With my car in the shop, I got dropped off at Ontario Airport to catch an early morning flight on Alaska Airlines out of terminal 2. On the flight out I finally watched Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Although the story was quite predictable, I thought it was pretty good for a DC movie.
ONT
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
The plane landed at SeaTac Airport at about 8:30 am. Since my rental car reservation was for pick-up at 2 pm, I headed over to the SeaTac Airport Station to take the light rail up into Downtown Seattle to watch a movie. Prior to my trip, I had converted my physical Orca card to a digital one so I could store it in my Google Wallet. That's one less card to carry in my wallet. More importantly, I don't need to wait in line to purchase a paper ticket from one of the kiosks if I just so happened to forget my Orca card. I took the train up to the Westlake Station. I made sure to tap on the way out so that the ride was $3 instead of $3.50.
From there I walked over to the Starbucks on 7th Ave to get some breakfast. On the mobile app, I ordered a bacon, sausage & egg wrap and a grande blonde vanilla latte. Before heading over to the Pacific Place mall, I bought a ticket for the matinee showing of Deadpool & Wolverine over at the AMC Pacific Place 11.
Bacon, sausage & egg wrap and grande blonde vanilla latte
While taking the escalator up to the top floor for the movie theater, I noticed that quite a few of the stores had been boarded up since I was last here. I guess malls are quickly becoming a thing of the past. Overall, as to be expected, the movie was really crude. However, it was really hilarious! It was probably one of the more entertaining MCU movies. The movie had a good soundtrack and thankfully was devoid of cringe-worthy scenes that plagued some of the more recent MCU movies and shows.
After the movie was over, I headed back to the Westlake Station to catch a train back to the airport and pick up the rental car. Once back at the airport, I went down to the street level to catch a bus ride over to the SeaTac Rental Car Facility. After getting off of the bus, I headed to the Dollar Car Rental counter. For some reason, all of the other car rental companies had long lines of people, but not at Dollar! The lady that helped me out told me it was because of the availability of cars. I had reserved a compact car, but she tried to get me to upgrade to a Toyota Camry. Since it was just me, I declined. After all of the necessary information was collected from me, I was given a copy of the rental agreement and told where to head for my car. Before hopping in the white Toyota Corolla hybrid, I had to stop by the little office to pick up the key fob. I was a bit tired, so I threw my bags into the trunk and only checked the driver side half of the car before getting in and driving off.
Rental car
I started the drive out to the Snoqualmie Running store to pick up my race packet. As with the I-405 in CA, there was a ton of traffic in WA as well. It took a little bit of getting used to driving a gas-powered car as I had gotten quite used to driving my Tesla. The flow of traffic was much better once I got on the I-90 heading east. There was quite the long queue of cars trying to exit at Snoqualmie Pkwy for the Snoqualmie Falls.
Snoqualmie Running
Race packet x2
Race shirt
Back of race shirt
Pacers for Saturday
Gretchen
As I was getting on the I-90 freeway via SE North Bend Way, I came right into the middle of the long queue of cars still trying to get off at Snoqualmie Pkwy. I wasn't in too much of a hurry, so I waited patiently until there was a gap for me to merge into that exit lane and onto the free-flowing lane next to it. There was a ton of construction on the freeway near the transition onto the I-405 south. I had to get onto the left lane to head south, but it wasn't moving. Instead of trying to force my way into that lane, I took the right lane heading north. I got off of the SE 8th St exit and got on the I-405 south from there.
Before heading to the hotel, I exited the freeway and drove over to the Southcenter Target to buy some drinks and snacks for the weekend. For drinks, I bought 2 bottles of Gatorade and a gallon of water. As for snacks, I finally got around to buying two packages of the Star Wars Oreo. Thanks to the internet, I knew how the packages were marked for the Dark Side or Light Side, so I bought one of each. I got in line to wait for a self check-out kiosk. A regular line opened up right next to me and the cashier beckoned me over, so I checked out the old fashioned way.
Oreo cookies
Drinks from Target
From there, I drove over to La Quinta SeaTac Airport to check into my room. After taking care of the necessary paperwork and providing a credit card for the $50 deposit, I was checked into room #409 and given a couple of card keys. The hotel was looking a bit in disrepair. One of the elevators was out of commission. Thankfully, as with my previous stays at this hotel, everything in the room was clean and in good working condition.
After getting settled into my room, I decided to get a quick dinner at the Jack in the Box that was in the same parking lot as the hotel. I had stayed here before, but I never ate here. I was just too lazy to go anywhere further. On the mobile app, I ordered 2 Jumbo Jack Cheeseburgers and used a "Welcome to The Jack Pack! promo for 20% off. It saved me $2.72.
Jumbo Jack Cheeseburger x2
After I scarfed down those 2 burgers, I started getting ready to call it a night. I laid out my flat runner for tomorrow's marathon and took a shower. Per the usual on a Friday night, I got ready for bed while watching some WWE Friday Night SmackDown.
Oreo Light Side
Flat runner for Saturday
Saturday 7/27
I ended up waking up in the middle of the night a couple of times with a bout of diarrhea. Thanks Jack. I got ready and left the hotel at right before 4 am for the drive out to the Hyak parking lot in Snoqualmie Pass. The drive was nice and easy with very little traffic. The drive took about an hour with me arriving at just before 5 am. After parking the car, I got in line to purchase a 1-Day Discover Pass for $10. If you don't wish to pay, you can park there and hope that they don't check for a pass or park at the Summit East parking lot which was a couple streets over.
Hyak
From buying the pass, using the portapotties, and heading over to the starting area, I bumped into a bunch of familiar faces. It's always good to see the usual suspects at a marathon! I got to the start line well ahead of the 6 am start time. However, that wasn't necessary as they were released runners based on the pace groups so that it doesn't get too crowded inside the tunnel.
Xiao
Monte
Sabrina
Steven
JC
Start line
I positioned myself with the 4:00 pace group. I pretty much stuck to that group until we got through the tunnel. Once we exited the tunnel, I felt compelled to break apart from the pack and have some space to myself. I eased off on the pace a bit and let them run ahead. I was expecting the course to be more like a REVEL race. However, the course was more undulating and rolling than I had expected. I should've known since I had run the Iron Horse Half Marathon back in 2021. By mile 6, the pace group had already started to pull away from me. I was more concerned with running by perceived effort, so I stuck with what I felt was the appropriate pace for me with a whopping 20 miles to go.
4:00 pace group
Halfway: 2:06:08
Mile 14.1 bridge over Mine Creek
With about 5 miles to go I caught bib #244. We both started with the 4:00 group and had been leapfrogging each other for a bit. I could tell that she was starting to struggle. Before pulling ahead of her, I told her that her hydration pack colors reminded me of McDonald's French fries.
With a couple of miles to go, I jogged a little bit with bib #248 to try and get him to follow me. He did for a mile, but then had to take a walk break. We bumped into each other before leaving the finish line area. He thanked me for the encouragement during those last miles.
Finish line
Finish: 4:37:26
Click here for my Garmin data.
My goal was to finish in under 4:30, but this race course was definitely more difficult than advertised! Perhaps I preferred a 100% road race. The trail had a lot of gravel and rocks, so I had to pay attention to my footing as I'm prone to tripping even on a flat road!
After receiving my finisher medal, I headed back to the final stretch to cheer on my fellow runners. I wanted to cheer on those that I had been leapfrogging with for several miles. I then headed over to the post race table to grab some snacks and drinks. My friend, Gretchen, was there volunteering. We got a selfie before I made my way over to catch a bus back to my car.
Finisher medal
Bib #244
Her hydration pack reminded me of McDonald's arches
Post race medal and goodies
Gretchen
While waiting for a bus ride back to my car, I ended up talking to the 4:30 pacer and his wife. We chatted briefly about trading alcohol for marathon running. The line waiting to get on the bus was a bit chaotic. People that had just crossed the finish line were essentially cutting the line of people that had been waiting for a while. I managed to be the last person to get on the bus. I ended up sitting next to a lady where we had a nice conversation. She just so happened to also be a Disney runner and belonged to the Rise and Run Facebook group!
Along the way back to my hotel, I stopped at the Southcenter Chick-fil-A to pick up lunch. Since I didn't meet my time goal, I got a Cobb salad with grilled nuggets as my post race salad. I also got a frosted lemonade to go with it.
Frozen lemonade
Cobb salad with grilled nuggets, frosted lemonade
Since I still had another marathon to run tomorrow, I had to load up on protein for dinner. There was no way that I was going to eat at Jack in the Box again. I hopped in the car and drove down to Dick's Drive-In to pick up a couple of burgers. When I arrived, there was a guy that looked to be homeless and high out of his mind. The security guy was keeping an eye on him. This just cannot be the new normal where a burger place needs to hire security to keep the place safe for paying customers. Per the usual, I got in line and got 2 Dick's Deluxe.
Dick's Deluxe x2
After eating my dinner, I laid out my flat runner for tomorrow's marathon before getting ready to call it a night. I was out of gels, so I decided to carry some Oreo cookies. Since I fully expect tomorrow to be a long slow day, I could rely on aid station nutrition and hiking snacks.
Flat runner for Sunday
Sunday 7/28
Just another Groundhog Day! I got you, babe! I got ready and headed out a little bit earlier this morning. Just like yesterday, I left the parking lot around the time the hotel shuttle was ready to take people over to the airport. Once again, the drive over to the start took about an hour. I arrived at the Hyak parking lot at about 4:45 am. I got in line to purchase another 1-Day Discover Pass for $10.
Portapotty
I ended up having a chat with the Mount to Coast rep about shoes as they were a sponsor for this weekend's races. I was hoping to bump into my friend, Sam, but I wasn't able to spot him before the race. I used a portapotty one last time before going back to my car to grab my handheld bottle and head over to the starting line. Just like yesterday, I bumped into a couple of familiar faces along the way.
Start line
Marie
Today, I positioned myself behind the 4:30 pacers. They were the same couple that paced the 4:00 group yesterday. My legs definitely did not feel fresh today! Surprisingly, it was the adductor muscles in my legs there were protesting the most.
Start
Out of all of my race singlets or running clothing, my 100 Marathon Club singlet has been the biggest conversation starter. Here were a few of the runners that chatted with me during the race:
- Bib #2072, we both lined up with the 4:30 pacers and chatted about coming back from our injuries while waiting for the start of the race. Shortly after emerging from the tunnel, she went on ahead of me with the pace group. I would only see her again after she made a portapotty stop. Not too far up ahead, the 2 pacers stopped to help a runner that had fallen and hit his head.
- Bib #2842, as she passed me, she praised me for my consistent pace through the rolling course. I told her that my legs were pretty tired from yesterday and that this was pretty much the only speed that I have for today!
- Bib #2767, I believe that this Marathon Maniac might have been an international runner. Although she spoke English really well, I could tell that it was not her first language. She was a strong runner, so she quickly left me in the dust!
Most of this second marathon was about pain management. So I guess, my brain started pulling out songs such as Bulletproof from Nate Smith. :)
Nate Smith - Bulletproof
Mile 14.1 bridge over Mine Creek
Late in the race, I was running pretty slow paces, so I started going through my bag of Oreo cookies. I came up to mile 25 and promptly took a walk break to eat an Oreo cookie. One of the 5 hour pacers stopped to ask if everything was alright. She kind of chuckled the second she noticed that I was eating an Oreo. She knew that I was fine. :)
1 mile to go
Finish line
Finish: 5:03:32
Click here for my Garmin data.
I was really hoping to finish today's marathon in under 5 hours. However, the overall goal for this weekend's marathon double was always to just have fun, finish both races in the allotted time, and most importantly, don't pick up an injury!
Saturday finisher medal
Finisher medal
RD Sabrina!
After grabbing a bottle of water and a bag of potato chips, I made my way over to catch the bus. Lucky for me I had just got on as they were ready to leave. I caught up with the 4:30 pacers. They were happy to see that I had made it to the finish line. It turned out that they were the same pacers at some of the regular San Diego races that I run every year.
I didn't have too much time to dilly dally as I needed to return the rental car by 2 pm. I hit the road as soon I got off of the bus and used one of the restrooms. I made good time, so before returning the car, I drove down to Dick's to get my usual, 2 Dick's Deluxe. I then drove over to the Shell gas station to gas up the car. I then pulled into a shady spot in my hotel's parking lot to eat my 2 burgers. Once I was done, I drove the car over to the SeaTac Rental Car Facility.
Dick's Deluxe
There appeared to be an issue when I returned the car. The new guy handling the returns spoke very little English and was telling me that there was a circular dent on the right front passenger door. Eventually, I spoke with the manager. He told me that it should be fine, but if they were ever going to bill me for any repairs, they would send me photographic evidence of the car's condition when leaving the lot compared to when it was returned. He gave me his business car in case I ever needed to talk to him any further. That made me feel somewhat better about the situation.
I tried to use the restroom before catching the bus, but it was closed for maintenance. I hopped on the bus for a ride over to SeaTac Airport. I used the airport restroom before making the walk back to my hotel. Once I got back to the hotel, there was a group of people waiting to use the one elevator. It was taking forever and I didn't think the next one would fit all of us, so I decided to take the stairs. Then when I got to my room, both of my room key cards wouldn't work. The housekeeping lady came by and opened the door for me and told me to go back down to the front desk to get my cards reprogrammed. That wouldn't be necessary as I wasn't planning to go back out until tomorrow when it was time to check-out of my room.
After taking a shower, I vegged out while watching my favorite History Channel's Built America series. For dinner, I pretty much went through all of the post race snacks and the remaining Oreo cookies in the first package. I kept the second package unopened for me to take home.
Monday 7/29
I slept in a bit and got ready at a more leisurely pace. I checked out of my room at about 10 am. After dropping the card keys off at the front desk, I walked across the street over to 13 Coins to have breakfast. I've been wanting to come here for quite some time. The person that seated and waited on me was Felicity. She was one of the nicest restaurant employee that I had ever come across in all of my travels and restaurant dining. I started things off with coffee and then ordered their New York Steak and Eggs. That was a very enjoyable and delicious breakfast!
13 Coins menu
Coffee
New York Steak & Eggs
All done
After paying my bill and using their restroom, I walked across the street to the airport. Since I had a few hours before my flight home, I caught the light rail into Downtown Seattle. I got off of the train at University Street Station. From there, I took the Harbor Steps down to the waterfront. I had practically just eaten, but decided to get something to eat at Ivar's Fish Bar. Normally, I would get their fish & chips as well as a bowl of their chowder. Since my stomach was still pretty full, I only got their 3 pcs cod. Seeing how even that was over $15, this might be my last time making a visit here. I used to have to visit Ivar's, but now I would go as far as to say that the must have whenever I'm in the Seattle area is a burger at Dick's.
SeaTac Airport
University Street Station
Harbor Steps
3 pcs cod fish & chips
After I was done, I headed back to the University Street Station for a ride back down to the airport. It would turn out that I wasn't there long enough for the fare scanner to charge me again. Once I got back to the airport, I headed over to the nearest TSA security entrance which was checkpoint 4. As soon as the person that was stationed there saw that my gate was in terminal C, she sent me over to checkpoint 3.
After getting through TSA screening, I first wanted to get an iced coffee from McDonald's. However, that was a no go as mobile app deals were not being accepted at this location. If I'm paying full price, I might as well get coffee at Starbucks. I went back to the Central Terminal and ordered a grande salted caramel cream cold brew on the mobile app. Then I waited for my drink to be ready at the designated mobile order pick-up spot at the end of the counter.
Sonny!
Grande salted caramel cream cold brew
My gate was at the end of terminal C and was extremely crowded. I ended up finding an empty seat at a table near the center area away from the gates. An airport employee would ultimately asked if he could sit in the empty chair at my table. I had no problem with that.
On the flight home, I watched Priscilla. This was probably a more believable Elvis that the Elvis Presley Estate doesn't want you to see. Sofia Coppola consulted the actual Priscilla Presley when making this movie.
Priscilla
It wasn't until I had gotten home and read about it on social media that the medals that were passed out for the Sunday marathon were incorrect medals. The lanyard was for the half marathon and the medal was from the sister race out in PA (White Haven to Lehighton). It turned out to be a goof-up by the vendor. My 2 medals actually joined together. I also opened and started on the second package of Oreo cookies.
The 2 medals joined together
Oreo Dark Side
