Long Beach Marathon 2021

Saturday 10/9
I planned for my drive out to Long Beach for the expo/packet pick-up to arrive at about 10 am. I parked at the usual City Place parking lot C on 3rd St. From there, I walked down the promenade and made my way over to the usual entrance to the Long Beach Convention Center just to the southeast of the Terrace Theater. However when I got there it was blocked off by temporary metal barriers. I didn't realize that you had to head through the parking structure in order to get to the security/COVID check line. Unfortunately, I overheard one of the security guys telling a couple of guys to go around to the other side of the convention center on Pine Ave for the entrance. I assumed that they were attending the same expo, so I ended up following them over the Rainbow Bridge to the other side only to find out that it was for another event. So I backtracked and finally followed other runners to the end of the security line.

Parking garage ticket

Security check was easy since I only had my cellphone and house keys to put in the bin before going through the metal detector. Then I showed my CrowdPass QR code to the guy checking for COVID credentials. Sad to say that the QR code was never checked nor my ID. All he did was scroll my screen up and down to make sure it wasn't a screenshot capture. After passing that "check", they put a bright green "verified" bracelet on my wrist.

Security/COVID vaccination check

COVID vaccination verified

The expo was entirely outside of the convention center even though the website said that it would be in hall C. I first looked for my name on the participant name banner. They sorted the names by first name which threw off a lot of people. Then I went through the vendor booths. QURE was giving out sample water bottles, but only if you enter their race day drawing to win a 3 month supply of QURE water. Following them on Instagram gives you extra chances to win. I also picked up a sample bottle of X2 endurance drink and a Super Coffee on my way to the race packet pick-up in the back. After getting my bib and race shirt, I moved on to the Beach Bum booth. I received a 10th year medal and a long sleeve Beach Bum shirt. I'm not sure why they gave me the medal as I did not run the virtual race in 2020. Also it was a bit of a bummer to find out that they were no longer recognizing 10 year Beach Bums with a plaque at the lighthouse benches. At this point, I was out of hands, so I visited the nearby booth for the Law Offices of Joshua Cohen Slatkin just to get their tote bag for which I needed to sign up for their newsletter. On my way out, I picked up a sample bottle of Koia smoothie. I also said a quick hi to my friend that I haven't seen in a while. Per the usual, he was working at the Kool n Fit muscle therapy spray booth. I asked if he was going to be spraying legs at the usual spot at around mile 10. Unfortunately, not this year.

Participant name wall

Found my name

Race shirt

Back of race shirt

Beach bum shirt

Beach Bum year 10

Expo haul

Aquarium of the Pacific coupon

After getting back to my car, I placed my order on Toast for lunch at The Vox Kitchen. I've been wanting to try this place out for quite some time. Fortunately, Fountain Valley was pretty much along the way home. The place was pretty packed when I showed up just a few minutes before the noon scheduled pick-up time. Seemed like they have a pretty well-oiled operation here. My food was ready and there was pretty much no wait except waiting for the customer ahead of me to complete his transaction. My order was for a tray of their famed garlic noodles with filet mignon and the pear salad. Their food might be on the pricier end, but boy was it good!

The Vox Kitchen

Pear salad

Party tray of garlic noodle with filet mignon

Man, I don't know what it was that I ate for dinner, but I had some massive explosive diarrhea later that evening. It took a few extended toilet sessions before "everyone got off of the bus!" That usually only happens if I eat way too many fresh garlics. Needless to say, I did not get much sleep... definitely, not optimal for a marathon in the morning!

Sunday 10/10
My GI system felt like a train wreck as I got ready to head to the race. I left the house around 4 am as the race was scheduled to start at 6 am. This year, they weren't selling race day parking at the expo, but I still planned to park in the same parking structure, City Place parking lot C. The daily max would be $12. From there, I walked over to the Hyatt Regency to wait for the start of the race as well as to use their nice restroom. I bumped into my friend who had the same idea. At about 5:15 am, I started walking over to the start line at Shoreline Dr, right in front of the Marina Green Park. Getting to the start line was a bit different as they still had the barriers up from the Grand Prix race 2 weeks ago. That Indycar race was held this year in late September as opposed to their usual April date due to COVID. Prior to getting inside the start corral, I took a couple of pre-race photos with my fellow Marathon Maniacs and Half Fanatics.

Start line

Marathon Maniacs

More Marathon Maniacs

Starting corral

The race was delayed until about 6:15 am before we were released. I went into this race just hoping to have enough energy to cover the distance. I was feeling quite empty. So for that first mile, I did not shoot out like a bat out of hell. I made sure to not clock a single mile faster than 9 minutes. Normally that first mile is under 8 minutes as I burn off that anxious energy. I ran the first 8 miles, averaging about 9:30 min/mile. Per the usual, I started to struggle while running on the unforgiving beach bike path. From that point on, I had to start taking a short walk break every time I reached a mile marker.

I ran with this guy from the bay area for a little bit as we approached Cal State Long Beach. We started chatting with each other since I was wearing my Dodgers shirt and he was a Giants fan. He was struggling since he had run the SF Marathon last month. Misery loves company as we struggled together through that hilly section through the campus.

Nice shirt

I was glad to have finished the loop through Cal State Long Beach, but my legs started to cramp up as I reached mile 20. I kept hoping that I had enough to complete the final 10k. As I was headed west along Anaheim St just north of the Recreation Park Golf Course nearing mile 22, I spotted a fellow Marathon Maniac, John Williams. I met him back at the Nike Run Hit Remix 5 miler back in 2006. I would keep seeing him at almost every marathon in Southern California! His name was very easy to remember.

John Williams

Along the final stretch down Ocean Blvd, I was caught and overtaken by the 4:55 pace group. My friend, Andrew, was one of the pacers. I tried to keep up with them, but the leg cramps were creeping in and prevented me from sustaining any continuous running. I kept having to take walk breaks.

Finish line

Finish: 4:55:50
Click here for my Garmin data.

After getting my finisher medal, a bottle of QURE water, and a chocolate milk, I briefly caught up with my pacer friend. I told him that I should've just run with them. I then took the usual official post race photo with my medal and started heading out. On the way out, I came across a runner that had finished the half marathon and was holding a WWE championship belt. I just had to stop to take a pic. I didn't stick around the finish area too long as I was feeling pretty wrecked. I stopped in at the Hyatt Regency to drink the chocolate milk and get cleaned up a little bit in their lobby restroom.

Finisher medal and post race drinks

WWE Championship belt!

As I was walking back to my car, I ran into a couple of my good runner/Dodger friends along the promenade. We caught up a bit. Turns out that they also prefer to park in the same parking structure. After I dropped off my stuff in the car, I went over to the ticket kiosk to pay for parking. I'm guessing that my parking ticket was tied to the license plate, as I didn't have to enter anything for the gate arm to be raised.

On the way home, I decided to head over to the Ono Hawaiian BBQ in Anaheim, however my mind might have been on cruise control. I ended up getting on the 405 South instead of 22 East. After that unplanned detour, I got back on the 22 and exited on Harbor Blvd. Driving through Anaheim always makes me feel a little sad as there are no longer any half marathons at Disneyland. Those were some of my favorite races. I sure hope that one day they would return. Once I got there, I used my remaining coupon to get the kalbi plate for 50% off with the purchase of a Hawaiian Sun drink. I noticed that on the restaurant windows, they were promoting 20% off your order if you placed your order online. Maybe next time! This felt like the perfect recovery meal after finishing a marathon.

Ono Hawaiian BBQ

Kalbi plate at 50% off using coupon

Rose Bowl Half Marathon 2021

Saturday 9/25
After watching a few of the EPL matches that started at 7 am, I hopped in the car and drove out to Pasadena to go pick up my race packet. They had a few locations for packet pick-up. I picked the Big 5 location in Pasadena at the corner of Rosemead Blvd and Colorado Blvd. I knew the location really well, but I have not been there in ages. Packet pick-up was really quick. One of the volunteers assigned me a bib number, but they informed me that I'll have to pick up my race shirt at the Rose Bowl tomorrow.

I stopped at home briefly. I placed my order online for Nguyen's Kitchen. I paid for the order online and scheduled for a 11:30 am pick up. I then hopped back in the car to go pick up lunch. Here was our order:

• Garlic noodles $7.45 add jumbo tiger shrimp (5) +$5.95
• Garlic noodles $7.45 add bulgogi short rib steak +$5.45
• Grilled pork noodles $10.45 add jumbo shrimp (5) +$5.95
• Egg rolls $4.45

I was there a few minutes ahead of 11:30 am and as to be expected, my order wasn't ready. However, it was kind of weird that the guy at the counter told me that it would take another 15 - 20 minutes for my order to be ready. There were already about 3 other parties there waiting for their food when I got there. I'm guessing that they were walk-in orders as my order was ready before theirs. Thankfully, my order was ready only about 5 mins after the scheduled pick up time. I'm guessing that their kitchen was short-staffed.

The food was well packaged for the drive home. The quality of the food was good and the portion size was decent. If you like garlic and a rich savory flavor, then you'll probably like their garlic noodles. The grilled pork noodles was good if you prefer something not as heavy. I would skip the egg rolls though. They were way too mushy inside.

Grilled pork noodles add jumbo shrimp

Garlic noodles add bulgogi short rib steak

Garlic noodles add jumbo tiger shrimp

Sunday 9/26
I left the house shortly after 4:30 am. I wanted to get to the Rose Bowl early enough to avoid any traffic which will inevitably bottleneck. I exited the 210 freeway at the Seco St/Mountain St exit and arrived at the Rose Bowl at about 5:15 am. The parking lot was quite dark, but there were plenty of parking space in lot F. I then headed over to the stadium to pick up my race shirt. On the way back to my car, I used one of the portapotties that was lined along Arroyo Blvd.

Rose Bowl

Race shirt

Jackie Robinson

The race was scheduled to start at 7 am. The start was delayed by 10 minutes as they needed to secure the course before we could be released. The first mile and a half leaving the Rose Bowl along Arroyo Blvd was full of rollers. Then there was a nice climb up California Blvd over to Orange Grove Blvd. Things flattened out a bit with a right turn onto Colorado Blvd. There was a short out and back on Arroyo Parkway followed by a right turn onto Green St. My legs sort of crapped out after mile 5 during the out and back on Lake Ave. I took a few walk breaks to try and get the legs back. The last out and back was on Wilson Ave. From there, I headed back towards the Rose Bowl.

Start line

Starting corral

As I was struggling along Colorado Blvd at around mile 8, another runner came up to me and was speaking to me in what I believe was Korean. I get that quite a bit when I wear Son Heung-min's jersey. I think he mentioned that he was originally from Kazakhstan. The details were a bit fuzzy as I was trying to hold things together and finish the race in under 2 hours. We chatted a little bit about football aka soccer. During that little chat, yet another runner came by and said that he hopes Arsenal destroys the Spurs. Haha! Such a huge rivalry between Arsenal and Tottenham! During that last 5k or so, I really wanted to walk. What remained was pretty much a clockwise Rose Bowl Stadium loop. I knew that I just need to get up to Washington Blvd and then it would be a gentle downhill to the finish. Just before that right turn onto Washington Blvd, I saw my friend, Jocelyn (Joselin), cheering on the runners from along the side of the course. It was nice to make that right turn onto Rosemont Ave. I was definitely running on fumes by now. It was nice to enter the stadium and finish on the field!

So close to the finish line

Finish line

Finish: 1:57:49
Click here for my Garmin data.

I'm glad that I was able to resist walking during that last stretch and hold it together. However, the left ankle was a little sore and the right knee was a bit sore on the downhills. I think this pair of shoes is begging to be retired. Without counting the net downhill course at Iron Horse, this was the first time I had finished a regular half marathon in under 2 hours ever since the beginning of the pandemic. Unfortunately, my Spurs didn't do very well in their match with their rival Arsenal, losing 3-1.

After getting my finisher medal and a mylar blanket, I continued along the perimeter of the field. It was interesting to get a can of water. The can looked like beer, so there was a volunteer there with a sign letting us know that it's water, not beer. On the way out, I got some snacks and a banana. I dropped everything off at the car and returned to use one of the stadium restrooms. It's always nice to have running water.

Finisher medal

Water, not beer

Post race snacks

Along the way home, I stopped at the McDonald's to pick up a sausage McMuffin with egg sandwich. I only did so because I was emailed earlier in the week that I had some reward points that was about to expire!

Sausage McMuffin with egg

Devil After Dark Half Marathon 2021

Friday 9/17
I took the day off from work and hit the road shortly after returning from my usual morning walk around the neighborhood. After the stressful drive out to Flagstaff for my last road trip, it was quite reassuring to know that there were a lot more of those Tesla Supercharging stations along the route to Las Vegas when I was planning my trip for this race.

Leg #1: Home to Yermo, CA: 107 miles
The first leg of my drive took me out to Yermo. This was my first time exiting here. There were 2 more charging stalls here compared to the Barstow station. It's located in the southeast corner of the EddieWorld parking lot. Once the car was plugged in for a charge, I did what everyone else did. I went inside EddieWorld to use their restroom. EddieWorld was pretty huge inside. It looked like a giant candy store. There were several options for food, treats, and snacks. They have signs directing you to the restroom. For the men's restroom, if you have a full bladder, you just might score a high score with their urinals! :)

Tesla Supercharger Yermo

EddieWorld

Leg #2: Yermo, CA to Primm, NV: 102 miles
The second leg of my drive brought me out to Primm. Back in the day, I used to stop at Primm Valley Resort and Casino to use their restrooms. Just prior to driving the Tesla, I was able to power through to my final destination without having to make a pit stop by making sure that I had emptied my bladder just before my trip. Now with the Tesla, I can take my time and eat a meal at the nearby McDonald's as I wait for the car to finish charging.

Tesla Supercharger Primm

After I plugged the car in, I walked over to McDonald's to get something to eat. I ordered a medium iced coffee and used the free medium fries deal on the mobile app. After I was done with my snack and drink, I used the restroom before heading back to my car. Since Las Vegas wasn't that far away, I did not do a full charge at this location.

McDonald's

Iced coffee and free medium fries

Leg #3: Primm, NV to Las Vegas, NV Linq High Roller: 38 miles
The last leg took me onto the Las Vegas Strip, a place that I try to avoid whenever I'm in town. I drove over to the Tesla Supercharger station at the Linq/High Roller. Once I arrived at the gate, I punched in the code on the navigation screen to open the gate. Parking here was free for the first hour. After plugging in, I walked over to the Chick-fil-A over at the Miracle Mile Shops to pick up some food and a drink. I placed my order on the mobile app, but I didn't see a dedicated line or spot for mobile order pick-up, so I got into the regular order line to get my food which kind of defeated the purpose of using the app. As soon as my food was ready, I had to quickly hoof it back to my car as it was almost at full charge. I really didn't want to pay any idle charging fees.

Tesla Supercharger Linq High Roller

Chick-fil-A

Chick-fil-A sandwich, medium waffle fries, and medium Sunjoy

After hopping in the car, I drove over to the WorldMark Tropicana to check into my unit. I was assigned to unit #9101 which was located adjacent to the check-in building. That meant I didn't have to move the car very far. When I stopped by the concierge station to pick up my wristband room key, I was able to wiggle my way out of attending yet another owner update. Once I got settled into my unit, I finished off my food from Chick-fil-A.

WorldMark Tropicana

After vegging out for a few hours, I hopped back in the car to go pick up dinner at Chick-fil-A. Using the mobile app, I ordered a cobb salad with grilled nuggets and a Greek yogurt parfait with granola. I also got a Chick-fil-A sandwich as a free reward. Per the usual, I used the drive-thru to pick up my order.

Cobb salad with grilled nuggets, Greek yogurt parfait with granola, and free Chick-fil-A sandwich

Cobb salad with grilled nuggets

Later that evening, I caught a couple of episodes of Rick and Morty. These were a couple of my favorite episodes of season 5. It was nice to stay up a little bit later with the tomorrow's race being in the evening instead of early in the morning.

Season 5, Episode 9: Forgetting Sarick Mortshall

Season 5, Episode 10: Rickmurai Jack

Saturday 9/18

I woke up early and caught a little bit of the Wolves v. Brentford match that started at 4:30 am. Brentford looked pretty strong with their counterattacking. They went on to win 0-2 despite going a man down in the second half when Shandon Baptiste picked up a second yellow card. I might have to pick up Ivan Toney for my FPL team. I then followed that with the Burnley v. Arsenal match. There were better matches on also at the same time, but I have a couple of Gooners on my FPL team that I have to watch to see if I want to hang on to them. I left the unit to go get breakfast before the first half was over. Once again I went to Chick-fil-A. I actually prefer their breakfast menu. I ordered their hash brown scramble bowl with grilled filet, Greek yogurt parfait with granola, and coffee. I enjoyed my breakfast while catching the second half of the match which ended with Arsenal winning 0-1.

Burnley v. Arsenal

Hash brown scramble bowl with grilled filet, Greek yogurt parfait with granola, and coffee

I laid out my flat runner as I got ready to catch the next match between Aston Villa v. Everton. I know Everton has been dealing with injuries with their strikers, but I didn't expect them to lose to Villa 3-0.

Flat runner

Aston Villa v. Everton

For lunch, I drove out to Chick-fil-A... again. For this visit, I ordered a grilled chicken sandwich, fruit cup, and a Sunjoy for my drink.

Grilled chicken sandwich, fruit cup, and Sunjoy

I didn't head out to the race until about 3:45 pm. I arrived at about 4:30 pm. The small dirt lot at the Lovell Canyon Rd entrance was still pretty empty, but I was directed to drive further in and park on the road side just a little beyond Canu Rd. Even though the half marathon wasn't scheduled to start until 6:30 pm, I wanted to be there to see the start of the marathon at 5 pm.

Lovell Canyon

Latino Heat

Marathon start at 5 pm

After seeing the marathoners off on their race, I picked up my race packet and headed back to my car to relax a bit before the start of the half marathon. I had brought along my friend's book, My Noisy Cancer Comeback: Running at the Mouth, While Running for My Life, to help pass the time. When the start of the race approached, I grabbed my stuff which included a reflective vest and headlamp before heading to the start line.

Packet pick-up

Race shirt

Back of race shirt

Half Fanatics

The half marathon started promptly at 6:30 pm. Even though with the evening start, the temperature was in the low 80's. I made sure to go out at a slow and comfortable pace especially since the course was a steady climb for most of the first 5 miles. With the first mile being covered in just under 10 minutes, I knew that I would need to take it even easier for the next few miles until the sun goes down. Once the sun went down, the temperature got a bit cooler, but then it got difficult to see even with a headlamp. I probably need to invest in a better headlamp if I plan on running any more future night races. I usually run with my headlamp turned to red light mode so I don't disturb other people's night vision. However, it was actually pretty cool to see the lights from other runners once I hit the turnaround point.

Half marathon turnaround

Runners heading towards me!

It was great to finally finish that climb up to near mile 9 knowing that it was pretty much a downhill run to the finish line. I followed a guy that had passed me on that last climb, hoping that I could catch up to him. Unfortunately, that never happened as he always seemed to stay just out of reach. Just to keep things interesting, I ended up rolling my left ankle with a little over 2 miles to go. Thankfully, I have pretty flexible ankles. I had to slow to a jog for a little bit before the sharp pain subsided. Then I was able to continue on with my regular pace. Even with the descent, I was still only managing about a 9:30 min/mile pace.

Finish: 2:19:38
Click here for my Garmin data.

After I crossed the finish line and received my finisher medal, I chatted with that guy that I couldn't catch. Turned out that this race was his very first half marathon! He sure didn't pick an easy one for his first! Joyce, the race director, gave me my Calico Slam award for finishing another 4 of her races.

Finisher medal

Calico Slam finished

I grabbed some snacks and then wandered over to the table with sample teas from the Olfactory Tea Bar & Wellness Cafe. I chatted with the person at the table, I believe to be the business owner, about the different teas that she had out until I saw that my friend had just finished his marathon. We got a picture before I decided to start heading out.

Post-race snacks

Finish line

I didn't want to stay too long after the race as I wanted to get some food before Chick-fil-A closed. I drove straight there and ordered a cobb salad with grilled nuggets and a medium mac & cheese on the mobile app before getting in the drive thru lane.

Cobb salad with grilled nuggets and mac & cheese

After I finished my dinner back at my unit, I ended up dozing off while sitting on the couch with the TV on. It was time to take a shower and hit the hay!

Sunday 9/19
I got up early to get ready for the drive home. I was feeling pretty rundown as I didn't sleep very well with the achy left ankle. I got up to use the restroom and I couldn't put weight on that ankle. Nothing was swollen, but it hurt when I tried to stand on it. I stretched it out a bit and eventually, the pain became a discomfort that was bearable with which to walk around. I turned on the Brighton v. Leicester City match which started at 6 am.

I got ready and checked-out of my unit right about 7 am. When I walked to my car, I noticed that my car had a flyer on the windshield for how to get out of timeshare ownership. Looks like my car was the only one that had it. Maybe I should've reported it to the front desk. I'm actually pretty content with my ownership. I just don't appreciate being pestered to attend another useless owner update just so they can pressure me to purchase more credits.

My original plan was to charge the car battery to full before starting my trip, but having seen that the car had a range of about 120 miles remaining, I decided to just drive out to Primm and charge it there while having breakfast at McDonald's. Unfortunately, when I arrived at Jean, there was a roadside sign that said the exit at Primm was closed and to stop here for any supplies. Since the road out was mostly uphill until Halloran Summit, I didn't think the car would have enough charge to get to Baker, so I exited and checked to see if there was a side road that I could take to Primm. No dice. The sign said that the road ended in 5 miles and will not reach Primm. So I double-backed to Vegas to charge the car. Next time, I should just stick to the original plan. Once back in Vegas, I pulled into the Tesla Supercharger station located at Town Square. That little out and back detour cost me at least 50 minutes. Since it was still early in the morning, I ended up staying in the car and reading instead of going outside to walk around.

Tesla Supercharger Town Square

Leg #1 (do-over): Las Vegas, NV Town Square to Baker, CA: 86 miles

After the car was done charging, I was on my way again. When I passed Primm, I noticed that the exit was actually open! I'm guessing they were done with whatever they were doing and did not remove that ramp closure sign. Oh well... on to Baker. Since I didn't do a full charge at Town Square, I still needed to charge the car at Baker just to make sure that I had enough juice to get to Yermo or Barstow. While waiting for the car to finish charging, I walked over to the Shell gas station to use their restroom. In addition to the availability of snacks or drinks at the gas station convenience store, there was also a Jersey Mike's Subs and Dairy Queen here. Looking on Google Maps, you can also walk a bit further down the road if you want to eat at Los Dos Toritos Restaurant or The Mad Greek.

Tesla Supercharger Baker

Leg #2: Baker, CA to Yermo, CA: 51 miles
This leg took just under 50 minutes. If I was planning to eat an early lunch, I would've opted for the station over in Barstow. After plugging in the car, I headed inside EddieWorld to wait it out. After using the restroom, I must have done several laps inside EddieWorld. It was a short charge session as I was only there for about 20 minutes.

Same name as my friend. I'll have give it a try next time!

Leg #3: Yermo, CA to home: 107 miles
This final leg took just a few minutes under 1 hour and 50 minutes.