Operation Jack Marathon

This marathon for me was an unscheduled race. I had planned for Honolulu to be my last marathon for the year, but I couldn't resist supporting my friend Sam (Operation Jack) and Train4Autism. I got to Manhattan Beach a little after 6am. As I was walking over to the registration area to pick up my bib, I bumped into Kathy. I should aspire to be a super volunteer like her. After saying hi to a few of my friends, I jogged back to my car to change.

People who know me would know that I hate the beach. In particularly the sand. But I'd do just about anything for charity.

Manhattan Beach

My right leg has a lot of issues, so I knew it would take me a while to cover 26.2 miles. I kind of already had in the back of my mind that I would just drop at the half so I would be able to see Sam finish his epic quest.

The race started promptly at 7:30am. I started off at a low 8 min pace. There were no mile markers and I don't wear a GPS watch, so I have no idea what was my exact pace. I made sure I did not accelerate as I had just strained my hamstring 2 days prior. Things were going ok up to the first turnaround. But shortly thereafter things started to go wrong. GI issues and right hamstring tightness were the first things to hit. You go to the well too many times and eventually you'll come up empty. The legs just did not want to go. The right hip got very tight so I just started walking a lot. When I ran, it felt like the right leg was going to fall off. I tried to rally for a sub 2 finish, but there was nothing there. I was kind of upset having to drop out at the half.

DNF 13.1 miles - 2:03:07

It was cool to see the race getting some media attention from channel 4! I usually watch channel 7 so I kept thinking the reporter was Gordon Tokumatsu when in fact he was Ted Chen. Opps, my bad. All Asians look a like, right? :)

Ted Chen from Ch4 interviewing Tiffany

While waiting for Sam to finish, I took a few pictures of my maniac friends. Ed is a running machine. Nothing can stop this guy. Danica jumped for my camera, but I was unable to capture it in time.

Ed finishing the 1st half of his marathon

Danica finishing the half marathon

The first place marathoner came in at about 3:07. It turns out he was the guy that set the world record for the most miles ran on sand in a 24 hour period.

Christian Burke coming in 1st for the marathon

I snapped a photo of Sam heading for the finish line with Jack. I'm glad I was able to catch this moment. If I had gone back out to slug through the 2nd half, I would've missed it. There's always a silver lining. After a brief interview with Ted Chen, his wife Tiffany hands him a nice trophy for completing his epic quest.

Sam finishing No 61 with Jack

Ted Chen interviews Sam

The rest of the Felsenfeld family

61. Done.

Congratulations graffiti sign

The post race celebration meal was held at the nearby Four Daughters Kitchen. I tried to wait for everyone to show up, but I got too hungry. I ordered the Leila's famous burger and a root beer. I ate it all while waiting for everyone else. It was a good delicious burger and the fries were good as well. I hung out for a little bit before making the drive home.

Leila's famous burger at Daughters Kitchen

Shirt and medal

It was pretty cool to see this little piece during a news segment after my morning run. Even though I could not complete my own race, it was really cool to see Sam complete his quest and to be part of his mission to bring more awareness to Autism. I really hope that this is just the beginning of something big.

Here's the full piece: link

2010 Honolulu Food-a-thon

Travel and stuff
This year I flew on Hawaiian Airlines out of LAX on Thursday night. On the flight I watched a documentary on the Brothers Cazimero. Cool stuff. The girl sitting next to me had her music on pretty loud. I could hear her music even though she was wearing earphones. Once we landed in Honolulu, I took the shuttle over to my hotel.

The plane

I checked into my room at the Aqua Aloha Surf Hotel. The room was pretty dang tiny. There was no room for a desk. I kind of had to use the dresser as a desk. But there was a microwave oven and a fridge in the room. After getting settled, I went to sleep. It rained pretty much throughout the night.

Aqua Aloha Surf Hotel

Tiny little room... no space for a desk

Expo, packet pick-up, and food
The next day it was raining a little bit. I tried to walk to the expo in the rain but I started to get soaked since my shorts was not water resistant. So I went into an ABC store and bought an umbrella. If my right calf wasn't jacked up, I would've just ran to the Convention Center. I picked up my race packet and walked through the expo. The race lost Nike as one of their sponsors. You could tell because the expo was much smaller and the official race merchandise was not as good. It wasn't too bad, but not Nike quality. Before leaving the expo, I ate a sample of Zippy's chili. Good stuff.

Honolulu Marathon expo

I met up with my friend Ryan and we went to eat ramen at Gomaichi. I ordered the zasai tan tan men. It was good! I would love to come back here and try the other items on the menu. We stopped by Wal-Mart to buy stuff. I somehow decided to buy an Ironman mask and repulsor to wear during the race. It turns out that the repulsor was a bit too clunky to wear while running.

zasai tan tan men at Gomaichi

For dinner I walked over to Tenkaippin for some ramen. Good thing the rain had let up because I had left my new umbrella in Ryan's car. I ordered the kotteri ramen. The flavor was good, but the broth was way too thick for my liking. It had the consistency of gravy. But it's good enough that I'd eat it every day.

kotteri ramen at Tenkaippin

The next day I went back to the expo. Even though the rain had stopped and the weather was perfect, I decided to take the trolley to the expo instead of walking. I caught the trolley in front of the Duke Kahanamoku statue right next to the beach.

Duke Kahanamoku statue

Waikiki trolley

As I got off of the trolley, someone called out to me. It was a fellow maniac. She noticed my Las Vegas marathon shirt and said she remembers seeing me in the Vegas marathon when I was walking. I ate another sample of Zippy's chili. Then I walked over to the Ala Moana Center food court to eat lunch. I thought about eating at Curry House, but instead I tried out Sobaya. I ordered the ten don with soba. It was at best fast food quality, edible and got the job done... hunger gone. I think next time I will have fish and poi at a different stand.

ten don with soba at Sobaya inside the Ala Moana Center food court

Ryan and I went to carbo-load at Genki Sushi. I thought the face wasn't too genki. Nowhere near good sushi but some of it wasn't bad. The spicy tuna, natto, and ikageso sushi was pretty good. They kept filling up my cup with hot tea, so the service was good. I tried to ask if they had mirugai or amaebi, but they didn't know what I was talking about. I tried the hot dog sushi which was kind of like eating spam musubi.

Genki Sushi - kaiten style

hot dog sushi

After dinner we went to Bubbies for some mochi ice cream. I got vanilla, lychee, and green tea. After I got dropped off at my hotel. I got all of my race stuff ready for the next day.

mochi at Bubbies

Pre race stuff
I ate 3 Larabars and drank my usual orange juice. I got ready and walked over to Kapiolani park to ride the bus over to the start. I hit the portapotties a few times and waited near the start line.

gender specific portapotties

"Nothing new on race day" is pretty much the golden rule to running a marathon.
New things for me on race day:

1. iFitness belt to carry my camera (first time)
2. Ironman mask
3. Cytomax in my handheld

Goals A, B, and C: have a fun race and finish

1st half
I lined up near the front to get a clean start. I took off the mask at the first aid station. It was hard to breathe, I couldn't drink anything, and had no peripheral vision with the mask on. I tried tying it to the iFitness belt, but it kept bouncing up and down. So I held the mask as I ran and I was very tempted to give it to some kid. The right calf was already bothering me before I got to the 5k mark. I had a hard time climbing up Diamond Head with the bad leg. I had to walk a few times before the half which prevented me from arriving there under 2 hours.
5k: 0:25:44
10k: 0:54:07
21.1k: 2:03:35

2nd half
I got tired of carrying the mask so I ended up wearing it on the back of my head for the rest of the way. There was a lot of walking since the calf was hurting. As usual it led to ankle and hip discomfort as I compensated for the calf strain. Near the top of Diamond Head, I finally took out my camera to snap a picture of the ocean view. I forgot to take a picture of the pink Hello Kitty house. Near the finish line, I slowed down to put on the Ironman mask. As I ran in, the spectators were getting a kick out of the mask. The announcer gave me a shout-out saying it must have been hot running in the mask.
30k: 3:13:42
40k: 4:45:00
Finish: 5:00:33

A view from the top of Diamond Head

Ironman running the final stretch

Post race
After finishing I walked over to take a picture with the hula girl. She really liked the Ironman mask. Then I went over to pick up my finisher's keychain and finisher's shirt. I returned to my room and got cleaned up. I then recovered by drinking my beers. After watching some tv and taking a nap, I went back to Genki Sushi to continue my recovery.

Ironman loves hula girls

Finisher's shirt

2 of my buddies waiting for me in my hotel room fridge

The next morning, I went back to Kapiolani Park to pick up my finisher's certificate and to meet the champions of the race. The line was long to pick up the certificate. They also gave out a newspaper with the official results. I then got in line to meet the champs. I was able to get autographs from both of them.

Women's champ - Belainesh Gebre 2:32:13

Men's champ - Nicholas Chelimo 2:15:18

Before leaving for the airport, I stopped by Running Room where my friend works. After saying my goodbyes, I headed over to Zippy's to eat some chili. I ordered some with a large Orange Bang. Good stuff. I walked back to my hotel, checked out, and got picked up by the shuttle bus for the airport. It was kind of sad going to the airport. I wish I could've stayed longer.

Zippy's chili

Post race thoughts
The iFitness belt worked great. It works much better than my SPIbelt. Anyone want a slightly used SPIbelt is welcomed to have it. Just drop me a line or an email edit - SPIbelt already spoken for. The Ironman mask was obviously a bad idea. It's great if you want to get a taste of what it's like to run with asthma. I have no idea how Darth Vader does it every year. But it did make for good photos. The Cytomax worked pretty well. I mixed it a little thick since I decided to run the race without sucking down gels.

Can't wait to run it again next year!

Rock n Roll Las Vegas Marathon 2010

Expo, food, and stuff
I drove up early on Friday to Vegas. I made pretty good time and got there in about 3 hours with a quick stop in Primm. I headed straight for the expo. I parked at The Palazzo since most people were probably parking at The Venetian. I got to the expo site about 30 minutes before they were open and there was a very long line. The expo was pretty good, the usual rock n' roll expo that I've become so accustomed to attending. I picked up a few Larabars. I like eating them before races. They're not too sweet. I signed up for The Country Music Marathon only because my race this year was cut short by a severe storm. I was leaving the expo when they were announcing that Josh Cox was being interviewed on stage. So I turned around and went back in to listen to him and his quest to break the world record for the 50k at the Arizona RnR event. Right before they concluded the interview, I headed straight for the Nissan autograph line. I was third in line. Took a few pictures with him and had him sign my bib.

Josh Cox 50k American record holder

race shirt and bib signed by Josh Cox

It was around 1pm and I was getting hungry. So I drove over to Monta Noodle House to eat the highly recommended tonkotsu ramen with nitamago. I also ordered gyoza which was not very good. The ramen was good. Much more my style. The broth is not as rich as Santouka's.

tonkotsu ramen

For dinner I ate the garlic shrimp rice plate at Ohana Hawaiian BBQ. Can't wait to eat the good stuff in Hawaii! Fruit of the sea! I love shrimp more than I love steaks.

Saturday morning, I went back to the expo. I went back mainly to buy an iFitness belt. The SPIbelt that I have doesn't work too well, so it was time to buy a replacement. Went back to Monta for lunch. This time I ate their miso ramen and a small pork belly rice bowl. It was a much better choice than the gyoza. I will have to try Raku next time I'm in Vegas. They're 2 doors to the left of Monta but they're only open for dinner.

I headed out to the Rio Carnival World Buffet for the Marathon Maniac dinner. But I decided to go about an hour earlier since I didn't want to eat too late. I was approached by a fellow maniac, Galen, while I was waiting in line. He figured I was a runner because of my physique. Well it turned out that I didn't need to wait in the line, but I wasn't in too big of a rush. Next time I'll remember that I can use the kiosk to pay for the meal. The food at the buffet wasn't all that appealing to me. I kept getting veggies, fried rice, dim sum, and some duck. I didn't even eat a single cocktail shrimp or crab leg. But it was a lot of fun eating with the maniacs. They are such a colorful bunch. It turned out that Galen was there early because he thought Vegas was on mountain time. It was fortunate for me since I had someone to eat with me while we waited for the others to show up.

Rio Carnival World Buffet

Eating with Marathon Maniacs at Rio

Race day
Race morning was a little bit of an adventure for me. The parking instructions said to exit Russell Rd, go west on Russell Rd, turn right on Polaris Ave, turn right on Hacienda Ave, and then turn into the parking lot. I first tried to get on Russell Rd from Las Vegas Blvd, but the road was blocked off way before Russell Rd. So then I hopped on the 15 freeway and took the Russell Rd exit. But the street was coned off at Polaris Ave. So I drove further down to Valley View Blvd which was also coned off. But the taxi in front of me drove around them and I followed him. Hacienda Ave was also coned off, but the officer let us through because we told him we were going to the Mandalay parking structure. Good thing I always leave super early.

I went up to the 2nd floor of the convention area where there was a lot more space and the bathrooms were essentially empty. It gets pretty busy on the 1st floor. As it got closer to 6am, I headed outside to the Mandalay Bay sign to meet up with other Marathon Maniacs for a pre-race photo.

Pre-race Maniac photo underneath the Mandalay Bay sign

I then headed over near the bag check area and started warming up. I checked my gear and waited in the portapotty line for one last time. I jogged over to corral 5. As they were moving up the corrals, somehow our corral got combined with corral 4.

Goal A: run 1st half in sub 1:50 then finish around 4:30
Goal B: finish sub 5
Goal C: finish without hurting a new body part

1st half - wheels came off by 10k
My race almost ended during mile 1. A big dude sidestepped right into me trying to avoid a walker. I smacked right into his back. I apologized and told him those darn walkers need to stop starting in the first 4 corrals! I saw my friend Mitch taking pictures right at mile 2 exactly where he said he would be waiting. The right calf started to feel tight at 5k. I knew there was no chance for a sub 1:50 in the 1st half. It was getting really tight by 10k. I took off my gloves as it was getting warm. I started to just cruise near the 15k mark because there was just too much discomfort from my right calf. As we approached Mandalay Bay I considered running straight and bail at the half, but my legs had me taking the right turn to run the 2nd half. There was a nice hill (freeway overpass) leading up to the halfway mark. I saw a few halfers doing a u-turn since they turned right by mistake.
1: 8:10
2: 8:04
3-4: 16:56 (8:28 avg)
5: 8:20
6: 8:23
7: 8:25
8: 9:31
9: 9:16
10: 9:39
11: 9:28
12: 9:27
13: 9:42

2nd half - lots o' walking!
The tight calf led to hip discomfort. So I did the usual walk/jog to the finish line. I liked the 2nd half this year compared to the other 2 years that I've ran in Vegas. I got to see some of my friends on the out-and-back sections. Maniac Galindo caught me around mile 17. Andrea spotted me and I must have given her a confused look because she yelled out her name. I was concentrating on hobbling along with my jacked up hip so I didn't recognize her. Deo and Jeri caught me around mile 20. I ran a little with Jeri while talking about our marathon battle scars. Casey caught me around mile 22 who went on to finish with a PR. I thought it was kind of funny when we took a lap around the huge Hustler building. I wasn't liking the Endurolyte salt caps too much. I felt like I was popping them like I was addicted to salt. I eventually switched to regular salt packs from the medical tent. I tried to run most of the last 2 miles but still had to walk some to alleviate the discomfort in my right hip.
14: 11:16
15: 11:07
16: 12:25
17: 14:02
18: 12:34
19: 13:31
20: 12:56
21: 12:38
22: 13:41
23: 15:51
24: 13:58
25: 11:08
26: 11:06
26.2: 1:30
Finish: 4:43:04

Finish line thoughts
I hung out with Casey for a little bit. We thought it was funny seeing a runner smoke a cigarette shortly after crossing the finish line.

I don't like Endurolytes. They do not work as well as Salt Stick caps for me. I bought S Caps to try next. But I might just start getting my salt supply from McDonald's.

Post race celebration

1. PBR at Planet Hollywood, lots of country music played here. yeeeeehaw!
   • 2 Guinness, my favorite beer
   • Big Bossman salad, huge and most unhealthy salad I've ever ate
   
   
   PBR - good place if you like country music
   
   
   Big Bossman Salad
   
   
2. XS at Wynn-Encore, hosted bar for 1 hour. Can't say no to "free" drinks! I'm sure the race reg fees covered the cost.
   • Grey Goose vodka martini
   • Red Bull with vodka
   • Grey Goose vodka martini extra olives
   
   
   XS - go go dancers!
   
   
3. Dick's at Excalibur
   • 2 24oz Widmer Hefeweizen

Dana Point 10k Turkey Trot

4 days after the DNF at the Santa Monica Mountains 50k trail race, I was hoping my legs were good enough for a 10k race. I think this was only the 3rd time I've ran a 10k. I drove down to the expo on Wednesday. I said hi to my friends with RunRacing. I love the cotton race shirt. It was a simple, clean, and colorful design. And it was cotton, the fabric of our lives. Personally I'm tired of having so many tech shirts. We got everything in a yellow goodie bag.

Chicrunner working

Race shirt and bib

I drove down early Thanksgiving morning and rolled into Dana Point at about 5:45am. I parked in the marina parking lot. I got out to use the portapotty and noticed that it felt colder than the low 40s that was in the weather forecast. I believe it was in the high 30s. About 20 minutes before the start, I warmed up in the parking lot. I wore a singlet, my short shorts, and a pair of gloves for the race. It didn't feel too cold after warming up, but it was definitely chilly.

Goal A: sub 45:00
Goal B: sub 48:00
Goal C: sub 50:00

It felt great to run at a 7 min/mile pace. I have been doing more 5k/10k specific workouts lately and it definitely felt a lot easier to maintain the pace. The mile markers were way off, but I knew roughly how fast I was going. I ran based on my breathing. I was running for the most part around a really fit girl. She had no body fat whatsoever. She looked like she was jogging. Right before we got to the halfway mark, she took off.

5k split: 22:35, 7:16 pace

Somewhere around mile 5 I was most likely passed by Skinnyrunner. I sped up and passed her to take a look to see if it was her. I quickly developed a side stitch and she subsequently dropped me like a rock. She probably thought I really didn't want to be passed by her. :) I should've just followed her to the finish line. Instead I spent the next mile trying to work the stitch out. It was painful to breathe and running through it was not fun. Up until the stitch, I was on pace to finish at 45:xx. For the last .2, I kicked it in passing more than I was being passed.

Finish: 46:30, 7:29 pace

Well today I had a taste of the pace that I need to hold for 26.2 miles in order to qualify for Boston. My marathon maniac farewell tour is coming to an end soon and I'm really looking forward to fully recovering. Then I could start building a good base to train for my BQ. I'll certainly start volunteering more since there's no way I can keep myself away from the racing atmosphere.

Dana Point is a nice place to visit. It reminds me a lot of Carlsbad... same coast, just not as far south. I love visiting Carlsbad. The Dana Point 10k Turkey Trot definitely has my approval. They have a 5k and a 1 mile kid's run if the 10k is not your thing.

Santa Monica Mountains 50k

The weather forecast all week leading up to the race was 70% chance of rain on race day. So believing the weather-woman I packed my rain gear and drove out to La Jolla Canyon in Malibu for the race through the Santa Monica Mountains.

Driving along the PCH

I got there around 7:30am, pickup my bib, and went back to my car to get ready. The weather kept getting better and better. But I still wore the rain jacket just in case. We took a group photo a few minutes before the start of the race. The first start at 8:30am was just for the 30k and 50k.

My trail running friends

Orange Loop (La Jolla Canyon) - 1:39:23
I kept it slow from the beginning. There was a huge bottle neck early on, but I didn't mind because I just wanted to survive the 50k. It got hot really quickly wearing the rain jacket. I took it off and tied it around my waist, but it was so annoying. Eventually I tied it around my neck like I was a yuppy or wearing it as a Superman cape. I tried to make sure I didn't pass anybody. But there were a few times where runners moved aside and I was allowed to pass. I first rolled my left ankle on a muddy downhill area. I almost fell but I caught myself in time with one of my water bottles. I was able to run it off. 2 handhelds were too much for this race especially with the Powerade that I was drinking. I took my first salt tab about 1 hour in and 1 every 30 minutes. I rolled my left ankle again coming down a rocky area as I was almost to the La Jolla aid station. I ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and had the volunteer water down my drink. I thought about dropping out, but the adrenaline had me heading out on the pink loop. I dropped off my jacket before heading out.

Pink Loop to Sycamore Canyon aid station - 1:21:09
Everything was manageable until I reached the downhill part on the fire road. I was very demoralized as I could barely jog the downhill. Walking the downhills was not fun. I was hit with maybe 3 drops of rain. Thanks weather-woman. At the aid station I had a peanut butter and banana sandwich and fill up one of my bottles with water. If I wasn't running, I might as well work on my biceps.

Pink Loop to La Jolla Canyon aid station - 1:31:43
I pretty much walked all of the uphills. I even stopped on the fire road for my friends to catch up. I had them go ahead of me so I could use them as rabbits. As we got to the top of Ray Miller, a group of about 5 runners were lost and found their way back. They told us that the ribbons were blown off to the wrong side of the road. I stopped to fix the ribbons. I then ran a little to catch up to my friends. From then on, I pretty much had them pace me to the La Jolla aid station. Along the way we were passed by the first place 50k finisher. And for good measure, I managed to roll my left ankle yet again when we were jogging down. I knew my day was definitely over.

DNF at 30k - 4:32:16

Humbled and hobbling into the aid station

Ultras are not for me! :/

I could've continued on and hiked the other 20k, but the ankles were shot to hell. I had a pretty good plan to survive the 50k, but I showed up in new shoes and rolled my good ankle too many times. My other trail shoes sucked and I wasn't about to run in the mud with them. I would've taken the time to break them in, but I just never thought we would be running in mud or rain. I may give ultras another try, but I'm thinking that I'd head back to running my favorite distance, the half marathon. After I train for a BQ, I'm going to give marathons a break and run shorter distances. Of course, I'll have to give my body some time to recover before I do any of that.

In this race, I learned that I can drink Powerade and skip the gels. I think for Vegas, I'll leave the handheld at home and just use the provided aid on the course along with my salt caps.

Rock n Roll San Antonio Marathon

Pre-race travel, expo, and food
I took a very early flight out of Ontario to San Antonio on Saturday. I sat next to Rafael from New York who was also running the marathon. Once I landed, I headed over to the car rental office to pick up my car. I drove over to the Alamodome to attend the expo. The instructions said to park at the Alamodome, but it was closed off. I ended up parking about 2 blocks away for $10. There was a bet on how many races I would sign up for... I signed up for 0. Sorry to disappoint. Speaking of signing up for races... I picked up my Rock Legend medal at the RnR booth. I asked one of the girls there if I get an extra discount if I show up wearing the medal at future expos. She jokingly said I should get a lifetime discount for earning that medal. Just as I was about to leave the expo, I bumped into Sam. I would see him later again at the tweetup.

The Alamodome

After leaving the expo, I started heading towards Downtown over to the Riverwalk and the Alamo. I ran into Dave, a fellow Marathon Maniac, down at the river. Weird how we keep bumping into each other. I took a couple of pictures at the Alamo. I was kind of tired so I didn't go in. It was nothing spectacular from the outside. Besides reading about it in history books, I've only remember seeing the Alamo in the movie, Cloak & Dagger. I hoofed it back to my car and drove over to my hotel.

The Riverwalk

The Alamo

On my way to the hotel, I stopped by a HEB supermarket to pick up my usual drinks and snacks. I stayed at a Red Roof Inn. A nearby street was Emil Street. I only saw the street when I was mapping out my driving routes for the weekend. I'm sure I looked odd to the drivers when I was taking the picture. The hotel was not located in a very nice area. It kind of seemed like a poor part of town.

Emil Street

I headed back out later for a tweetup at Chris Madrid's for burgers. It was touted as having the best burgers in San Antonio. The locals recommended the macho sized cheddar cheezy, but I was afraid too much cheese might screw up my GI system the next day. So I got the regular cheeseburger with sliced American cheese, fries, and a Coke. I've made a thing lately to never "super-size" any meal and to always order the small size. I met a few new tweeters, people that have been following OperationJack. Yes, the burger was good... but I still prefer a burger from Island's or a six dollar burger from Carl's Jr. I'm not a big fan of In n' Out either. To each their own.

Chris Madrid's

Regular cheeseburger with sliced American cheese & fries

Shortly after I got back from dinner, it would appear that the room next door was having a party. From the peephole, they looked like a bunch of highschoolers that chipped in for a room. But thank goodness it looked like they were only using the room for a pre-party. They were pretty tame and ended around 10pm most likely to go to the real party.

Race day
I woke up at about 3am to get ready and checked out at about 4:30am to go park at the AT&T Center. I took a quick cat nap in the parking lot before riding the bus over to the starting village. I walked over to corral 7 where I would wait for the pre-race maniac photo. I sat at the curb listening to music on my iPod. The UPS gear check trucks were parked diagonally in one of the narrowest streets in San Antonio. The street was packed to the gills with runners trying to check their bags. A few of us noticed that the sidewalks were pretty open and was able to bypass the crowd. I checked my bag and barely made it back for the maniac photo. After the photo, I hit the potty one last time and entered corral 4... the 3:40 corral.

Goal A: sub 4:30
Goal B: sub 5
Goal C: go home

1st half
I was at the front of my corral. When they released our corral, I knew I was going a bit faster than 3:40 pace. But it felt easy and I did not accelerate. I also have walk breaks built in, so everything would eventually average itself out. There were walkers and joggers that we had to pass... seriously with chip timing, WTF are you guys doing in corral 1, 2, and 3? I already feel bad starting in corral 4, but at least I can hold the pace until the halfway mark where the crowds have long thinned out. Anyways the usual ankle discomfort came at mile 8. It was hard to start back up when I took my walk break. The 3:40 pace group caught me at around mile 10. I ran with them until my next walk break right during mile 13. The right foot was not good after reaching the halfway mark at around 1:51:xx.
1: 8:09
2: 7:51
3: 7:53
4: 8:25
5: 8:18
6: 8:12
7: 8:18
8: 8:55
9: 8:47
10: 8:45
11: 8:52
12: 8:52
13: 9:20

2nd half
As usual, I went into my longer walk-jog 2nd half mode. I just wanted to see if the ankle could hold a 3:40 pace for at least the first half. I'm pretty sure I went to use the potty at miles 17, 20, 22, and 23. Muscle cramps kept creeping in and I kept drinking my Nuun water. I'm thinking that I've mixed it too thin. It tasted way better when I added an extra salt packet. The right leg was pretty useless when the ankle starts to hurt. I did a lot more real running in the last 2 miles or so just to get it over with sooner. I like the finishing chute at RnR races. They set it up so that spectators line both sides of the chute. The cheering really made me run hard even though there was a noticeable climb near the very last turn.
14: 10:22
15: 11:12
16: 12:16
17: 14:32
18: 13:36
19: 12:36
20: 14:38
21: 12:51
22: 15:56
23: 17:28
24: 13:27
25: 12:15
26: 11:32
26.2: 1:49
Finished: 4:45:08

Rock Legend!

Post race food
After I changed out of my running clothes, I took the bus back to the AT&T Center to get my car. I drove over to a McDonald's to eat something. I ordered a McRib sandwich meal. They had sweet tea. I don't think I've ever seen that at a McDonald's. I love sweet tea. I think the last time I ate a McRib was 8 years ago... probably also the last time I ate at a McDonald's.

McRib sandwich and fries

Sometimes the race is the easy part
I tried to find a gas station near the car rental area, but I couldn't find one. I ended up driving around for about 5 miles before I found a gas station. After I returned the car and hopped on the shuttle to the airport, I had thought that the hard part for the day was over. Instead it turned out that the marathon was the easy part of the day. Most of what happened in the marathon I could control, but a super long flight delay I could not control. They said it was a mechanical issue... most likely BS. I fly American Airlines enough to know that that's their standard answer for practically every delay. Instead of a 3 hour layover at DFW, I ended up missing my connection to Ontario... the last flight out to Ontario. They gave me two options: 1) stay overnight in DFW and fly out on 1st available flight next morning. 2) fly out to LAX and take a shuttle to Ontario. I went with option 2. The flight was one of the most uncomfortable ones I've had. They put me in the middle seat on the bulkhead row. There was very little leg space and I'm not that tall. Anyways, it took another hour ride in a Prime Time shuttle to get to the Ontario airport after making 2 other stops. By the time I drove home, it was a little past 2am. I could've showered and gone straight into work with no sleep... but no way! I slept and went in around lunch time. From now on, I'm only booking direct flights.