Tag: San Diego

San Diego (March 2025)

San Diego (March 2025)

I used to work and live in the San Diego region for a year about 15 years ago. A former colleague of mine let me know she was retiring and moving away and so we decided to head down for a few days to see her and just enjoy San Diego. Unfortunately we have been on the mend from our first bout with COVID so weren’t 100%. At least I was no longer shedding so I felt okay still visiting. After moving back to southern CA last year, it’s a relatively short drive down to SD. We left on a Sunday morning making the drive that much easier without any traffic. Our AirBnB wouldn’t be ready to check in until the afternoon so we headed straight for Pacific Beach (PB) to get some lunch.

We haven’t been down to the area in probably 10 years now so I had done some research on food places. We settled on the Pacific Beach Fish Shop. This place is unique in that you choose the fish and then the means of getting it into your mouth (taco, salad, sandwich, plate). D had two of their pre-made recipe tacos: TKO Taco (Mahi Mahi) & Pineapple Express taco (Mahi Mahi) while I had their fresh catches of the day: Halibut taco & Rockfish taco. Overall I think they were tasty though one of D’s fish was kinda dry and there wasn’t any sauce on that one. We grabbed some coffee two doors down at Elixir Espresso Bar.

We then made our way over to the actual beach in Pacific Beach (we tend to go towards Law Street Beach). It had rained very briefly while we were getting coffee but cleared up by the time we made our way to the beach, though it was still quite windy so we didn’t stay too long.

2017 Year-end wrap-up

2017 Year-end wrap-up

I know that I haven’t posted anything in quite a long time.  Honestly I ran out of steam.  With the way that this year has gone (from everything in the world to everything in my little world), I just lost all motivation to post.  I drastically decreased my baking though still kept up with running (just not to the degree I had been doing it earlier this year).  I didn’t have any races after my Spring ones so didn’t feel the urge to run a ton and post about it.  I did work on increasing my running intensity (doing intervals on the treadmill and outside), which I think is good for my overall fitness.

There have been a lot of other big things going on such as re-doing our entire kitchen and taking up a new hobby.  Since I know this blog isn’t really read regularly or even much at all, I’m going to jot down some notes/thoughts from the past year mostly so I remember it.

Early 2017 involved some big changes at work with new co-workers that I worked with closely.  I enjoyed it as I got to put on a different work hat — that of being a mentor.  Also there were a ton of staffing changes and something I’ve started to be more comfortable with, which is change.  I’ve always been the type to like everything to stay fairly constant.  Change is/was always a scary word to me.  I need to take the advice of my father, who has the philosophy to “go with the flow” (of the river…or life).  I think that at least with regards to work, I’ve become better at adjusting to changes.

The highlight of the early part of 2017 was two-fold.  Japan (see posts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6) and the Big Sur Marathon.  While I was sick for the latter half of the Japan trip, it was still such an amazing place to visit and great experience.  The Big Sur Marathon was a bucket-list marathon and I’m still amazed I got in on the first go around with the lottery system.  Even though I bonked (and didn’t have the best taper leading up to the race due to Japan), I still enjoyed the experience overall.  Most likely I’ll never do it again so it was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me.  Plus you can’t beat visiting Monterey/Carmel.

The latter half of 2017 was focused mostly on the kitchen.  At some point I’ll probably put up some posts about it since it was a big part of the year.  I’m happy with the outcome and glad that it is done with.

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Sneak peek

A trip down to San Diego at the end of the year was a nice way to cap it off as well.  Again, I somehow was sick for this trip as well so even though I didn’t feel the greatest, I still enjoyed it because it is San Diego! Continue reading “2017 Year-end wrap-up” →

2015 San Diego Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon Race Recap

Race Summary:  Well-established race with a long history.  Needed more porta potties a the starting line.  Point-to-point with a challenging somewhat hilly race.  Great spectators and good on-course support.  Standard swag – tech t-shirt and medal.  Fairly spacious and large race expo.

This race holds some sentimentality for me.  I ran my first full distance marathon in 2011 at this race.  After moving away from the San Diego region in 2011, I try to get back to the city regularly as it is one of my favorite places.  Originally my good friend convinced me to sign up and then he ended up not traveling to or running the race.  I wasn’t too upset because, as I just said, it is one of my favorite cities to visit.

San Diego Marina
San Diego Marina
Downtown SD

As this was my first race since the NVM 2015 disaster and injury, I was definitely not going for a time goal.  I really just wanted to run the entire race without having to walk.  The Expo was unchanged from when I attended 5 years prior.  The SD convention center has been the host of the expo, which is nice because it provides a large open room to hold the many many vendors.  As a Rock’n’Roll race, it is very organized and packet/bib pickup went very smoothly with only a short wait.

For my pre-race dinner, we headed to Buona Forchetta in the South Park neighborhood.  Pretty much every pre-race meal has consisted of a combination of pizza and beer.  For my half marathons, this has resulted in good results overall.  I don’t know how I feel about that combination as a pre-full-marathon race.

Compared to the first time I ran this race and lived in the area, we stayed at a downtown hotel this time.  This allowed me to walk to the starting line on the northwest side of Balboa Park (this is the same starting line as 5 years before).  My major gripe with this race was the lack of enough porta potties.  I arrived well before the half marathon race start so I could use the facilities and be ready.  The porta potties were spread throughout the park in groups of 5-15 in a line.  Since I wasn’t in a terribly huge rush, I jumped in a line that had maybe 20-30 people in front of me.  As I stood there waiting and waiting, I could hear people around me talking about how long they’d been waiting.  A lady came up behind me and asked if she could go in front of me because she was running the full marathon (that started 30 minutes before the half).  I let her go ahead of me and watched her make her way up towards the front.  By the time I was just 5 back the full race had started and I saw many people (in my line and other lines) forgo the porta potty as they needed to get to the starting line.

Rock’n’Roll race starts are all well-organized with lots of corrals.  I found my corral, squeezed in like a sardine and waited for our start.  The half this year runs through various neighborhoods east/northeast of downtown.  I used to hang out in this area with friends and enjoyed running through it to give me a different perspective.  There are tons of good restaurants and bars in this area.  While running through the residential parts, I actually ran directly in front of my friends’s house.   Since I hadn’t been training as well as I should have since the 2015 NVM, I felt very sluggish the first 3-6 miles.  I actually felt nauseous and almost started walking within the first 3 miles.  This is not something I’ve experienced with any other race.  I told myself it was way too early in the race to start walking so I just kept pushing on slowly.

The course has long areas of flatness with a few areas of both decent inclines and declines. The air felt muggy and while I know San Diego isn’t the most humid place, it definitely is a lot more than where I lie and train.  I settled into a routine after about 5 miles and trudged along fairly well.  Around the 9 mile mark when we started back into Balboa Park, I could feel myself slowing down some.   I’ve always prided myself on not walking during (most) races, but I ended up doing some run-walking.  I’ve always liked Rock’n’Roll races because of their regular entertainment throughout the course.  There was a DJ in the last 2 miles of the race that helped push me to finish.

Finish time: 2:16:09

I skipped the post-race celebration (Petco Park) and walked a few miles back to the hotel so we could grab some brunch.  Later that day we met up with a local friend at Bali Hai.  Bali Hai is a San Diego institution and famed tiki bar/Polynesian restaurant.  We enjoyed some tasty cocktails and food there.  It’s a bit out-of-the-way so you really need to know about it to actually visit/find it.  I’m glad that we were able to check it out and the cocktails were tasty.  There’s also a great view from the restaurant.

The next day before driving back up to OC, we checked out the San Diego Zoo.  Prior to this, we figured since it was a Monday morning that maybe we’d get a seat at Hash House.  I’ve been trying to take the wife there for 2 years and we were seated right away.  The food is definitely yummy!  After Hash House, we went to the SD zoo.  This was our 2nd time going and as always it is a wonderful visit.  To round out the SD adventure, on the way back up north, we stopped at the Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens for some lunch and brews.  If you haven’t heard of it, Stone built this large compound that has the brewery, a restaurant, and a garden area that you can walk with your beers.  It’s truly a lovely place.  The food was also tasty as well.

Hash House breakfast!
SD Zoo!!
Stone Brewing

 

Overall a great trip to one of my favorite cities!

-StewsCat