For once I had a not-so-early morning flight with Southwest out of one of my favorite airports, Ontario International Airport. It's at least a million times less stressful to fly out of here compared to LAX.
I had pre-loaded my Clipper card, so I was able to head straight to the BART platform as soon as I got off of the plane. I took the BART over to the Embarcadero station. Since it was lunch time, I decided to grab some lunch before heading over to the race expo. I checked out a nearby restaurant called, Ziggy's Burgers. Their menu was pretty simple and straight-forward. Apparently they served more than just burgers. However since it was first time, I went with their Ziggy's Standard Burger with Pepper Jack cheese. I got it with an order of fries. Although it was a pretty decent burger, it was a bit too plain and lacked a special flavor that would set it apart from any other burger restaurant. However I wouldn't mind coming back to check out other items on their menu to see if their specialty is actually something else besides the burger.
Ziggy's Standard Burger and fries
After I was done with my meal, I hopped on the yellow school bus in front of the Hyatt Regency for a ride over to the Festival Pavilion at Fort Mason for the race expo. I'm not particularly fond of this venue, but it has been marginally better than the old location at the Concourse Exhibition Center over on 8th Street between Brannan St and Townsend St. That old location has since been rebuilt into apartments. Here's an article about that if you're curious.
After being dropped off at Buchanan St near the corner of Marina Blvd, I made the walk over to the Festival Pavilion. Per the usual, the traffic was horrible for both pedestrians and cars in the Fort Mason parking lot. I think eventually they'll need to get people to direct traffic preferably before someone gets run over by a car!
Expo venue
Along the way to the back of the expo to pick up my race bib and shirt, I picked up 3 Larabars. They're among my favorite items to receive at a race expo. In addition to the race bib, I got a plastic water bottle promoting the new movie, Brittany Runs a Marathon.
Larabars
Brittany Runs a Marathon
When I went to the table to pick up my shirt, the volunteer sent me over to the Loyal Runners table to pick up my extra items in addition to a special 5 year loyal runner race shirt. For my extra items, I received a medal as well as a 5 year loyal runner steel water bottle.
5 year loyalty gifts
Loyal runner medal
5 year loyal runner bottle
5 year loyal long sleeve half marathon shirt
While attempting to find my friend, Dexter, I came across a small table with 2 computers at the very back near the restroom. They were there in case you wanted to sign up for any of the races in 2020. The prices weren't too enticing and the computers didn't seem to be working properly, so I passed.
Right before going outside to meet up with my friends, I picked up a couple of Yakult samples. My friends were all outside taking photos with each other, so I joined in.
Yakult samples
Natalie
Before getting on the bus for a ride back to the Hyatt Regency, I stopped in at the Safeway across the street to buy some water. The parking lot was a huge cluster with people getting quite impatient with road rage setting in. I was just glad to not be driving and not getting run over!
Safeway
After I was dropped off back in front of the Hyatt Regency, I made my way over to the WorldMark San Francisco over on Bush St. During check-in, I totally forgot that I had booked a room on the top floor. They reminded me that the elevator did not run up to the 9th floor. I would have to take a small staircase up to the top floor. It had to be the top floor, because it's the best, right? :) #PrettyWoman
This way to the 9th floor
Up the stairs
After dropping off my bags and getting settled into my room, I went back out to pick up a quick dinner at the nearby McDonald's on Sutter St. These days they don't have very many great deals on the mobile app, so I ordered a Quarter Pounder with cheese and small fries. The only deal they had that I could use was for 75 cents off of a Quarter Pounder.
Quarter Pounder with cheese and small fries
After finishing off my food back at my room, I laid out the flat runner, took a shower, and got ready for an early bedtime.
Flat runner
Sunday 7/28
The early morning walk to the start has always been quite interesting depending on who you run into along the way. I found it a bit funny and sad, that every hotel in the area needed to lock the lobby doors during the night to keep out the vagrants. As I turned onto Market St, I noticed that they were power-washing the streets. I guess that's their solution to all of the piss and poop that gets dumped on the street from the day before. While I do appreciate the city making the touristy areas more presentable, they really should deal with the problem instead of the symptoms, but I digress.
Anyhow, this was my first time running the 2nd half marathon, so the pre-race logistics was different. Per the instructions and maps, the shuttle to take runners over to the start area of the 2nd half marathon would be located on Howard St just South of Spear St. The buses would run from 5 am to 5:45 am. I caught one of the first few buses as I had arrive just a few minutes after 5 am.
The bus dropped us off on Fulton St near Park Presidio Blvd. From there, I walked over to the starting area at Stow Lake Dr just off of John F Kennedy Dr. There were a lot of portapotties there just across from the gear check trucks. There were enough of them that I never had to wait in line to use one.
Once the start of the race approached, I made my way into the corrals. I found my friend in corral A. We practically run all of the same races!
Corral A
Start line
The race was scheduled to start at 6:45 am. However there was a short delay, so we weren't cleared to start until about 6:50 am. I guess I was raring to go as I was pulled along by the speedy runners around me. The first two miles were pretty much all downhill, so I ended up running out way too fast in the opening mile! As soon as the course started to climb, I moved over to the side to take my first of many walk breaks. It was mainly because my right arch was once again bothering me. The course would steadily climb until about mile 5 before it flattens out. We would leave Golden Gate Park at mile 6.
According to the elevation profile, the second half of the race should be much easier, but my legs were deteriorating pretty quickly due to lack of fitness. At about mile 7.5, as I was jogging along Buchanon St, coming up to the left turn on Hermann St, I recognized Michael Wardian running through. I said hi to him as he was on his way to winning the 52.4 miles ultra race. He's such an incredible and personable runner! At about mile 11.5, I ran past the Chase Center. The venue looked pretty awesome from the outside. I guess that'll be the new home of the Golden State Warriors, a nice upgrade from their old place out in Oakland. Unfortunately the weather got a bit warm for my taste and the cramps settled in. I wanted to run it in, but the legs kept cramping up around Oracle Park.
Finish: 2:10:38
Click here for my Garmin data.
After crossing the finish line, I got my hard earned medal. In all honesty, that was quite the mental grind from about mile 2 to the finish line. It was one of those races where my mind kept telling me to quit. Having completed so many races, was it really worth it to slog through another race at the risk of further injury just to finish it? I guess I managed to convince myself that it was worth it or that it would've been more of a hassle to find a way back to the hotel if I had dropped out. Either way, I got to the finish line. :)Relive 'San Francisco 2nd Half Marathon'
Finish line
Half marathon finisher medal
Further down the finisher chute, they had tote bags and drawstring bags from Capital One. I went with the drawstring bag as it was much easier to carry. After grabbing some post race drinks and snacks, I started making my way over to the gear check truck to get my bag. Along the way I bumped into a friend that I haven't seen in a while. We had a brief conversation before I headed off.
Drawstring bag and post race snacks
Found my friend
After getting my gear bag, I kind of had to go searching for where to pick up my extra medals. The signage wasn't clear at all with the location. It would turn out that they had moved it from the solutions tent area into the Finish Line Festival area. I first picked up my California Dreamin' medal. It was actually pretty nice looking and made out of wood. I think that's much better than it being made out of the usual metal. Then they gave me the Time Challenge medal. They didn't even bother checking my finishing time. I had missed beating my OC Half Marathon time by several minutes despite them spotting me 5 extra minutes!
Pick-up extra bling
California Dreamin'
Missed my goal
Time Challenge medal
That was a rough run! I've historically done pretty poorly at this event and the trend continues. I'm not sure when was the last time that I had a good race at this event. It might have been back in 2008 when I ran the first half marathon for the very first time. I wasn't running so many races in a year back then. I'm working my way back to fewer races per year so that I don't feel banged up all the time!
After getting back to my room, I got cleaned up and vegged out in my room. I was feeling pretty lazy, but I managed to roll back out and picked up a quick lunch at McDonald's. For this visit, the deal I used was for 1 order of large fries at regular price and a second order at 75 cents. I do love me some McDonald's french fries! I also got a McDouble to go with my fries.
Large fries x2 and a McDouble
Later that day, I went down to the lobby to check out a movie. I was hoping to watch London Has Fallen since the 3rd installment, Angel Has Fallen, was about to be released. Unfortunately or fortunately for me, they did not have that movie in their library. Instead I watched Unbroken: Path to Redemption which was the next chapter after Unbroken which I still haven't seen. While Louis Zamperini's story was very inspirational, this particular movie was a bit cheesy. It was pretty cool to see a young Billy Graham being played by his grandson, Will Graham. If you struggle with alcohol for whatever reason, this might be an encouraging movie for you to watch. I might end up reading the book by Laura Hillenbrand.
After returning the movie to the front desk, I walked over to the Super Duper Burgers on Market St to get dinner. They're a bit pricier, but I think they have much better burgers than a Double-Double at an In-n-Out. I always look forward to eating here whenever I'm in San Francisco. On this visit, in addition to the usual Super Burger with everything and cheese, I ordered their garlic fries for the first time. I love garlic, so these were some of the best fries that I've ever eaten. It was a bit cheesier than I'd expected.
Super Burger with cheese and garlic fries
Monday 7/29
I tried to decline attending yet another owner update, but during the check-in process, they insisted that I should attend for a made-to-order omelette breakfast plus a $100 AMEX gift card. Since I couldn't pass up free money, I showed up in the lobby at 8 am for the breakfast. I was assigned a Wyndham representative and we got to talking about my WorldMark ownership, my marathon running history, and how the two are tied together. Of course, it eventually got down to them trying to sell me more credits. Even though I repeatedly told her that I absolutely cannot purchase more credits for at least the next 5 years, she had my account set up with protected pricing which would be good for 1 year. She also reminded me that the minimum number of credits that they'll sell will be 8,000 credits. At least the omelette and fruit was better than the lousy breakfast that they normally have for us.
WorldMark owner update
I relaxed a bit when I returned back to my room as I took my time packing up my bags. Even though check-out time was at 12 pm, housekeeping knocked on my door a few times. I finally asked her if check-out time was still at 12 pm which she confirmed. Once it got closer, I checked-out and walked over to Hai's Restaurant for lunch. It's always quite disgusting having to walk into the Tenderloin. If it weren't for their spicy mint chicken rice dish, I would always avoid this part of SF.
Spicy mint chicken rice with egg
After finishing up my lunch, I briskly walked over to the AMC Metreon 16 to catch a movie before heading to the airport. I'm not sure how it's possible, but the Tenderloin has continued to get worse year after year. Besides having to watch out for poop on the ground, I had to pray that I don't get accosted by one of the many homeless people. The majority of them were using drugs in broad daylight. I hate to turn my blog post into somewhat of a political rant, but the situation has gotten quite worse while the politicians talk a pretty game with little to no visible difference.
The movie I ended up watching was The Lion King. It was my second time watching it. Even though I much prefer the original animated version, I guess you can say that I enjoyed it enough to view it a second time on the big screen. That's quite the norm for me with Disney movies.
After the movie, I caught the BART train at the Powell St station. I had just enough money loaded on my Clipper card for the trip to the airport. I hopped on the first train heading South. It happened to be a red line train so it was skipping the SFO stop and heading to Millbrae. I got off at the San Bruno station to wait for a yellow train to take me to SFO. It was a quick uneventful flight down to ONT. It was so much nicer to fly in and out of ONT. From now on, I just might have to pay more to fly out of ONT instead of LAX.
I would later find out that with the completion of this race, I leveled up to Earth with the Half Fanatics. It was my 31st half marathon within a year's span.
