We recently took a somewhat last minute trip to Vancouver, BC earlier this month. Part of the trip was for D’s birthday but we actually had ulterior motives to make a trip to our neighbors of the north. Due in part to recent current events, we had discussed the possibility of moving out of the country. I had some contacts for potential work in Canada, where you need to have a job offer in hand to obtain a work visa to move there.
On early Sunday morning we made our way to the airport (with our flight times both leaving and arriving, we elected to leave our car at economy parking) with great time and then eventually had an early lunch prior to boarding. There was actually quite a bit of choice in the terminal (CPK, Wahoo’s fish tacos, Wolfgang Puck (pizza and regular food), a Mexican place, Habit burger, along with Peet’s and Starbucks). We settled on Point the Way Cafe (which is run by Golden Road brewing).
Our flight was slightly delayed but we still landed in the afternoon and once our rental car was obtained (my first time driving a Volkswagen Tiguan) we got on the road and headed east of Vancouver. Being further north, it got dark real quick and felt like night-time when it was only like 4:30 pm. There was some light drizzle during the drive but overall the 1 hour 40 minute drive was smooth. I also had to get used to driving in km/hr vs mph – and didn’t know what the average speeds were (how much over the speed limit can you drive without getting pulled over).
The whole idea that started this trip was a simple conversation from a year ago with my cousin on joining her for a dinner. She mentioned that she’s in NYC every year for her husband’s work function and always thought of skipping out on a boring work-related dinner where all the people did was talk shop and enjoy a delectable meal. As this year’s work event got closer, D and I checked in with the cousin and she said that dinner was a go if we wanted. So we booked our flights and hotel stay for NYC for October. We actually went in October of last year for my friend’s business grand opening.
This time we flew out of LAX and took a direct JetBlue flight to Newark. We landed around 7:30 pm and caught a cab into the city, which took about an hour. After dropping our bags at our hotel in Midtown East at the Intercontinental New York Barclay, we walked over to PJ Clarke’s for a much deserved drink and late dinner. This bar/restaurant opened in 1884 and is particularly known for having a good burger. D had the burger and fries while I had classic fish and chips. To drink I had a Smoky Old Fashioned while D had the 1930 (Elijah craig small batch bourbon, lime juice, st. elizabeth allspice dram, simple syrup, angostura bitters, orange peel).
We stopped for a night cap at the hotel bar (we had a $30 credit for each day of our stay).
The following morning I woke up and headed to get bagels for us while D got ready for the day. I went to our normal spot, Ess-a-Bagel, (that we went to the last 2 times) as it was just up the street. By the time I got there (around 10am?) the line was out the door. Luckily it moved relatively smoothly and I got our bagels and a coffee for D (I had a coffee with the hotel room’s Keurig).
This time it was a bit of a disappointment. The bagels themselves and their crumb didn’t seem as chewy as normal (maybe a little dense). I kind of wonder if they’ve grown too much that quality control isn’t as good because they’re so busy.
We wanted to check out Harlem and Sylvia’s (one of the oldest classic southern fare food in the area). To get there, we walked down to Grand Central Station and hopped on a subway to head up to 125th street. I’ve found that every neighborhood in NY has their own feel, from midtown to LES to Chelsea to Brooklyn.
Harlem was very musical – lots of music just everywhere. The two places we had looked up were Sylvia’s but also Red Rooster (Marcus Samuellson’s place that he opened up in 2010). They were actually just down the street from one another. We settled on Sylvia’s and had some yummy food. I had the lunch special which was a fried chicken leg with some collard greens and D had the chicken and waffles. Both were very good.
We also walked over to the Apollo Theater, a classic institution for music, comedy, and other performances.
When we were planning our flights for the cruise, we found that making a stop in Copenhagen on the way back from Bologna was just as cost effective as if we tried to book directly from Bologna (we would still have had to layover somewhere). Our early afternoon flight out of Bologna brought us to Copenhagen around 3:30 pm. From the airport we took a train into the city center and made a short trek to our hotel (Axel Guldsmeden Hotel). The hotel had many green initiatives to try to reduce their carbon footprint and be more environmentally friendly.
Since we didn’t have a ton of time in Copenhagen, we dropped our stuff and immediately headed out the door to do some exploring before our dinner reservations. The biggest change, a huge welcome one, was the weather. We left southern Europe where it had been 90+F with humidity to a high of low 60s F and drizzly/rainy.
We didn’t have a ton of time before dinner so headed east northeast toward Strøget, which is an area with stores and restaurants. Along the way we passed by Tivoli Gardens, which is an amusement park and the inspiration for Walt Disney to create his parks. Just past this we arrived at City Hall Square, which had a cool fountain and a nice picture spot of City Hall.
We then walked through the shopping area and hooked back around toward the hotel to make our way to dinner. Along the way we also passed by Wallmans Cirkusbygningen (Wallmans Circus Building) and stopped for a picture at Saint George’s Lake (Sankt Jørgens Sø).
D had made reservations at a restaurant called Maple Casual Dining, listed as a place with homemade food in a casual, cozy setting. This description was spot on and they had both yummy cocktails as well as delicious food. Ironically the main was a steak from Colorado.
After dinner we headed back to the hotel to get some sleep as we had an action packed morning prior to checking out and heading back to the airport by noon. We had planned to check out at least one bakery since they are well known for their pastries (hence the “danish” pastry that is popular in the US). D had found one place that was well known called Hart Bageri. Right across from this location was a coffee shop that I had been recommended (my cousin is a big coffee person). We woke up early, got ready and went to both Hart Bageri and Prolog coffee, which was about a 10 minute walk from the hotel. This was in the opposite direction of the sights we were planning that morning but overall I found Copenhagen proper to be a very walkable city. There were also tons and tons of people on bikes everywhere with many bike lanes/lights set up.
After some delectable pastries and coffee, we made our way to Rosenborg Slot (Rosenborg Castle). This castle was built by Christian IV during the Dutch Renaissance and served as the royal residence until the early 1700s. Now it is filled with many historical artifacts along with the crown jewels. We wandered through the Castle and then went into the basement/armory area where the jewels were kept along with weapons and wine.
We then made our way to Nyhavn, which is a 17th century waterfront and canal area with colorful building facades. Lots of tours were at this location taking pictures. We took some quick pictures and moved on, passed by a large square, Kongens Nytorv and The Royal Theater’s Old Stage. A quick pick me up at Coffee Collective and then a stop in Illum Department Store. The prior day we had also stopped at the flagship Hay House (a great place for interior designers).
The sky opened up as we started back toward our hotel as check out time was looming and we also had to make our way back to the airport for our flight back to the States. We were able to quickly dry off and then take a train back to the airport (we initially got on the wrong one but at least we had time to get on the right one). We had a layover in Paris before flying back to LAX (it was interesting as it was July 4th so there were fireworks going off all around us as we made our final approach and landed).
And that concluded our almost 3 week Europe trip. Definitely a good time in our first big trip post-COVID.
Our flight landed at the Venice Marco Polo Airport. It was a short walk to the Alilaguna, which is the water bus that you can take into Venice proper. While it did take over an hour to get to our stop (we probably stopped at 5 or 6 locations before our stop), it was a nice tour of Venice from the water. The first bus stop was actually another island (Murano) which was neat to see (I know some people will actually take a water taxi there to explore and eat some food but we didn’t do that so it was nice to see it here). We got off at the St. Mark’s Square stop since our hotel was quite close to that location. Art Biennale (La Biennale d’Arte di Venezia) was happening while we were there. I guess this is a famous art festival that is held here. During our trip we did end up checking out some exhibits (they were scattered through the city).
Our hotel, Al Codega hotel, was tucked inside of a square so at first was a bit confusing trying to find it. It was a cute historic hotel and while the room was small, we didn’t spend much time in it.
After checking in, it was time for dinner so we walked around and had dinner at Osteria del Lovo. D ordered the fish pasta dish which was yum and we shared some polenta with meat and finished with a tiramisu.
The following day after a nice breakfast at the hotel (another hot one), we walked over to Piazza San Marco (St. Mark’s Square) where we saw Basilica di San Marco, Campanile di San Marco, Palazzo Ducale, Torre dell’Orologio (Clock Tower). The square was crowded with people taking pictures but also waiting in line for the Basilica and the museum. We had some time to kill before our lunch reservation.
This past weekend I ran the 40th anniversary of the Long Beach marathon/half marathon. I had originally signed up for the full marathon last year afte running CIM (recap here). I felt like I made a breakthrough with last year’s CIM in terms of fueling and training properly and figured that I would like to try my hand at another full and go for another PR. With lots of changes in early 2024 and then a significant drop in mileage in the summer I elected to drop to the half marathon distance. I’m very glad that the race organizers allow a drop down in distance without any additional fees. I emailed the race folks and they seamlessly changed me from the full marathon to the half marathon. Leading up to the race my long run was 8.5 miles. With this being my 23rd half marathon, I knew in my mind that I could run it and felt reasonably confident that I could finish and still have a decent time. My very first half marathon back in 2010 was just shy of the 2 hour 30 minute mark and since then I’ve had a goal to continue a sub 2:30:00 streak for as long as possible.
Race Expo: The race expo was held on Friday and Saturday before the Sunday race. The location was on Marina Greens, a grassy area by the start and finish line by the Long Beach Port. I elected to find some parking in the nearby neighborhood and walk about a half mile to the pickup (otherwise you could park across from the expo but would have to pay – along with wait in line with all the cars trying to get in). I was also scoping out where I might be able to park on race morning (again to avoid paying but also waiting in line to get into a parking lot/structure). After getting my race bib and shirt, I walked through the expo area. There were many tents set up with all the usuals (official race gear, various food/drink vendors like Zico, protein powder/drinks, snacks, Yakult, etc). With the shirt we received a tote bag which came in quite handy and I must say that my expo haul was a lot better than most of the ones I’ve attended. I tried a sample of some protein drink and it left a bad aftertaste (I can’t recall what company it was though).
The night before the race I had my usually pizza dinner.
Race morning: The race organizers earlier in the week had altered the starting times for the races due to projected hot weather for race day. Originally the forecast had stated it would hit 90 F on race day (actual temps ended up being high of 84 and low of 62 . The organizers moved the marathon start from 6:00 am to 5:30 am and the half marathon start from 7:00 am to 6:30 am (with wave starts). I woke up around 3:06 am on my own (had set the alarm for about 3:30). I had some toast with peanut butter and jelly and peanut butter and honey. Also before leaving, I downed a glass of UCAN energy powder. I had experimented with this for the 2023 CIM race and seemed to sit fine with my tummy.
Getting to the start: My plan was to leave a little over an hour before race start to give me time to park and walk to the starting line (I had anticipated that driving would be about 20-25 minutes and then walking another 5-10 minutes). What I didn’t foresee is that many many other people had the same idea as me (finding free street parking). I circled and circled looking for places and slowly made my way further and further away from the starting area. I was getting frustrated and started thinking that maybe I’d just give up and go home and call it a day. But I gave it one final circle and saw a spot that was just big enough for my car. I parked and started making my way to the start line (it was about a mile total) alternating between jogging and walking because it was starting to inch closer to 6:30 am (I also really had to pee since I had drank that big glass of UCAN before leaving the house). Luckily I arrived and hopped into the porta potty line and managed to work my way up to the starting line for one of the wave starts around 6:50 pm.
The race: The race started on Shoreline drive and the first 6 miles of the race had us running through the Long Beach Waterfront area. Within this area are the Long Beach Arena, Performing arts Center, Aquarium of the Pacific, Hotels, shops, harbor (sail and motor boats). This is also near where cruise ships often leave from. The weather at the race start was overall something I enjoyed – it was quite foggy and remained overcast during the entirety of my race (I think the sun ended up coming out later in the morning after I was done). The first mile was along some flat streets and overall fairly crowded. I settled into an easy pace. Just past the first mile we made a U turn and headed back the way we came. We hooked a right before mile 2 and climbed up and over the Queensway bridge.
On the other side we wound our way under the bridge for miles 3 and 4 and then headed back over the bridge. We passed by the Aquarium of the pacific and then wound through Shoreline Park along the water.
I then made my way back by the start/finish line area but closer to the water and headed on out along the paved beach path (starting around the 6.5 mile mark). My race plan was to consider the run-walk method which I have employed in both longer training runs and a few races. For this race I had set my watch to remind me for a run/walk ratio of 5 min/45 seconds. I did not end up listening to my watch for every single one of those intervals but kind of strategically employed it throughout the race – looking at my stats I think I ended up with about 13 walk breaks (some were not during the watch’s recommendation but for the aid stations. I suspect I crossed the halfway mark around the 1:08 time frame. This put me in good position to get another sub 2:30 time. Overall I felt good – legs weren’t too tired, breathing/heartrate seemed to be good. Running along beach was cool – the actual beach was empty and it was still overcast.
We crossed over the pier area (which had an incline and decline) and continued to make our way east along the beach. Our turnaround to head back to the finish area was in the Belmont Shore/Naples area. I used to come down to this area as a kid to go kayaking in the canals. The turnaround brought us onto Ocean Blvd which was lined with many spectators. Throughout the race there were pockets of people playing music (much of it was hip hop which I could get down to). I had my Aftershokz on but didn’t end up turning them on until about mile 10 for some added motivation. At the mile 10 mark I told myself to start picking up the pace since overall I was feeling good – I still did a few walk breaks at the aid stations. For mile 12, 13, and the final 0.1 I really pushed it – my garmin states I was sub 10 min/mile pace during this last effort. The preceding 11 miles I averaged around 10:10-10:26 min/mi. I sprinted to the finish in a time of 2:15:01.
Finish line: The finish line area was quite crowded as you would expect – there were 2 separate finishes (one for the half and one for the full). I had brought a plastic bag with me since I know often you can get goodies (water, choco milk, bananas, etc) at the finish but don’t have a way to carry it. Another guy actually stopped me because he had pulled out his bag and was like “time to go shopping.” I collected some water, coconut water, banana, protein bars and then continued towards the finish area/expo. There were so many people crowding the exit that I elected not to even try to go to the finish line festivities area (you could get a free beer after finishing). Instead I pushed my way through the crowds and crossed the street to the parking area and then weaved my way back onto the street area and walked back to my car.
Gear/nurition: I ran the race in my Saucony Endorphin Pro 3s. I used this for my last full marathon. I also used 2 Maurten gels during the race. I had a Gu watermelon energy gel as well but didn’t end up using it.
Final thoughts: Overall I thought the race was well organized in terms of packet pickup, course selection, etc. My biggest critique is probably the aid stations. At some of the aid stations they weren’t ready for the crush of runners and actually had cups lined up on the tables that had yet to be filled with water. Luckily some other tables did have water and electrolytes ready but it still required stopping, searching, etc. I didn’t get too much chance to explore the starting area since I was running late and needed to use the porta-potties but it appears that there were decent lines at most of them (and then there was a hidden one that didn’t have much of a line but I didn’t see it until I was almost to the front of my line so didn’t want to chance it). I felt good after the race with some soreness that day and actually felt minimal soreness the next day. By Tuesday I made it out for a recovery run and felt good overall. That does tell me I wasn’t “racing” and putting in hard effort for the race but that was never my intention for this race.
StewsCat 