2008 Snow Canyon Half Marathon ~ November 08,2008

So there I was again in St. George, Utah.  I was just there a little more than a month ago.  This time I was there to run Snow Canyon half marathon with a purpose in mind.  I want to get into St. George marathon next October without going through the lottery draw system.  The only way for me to bypass the system is to run two out of seven races that the city of St. George puts on.  Snow Canyon is one of them.  This was a low key half marathon race with about 1,000 runners.  It gets dark so early since we moved the clock backwards and Utah is one hour ahead of Nevada time.  I picked up my bib number and long sleeve shirt at the St. George Recreation Center before we checked into the motel. We didn’t check in until almost 6 pm.  I was so glad that this race didn’t start until 9 am.  I should have enough sleep since I didn’t have to get up in the wee hours of the night for this run.

 

I woke up at 6 am, looked outside the window, the sky was blue!  I checked the temperature and it was 5C, a lovely day to run.  I got all my usual things done and left the motel at 8 am.  I had to take the free shuttle bus at the Snow Canyon High School which was about 4 miles from our motel.  At the school parking lot, people were still lining up to pick up their bibs and shirts.  It was only 5C and some people were wearing full winter gear.  I finally got on the bus and it took us about 20 minutes to get to the start line which was at the north entrance of the Snow Canyon State Park.  There were about 600 runners there.  I didn’t see any start line or anything and instantly I knew this was a low key event. 

 

After a slight delay (a volunteer didn’t show up to set up the mile markers), the long horn of a vehicle finally sounded to start the race.  The first 1.5 miles were all downhill going through the park before we turned into the canyon trail.  It was quite scenic, for a moment there when I was surrounded by the red rocks, I thought I was in Sedona.  The first part of the trail was painted concrete, then it became dirt and gravel.  After running up and down on the dirt trail for approximately 4 miles, we finally got back onto the paved road.  I was able to keep a 9:30 to 10:00 minute per mile pace.  I passed the finished line at 2:06.  The finishing area, which was inside the high school track, had the usual stuff like free massage, water, Gatorade, banana, oranges and granola bars. 

 

I found Steffen in the small crowd and we chatted for a while.  He came in just under 2:00.  Congrats to Steffen!  The atmosphere in the finishing area was quite pleasant.  Everyone there seems to be having a good time.  I had fun at this ½ marathon and would do again.   Now I have to get ready for this Sunday’s marathon in Pasadena.

2008 Snow Canyon 1/2 Marathon Album – Please click slideshow to view

 

 

2008 St. George Marathon ~ October 04, 2008

It has been 3 years since I stepped foot in the State of Utah. I will reserve the comments that I have about this state. Actually the last time I was in Utah, it was also during the St. George Marathon. I was supposed to do the St. George Marathon last year, but due to my plantar fasciitis, I had to cancel it the last minute. I defer my running of this marathon until this year. Since Utah is a state full of Mormons, the marathon was held on a Saturday instead of the traditional Sunday.

It was merely a two hour drive (120 miles/200 km) from Las Vegas to St. George, which is located NE of Las Vegas, just past the Utah state line. We did not get into St. George until 4:00 pm. Utah is on Mountain Standard Time which is one hour ahead of Las Vegas (Pacific Standard Time). I was lucky enough to find a motel that did not require a two night stay during the marathon weekend. After checking in, Jeanne and I headed down to the Dixie Center (St. George Convention Center) where the Expo was held. It was very crowded there. I think there were about 80 vendors packed into a small area. The hallways were pretty narrow. I didn’t see any nice souvenir shirts but I did end up buying an Asics tech shirt from another vendor.

Time to go carbo loading. I am not really a pasta eater, even though Marco Polo tried to imitate how to make Chinese noodles, which he called spaghetti. I need to have my real noodle/rice dishes. We ended up going to this Chinese buffet place and pigged out. By the time we got back to the motel, it was after 9:30 pm. I never seem to get enough sleep before a marathon. After preparing everything for the big race, such as pinning my race number on my shirt, putting my timing chip on the shoe…..etc., I finally got to bed at 11:30 pm.

I woke up a 3:15 am for a 6:45 am marathon. Pretty pathetic huh! The last bus to the start line left at 5:45 am. I made it there just in time. It was drizzling in St. George. I had my poncho with me, but nothing else. By the time I got on the bus, I thought to myself that I should have bought my jacket, because the starting area is at an even higher elevation and colder. 40 minutes later we finally arrived at the starting area. I could see from the windshield of the bus that the rain was getting heavier and heavier. I think I was the only person on the bus and that didn’t have anything to cover the arms. Was I ever underdressed this time! It was cold and raining when I stepped off the bus. And the wind was blowing at us from the wrong direction.  It was headwind! Awful.  It gave me flashbacks of last year’s Honolulu Marathon, except it wasn’t cold and windy in Honolulu. There were lots of runners there and it was still very dark. All I saw was toques, jackets, gloves, garbage bags, and me just with my poncho. Since there were a lot of runners at the front of the line, I moved my way towards the back. I didn’t bump into anyone that I knew. I thought the fire pits were a very nice touch to keep everyone warm. There were many of them along the start area. I found a pit to warm up at. By the time I went to the bush to do my final business and stretch it was already 6:40 am. I better get in line.

I though that the St. George Marathon is quite strict with their no headphone and cell phone policy, which I read in their runners guide. But guess what, I saw a lot of people in front of me wearing those. What a mistake that I made. When the gun sounded, it took me 9 minutes to cross the start line. It was dark once we got out of the starting area. On top of that it was cold, rainy, windy and quite miserable at the beginning. I couldn’t even tell if there was a hole in front of me as I ran. I thought to myself do I have to do this for 26.2 miles without listening to my favorite songs? Do I have to hear the sound of the wind and my poncho rubbing against my body for the whole time? This is going to be torture. It didn’t take long for the crowd to thin out and people started throwing away their jackets and ponchos along the side of the highway. Yes, their ponchos even though it was still raining. The volunteers will eventually pick up all the clothing left behind and bring them back to the finish area.

My goal was to finish it in less than 5 hours. Since I have two more marathons to run in 70 days, I don’t want to re-injure my foot. It didn’t start getting bright until mile 4. I was doing a 9 minutes per mile pace right at the beginning, then I decided to slow down a little. There were a lot of volunteers along the course at the aid stations. There were an unlimited supply of Clif bars, banana and gels at most of the stations. No shortage of water and Gatorade. The organization did a good job on this. The wind never stopped, my hands and feet were so cold and everything was getting stiff.  It reminded me of running in Edmonton during the fall season. The rain was on and off throughout the whole course. It didn’t take long before my shoes got wet and heavier.  I was worried about getting a blister on my foot due to the wetness. I had to run around many puddles of water. I was planning to shoot some good pictures, but because of the miserable weather, everything just looked gloomy. I didn’t take any scenic pictures.

From the elevation chart, it appears to be a downhill course. But, there were actually many rolling hills, so we were constantly going up, then coming down. I think the most gruesome hill was from mile 7 to 8.5.  I don’t know if it was because of the rain, cold or wind, but I had to go pee many times through out the course, even though I didn’t drink more than I had to. We finally got back into St. George at around mile 23, there were more spectators along the streets like a parade and more cheering all the way to the finish line.  The rain finally stopped as I ran towards the finish area. I was able to keep my 5 hour goal pace until mile 23.  My feet started to get sore and my quad muscles started to tighten up too. I eventually passed the finish line with a clock time of 5:20 and a chip time of 5:11.

There were lots of people at the finish area. I met up with my wife.  I tried to look around to see if I could find anyone that I knew. I couldn’t find anyone. Then I heard Martha and Kristin yelling my name. We chit chatted for a while. Kristin finished hers just under 4 hours!  I was shivering and cold. I think we all were because of the wetness of our clothes. They had ice cream and yogurt, but I didn’t see anything else. I finally got to meet James, Julie and her husband. James BQ’d with a time of 3:33!! And he had another half marathon to run the next morning in San Jose and ended up with a time of 2:15.  Amazing, I really don’t know how he had anything left in him from St. George.  Julie and her husband Jim drove up from Las Vegas purposely to cheer us on. Phil came in later.  We stayed and chatted some more, then left to drive back home. The rest of the gang stayed one more night in St. George.

So that was it.  It was the most awesome race.  I would recommend this marathon. Even though it is a downhill course, there are a lot of rolling hills, some of them are gruesome and long. You definitely need some hill training. For $60, you really get a lot of bang for the buck. You get a nice long sleeve technical shirt, a souvenir chip, a bus ride to the start line and unlimited supply of Clif bars and gels at most aid stations. This was my first St. George Marathon. The organization and the volunteers did a great job and I definitely will be back next year if I get in. Hopefully, next year will be rain free.

2008 St. George Marathon Album – Please click “slideshow” to view

2008 The City of Los Angeles Marathon ~ March 02, 2008

The tradition continues!  This was my third time running the City of Los Angeles Marathon and hence my third LAM report.  It is not going to be as detailed as my previous reports. This was also the first time I did volunteer work at the LAM expo.  We planned on arriving in L.A. around noon time on Friday.  As usual, we were running late and didn’t arrive in town until almost 4 pm.  We headed directly to our hotel in Orange County.  This time we stayed at the Extended Stay America Hotel in Orange. Nothing can beat a $35/night room with a kitchenette.  This hotel was right next to the Honda Center ~ home of the 2007 Stanley Cup Champion ~ the Anaheim Ducks!  What an eyesore this was as I still can’t believe that the Ducks won the Cup last year.  This cup was home with the Edmonton Oilers organization for over 5 years in the 1980s.  I still have fond memories of those wonderful hockey years with the Great One as our captain.  Oops, I digressed, anyway it is nice to see that the hockey spirit is alive and well in southern California, especially since it is not a cold hockey town.  After checking in, we decided to drive down to Little Saigon and had supper there.  We made sure that we didn’t go into a restaurant that serves those notorious balut (a duck egg with a fetus inside and is eaten raw or cooked)!! 

Early next morning, Jeanne and I headed out to the L.A. Convention Center and met up with Dennis for our 8:30 am to noon volunteer shift at the expo.  We were all signed up to work at the registration booth but somehow ended up working in the bib pick up area instead.  They were almost finished giving out instructions for bib pick up when we arrived.  We met up with Dennis and sat side by side with him during bib distribution.  It was busy at times but fun.  We saw Melissa and Dennis introduced me to George and Daniel.  It was nice to finally meet some of the members of the L.A. Roadrunners with whom I’ve been talking to on the LARRMB.  They both used to post on the LVM board too.  After our shift, we walked around the expo with Dennis, picked up samples and freebies…..etc.  We were about ready to leave when Martha phoned me.  We then met up with her, Phil, Whitney, Paul and Roya.  We stayed and chatted some more, then just as were about to leave again, Robert, Kristin and their son showed up.  Martha and I convinced them to run the marathon even though they had been sick all week. 

I am extremely superstitious of what I eat before running a marathon, therefore I decided not to join the rest of the gang for pasta supper at CPK.  Instead we headed east to San Gabriel  to carbo load on some Chinese noodle dishes, BBQ pork and duck and of course an ice cold boba milk tea.  I always plan on getting to bed early so I would get enough sleep for race day, for some reason that never happens.  We ended up going to bed at 12:30 am and was up at 4:30 am.  The race started at 8:15 am.  We got ready and left the hotel at 6:30 am.  Drove the 30 odd minutes to the 7+Fig parkade (a Canadian word for parking garage) to take the Red Line subway to Universal City station.  The train was packed, I think there were more people taking the train this year than last year.  We got to the start area around 8am.  Not much time to spare, but enough to get in a few more pictures before race start.     

For some reason, LVM 21ers were not invited to join the LA Roadrunners in their special corral this year.  I ended up staying in the middle of the pack this time.  It took me 12 minutes to walk to the start line sensor mat.  The temp was a cool 45F (7.2C) at race start, just perfect temperature for running.  By the time I got half way through the race it was about 65F (18.3C) and I started to feel a little warm.  L.A. Fire Department had opened a number of the hydrants and had hoses rigged.  I saw Albert on Vine at mile 4 and again saw him and Whitney just before mile 19.  The ice cold towel that Albert gave me was a real special treat!  Thanks again Albert and Whitney!  I had it around my neck till mile 22.  When I finished it was in the low 80’s.   

I did quite well during the first half of the course.  I actually had a few negative splits, but my lack of training really showed in the second half.  I started having bad calf and thigh cramps on both of my legs on the 6th Street Bridge at mile 23.  I basically haven’t done any training since the Honolulu Marathon due to my plantar fasciitis issue.  The longest run this year so far was the L.A. Chinatown Firecracker 10K back in February.  But during this marathon, it wasn’t the plantar fasciitis that bothered me, it actually never flared up, no pain pill needed ~ Woohoo!!!  I am getting better!!!  It was the bad cramps that I continued to have during the last 3 miles of the course that bothered me.  Well, I did manage to finish the race with a chip time of 6:42, better than Honolulu.  At least no rain and no Japanese runners asked me to take pictures for them. 

I actually didn’t do all that bad considering that I stopped so many times to take pictures and videotape, plus the bad cramps that I had at the end.  I spent an entire 5 minutes videotaping the performance of the Japanese taiko drum troupe outside Little Tokyo.  It would be great if they can stage this at the beginning of the Olympic Blvd. bridge next year.  That stretch was a killer for many runners.  Despite all of this, I always have a fun time running LAM, love the crowd support, the hi-fivers and the excitement of 25,000+ runners.  Like another runner said, the crowd support turnout was in inverse proportion to per capita income in the area.  The entertainment along the course with the various bands, taiko drummers and food stands all add to the great atmosphere of this marathon.  Believe it or not, I enjoyed running through Hollywood Blvd. more than our Las Vegas Strip!  I plan on running this marathon every year.  I hope Devine leaves this new course alone for the next few years.  Well, maybe changing the start time and the date of the bike tour is a good idea.

After the marathon, I quickly washed up and headed over to CPK to meet up with the rest of the gang.  As usual, we were the last ones to arrive and missed Albert and his son Jon, who stopped by briefly for a visit before heading out as Jon had another engagement he had to go to.  Melissa, Dennis, Kristin, Robert, Whitney, Martha and Phil were all waiting for us.  It’s always a pleasure meeting up with the SoCal group.  They are so friendly, fun and delightful.  I didn’t feel like eating anything there and didn’t order any food.  A few pictures after supper and we were on our separate ways.  Whitney drove back home to Beaumont.  Martha and Phil flew back to Las Vegas.  Jeanne and I stayed a few more days in L.A. to take in some more Chinese food and enjoy sunny southern California. 8)

2008 City of Los Angeles Marathon

 

 

2008 Los Angeles Chinatown Firecracker 10K Race ~ February 10, 2008

What else is good to do besides eating tons of Chinese New Year food and get fat? As a runner, of course running the Los Angeles Chinatown Firecracker 10K to celebrate the beginning of the Lunar New Year! If you are into Feng Shui, this 10K race is a must for you. It is also the official warm up race for the upcoming Los Angeles Marathon. The lighting of 100,000 firecrackers and lion dance at the beginning of the race were spectacular. In Chinese folklore, the lion dance and drums chase away “evil” spirits and bring good luck to those who participate. This year’s race was held on the next day after the annual golden dragon parade. The course was different than the one I ran in the past. It was actually the 1978 original course. It had an additional 0.5 miles of uphill run for a total of 2.7 miles. There is also a 5K run but that course is entirely different with no hills.

Running a race in Chinatown? You probably think it is a race filled with Chinese runners. Not! 85% of the runners are not Chinese. This was my 4th Firecracker 10K Run. I started doing it in 2005. So far I have done the Rooster, Dog, Pig and Rat. I plan on doing the complete Chinese Zodiac cycle. I have eight more to do after this one.

I picked up my packet and t shirt on Saturday around noon time. It was so busy in Chinatown, tons of tourists and locals. Why? The 109th annual golden dragon parade was being held in an hour. Can you image this was the 109th year they had the parade!!! The pick up area was right in the old Chinatown Plaza on Broadway this year. There was a centre stage with bands playing music and all that. The place was jam packed and it also reminded me one of Jackie Chan’s movies ~ Police Story. Anyway, the mini outdoor expo was also being held there. By the time I got my packet and my box of Chinese fried noodles (free carbo load lunch), it was time to watch the parade. There were tons of people along Broadway, it was stacked four deep. We decided to move over to Hill Street instead. Mickey was the grand marshal of the parade.

It was hot and sunny on Sunday morning. I think it was at least 80F at the beginning of the race. My left heel still bothers me a little. I just wanted to take it easy and not to run too fast. I still have the LAM to do in 3 weeks. Everybody knows the Firecracker 10K is one of the toughest course in Southern California. The first 2.2 miles is all uphill. You actually run up to the top of Elysian Park with an excellent view of the Dodger Stadium and downtown LA. As I mentioned before, they added an additional of 0.5 miles uphill climb to this year’s race. I didn’t stop until I hit the mile 1.5 water station. Since it was only a 10K, I didn’t take too many pictures along the course. If you want to see more pictures of the course, you can search my last year’s report.

I finished the race with the best 10K time in 15 years. I figured that I could have been faster if there were no hills or if I didn’t take any pictures. Tons of food at the finish line and more lion dances at the centre stage. Every runner got a 30th anniversery white towel. We hung around for another hour or so and then took off for dim sum.

I will be back next year for the 5th year ~ It will be The Year Of The Ox (my year)!!

2008 Los Angeles Chinatown Firecracker 10K Run