An Introduction; Staples Center & Honda Center

BURBANK, CA -- My stomach is in my throat. I am not sick, but this is definitely not normal. I open my eyes as I wake up. Bang! What was that? I look for my watch. It is 3:01am - not the best time to wake up, and especially having only gone to bed a few hours earlier. Bang! I sit up to face the direction of the noise. At this latitude, despite the hour it is light out, and I am able to see one of my international electrical converters is breaking into pieces. Bang! It just smashed into a wall. I try to get out of bed to make my way over to it. In an instant, I am thrown back into my bed. Well, I guess that settles it - the converter is toast, and I am not going anywhere for awhile.

As I lay back down, my entire body filled with rushing blood alternating from my head to my toes, I started thinking to myself. What have I gotten myself into? Nine hours earlier I was on dry land in the southernmost city in the world. But now? I was just south of Cape Horn, in the heart of the Drake Passage, home to the strongest seas on our planet. There was no turning back. One hundred and twenty people, myself included, were headed to the White Continent: Antarctica. Each swell and each wave brought us closer to our destination. I drifted back to sleep.

...

A few days ago I was thinking of something along the lines of the above as an intro for the book I am writing. Just thought it would be neat to put in here and get people's reactions. Did I manage to get your attention? Thoughts? :)


In other news, it has been a busy week and even busier weekend. In between People to People meetings and Long Beach hashing, I managed to add the Staples Center and Honda Center to my collection of NHL arenas I have visited. Saturday I watched my Chicago Blackhawks take on the L.A. Kings at the former venue, and Sunday they visited the Anaheim Ducks at the latter. Suffice it to say that neither went well for the road team (we lost two of two), but despite that I am glad I went to both of the games. Having been to hundreds (not hyperbole) of Blackhawks games, I have always found it interesting to see how other teams and venues compare.

February 25, 2012 - Just before the start of the Hawks vs. Kings at the Staples Center.

 The Staples Center is what a modern, state-of-the-art arena should be like. It is large but accessible. There are premium options and semi-affordable tickets ($50 gets you in the building) for the casual fan. There are tons of dining choices. It is large (18,000+ for hockey) but has good sight lines. The scoreboard is massive and sleek. The in-game experience is constant - there are promotions and contests during every break in the action. Finally, perhaps the biggest plus side is the setting. The Staples Center is one part of a huge downtown area known as L.A. Live. It is almost entirely pedestrianized and has access to dozens of restaurants and bars, a couple of high-end hotels, the Nokia Theater (home of the Grammy's, the American Idol finale, and many other performances and awards ceremonies), and ESPN L.A., where the late version of SportsCenter is shot. When you contrast the setting with the location of the United Center and Honda Center (surrounded by parking lots and not much else), it is quite impressive. In fact, this was maybe my 10th trip to L.A. Live for one thing or another (Wisconsin pep rallies before the Rose Bowl last year and this year, for example), but my first time inside the Staples Center. Interestingly, L.A. Live was developed nearly a decade after the Staples Center was built. There is no reason Chicago couldn't do something similar, although weather would be a potential constraint for the immediate area. As for the downsides to the Staples Center, there were a few. First, the place wasn't full. It was technically a sellout, but hundreds of season ticket holders didn't show up. Second, the music selection was rather awful. It was very "L.A." and not in a good way. Too much modern soft pop and rap, not enough hard hockey rock. Third, there was no intro before the game started - nothing at all like the insanity at Hawks home games before the start. Overall though, I give the Staples Center a solid B for the experience. Mostly positive, and I had a good time. I would definitely go to a game again.

February 26, 2012 - Pregame skate of the Hawks vs. Ducks, Honda Center

Honda Center, by contrast, is an entirely different feel. It is small by hockey standards (17,000+ capacity), and has a very empty feel to it. Don't get me wrong - it is not empty in an Allstate Arena way. This is very much an individual venue. Heck, the concourse is made up entirely of marble and granite. This makes sense, considering it is in Orange County and all. Plus, the Ducks won the Stanley Cup back in 2007, bringing an infusion of money and homegrown support. As a result, the fans were much more passionate, which is a good thing for the sport (though obviously not as much fun as a fan of the opposing team). Tickets are significantly cheaper ($31 gets you into the building) and the worst seats are better than the worst seats at the Staples Center, given that the building is smaller. The dining selection wasn't anything special, however. The scoreboard was a complete joke, and is something they need to fix during the offseason. The in-game fan experience was also really weak, and a total contrast from the Staples Center. The game was also technically a sellout, and more than that, it was the largest regular season attendance in Ducks franchise history. Despite that, there were still small pockets of empty seats. As far as location, it has tons of parking, which is a plus, and accessible freeways, which is also a plus, but beyond that the only thing nearby is Angel Stadium, where the Anaheim Angels play baseball. There was a short but rather weak introduction to the game. Lastly, one positive note was that their music selection was top-notch. Plenty of Foo Fighters, which is exactly what I want at an NHL arena. Overall I give Honda Center a C+ grade, but only really because of value. If ticket prices are tossed out, this would be somewhere in the C- range. That said, I did have a good experience, and I would consider going again, but in contrast to Staples Center, I don't think I would go if my Hawks weren't involved.

Tomorrow I am headed back to Chicago and I am pretty psyched. I haven't been home since Thanksgiving, and as all of you readers know, I have managed to cover a pretty significant chunk of ground since the last time I was home. Wednesday night I will be at the Hawks home game against Toronto, and in my next post I will give a comparison to the above two for the United Center. Have a good week everybody!

San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- Historically one of my favorite cities in the world, San Francisco never fails to impress. The more time I spend here, the more I enjoy it, and my latest trip is no exception.

I came up here Thursday morning for work, and got to accomplish a few goals in doing so. Living in Burbank, I have always wanted to fly in/out of Burbank (Bob Hope) Airport. There are, however, a number of things that make that challenging for me. First off, there are no direct flights to Chicago, so it is usually worth driving over to LAX to get a nonstop flight. Second, it is usually cheaper flying out of LAX too, which makes it doubly worth it. Well, for a short flight up to Oakland, the price isn't that different, and they are obviously nonstop out of BUR. As such, I finally had an opportunity to do this. As it turned out, I picked up my boss and we left his driveway all of 40 minutes before our flight - not kidding. Luckily, living in Burbank, it takes all of seven minutes to get to the airport, and once you do get there, they have a valet parking service from the curb. We dropped off the car, checked in on a kiosk, had no line at security, and walked onto the tarmac and onto our plane. Total time? 20 minutes... we had another 20 minutes before the flight even left. Under an hour later we were in Oakland, and in under two hours we were in downtown San Francisco having lunch and starting our meetings. Quite a fabulous experience, and having done so, I would absolutely consider a more expensive flight out of BUR and even a layover somewhere for a longer flight.

San Francisco itself has been great, as always. We had five meetings on Thursday, all in the city, and all productive and interesting. Overnight I was at the JW Marriott, where I was upgraded to a top floor room overlooking the city (see below). Also notice the amazing weather - no fog, no clouds, and if you look closely you can see the Golden Gate Bridge towards the right of the photo, completely clear. Temperature was in the upper-50's... perfect.

Amazing weather and view from the 20th floor of the JW Marriott San Francisco. GG Bridge on the right.

Friday was Bay Area/Valley day. We had another five meetings in San Bruno and San Mateo, all of which went well. Overall from a business perspective, it was an extremely productive trip, and for me personally it was great to meet many of the people I have been working with for almost a full year now. At the end of the day I dropped my boss off back in Oakland, but I couldn't bring myself to leave this amazing place so quickly!

Instead, I hopped on BART back to San Francisco and got off in the Mission District, kind of a slightly rundown/slightly revitalized punk/music scenic neighborhood. It is just southwest of downtown, but south of Market and before you reach the Twin Peaks foothills. What's to be found here? Some interesting history (this is actually the oldest part of San Francisco, originally inhabited by native Yelamu Indians some 2,000 years ago), music venues, and in my personal case, some good friends and good food! We went for some tapas and sangria at Cha Cha Cha, something I would highly recommend! Later on, we ventured over to the Marina, where I convinced some hesitant and slightly critical San Francisco dwellers to cross over to an LA-based food chain, the one and only Umami Burger. Despite their initial pessimism, the table concurred as to the glorious nature of the Truffle, Hatch, and Port & Stilton Burgers, whereas I went for the special Truffled Poutine Burger, which was incredible (not surprised). In addition, this completes (for now) my mission to get to all seven Umami Burger locations (in order of my visits: Santa Monica, Hollywood, Studio City, Los Feliz, La Brea, Hermosa Beach, and San Francisco). Already looking forward to them opening up #8!

We returned to my friend's place in Haight-Ashbury, a relatively famous district of the city I have visited on numerous occasions, and notable both for its history as well as proximity to Golden Gate Park. I slept in after a late night discussing business, politics, global climate change science, the US Open, school, flag football, hashing, and the cross between respect and hatred that serves as the basis for the Chicago Blackhawks-Vancouver Canucks rivalry. Eventually I went for a three-mile walk across town, eventually winding up at San Francisco City Hall, a gorgeous building that looks more appropriate for a capitol complex than a city hall.

San Francisco City Hall, or a gold-domed secret society capitol complex?

From the complex I hopped on BART across the bay back to Oakland, grabbed a flight back into Burbank, and enjoyed the hilarity that was my five minute drive home down Buena Vista from the airport curb. Once again, a fabulous trip to San Francisco, and many thanks to my partial host Steph and her friends for having me crash!

In other news, I have now hashed six times in and around Long Beach, and am looking forward to being named with them soon! Also, my Blackhawks decided to reattach their heads and have won three straight after a season record nine game puke-fest... we have hope! Finally, for another travel blog, check out "Mini Bear Blogs," by a friend who went on my Antarctica trip in December, and visited in January (Vegas) and a few weeks ago, en route to Colombia, where she currently is indefinitely. Have a fabulous week everyone, and Happy Presidents Day in the US!

2012 Surf City Half Marathon: Rules of the Road

BURBANK, CA -- Success! This past Sunday was my first time at Surf City (Huntington Beach, CA), and my third half marathon overall. There ended up being four of us who met on Saturday at the expo. For those who aren't in the know, a race expo is usually held the day(s) before a run, in the same location as either the start or finish line (or in this case, because the route is an out-and-back, the same place as both the start and finish). The expo is where you pick up your bib - your unique number for the race. The bibs and numbers are usually representative. For example, for this run, I had a yellow bib, which meant I was running the half marathon. Orange bibs were for runners doing the full marathon. Likewise, the numbers correspond to your projected finishing time - obviously this isn't an exact method, since you get to enter it in, but it means that slower runners will generally start further back, while the faster runners will generally start towards the front. My bib number was 8497, which corresponds to faster than average, but certainly not among the fastest half marathon runners, which started in the 5000's (out of 20,000 runners). In addition to the bibs, we got our shirts, for this run a technical long-sleeve shirt. More than all of that, the expo is like any other expo - all of the sponsors and charities have booths where they are selling and/or giving things away. You can try all sorts of energy bars and energy drinks, and I got myself some energy gel, which is useful towards the end of the race when your body starts to run out of readily accessible energy. I trained without it, but it is good to have on race day when your adrenaline gets you running faster than you trained, and thus burning more energy.

After the expo we got some dinner off Main Street in downtown Huntington Beach, an area I had actually never been to before. Overall the town was very nice, and it was certainly aesthetically gorgeous, looking out over the ocean with Catalina Island in the background. We went back to our hotel, prepared our running gear for the next day, and did a little scheming...

We woke up at 5:30am, early but not terrible, got quickly changed, and we were in the car headed to the parking lots by 5:50. Since we were close by from the hotel, we got there by 6:00, just as dawn arrived over the ocean. We sat in the car for a good hour or so - the challenge is more to get a reasonable parking spot than to actually make it on time to the race. Once we had the spot we were no longer in such a hurry, so we relaxed, and eventually made our way over to a shuttle that took us to the start line, right beside where the expo was on the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH).

On longer runs such as these, there are often pace teams to help you achieve your goals. A volunteer holds up a sign with a time, and they will finish usually within 15 seconds of that time, on either side. In my corral, which was the 8000's bibs, the pace runner that came near us was for 1:58. That was a couple of minutes faster than I intended, but I figured it would be a hassle to go find a 2:00 pace runner, and figured I would stick with the 1:58 girl as long as I could and then I could have a few minutes to pan off if I needed to towards the end.

With that plan of action, I was ready to begin. The route took us northwest along the PCH to start off, away from the sun, so I had no trouble sticking with the 1:58 leader for the start. Now, starting a long race with a ton of runners can be a challenge for a few reasons. First, there is just a sheer enormous mass of people, and even on a road as wide as the PCH, there isn't always enough room at the beginning. Second, and more importantly, there are always runners who are new and simply do not know what they are doing. They start far sooner than they should be, they do a walk-run rotation with an 8000-something bib, etc. Of the 20,000 total runners on Sunday, over 10,000 were running their first half marathon. That is extremely exciting, and I am happy for all of them, but the short summary of the ramble above is that they get in the way because they are going slower than they should be. Running to slow becomes a problem for all those behind you, who now must weave around the slower runners, adding unnecessary distance (all that weaving adds up!) and time to a run.

Water stations are the points of emphasis for the above, and most specifically, the first water station is. The usual temptation for runners who haven't trained properly is to run as fast as you can for as long as you can. The result of this is that by the time you get to the first water station, you are completely exhausted, and even though it is only a couple of miles into the race, everyone wants some water. This creates a bottleneck and corresponding backlog, which can often become quite chaotic. In addition, water gets everywhere at the stations, creating a wet and potentially slick surface, which makes weaving around people both difficult and dangerous too. Want my advice? Even if you don't, you are reading my blog, so I am going to give it anyway. Always skip the first water station. If you have trained properly, you really don't need it. Later on, the water stations will be a little hectic, but not as bad, so just run through this one.

At Surf City, it turns out the second water station isn't even a mile past the first one, so running through it really paid off for me - I managed to keep my solid pace, wasn't even that hot or thirsty yet, and sure enough the second water station was maybe half as bad as the first one. Besides skipping the first water station, when going through all other water stations, always get your water at the very end. The same reason for the first rule is that for the second. Everyone is thirsty approaching a water station, and people will end up clogging up the first couple of tables going for water. If you start in the middle, and wait until the very end to cut over, there is often nobody even there, and you can grab your drink hassle and danger free.

Getting back to this particular run, I was cruising along at a pace faster than training, but it was going well and was keeping up with the pace team. I got to the 6.20 miles mark, which is a 10K, and at the split I had done it in 55:02, beating my old 10K personal record of 55:39 dating back to November 21, 2010. I got to 6.55 miles, the quarter marathon mark (and thus halfway through this race) in 58:11, meaning I would have an extra 1 minute and 49 seconds beyond my target training pace on the back half and I could still break my goal.

A few miles later, we hit "the turn." We reached the end-point of our northwesterly run along the PCH, did a full 180-degree turn, and at about 8.2 miles we were running directly into the sun, on one massive straightaway towards the finish line. Naturally everyone slowed down, and this was where I, along with maybe half of our little group lost our pace leader. That said, I was as far as the 10.0 mile mark and still had an average pace below the 9:09 I needed to hit the 2 hour mark. Unfortunately, I couldn't kick it into another gear - but I kept chugging along knowing that I was definitely in reach of setting my personal record.

At mile 11.74 disaster struck. On a very slight incline, I landed on my right foot, and an instant and spontaneous sensation of pain surged from my second toe all the way up my body to my spine. I had to slow to a walk, and not even a speed walk, but a slow walk contemplating what the heck had just happened. At the time, it was almost a popping sensation that sparked the surge of pain. All I knew was that even if I had to do a walk-run rotation, with under a mile and a half to go, I could still pull off the PR, and that is exactly what I did. I ran slowly, tried to walk quickly, and once I got past 12.5 miles built up a slow jog through the pain. I crossed the finish line at 13.10 miles with an official finish time of 2:04:46, clinching a new personal record by about a full minute, something I am extremely proud of. I set the PR even despite the injury, and I consider it even more impressive when you consider the fact that four months earlier at the Long Beach Half Marathon, I was so hurt I could only do it in 2:35:43. In four months, I beat my running time by 31 minutes, which is simply incredible.

In addition to the above, for finishing we got a medal for Surf City, which was nice, but more than that, I got my Beach Cities Challenge medal for finishing Orange County, Long Beach, and Surf City consecutively! The medal is massive, and it is very nice, incorporating three elements from each of the three other medals. Quite an accomplishment! Furthermore, of the four of us who went together, three of us set PR's, and the fourth person beat her time by a half an hour as well. Great day for all of us!

...Which brings us to today. This morning I went to the podiatrist to try and figure out what the heck happened to me towards the end of that run. I had awful toenail problems at Long Beach, but in the week following, I had three of them taken out to prevent something like this from happening again. I got new shoes, custom orthotics, and throughout training the past few months I have had no problems at all. My training got up to 12 miles, so there wasn't any reason this should have happened. Yet it obviously did.


[Reader discretion: I am going to tell you what happened in detail here. If you don't want to know, hard as it may be, stop reading here until my next post!]

As it turns out, my second toe on my right foot, the one that was the clear source of that popping sensation I described earlier - well, it turns out the toenail detached from the root within the toe at some point during the race, due to blunt trauma. What does that mean? The combination of a long run, with some elevation change, and the fact that my shoe was still too small meant that what was already a weak toenail (it had just come in back in November) simply detached. However, I didn't really notice it at that exact time, because the toenail was stuck within the skin of my toe, and sat on top of an ulcer. On that slight incline at mile 11.74, the angle caused the ulcer to open up, thus the pop I felt, and the toenail came in contact to a nerve, thus the extreme pain. As of today it was still stuck in there, so the podiatrist gave me a couple shots to the bone, took it out, and cleaned out the ulcer. He took out the second toenail on my left foot too for good measure, wrapped me up, and called it a day. As I write this it has been about seven hours and that numbness is entirely gone... ouch!

Well, there is your update for now. Overall a great race, very happy with my time, and love the medals. Not so happy with having to get two more toenails taken out (that's five total for those keeping score at home), and the associated pain that comes with them doing it. It's also a bummer that I have to get new shoes - I really liked these a lot, they are pretty much brand new (got them in November), and they were quite expensive too. Apparently if my foot doesn't swell I can use these, but with the swelling I need another size bigger. In other words, for runs in the 3-5 mile range, these shoes are fine, but once you get to 5+ miles, I need a bigger pair of shoes.

Until next time, have a great rest of your week and then weekend everybody!

13.1? Give me 26.2!

BURBANK, CA -- Maybe it is because I am crazy. Maybe it is because I want a killer workout. Most likely, it is because I want the challenge. There really is no crazy health benefit to running 26.2 miles. The key is to live an active lifestyle, which absolutely can include some running, but more than that, the point is to get outside and move around. But what fun is that without a challenge?

This Sunday, in about 34 hours, I will be running in my third Half Marathon, the Surf City Half Marathon in Huntington Beach, California. I grew up and didn't especially love running the mile. A couple of times I ran a 5K, and I was convinced I would never run a foot beyond that. Well, in August 2010 for a variety of reasons, those plans changed, and very slowly and painstakingly I got comfortable running 5K's, then doubled that distance and pulled off a 10K. Convinced yet again that I wouldn't go any further, I hurt myself pretty badly about a year ago in a treadmill accident. I was just running a few miles, with the intention of staying in shape in the cold Chicago winter (apparently this year it is mild, but last year, it was pretty bad). In the middle of my max-speed, full-stride, the motor of our old treadmill died, and the belt stopped. In the tenth of a second I had to process this, I managed to brace my upper body for the collision, and managed to prevent any serious damage. That said, I completely tweaked my lower body - you simply cannot go from running full speed to a full stop in a tenth of a second. It is just not possible.

It was tough to move for a few days, and then I stayed away from working out for a few weeks. In March 2011 I moved out here to southern California, and I decided that if I was going to get back on the horse, I needed to go all-out. I signed up for the Orange County Half Marathon, and slowly started running in March, but really kicked it into gear in April, when I ran a whopping 59.3 miles. The half was on May 1, and in the best shape in years, I smoked the trail in 2:05:44.

May 1, 2011 - Happily cruising along in the Orange County, Half Marathon

From there, the injuries began. I managed an okay 10 mile run at the Soldier Field "Finish on the 50" four weeks later, but overall slowed down the pace, and started seeing the podiatrist. They got me orthotics, which helped, but only to an extent. I had awful toenail issues, and then in the fall, having already signed up for the Long Beach Half Marathon, I pulled my achilles tendon. I got myself a brace and ended up walking for 4-5 miles, finishing in an extremely disappointing 2:35:43. What the heck happened? I lost a half an hour on my time, and was in a high level of pain. I had to call it quits.

That run was on October 9th. I didn't run again until November. I had my toes cleaned up, got new shoes and new orthotics, and got to the point where the achilles was healed and the pain was gone. In exchange for the lack of exercise, however, I put on a little weight, and so the challenge was set.

The Orange County and Long Beach Half Marathons are sister races, along with Surf City. Combined, there is the "Beach Cities Challenge." If you run all three consecutively, back-to-back-to-back, you get a special tri-cities medal (as a side note, the final chance to complete the challenge will be Surf City 2013, which means to do it, you will have to start with OC 2012, in May). Well, having done two of the three, I figured I had to do the third, and I had just enough time to get going again. In November I ran 42.8 miles, including a solid 10K Turkey Trot over Thanksgiving. In December that was 27.8 miles, but I considered that to be pretty impressive given the two and a half weeks in Antarctica, where I managed only one run. This January? I shattered my April 2011 record and ran 87.3 miles. I have also been using My Fitness Pal to track food consumption, and it has proved a huge help. In the past two months, I have lost 10 pounds now, and am only another 10 more away from my low since High School.

So... where does that leave us? Sunday is the Surf City Half, and I know I am going to crush my Long Beach time, but I am not entirely sure I will beat my OC time. I will be happy if I finish under 2:15, really happy if I beat my 2:05:44 PR, and my "stretch" goal is a sub-two hour finish, which may or may not be possible, but that is what I am hoping for. In order to do so, I need an average pace of 9:09/mile or better, which I pulled off over nine miles in ideal weather a few weeks ago. For the longer runs, the heat threw me off. Luckily, the weather forecast is ideal, so I do think I have a shot - only time will tell!

Which brings us back to today. This morning an email went out informing readers that the Chicago Marathon, in under 48 hours, had filled up over 30,000 spots, out of only 45,000 available. My original plan was to register after successfully running on Sunday. Well, I didn't want to miss out on my opportunity, and I decided to go for it. Why not? Like the things most enjoyable in life (travel, anybody?), one of the mentalities with which we engage them is that wherein we only get to live once. Let's make the most of it. Challenge yourself, and enjoy the limitless joy of conquering those challenges. October 7th, 2012 - bring it on Chicago. I'll see you in 26.2.