Long Beach Marathon 2015

Friday 10/9
Since I didn't feel like going to the expo on Saturday, I rushed over to the expo right after work. I didn't have a whole lot of time to spend at the expo since I had dinner plans with some old friends. I parked at the usual parking structure on 3rd near Pine which lets you park for free for 2 hours. It was a few blocks to the expo. The walk over was pretty warm. I made sure to stop by the LA Marathon booth to say hi to some friends. I guess I hurried a little bit too much as I had apparently forgotten to pick up my Beach Bum shirt.

Expo

My running friends!

For dinner, my friends and I ate Endless Shrimp at Red Lobster. Apparently they treated me for my birthday which was more than a month ago. I wouldn't have ordered the second beer if I had known that they would be treating. I think that this might be the last year that I eat Endless Shrimp. However while I do I love to eat shrimp, there's always too much of a good thing. I keep returning because it's hard to resist such a good deal. However their string beans and rice pilaf always tastes a bit weird. I guess my OCD kicked in as I made some art with the shrimp tails.

Artistic OCD tendencies :)

Saturday 10/10
Before meeting up with some of my friends from San Diego for an early dinner, I drove down to the expo again just to pick up the Beach Bum shirt. The Beach Bum area was a bit obscure this year. You had to first get a ticket from the table just outside of where you would pick up your Beach Bum gear. They have a list where they verify your status. After picking up the shirt, I bumped into a couple of my friends near the Pony Express Marathon booth. I signed up for their drawing for the chance at winning a free race entry.

Beach Bum

Pony Express Marathon

After I was done with the expo, I then drove over to the Deli News Pizza. I broke my marathon tradition and ate their spaghetti and meatballs instead of the usual meal from McDonald's. Coincidentally there was a McDonald's at the other end of the parking lot. The food was pretty good, but the place was almost unbearably hot especially if you sat near the window.

Spaghetti and meatballs at Deli News Pizza

Sunday 10/11
I usually prepay for parking for one of the parking structures, but this year I decided to just get there early and park at the lot at the end of Seaside Way just North of Shoreline Dr. I got there at about 4:30 am and there was already a lot of traffic getting into that parking lot. I got there by turning right onto Ocean Blvd off of Los Alamitos and got in line to make a left onto Linden Ave. Once I had gotten through the bottle neck of paying the $10, it was pretty easy to find a parking spot. I parked pretty close to the VIP parking entrance.

I bumped into a few familiar faces walking over to the starting line. At first I wanted to walk over to the Hyatt Regency to use their restrooms, but I ended up just using a portapotty since I didn't want to walk that far. I eventually made my way into the corral to meet up with a couple of my friends. We might have lined up a bit too close to the front as the 3:10 pacers ended up standing right next to us. The course would be a bit more crowded this year, as the half marathoners were allowed to join the marathoners for the earlier start to beat the heat.

Starting line

3:10 pacers

I banked most of my time during the first few miles while the sun hadn't come out yet and it was still cool. Most of the faster running was done before reaching the beach path. I took it easy on the beach path as the concrete always beats the heck out of my legs and lower back. Most runners ran on the old concrete path instead of the new softer path that had been put in recently. I'm guessing that was probably because spectators and regular folks were walking on that path. Then the weather got muy caliente in a hurry as I headed for the little out and back to the halfway point. I was pretty wiped out after making the loop in and around Cal State Long Beach. I was reduced to a walk shortly after passing mile 20. The little shot of cold beer helped a little. I ended up walking the next 3 miles or so until the dizzy spells went away. Thank goodness I was able to run the last couple of miles at a decent pace when I joined up with the half marathoners.

Click here for my Garmin data.

Finish line

After getting my medal and grabbing some post race drinks and snacks, I started making my way over to the section of the beer garden reserved for Beach Bums where they served Shock Top instead of the usual Michelob Ultra. I must have been suffering from heat exhaustion as I was fumbling a bit when I was grabbing my beer. I ended up spilling some of my beer. Party foul! I felt a lot better after re-hydrating with a couple of beers.

Beer garden

We then made our way over to the Rock Bottom at the corner of Ocean and Pine to get some lunch. I started my meal off with a big 25 oz mug of their Moonlight Porter while I figured out what I wanted to eat. I eventually went with their Jack-stuffed burger sliders double up. They were ok, but with the price, I should've just ordered one of their burgers. I finished off the sliders with their Citra Swell IPA. I do prefer an IPA with Citra hops. On the way out, I just happened to bump into a Marathon Maniac that I had just met on Facebook. What a coincidence! After that, we made our way back to our cars and it was time to drive home.

25 oz mug of Moonlight Porter

Jack-stuffed burger sliders double up

Citra Swell IPA

I was feeling pretty exhausted when I went out for dinner at Daifuku. I had the sushi and sashimi bento deluxe. The only thing that made it a deluxe was that it came with a drink.

Sushi and sashimi bento deluxe

I don't do well at all in warm weather, but I'm getting better at coping and dealing with it. I'm definitely better at recognizing when I need to back off and regroup. This was my 7th Long Beach Marathon with a current streak of 4 consecutive years. I would have to get to 10 consecutive years for my name to be enshrined on a bench on the Long Beach Run of Fame Bench in Lighthouse Park. I guess you can expect me to be running the Long Beach Marathon for the next 6 years.

New Hampshire Marathon 2015

Friday 10/2
I took an early flight with US Airways out of LAX. During the cross country flight, I was able to watch Kingsman for free via their inflight entertainment. I've seen the movie before, but it was entertaining, so I watched it again instead of trying to sleep. There was even a scene in the movie where they were eating McDonald's! :)

Kingsman

I had a long layover in Philadelphia airport so I ate at Jet Rock Bar and Grill. I had their Bacon & Cheese Burger along with a couple of local stouts. The flight into Manchester was delayed about an hour because the flight crew had not yet arrived from another inbound flight. Once they arrived, it was just a quick short flight into Manchester, New Hampshire.

Yards Love Stout on nitro

Bacon & Cheese Burger with french fries

Lancaster Milk Stout

When I went to the rental car counter to pick up my car with Hertz, there was a sign that said to go to the booth inside the parking garage. After signing a bunch of paperwork, I was off in my silver Chevy Cruze. Just after leaving the airport, I pulled into the first gas station that I saw to buy some drinks. I didn't think that any stores would be open by the time I had arrived in Tilton. I had Google Maps guide me there avoiding tolls so it had me exiting the highway and taking some dark two lane roads. When I arrived in Tilton, there was a McDonald's next to the Super 8, so I went through their drive thru to pick up dinner before checking into my room.

Super 8

Late dinner

Saturday 10/3
The next morning I got ready and arrived at the Newfound Memorial Middle School at about 7:30 am and was directed to park at the grass field near the finish line. I walked over to the cafeteria to pick up my race packet. I bumped into a few familiar Maniacs inside. It was somewhat chilly outside so they were waiting inside. After using the restroom, I went back to my car to change. Inside our race packet I found a fortune cookie! That was a first! I headed back to the cafeteria where a bunch of Marathon Maniacs gathered and took about a million group photos.

Maniacs!

Fortune cookie

Right before we all started heading to the starting area, I went back to my car to ditch my arm sleeves. It was started to feel warmish. At the starting line, they made a couple of last minute announcements and a band was playing an instrumental version of our National Anthem. There happened to be a Marathon Maniac in the crowd that sung the anthem quite well. She had a strong enough voice to not need a mic!

The course was pretty much all on the roads where we ran on the left hand side of the road. It was not a closed course. There was still a lot of beautiful scenery to look at as we circumnavigated around the Newfound Lake. As with most of my marathons, I was dealing with leg cramps in the later miles. Thanks goes out to a few Marathon Maniacs out on the course that provided the beer support!

Beautiful course

Taking a beer break

Click here for my Garmin data.

After crossing the finish line, I hung out a bit with a couple of the Marathon Maniacs and ended up shooting the breeze with race volunteers and fellow marathoners. I then made the drive back down to my hotel in Tilton where I got cleaned up and relaxed a bit.

Marathon #160

I then went back out for an early dinner over at the Tilt'n Diner. I could've walked, but instead I drove the car over. Since I was by myself, I grabbed a seat at the counter. After looking over the menu, I went with their chicken fried steak. It came with a dinner roll, mashed pumpkin, and mashed potatoes with gravy. This was good stuff. One of my favorite diner foods. It definitely hit the spot after running today's marathon.

Chicken fried steak

Sunday 10/4
I got ready, checked out of my hotel room at about 3 am, and headed down to Manchester airport. I gassed up the rental car about a mile away from the airport. The Hertz rental booth wasn't open that early, so I used their express return by noting the mileage and dropping the car key in their box. Then I had to get in a long line just to print my boarding pass. Usually they have separate machines for people with no bags to check. It would turn out that getting there that early really didn't matter as there were several delays ahead of us. First we were told that there was a "glitch" with the plane's computer which was fixed after they rebooted. Then the wings had frost on them which needed to be sprayed off. The truck with the sprayer appeared to have a dying battery. By the time they got the truck revived and the wings sprayed, the delay was at least an hour. My original itinerary had only 45 minutes for my connecting flight. So needless to say, I missed my connecting flight in Philly. I saw the plane pulling away from the gate as I briskly walked over to the gate all the way over at A11. This airport was too big especially after running a marathon the day before. I then went to the customer assistance counter back in terminal C to get a new boarding pass on a later flight leaving at 9:45 am. I was able to get a window seat in the very last row. It was a pretty unpleasant flight as the couple next to me appeared to have run through the terminal just to catch the flight. They were both wearing a couple layers of clothing and still covered themselves with blankets as they tried to sleep. They didn't look like people that cared a whole lot about their hygiene and smelled pretty ripe which reminded me of farm animals. Oh the joys of air travel! :)

After arriving in LAX, it was time to head home. Getting out of parking lot C took a while. There were about 3-4 long line of cars waiting to get out. They had just recently switched out their ticket and credit card machines, so I'm guessing that they're either having issues or the people working in the booths are still getting used to it. The lady even had me back up the car and move up the car because my car was too small. She then got out of the booth to look at the rear of my car. After finally getting out, I decided to swing by the old ramen shop and have a late lunch. There was still a wait even though I had gotten there at about 2 pm. I ordered their Cha ramen with a half order fried rice combo as well as their edamame and Asahi beer.

"Cha" miso ramen

Rock n Roll San Jose Half Marathon 2015

Saturday 9/26
I took an early morning Southwest Airlines flight out of LAX. It was a short flight into San Jose. There's not much that I like about flying with Southwest, but they do have free satellite TV via their inflight wifi and every year they send me complimentary booze coupons. Somehow I managed to doze off while watching TV that I almost didn't get to use my free booze ticket! I flagged down the flight attendant and got my coffee with Baileys. Even with a little bit of Baileys, the coffee should be good enough to keep me awake for a while.

Drink coupon

Coffee with Baileys

After landing, I made my way over to the bus stop for the VTA10 bus for a ride over to the Metro light rail station. I bought a day pass at the station and took the light rail down to the Convention Center. I got there about 10 minutes before the expo opened and there was already a line formed to get in. The line would just keep growing and growing with people eager to get inside. Most of the people in line looked to have just run the 5k earlier in the morning.

Expo

Expo entrance

After picking up my race packet and going through the very family Rock n' Roll expo, I walked over to my hotel, the Four Points by Sheraton over on First St, to see if I could check in early. They told me that were sold out last night, so I had to wait for people to check out before my room would be ready. I found a nice sofa in the lobby to sit and pulled out my iPad to help pass some time. After waiting for about an hour, the lady at the front desk was able to get me checked in. My room was on the second floor, so I decided to just take the stairs. I went through my expo haul and laid out my running gear to make sure I hadn't forgotten to pack anything.

Race shirt and expo haul

Mr. Flat Runner

I lounged around a bit in my room before meeting up with one of my running friends over at the San Pedro Square Market Bar for lunch. I had a Kalbi Burger from Konjoe Burger Bar. They only gave me a burger, so I guess they are no longer including potato wedges with their burgers. The burger was a bit smaller than I had remembered. I could've easily eaten 3 of them. Still it was a pretty delicious burger.

After we were done, we started walking back down to our hotels. We stopped in at the Walgreens along the way so I could buy my Powerade for tomorrow's race.

Kalbi Burger

Very quiet fridge

Back at my room, I watched a little bit of the Giants vs. A's. It was a high scoring game. I was hoping for the Giants to lose, but they always somehow find a way to win. The Giants were down 9-10, but ended up winning 14-10.

Giants vs. A's

Based on a friend's recommendation, I decided to go check out the Rabbit's Foot Meadery up in Sunnyvale before getting dinner. For some reason the Paseo de San Antonio light rail station right in front of my hotel was closed, so I walked a couple of blocks up to the Santa Clara station to catch the Mountain View train up to the Reamwood station. Apparently you had to use the sidewalk on the South side of the road when leaving the Reamwood station. I walked along the median on the North side which eventually came to an end. I had to run down a portion of the road to get to Birchwood Dr. Good thing there wasn't much car traffic at the time.

This tasting room was pretty dang small out in the middle of nowhere. At first I walked right past it. Once I found the place, I was able to snag a spot at the bar. I had their flight as I was not at all familiar with mead or ciders. Everything was surprisingly good, but out of all that I sampled, I really liked their sweet mead, raspberry mead, hard black cherry cider, and the chocolate raspberry love. Since I was impressed with their ciders, I had a taste of their hard blood orange cider and a pint of their hard pomegranate cider. You seriously can't tell that you're drinking something alcoholic. They were DEE-licious!

Sweet Mead

Raspberry Mead, Hard Apple Honey Cider, Hard Black Cherry Cider, Hard Lemonade

Biere de Miel, Oktoberfest, Bad Bee IBA, Chocolate Raspberry Love

Hard Pomegranate Cider

After paying my tab, I walked over to the nearby Pho Queen Noodle House to have dinner. A nice hot bowl of pho always hits the spot whenever I'm a little buzzed. I ordered the usual pho dac biet and asked for no cilantro. However it came with some cilantro. I can't stand uncooked cilantro, but I ate it anyways. It was pretty good and the portion was pretty big even for a medium sized bowl. It was a cash only establishment. After paying for dinner, I used the restroom and headed back to the Reamwood station to catch the light rail back to my hotel. This time I remembered to cross the street over to the South side of the road to use the sidewalk. I had just missed the train, so while I waited for the next train, I was treated to a view of a very beautiful sunset.

pho dac biet from Pho Queen

A beautiful sunset

Sunday 9/27
The race started at 8 am this year. That's a bit later starting time than what I'm used to for a Rock n' Roll event. I would prefer that races start at around 5 am especially during the summer months. I got to the starting line a little before 7 am. There were a small cluster of portapotties right next to my corral, so I found a spot nearby to sit down and waited until about 30 minutes before the race before I went to void my bladder.

Starting line

I entered and waited near the front of my corral. While I was waiting, I saw the 10 year legacy runners gather for a bunch of group photos underneath the starting banner. I then saw my friend and we hung out waiting for the start. Nearing the start of the race, some of us noticed that Deena Kastor and the 1:45 pace group had gathered just behind us.

Deena Kastor out to jog a 1:45 half marathon

Per the usual, I took off a bit fast, but I wanted to see how everything felt. I didn't go all out, but it felt nice to run a couple of sub 8 min miles. I started to slow things down during the third mile. Shortly after the 5k mark, I was passed by Deena Kastor and the 1:45 pace group. Even after backing off on the pace, I still felt exhausted. At about mile 4.5 as we were running down San Pedro St approaching Santa Clara St, I noticed a small table in front of O'Flaherty's Irish Pub with what looked to be cups of Guinness. I took a cup and took an unscheduled walk break to drink the beer. Around mile 7 I was passed by Roger Craig. The next 6 miles or so was such a grind. The weather was getting warmer by the minute and I struggled to keep my miles under 10 minutes per mile. I also poured water on my head at every aid station. As always I tried to speed up during the last mile to try and sneak in under 2 hrs, but I couldn't muster up a whole lot and fell a little short.

Finish line

Click here for my Garmin data.

This was my first race running with a Garmin. After reviewing the map and data, I can't say that I really liked it. The distance was all screwed up once I ran underneath trees, near tall buildings, or ran through an underpass or a tunnel. No matter how well you run the tangents, it will measure the distance longer than actual. Sure it collects a lot of data, but none of it is very accurate. However I did like that I didn't have to worry about looking for the mile markers and having to press the lap button.

After crossing the finish line, I got my medal, grabbed a bunch of post race food and drinks and headed back to my hotel which was right next to the finish line. I didn't even bother going to the beer garden for my free beer. I was feeling pretty cooked running in the warm weather. It was not very smart of me to wear all dark colors. I just wanted to get back to my room and take a shower.

Half marathon done

Time to retire these shorts!

After getting cleaned up and packed up, I went downstairs and checked out. I walked over a couple of blocks to watch some of the NFL games and to eat some wings for lunch at Smoke Eaters over on 3rd St. The place was packed with rowdy Raiders and Niners fans. There was a lot of trash talking especially since the Raiders are finally doing better than the Niners in the early part of this season. I ordered 15 of their fiery garlic wings. You know that they're pretty spicy when they sting your eyes. These were not your typical anorexic chicken wings, they were super meaty. It felt more like eating 2 dozen regular chicken wings. Most of the napkins that I used were to wipe up head sweat!

15 very meaty fiery garlic wings

Done!

Afterwards, I walked over to the Santa Clara station and caught the light rail up to the Metro/Airport station. While waiting for the VTA10 bus to the airport, I talked to a girl from Vancouver, BC and a guy from Seattle. She had just run her 16th Rock n' Roll event this year and he had run his 10th. This was only my 4th Rock n' Roll event even though I have the North America Tour Pass. I guess you could call it medal fatigue. After several years of getting their heavy medals, I just don't see the point anymore to obtain extra medals despite the recent nice re-designs. The finisher medal is good enough for me.

After getting to the airport and getting past the TSA checkpoint, I went searching for a good spot to get a pre-flight beer. During my search I saw a girl up ahead wearing a funny shirt. Since I was a bit sore, I slowly stalked her. I finally caught up to her and asked to take a picture. I eventually stopped in at The Brit to have a beer and watch some more football. Their beer selection was pretty lacking, but a Stella will do.

It's pho king good!

20 oz of Stella

After a short flight, it was time to go get my car in parking lot C. I had parked in a spot that I knew was a little bit too good to be true. It was in section A, which was very close to the bus depot. When I got to my car, I found a cone behind my car and sign that said temporary no parking in front of my car. They were definitely not there when I parked. I was just glad that my car was not towed or anything.