The Nike Human Race 10K [2 of 3]

Nike Human Race is my second running events within 26 hours. I wanted to do well on the Baldy Run so my plan is to just chill with Nike. There are many 10k I can do in a year but there is only one Mt Baldy Trail Race!

I got to the LA Colliseum around 6pm. I know it's 2 hours early but I wanted to get there early so I don't have to deal with the traffic!!! I parked my car and I saw this couple putting the timing chip on their shoe and I saw to myself where are their common sense? Out of all places they choice to hide next to their car on an open parking space. I think they do not realize that any drivers can just pull up to that space and hit them.

People with no common sense

After I finish my Togo sandwish I started to head in to the runner's area. It's good to see that finally the organizer know what people actually eat. My coaches always tell me don't eat something you don't usually eat before/during a race. I always said to myself, do I eat more luna bars or do I eat more hot dogs? Too bad I ate my Togo, otherwise I will get a hot dog and a coke.

Nike knows what people actually eat (See, this is why I tell my mentee to bring money with them on a race)

I moved on to the staging area. For a second I want to call up my many friends that are running this race, but I gave up because I figure it's impossible to find them. What am I going to tell them? Hey Eric where are you? I am the guy in red? (For those of you who don't know, Nike printed the BIB on their shirt so you have to wear this red shirt)

A sea of people with Red Shirts... including me

Eventhough this is only a 10K I do all the warmup as if I am doing a marathon. I ran, stretch, ran, go to the porta potty, ran, eat, drink, and stretch some more. While I was doing my warmup I actually bumped into my teammates Janet and Terry. I wished them good luck and continue my thing.

There was this offical warmup before the race. I thought it was kind of silly because they just blasted music and have people move their hands and jump around. I actually feel stupid doing that because I don't think that will help a person warm up at all. Fun factor 5, warmup factor -1.

The gun finally started and I start running. It's nice to run at night because it's not that hot. I light jog the first 3 miles because I don't want to be too tired for Mt Baldy. After mile 3 I am all warm up and I want to go fast. I passed a lot of people and I finished in 1:01:16.

I was sad that I did not stay for the Kanye West Concert because I needed rest for Mt Baldy.

People waiting for Kanye West Concert after the run

As I was walking back to my car I see a line of people waiting for something. I ask one of the guy and he said the line is for bag check pick up. I am glad that I did not check in my stuff and continue to my car.

Seriously, there were like 200-300 people waiting in line for bag check pick up

I got hungry on the way home so I went to eat ramen. Carbo loading for Baldy you know =)

You can see I run faster in the second half (This is called negative split) =P

Disneyland Half Marathon [1 of 3]

I have 3 events this weekend. Disneyland Half Marathon (Sunday Morning), The Nike Human Race 10K (Sunday Night), and Mt Baldy Run to the top (Monday Morning).

Let me first talk about Disney. I got there so early it's not even funny. Initally I was planning to be there around 4am in the morning to give myself around 2 hours to warm up...etc. But surprisingly there were no traffic at all and I got there at 3am in the morning!!! With nothing to do I just walk around, take pictures, and take to people around me. I found out that if you do both the Disneyworld marathon and Disneyland half marathon, you will get an extra medal. I am like... hmm... someone was very smart to come up with all these extra medals because I am a sucker for them. Well I'll do it one year. One thing I notice before the race is that my stomach doesn't feel that good but I can't do anything about it. I hope I am ok.

When it's finally time to go to the starting line, I bumped into a few SGV TNT Mentors. Since we are all in different corrals we quickly got seperated.

Me and other SGV Mentors

After more waiting the race finally started. We started from downtown Disney and we run outside of the street for a while. We then go into California Adventure. Right about that time Disney Characters start showing up. I started talking pictures with them, then I bump into Rosemary and Jeff (both TNT teammates). The 3 of us ran for a while, by that time we left California Adventure and started running in Disneyland. We separated soon after because I wanted to take a picture with Pinocchio so I told them to go ahead. I ran for a bit more and I saw all the Disney Princesses on the boat. I thought to myself, "So much for taking a picture with Snow White". After a bit of running around I exited Disneyland and start running on the street. By mile 6 I saw my friend Alice and I took a picture of her.

me inside Disneyland

By mile 8 my stomach is really acting up. I feel pain so I slow down. I tried to go to the restroom but I cannot go. I passed the Honda center and Angel Stadium but my stomach still hurt. Right before mile 10 I finally find a porta potty and I was able to go. I am so glad that there were no lines. As soon as I came out, I went back in again. Let's just say once again that I am glad there is no line. If there is a line, I wouldn't know what to say.

So after I don't know how long, I finally come out and started walking. I didn't want to start running right away because I want to warm up for a little bit and see how I feel. After 1 mile I dived in to another porta potty. By then I don't care about my time, I don't care about the medal, and I don't care about taking pictures with Snow White. All I care is to finish and go home.

Picture of me and lulu at mile 12 something??

After a long struggle I was finally near the finish line. I saw a TNT girl walking so I tap her shoulder and ask her to run me with (just like my guardian angel did to me in AFC). We finished the marathon with chipmunks at the finish line. I think that was awesome!

After talking pictures with this guy that I met on the HK running forum, I head home to prepare my second race. More to follow after Nike

AFC Race Review

I am very happy to tell you that I finished the triple crown series and I found my TNT Guardian Angel during this race.

Begin part of my tradition I always try to eat a bowl of Katsu Don (Japanese Pork Cutlet Rice Bowl) before a big race (half/full marathon). Since the first place I go to was closed and the Katsu Don of this second place doesn't taste that good, I felt something bad may happen.

Katsu Donat Kouraku

I started packing on Friday night and I stayed up late. I woke up early Sat morning to train with Team In Training. I stayed for the whole thing because I figured I have enough time to get down to San Diego. After the last person come in I started driving down to San Diego. The moment I got to the freeway I started to feel very sleepy. It wasn't fun at all!!! I thought I can get down to San Diego around 3:30 but I didn't get to the Expo until around 4:40pm.

After having a tasty dinner I went back to the hotel to prepare. I lay everything out on my bed so I know I don't miss anything. Since I am a backpacker, I am pretty good at bringing everything I need. If this is your first marathon, consider coming up with a check list.

Do everything you can such as pinning your BIB to your jersey

I set 4 alarms at 3:30 am and I check out the hotel around 4:15 am. I got to the parking lot at maybe around 5:00 am. I recheck everything (because I can't go back to my car) and I hoop on the bus at maybe 5:15 am

While we were near the start point I can see the pacific ocean from the bus while the full moon was still out. The moon reflection from the ocean is just awesome. That scene itself worth all the trouble.

So I got out of the bus and my first business is to go to the porta-potty as I don't want to get into the porta traffic jam later. After I went to the porta-potty I sit aside to finish my breakfast and put on my sunscreen. Bring a headlamp definitely help... you can find your stuff and you know what you are touching in the porta-potty because it can be very dark inside! I stronger recommend people to bring a cheap headlamp with them and put it in their bag check in.

looking at San Diego Bay from the Cabrillo National Monument (Starting Point)

By now the sun has came up a little bit so I walked around and do some sightseeing. The good thing about being at the start line early is that you have enough time where you can walk around and do stuff. Some people just sit there waiting for the race to start... why not take the advantage and walk around as a warm up.

After I finish my walk I start to jog just a little bit and then I started stretching. By now there are @#$#$ number of people near the starting line and I decided to go pee once again.

@#$# number of people near the starting line, click to enlarge

Luckly there are lot of porta-potty for the us so the wait line isn't that long. In LA marathon we have 30,000 people and we have like... 30 restroom? In AFC I waited maybe 5 minutes. In LA I waited for 45 minutes (end up not having time to warm up and injured myself... I think because of that). Anyway, enough with the potty thing. With 15 minutes to go I start my warm up run and do more stretching. Then I make my way to the starting line.

I know my teammate Emil and Partick are running this race but I couldn't find them so I started the race by myself. Emil caught me from behind after like 2 miles. We just said hi and bye because he is trying to finish the half in under 2 hours. I continue and talk to some TNT people when I bump into them. Early in the race I know I am sweating a lot so drink extra water. I however did not take enough salt. I was going strong until I hike mile 6 something. I took a short walk break to refill water and eat a some luna blocks. I continue the race and I was feeling slow. I started to do run/walk ratio and the walk really cool me down.

I was getting tired by mile 9. I think it's a combination of the heat and food intake. I usually eat a lot more on my other half marathon but today I wasn't eating that much. I think that has something to do with myself being tired... plus it was hot. So at mile 9 I started to pick people to keep pace. at around mile 10 I notice this girl was running next to me and I didn't pay much attention. I continue to run and I bumped into the mile 10 water station plus freshly grilled hamburger... and did I mention it was free!

I am going to do AFC next year just for the hamburger!!!

I was doing good on time and I was hungry... so I ate one piece (1/4) and move on. Guess what, I don't know if is the hamburger or the luna block, I got my second wind and start running like crazy. That eventually die down and I was doing the run walk thing again. I wish I had more hamburgers!!!

So now I was at mile 11 something and there is nothing but uphill. I took a quick look at the uphill and I decided to use my hiker's walk. I combined power walking with a kind of steps that mountaineers use to travel steep snow mountain to get the speed of power walking while and being as efficient as I can going up hill. This works like magic. I am much faster than all walkers and I would say I am almost as fast as some people running.

When I got up to the big hill on the sixth ave I realized that it was the same place that I started the San Diego Rock N Roll marathon back in June 1. I was amazed!!! By now I was ready to run toward the finish. I thought to myself... good job on the uphill. However, when I started to run my leg start to cramp up. I know right away that I sweat too much salt. I didn't want to stop and stretch so I continue to push forward. At this point I am just taking my time. After a while I walked into to a church and I took the following picture. Right after that I feel a little dizzy. I saw a few people black out during the run and I don't want to be one of them. I took a moment to recollect myself and I was ok.

The Church looking building

At I walk toward the finish line someone tab me on the shoulder. It was a girl and she encourage me by asking me if I want to run with her. I was like sure and I started running with her. I am feeling better at this point and we both see the finish line. I asked her if she want to sprint to the finish line and she asked me to go ahead. I finished the race at a bit before her and I gave her a high five at the finish line.

Before I go on I want to say thank you to this girl. This girl encourage me to finish and I didn't even say thank you. I even left her for a spirit finish when she was the one who invited me to run with her. I couldn't even try to look her up on the result because I didn't get her name and I didn't look at her BIB number. It's weird how I was taking a picture of this church and then this girl appear. I am going to name her as my guardian angel.

Well after I high-five my guardian angel I left right away to look for the triple crown tent. After a long time I finally found it and I waited for my medal. I wasn't that excited when I got the medal, I am just glad to get it over with.

I was disappointed because I didn't bump into Patrick and Emil after the race (After I got home I realized Emil did make it under 2 hours and Patrick was only like 1 minute behind me after I finish. Patrick is faster but he started later than me. I am happy for them both)

I actually walked around the finish area this time (first time ever) and got some goodies. I think went to the Island Hamburger at Carlsbad just because the burger I had during the race was so good. I was so sleepy (not tired) I fell asleep while I was waiting for my food. The waitress got freak out a little bit because she thought I was sick. I told her I was just sleepy.

I knew I am going to fall asleep again so I park at the rest area to sleep. Not wanting others to steal stuff from me I only open my window half way and crack the other 3. I was getting hot and I popped open my instant icepack (something I always carry in my check bag to ice my knee... or other people's knee). The icepack make a big difference and I fell asleep.

I got up I don't know when, and I start driving again. Soon I realized I was still sleepy but I made it home ok.

It's was an interesting weekend. I think I am too goal driven this time. I consider myself lucky for not getting into any car accident. I'll definitely try to run this race next year. It's a beautiful race and I want to beat my time next year. Plus I want to see if I will bump into my guardian angel again.

My medals: Carlsbad, La Jolla, AFC, and the Triple Crown

America's Finest City Half Marathon (Last of Triple Crown)

I ran my 4th Half Marathons this year and I want to share what I learn to my teammates. Here are a few key points that I want to mention.

1. Make sure you have enough sleep. Since I still have jet lag from Hong Kong I was having a tough time driving down to San Diego. If I wasn't going for the triple crown, I will probably just park aside and sleep.

2. Make sure you get yourself enough time to pick up your BIB. I am usually very good at doing that (I took a day off to pick up my BIB for LA marathon on Fri). But this time I left LA around 1:20pm. With 2 hours to San Diego I should be there by 3:30pm. Wrong... I didn't get there til 4:30pm. I was stressing out and I was lucky to pick up my BIB before 5:00pm

3. I did the right thing but having a simple Sat. I checked into the hotel, got dinner/breakfast, got water in a supermarket, then went back to the hotel to prepare.

4. Lay everything out. Check, re-check, and double check

5. If you are checking out the hotel on the day of your race. Pack everything the night before so you are ready to check out before you head out to the race in the morning. I know sometime I will have enough time to come back for a shower, but why bother. If you are late in the race and you are hurt... this will only add more stress unless you are willing to pay for another day.

6. Get there early! I got to the parking lot early to take the shuttle to the starting point. lot of parking, lot of time for me to make last minute adjustment, no waiting at the bus, no waiting at the restroom.

7. Warm Up before the race. I don't care how slow you are 'planning' to run. When the gun goes off, you are going to run like a horse. If you do your warmup, you are less likely to get injuries. I didn't warm up in LA (because I was waiting for the restroom... remember point #6) and I got hurt... big time!

8. Easy on the downhill. People try to go faster on downhill. For me, I just keep the same pace so I don't hurt myself.

9. Listen to your body, feel your sweat. AFC wasn't that hot but it was very humid. When I put my hand on my back it was soak. I know I sweat a lot so I drink more water... but... at I find out later, I didn't take enough salt.

10. When you don't listen to your body, you pay for it later. When I was at around 12.5-6, my legs started to cramp, so I needed to slow down and take it easy. Remember I said I sweat a lot... well I drink enough but I didn't have enough salt on my body.

11. When you don't feel well. Stop and Rest. Well for some reason I was feeling a bit dizzy when I was at 12.8. I slow down and take a break. I saw a few people pass out along the way and I don't want to be one of them... well at least not in my TNT jersey. It's a disgrace to my coach.


My time: I was expecting to go under 2:20 but oh well

Overall Place	Sex Place	Div Place	First Name	Last Name	Sex	Age	City	State	Time	Pace	Bib	Gun Time	10K Split	Year
4724	2590	440	Louis	Kwan	M	30	Monterey Park	CA	02:27:29	11:15	1004	02:29:37	01:03:43