especially with the added bacon. I finished it off with a pint of the Batch 1000, their double IPA.

Beer sampler

Bison burger with bacon

11/2 Sunday
For some reason when I checked into my flight, they assigned me with zone 5. I wasn't about to deal with having to involuntarily check my bag when overhead bins are full so I paid the extra $20 for PreferredAccess which meant that I get to board with zone 1.

My flight was at 6am, so I got up super early to get ready and headed for the airport. I gassed up the rental and got to the airport at about 4:30am. There was a whole row of cars being dropped off ahead of me. They had conflicting signs there so some of us were confused as to what to do. Nobody was at the counter yet at that hour, so I went with the sign that said to leave the keys in the car. Since I had not driven more than 75 miles, they would later tack on their EZ Fuel charge of $13.99 which kind of sucked since I couldn't show my gas station receipt to anyone there. I guess I could've called in to get that money back, but that would be too much of a hassle for me.

We were about 15 minutes late arriving into Phoenix since they had to de-ice the plane before we left Indianapolis. I sort of had to hurry to my connecting flight. They had already started boarding. Fortunately it was a pretty empty flight. There were empty seats everywhere.