Whoo's in El Moro Volunteer

Saturday
Shortly after hobbling through the LA Marathon, I emailed the race director Molly that I would be available to volunteer at her race. We bounced emails back and forth until it was race time. She wanted me to be at the parking lot next to the starting area by 5:15am. So I left the house at around 4:30am and got to Crystal Cove State Park just a little after 5am, but I pulled into the wrong parking lot. After calling her to get directions, I made my way through the guard gate, got my parking pass, and parked in the correct parking lot where there was a lot of runners milling around. At the suggestion of the RD, I brought a folding chair with me. She assigned me and two other guys at the Slow and Easy aid station. It was about the miles 5 and 20 for the 50k course, around mile 10 for the 25k. We gathered our stuff and got a ride from a ranger in his truck to our spot.

After we set up the aid station, we sat around and waited for the runners to show up. These two guys were ultra guys, so it was fun hanging out with them and talking about all of the 100 milers that they have lined up. Later we would be joined by a CB radio guy and an EMS girl. The day started off a little chilly with a thick marine layer. But then once that burned off, it started cooking. I'm glad I brought my plastic folding chair as a few of the runners were affected by the heat and needed a place to sit down. We refilled a lot of water bottles and hydration packs. We eventually had to request for ice to be delivered to our aid station and some more water. Most runners were skipping the food and just taking in salt and liquids.

Slow and Easy aid station

Michelle Barton

1st OA

3rd OA

During periods where the runners were few and far between, I walked around and even tried to jog a little, but the left ankle and calf was really in bad shape. It just could not handle the impact. I was very glad that I erred on the side of caution and did not sign up for any more races in the month on May. A month off was just what I needed to give me a chance to make it through the races that I have for the rest of the year.

After the sweeper came through with the final runners, we were given the go ahead to pack up. The ranger that came to pick us up commented that we were the only aid station that didn't have a pop-up tent to shade us from the sun. I guess that's why my arms were a little sunburned. Then the 5 of us packed into his truck for the ride back to the starting area. It was a very tight squeeze, but I guess it beats walking 5 miles. We were promised some burgers after we were done, but there was none in sight by the time we got there. The exhausted RD thanked us for our service and gave us three an Oakley tote bag. It was a nice gift, but I would've gladly done it for free and I'm sure it was the same with my aid station buddies. I hope in the near future that I would come back as a runner. It looked like a nice trail to do some running. Since I was pretty hungry, I drove straight to my favorite ramen shop (I'm sure you know which one by now) to have a bowl. :)

If I had a nickel for every time that I've been called Emily... :)

Safari Park Half Marathon 2013

Sunday
One thing that I like about this race is that they have race day packet pickup and you don't even need to pay an extra fee for that convenience. This race has improved in leaps and bounds since their inaugural race. I got to the Westfield North County Mall in Escondido a little after 5am. I didn't get here as early as last year so I had to park a little further away and take a flight of stairs down to the staging area. Before picking up my stuff, I had to fill out a waiver form. I took the shirt and bib back to my car to relax a bit before the start of the race. I really did not like this year's choice of color for the race shirt. They gave us a choice between two colors on their Facebook page, but I didn't like either one. Anyways, into the donation box it goes.

yuck, definitely not my color!

Another thing that I like about this race is that the starting line is right next to the parking lot. So you can sit inside your car until it's time to start the race. No need to stand and wait out in the cold. About 30 minutes before the race, I got my stuff ready and made my way to the lines for the portapotties. After taking care of business, I headed over to the starting area and waited by the 8 min per mile marker.

Starting line at the Westfield North County Mall

Course map

The race started at 6:30am. In hindsight, I ran the first 2 miles too fast. You don't get faster by running slow, so I always want to do some faster running whenever I run. But I have to constantly remind myself that my legs have become very fragile from 4 years of racing like a Maniac. The minor discomfort in the left ankle from 3 races ago quickly developed into a pain that was borderline unbearable. It had me worried. But fortunately or unfortunately depending on your point of view, the more I slowed down, the more tolerable it became. I knew that if it got too painful that I would have to drop out. Since the course was the same as last year, I knew where to expect the hills. Just as I remembered, the course was full of rollers. The first major hill came at mile 7. It was much less daunting facing the big climb having seen it last year. The next 4-5 miles was a slow grind. I could not push at all with the left foot. There was discomfort with every step. Then came the second major climb at mile 12. Once we got over this hill, it was a nice downhill mile to the finish line. It was a nice final mile as you wind through the zoo.
1: 7:52
2: 8:06
3: 8:33
4: 9:26
5: 9:21
6: 9:34
7: 11:10
8: 9:42
9: 10:11
10: 10:46
11: 9:50
12: 12:28
13: 8:44
13.1: 0:49
Finish: 2:06:33

I was so relieved to finish the race but it was time to take time off with my next race being not until June. I could still walk but the left ankle was super sore. Then I started to cramp up. I really liked the medal. I grabbed some fruit, a bottle of water, and Powerade. They had donuts but I passed. Thank goodness I do not have a sweet tooth. I met up with a couple of my friends from San Diego and goofed around a little taking pictures in the zoo. We even took a picture in front of the green screen which always turns out pretty nice. We then headed out and caught the bus back to the mall. I then drove home with of course a stop by my favorite ramen shop, What's Up Men, for lunch.

This has been a great race each year and I would recommend it to anyone, but I'm not sure that I would be back next year. I'm cutting back on racing and while a half marathon is my favorite distance, I will cut those races from my schedule before I cut out any marathons.

Nice medal!

Post race donuts

Friends at the finish

Running with the rhinos!

Country Music Marathon and La Jolla Half Marathon 2013

Thursday
After work I started heading over to LAX to catch an American Airlines red-eye flight to Nashville. Along the way, I stopped by Umaya Ramen in Cerritos to check out their ramen. They just recently opened and I happened to come across the restaurant and some pretty spectacular food photos on Yelp. Since I was dining solo, I sat at the bar. I ordered their tonkotsu seafood ramen and a Kobe beef slider. I was skeptical of the slider at $3.50 a piece, but it was very good. I love seafood and shrimp in particular so this bowl of ramen was right up my alley. Too bad these jumbo prawns are seasonal so they told me that this ramen will not always be on their menu.

After dinner, I stopped by the Los Cerritos Center across the street to waste some time before catching my flight. I thought about catching a movie, but it would've been cutting it too close. So instead, I decided to just drive out to LAX and hang out at the airport. I parked at the cell phone waiting lot for a while before parking the car and going over to the terminal.

Kobe beef slider

Tonkotsu seafood ramen

Friday
I landed in Nashville pretty early in the morning. I had to wait a bit before I got my rental car. They had built a new fancy rental car facilities since the last time that I've been here. It was really nice and pretty easy to navigate around the structure with plenty of signs directing you where to go. I drove over to a nearby Cracker Barrel to eat breakfast. I always stop by here or a Waffle House when I'm in the area.

Eggs in a basket

After breakfast, I headed into downtown Nashville and parked in a lot at the corner of 8th Ave and Demonbreun St. I paid a flat rate of $5 which was good for parking until noon. The expo didn't open until 10am, so I had some time to wait around. I took my sling bag and my Kindle with me and made my way over to the Convention Center. I sat there minding my own business and noticed that they were doing a lot of security sweeps which was understandable with the explosions at the Boston Marathon still fresh in everyone's minds. While waiting in line to go inside for the expo, I was asked to open my bag so they can see the contents. I was perfectly fine complying with that request.

After picking up my race packet and the race shirt, I picked up a luggage tag for my friend who collects them. Then I made my way through the expo. It was your standard Rock n' Roll race expo. It's perfect for you to buy any last minute items or sign up for races. They had an expo special for next year's race at $75. As much as I like to visit Nashville, the capital of country music, I passed since this will probably be the last time that I'd run this race. I even found my name on the column with the names of all of the participants. Before leaving the expo I stopped by the stage to see who were the speakers. I decided not to wait until 3pm to listen to Kara Goucher... again. :)

Expo

Luggage tag for my friend

Expo special

Column of all participants

Found my name

Expo speakers

I then drove over to the McDonald's near my hotel to eat lunch. However their registers were not working so they could not accept credit cards. In fact, they had to write down all of the orders by hand. The growing line of customers was getting restless, so I decided to bail and walked to the Wendy's next door. As a substitute for McDonald's, I must say that food from Wendy's is much worse than Burger King. I don't think I will ever eat here again. After lunch I drove across the street to my hotel, the Red Roof Inn. After checking in, I took a shower and took a nap.

Double cheese and 10 piece nuggets

Red Roof room key

Comfy bed

TV

Bathroom

After waking up from my nap, I watched a bunch of TV until it was time to go back to McDonald's for my usual pre-race meal. This time their registers were working so there was no long line of angry customers. As much as I love McNuggets, I decided to skip them and got a Filet o' fish instead. Before going to bed, I put all of my race gear out on the second bed. It looks like I forgot to pack my iFitness belt which made me feel a bit naked. It has been a while since I last pinned a bib to my shirt. I threw one of my disposable rain ponchos and waterproof gloves in my gear bag. I was definitely prepared for rain. One thing to note was that the gear bags now are see-through thanks to the actions of those Boston Marathon terrorists. Still it was at most a small inconvenience for safety's sake.

Big Mac and Filet o' Fish

Rain gear

Saturday
I got ready early and checked out of the hotel. I drove over to the LP field and parked at the lot next to the Juvenile Court before 5am. I relaxed a bit in the car before hopping on the bus that took us over to the starting area. Shortly after being dropped off, the rain started to come down. It started with only a light rain. A lot of people were waiting underneath trees. Eventually I found a set of stairs with an awning overhead. It was the perfect place to sit down and wait. As the race start approached, I checked my gear bag at the UPS trucks and got in line to hit the portapotties one last time. As I got out of the potty, I happened to bump into a friend also from California who was running in the half marathon. What are the odds of that happening with thousands of people walking around? We headed over to our corrals. Since the rain had began to come down harder, we waited underneath a nearby roof before jumping into our corrals.

My goal was to just finish around 5 hours and not wreck myself for tomorrow's race.

The race started on time at 7am. The course had remained relatively unchanged for the last couple of years, so it was very familiar for me. I knew that the bulk of the hills were at the beginning and not to get too aggressive since the course was full of rollers. The marathoners ran with the half-marathoners for about 11.5 miles. As they're starting to make their final push to the finish line, we had about 15 more wet miles to go. I bumped into a couple of my fellow Marathon Maniacs including the Marathon Man at around mile 17 as we were crossing the Cumberland River. They soon left me as they were going strong while I was doing my traditional fade. My left ankle had been feeling a bit gimpy since the last race so I wanted to be extra careful. I don't particularly like the section where we run down Davidson St because the course gets very narrow and cambered. But it leads up to my favorite part of the course which was the very scenic loop around the lake at the Shelby Park Golf Course. They even have a beer station just as you're about to exit the park. I took a potty break before jogging the last couple of miles to the finish line. As I was running the finishing chute they were playing Done by The Band Perry. Yes, all I want to be is done!
1: 8:36
2: 8:14
3: 9:25
4: 10:04
5: 9:21
6: 8:50
7: 9:40
8: 9:41
9: 9:33
10: 10:42
11: 10:00
12: 10:51
13: 11:26
14: 10:17
15: 12:26
16: 12:07
17: 13:02
18: 13:14
19: 13:24
20: 11:48
21: 13:38
22: 13:25
23: 13:15
24: 14:56
25: 14:03
26: 13:28
26.2: 2:08
Finish: 4:57:35

The Country Music Marathon was my 94th marathon and the first time I ran in rain from start to finish. Parts of the Pasadena Marathon in 2009 was run in rain, but it wasn't a soaker like this one. I felt like I finally made up for missing that one LA Marathon in 2011 where it was monsoon.

I picked up some refreshments and started heading over to the UPS trucks to get my bag. My legs started to cramp up and I was actually getting a bit dizzy, so I quickly chugged my bottle of Gatorade. I finally made it back to my car and changed out of my wet clothes. My shorts were wet so I didn't put on my cargo pants which had the car keys. My brain wasn't quite working at 100% so I put them back in the trunk and shut the trunk. But before I did that I still had enough of my faculties to unlocked the doors. So I walked around to the driver side door to unlock the trunk, but every freaking door was locked! Apparently the car automatically locks itself after a while. Well, isn't that a nice feature!

I asked some folks in a nearby car if they had AAA to see if I could get the door unlocked for free. They didn't and suggested that I'd try the nearby cops or call a locksmith. The cops told me that they no longer can jimmy doors open and called the Pop-a-lock service for me. Of course the rain started pouring down while I waited about an hour for the locksmith to show up. I had to ask a cop if I could sit in his car as I was getting drenched. He got on the radio and asked his buddies to help locate the locksmith. The locksmith had a hard time finding my car since the marathon was still going on so most of the surrounding roads were still shutdown. Good thing my flight wasn't until 6pm. For $50, it took him about 10 seconds to open the door. Talk about easy money! :)

Country Music Marathon medal

Even with the unexpected delay after the race, I still had a few hours to pass so I drove over to the Grand Ole Opry. Due to construction, there was a huge traffic jam at the entrance/exit to the mall. I first stopped by the nearby Dave and Buster's to use their restroom to clean myself up a bit. Some time in the future, I'm going to have to either catch a show or take their tour at the Opry. I just bought a souvenir pint glass from their gift shop.

Grand Ole Opry

It took a while to get out of the mall. I filled up the gas tank and dropped off the rental car at the airport. Since I blew $50 on the locksmith, I decided to just eat some Pringles while waiting for my flight. After landing in LAX, I took the longer way home because I had to stop by my favorite ramen shop, What's Up Men, for a late dinner. After taking a much needed shower, I got my gear ready for tomorrow before hitting the hay.

Pringles

Sunday
I was pretty tired, so I blew through all of my alarms. I almost decided to bag the race and sleep in, but I managed to drag myself out of bed and drove down to the Del Mar Fairgrounds. I got down there shortly after 6am. I parked the car and made my way to the starting area to pick up my race packet. I had to pay a $20 convenience fee during registration for race day pickup. Along the way, I noticed a few changes. Then I remembered that they had announced earlier in the year that In Motion, Inc. had taken over the race management. They are the group that put on the smooth, well put together, and awesome Carlsbad Marathon. They brought in more portpotties... you really can't have too many of them. They also implemented corrals. Nice to see so many good changes in their first year taking over. The race day packet pick up process was also much improved. In the past, they were always late and super disorganized.

I walked back to my car to relax a bit before getting ready for the race. I wore the Boston bracelet that we received in our bags at the Country Music Marathon. It always good to have reasons or extra motivation to run these races.

Reasons to run

After walking back to the starting area, I got in line for the portpotties. Then I found a seat in one of the trams that were parked nearby. Whether they did that on purpose or not, it was a nice place to sit while waiting for the start of the race.

Lots and lots of portapotties

Nice place to sit before the race

Starting line

My goal was to just finish and maintain the Triple Crown eligibility.

My left ankle was sore from the get go, but I was able to run ok with the soreness. But by the third mile, I had to start pulling back. The legs were just completely exhausted. I had to start managing my energy as if it were late in a marathon. As the big hill up Torrey Pines loomed dauntingly ahead, I pulled over to snap a picture before continuing the jog. I took it pretty easy going up the hill. It was good to see my friend cheering here. While walking up the hill, I heard some runners breathing so heavily as if they're going to die. If you didn't do the proper training, you should be walking right next to me, not red-lining it at mile 6!

That hill looms ahead

Running up that hill

After getting up to the top of Torrey Pines Road it was a nice jog down to La Jolla Shores Drive. As always it was nice to run down a road that I've driven down so many times while I was going to UCSD. I noticed that almost every year a new building goes up. I should come by one year and take a tour of the campus just to see how much has changed. It was hard to get the legs to turn over faster while going down the steep downhill of La Jolla Shores Drive. Running down the boardwalk is my least favorite part because I don't like the sand from the beach. Then we snaked our way up to Torrey Pines Road where we head up the final hill to Prospect Street. At the top you finally knew that it was all downhill to the finish line. As I was heading down the cobblestone road running towards the cove, I heard a lady yell "Go beef! Take off your shirt!" Haha... I'm not sure people know what Team Beef is about here in California. :)
1: 8:21
2: 8:00
3: 9:26
4: 10:47
5: 8:43
6: 13:35
7: 11:51
8: 11:12
9: 11:10
10: 10:38
11: 8:39
12: 11:06
13.1: 12:56
Finish: 2:16:24

After making my way through the finishing chute picking up some water and a banana, I made my way to the t-shirt booth. Unfortunately they were out of mediums. All they had were extra large. They told me to email them and that they would then mail me one when they get more. I've had bad experiences with those promises so I'm not holding my breath. Besides, I have plenty of races shirts at home that I need to donate. I then caught the bus for the short ride back to the Del Mar Fairgrounds. Along the way we got to see the back of the packers still motoring along the course.

Well, it was pretty rough going for me at this race. If I return to this race, it'll have to be for this race only for the weekend. No more doubles! This course is hard enough that I don't need to further handicap myself by running a race the day before. As I have mentioned earlier, I'm impressed with the improvements by the new management. I hope they continue to improve the race.

Reverse Goofy!

And yes, of course I stopped by What's Up Men to eat a bowl of ramen on my way home. :)

Chanpon

Griffith Park Trail Marathon 2013

Friday
After work I took my coworker out to Mastro's Steakhouse for his birthday. I ordered a big prime rib with the intention of not finishing the whole thing and saving the rest for post race consumption. In hindsight, this was a bad idea. I've always had terrible races when I eat too much protein the night before. Ordering two bottles of wine probably didn't help either. :)

Prime rib

Saturday
The race started at 7am. There was race day packet pickup which started at 5:45am. I got there around 6am. I would've gotten there sooner, but as usual there was early morning freeway construction on the 60 freeway which reduced the freeway down to 1 lane. The parking lot was already pretty full by the time that I got there. I picked up my race packet and hung out with my friends for a little bit before going back to my car to get ready. Since I fueled up on beef last night, I thought it would be appropriate to wear my Team Beef jersey for the race. :)

Seeing how my hip completely fell apart in San Francisco about a week ago, I knew I had to take it easy on this course if I wanted to finish it. My goal was to just finish around 6 hours. It was a pretty small field of runners. After some last minute instructions and tips from Keira (the RD) and Jimmy (my former TNT coach) it was time to run the marathon.

It was pretty easy going as we hopped on the trail. When I came up to the first climb, I just pulled over to the side and walked it. It was kind of sad to see my friends take off up the hill. With my strategy, I was hoping that I would be able to catch up to them once I reached the downhills and the flat sections.

Starting line

Picnic table

Nice place for a marathon

I think I pushed it a bit too hard on the downhills. It was then that I noticed a strange sensation in my left ankle. The ankle just felt weak. My calves had been tight all morning and I always seem to injure something when I run hard with tight calves. But as endurance runners typically do, you ignore the discomfort and motor on. Eventually I would catch up to my friends before the halfway point. It was nice to run with them for a while, but they would drop me again as I was starting to feel discomfort in the same bad right hip trying to keep up with them. I had to run it in pretty conservatively. There were sections where I had to carefully run/walk around groups of hikers and horse riders. The horses were magnificent looking animals!

Yay for downhills

Pony rides

Grinding out the final miles with friends

My favorite running surface

Some of the climbs were pretty gnarly, but I think they felt extra hard because my legs, hip, and ankles weren't 100%. It was nice to finish running mostly downhills with a short final climb to the finish line. At the finish I received a medal and a buckle. The buckle was given to all finishers. The extra medal was for those that signed up early for the lottery. Leading up to the race, there was a bunch of people on social media expressing their displeasure with the idea of giving out buckles for any race under 100 miles. I'm somewhat neutral to this unwritten rule. I think it's up to the race director's discretion on how he or she wants to reward the finishers. While the buckle was very nice to receive and look at, I wouldn't wear it and still prefer to receive something that I could use on a daily basis like a beer mug. I would run a race even if only winners were to get awards and nothing were given to finishers (e.g. Grete's Great Gallop, my race recap). I also prefer races that do not just give out participant shirts, but finisher's shirt only for finishers at the finish line (e.g. Honolulu Marathon, my race recap). Oh well, everybody has an opinion.

After waiting for my friend to finish, I went home to finish up the leftover prime rib. Go beef! :)

Buckle up!

Bonus medal