TBA
OC Half Marathon
OC Half Marathon weekend started with bun bo hue for dinner at Ngu Binh. Not sure if they're the best bun bo hue out there, but they're pretty good, and while Quan Mii right next door looked to be twice as popular, being able to get seated immediately at Ngu Binh was kind of nice.
Decided to take advantage of a Marriott promotion so booked a night at the SpringHill Suites by Marriott John Wayne Airport. It's a pretty bog-standard SpringHill Suites, new enough to meet current brand standards, and well-kept. Then got up far too early in the morning to take advantage of breakfast, and instead headed to the OC Marathon and OC Half Marathon finish line to run the OC Half Marathon.
As seems to be normal for me the past few years, wasn't in the best shape or physical condition for this race, but still managed a half-decent time of 2:09:26 chip time (9:53/mile), 2:09:33 GPS time (9:45/mile), and was in better shape than I expected-- ran a huge negative split. OTOH, better than dying halfway through, as the hills in this race, while not bad, definitely come at you a few times-- right at the start, a little bit around mile 3, again at mile 7.5 and mile 9.5, and a final time just after mile 11, so felt it best to be conservative.
Had the standard completely awful post-race traffic (pro-tip: head south, not north or east or west, no matter what your navigation program says, to at least Wilson St. or even better, Victoria St., to get out of the area) to catch up with Mike, Jason, and Allison at Chado Tea Room, then with Trandrew as well at King Plus Shabu Shabu. The Torrance location of Chado Tea Room feels like a cross between a tea room and a tea warehouse, with large elephant tea pots for everyone and a diverse collection of tea, all brewed quite strong. We skipped on food there in favor of the AYCE prime menu at King Plus Shabu Shabu, which is delicious-- and oddly nearly empty. Fingers crossed today was just a temporary abberation in their business. o_0
Oh yes, Happy Birthday Mike!