Fly. Run. Drink: Toronto Half Marathon!

First international race in many years! I almost forgot all the little things about international travel: I need to bring my passport? Customs declaration? Can I bring a ziplock bag of energy powder that looks like cocaine? If you haven’t run an international race in a while, please read on.

FLY

I bought a direct flight from San Francisco to Toronto Pearson airport but paid an extra $68 to select my seat so I would get an aisle. I downloaded the Air Canada app so I could check-in 24 hours before to download the boarding pass to my phone. I also downloaded the ArriveCan app to pre-fill out my custom declarations – basically saying I have nothing to declare.

This was important because I like to bring all my fuel and running food (GU roctane, Honey Stinger, Oatmeal, and even Metamucil and emergen-C). But since I would have to declare all of these, I decided I would just buy all this in Toronto.

It was super quick getting through security at SFO with my TSA-Pre and when I landed in Toronto I was able to follow the “express” customs line. All I did was scan my passport and have the kiosk take my photo. The custom agent just asked me why I was visiting.

The plane trip was quick – I brought a burrito on the plane because Air Canada did not provide any complimentary food or snacks. They didn’t have complimentary wi-fi and they sold old school earphones for $4. Luckily I downloaded the entire first season of Alias and that kept me entertained watching on my phone (STILL a great show!)

One again love using my Topo Design backpack as it easily fit under my seat, so I didn’t have to worry about cabin space.

RUN

Expo

The race was on Sunday, October 15, and my flight got in later Friday, so I had Saturday to get to the expo to get my race packet and hopefully get the fuel that sits well with me. The expo took almost 30 minutes to get by train/walking and it was in a huge convention hall. All I got was my bib and shirt, but I also waited to get a free cowbell from Asics. I was fortunate enough to find my favorite fuel, GU roctane energy powder, but I had to buy an entire canister since they didn’t sell individual packets. But it had to be done.

They also had speakers and other typical expo stuff, but I left to go explore the city.

Race day!

Absolutely loved the TCS Toronto Half Marathon and also loved that my hotel was a five minute walk to the start and finish line. About 10,000 people ran the half and maybe 7,000 ran the full and they started each of the 10 waves every 5 minutes. Weather was perfect at a cool 45-50 degrees F (7.5 – 10 degree Celsius) for the 8:45am start.

30 minute wait for my corral to start!

I had my Salomon skin vest, two flasks of water with Gu Roctane Powder, a banana, and 2L of water and a light running jacket. By the end I drank all my water and Roctane Powder, but didn’t feel so depleted afterwards.

My goal was to run slow and steady and just try to enjoy the scenery up to the half way point. Which is funny, since all the distance markers are in kilometers. Once I got to 10-11 km, I started breaking down the race into smaller parts and I knew there was a turn around by the water near Lake Ontario. Around 13K, I started breaking it down to every 2K, which made the race seem much easier to monitor. Next thing I know it I was already at 17K. That just meant a 5K was left. But around this time I was really slowing down. What really motivate me were all the “cheer stations”. It feels like there was one every few miles, and one station even gave me small sip of beer.

As I was down to the final 2K, I really couldn’t believe the finishing line area – there were hundreds of people lined up watching the finish line. I really don’t think another race can amass this many strangers to watch other strangers slowly cross a finish line.

One of the many cheer stations!

Afterwards you get a medal and they make you walk into a large square that is full of these spectators – it felt like I arrived from an international flight and people are waiting for their family members. This made it confusing to find where the food was, so I just skipped the banana and yogurt and walked to my hotel (Marriott Downtown at CF Eaton Center). So happy I chose a hotel near the finish line! I finished with a 2:42 time for the 21K, faster than the Santa Barbara Half last year, and I felt good at the end, but super sore the next two days.

DRINK (and other things you can do)

Nine Tails Coffee

Matcha Latte with Oatmilk

I saved all these places to check out, but sometimes, the best things are not planned. I knew I wanted to explore the Koreatown area of Toronto, and on my walk I noticed a naruto-sounding coffee bar called “Nine tails”. Perfect place to relax in the middle of a lot of walking to enjoy a Matcha Latte with Oatmilk, not made from Starbucks. Really nice neighborhood feel and friendly locals and staff.

Art Gallery of Ontario

This also was not on my list of places, but so glad I stumbled upon the AGO. This has more of the “art” pieces both early European art and modern and contemporary. I also checked out the KAWS exhibit which brought in a lot of young people under 30 to the museum. Really cool.

Three Picasso pieces. The left was from the 1920 period while the two on the left were from his “blue” period.

People like to imitate the art installations from KAWS, an American artist from New Jersey.

Don Alfonso 1890 (One Michelin Star)

Love to explore the food scene when I travel and Toronto is a recent addition to the Michelin ratings. Toronto has one two-star and 14 one-Star restaurants. So I booked a table months in advanced on Open Table for Don Alfonso, located on the 38th floor of the Westin, along the water. Beautiful location and since the dollar is stronger, I splurged and added the premium wine tasting to the $220 (Canadian) tasting menu.

Also, this was my first Italian Michelin experience, so was curious to learn more about Italian pairings. There were seven dishes, including dessert. They also had a basic bread service to start.

Bison

I would say the stand out dishes were the bison paired with a Rossi Di Montalcino (Sangiovese wine), and the pheasant ravioli paired with a 2006 Barolo. Everyone was super nice and attentive, and they make everyone feel comfortable without any pretension.

Exploring the City by Streetcar and Subways

I took the streetcar (upper right photo), subway (bottom left), and UP express train (to Airport). Just used Apple Pay to tap in and out.

It seems you can really get around Toronto by taking the streetcar, which run above ground, and the subway, which is underground, and then walking. There is a thing called a “Pearson” card, but I was able to just use my phone to pay by Apple Pay, and this seems to include the two-hour transfer that comes with the fair.

Google maps definitely will help you find your way, but I did get on the wrong subway once mainly because I didn’t make note of the final train stop, and thus the direction I would need to take. But this definitely will save you money, especially getting to and from the airport. I took the Union-Pearson (UP) express train from Union Station to the Pearson Airport and it only cost a few dollars, compared to a $60 Uber ride.

LAST WORDS

I absolutely loved Toronto. It felt like a city but not as frenetic. It also had Portland 90’s vibe in terms of how people dressed and walked about. I even checked out their “time square” called Yonge and Dundas square and it was lively but felt really safe. But the best part was how truly diverse the city seems to be and how comfortable everyone seems to be with each other. I’m glad I explored different parts of the city on public transportation as I was able to get a feel for the city. Usually in Bay Area public transportation you’ll see some unsavory characters but I didn’t really see that in Toronto. The TCS waterfront half marathon seems like a race well suited for travelers, but just skip the “food” at the end and explore the restaurants around the area.

Yonge and Dundas square on a Friday night

Fly.Run. Drink: Chicago Magnificent Mile 5K!

“Standing tall…on the wings of my dreams…”was the theme song to Perfect Strangers that I had in my head on my way to Chicago this past weekend. For such a major city, it was very clean and I never felt unsafe in the downtown area. If you want to know what it’s like to run a race, go to Wrigley Field and check out the Second City comedy club, please read on.

FLY

In order to make the most of our first day, we took a Southwest 5:50am direct flight from Oakland to arrive at Midway by around noon. I still like wearing my mask on my plane, and brought a sandwich and empanada to hold me over while I watched Ashoka on my phone.

This was the first time using my new travel backpack (Topo Design) I’m hoping to use for trips less than a week. It felt great on my back AND it actually fit under the chair if I remove my water bottle and food.

I also did some research and downloaded this Ventra app so I could load a $15 three day unlimited pass on my phone to take the chicago train line around the city. From Midway it was pretty easy to take the Orange line to get our running bib and then hop on the Red line to the hotel.

RUN

Absolutely love to sign up for races when I travel and this was one of the best 5K experiences I’ve had: the Mag Mile 5K/10K put on by Venture Endurance Events (I think they are the same ones that put on the “Hot chocolate run” around the country). Sure the course was just an out and back, so not complicated, but it was on Chicago’s busy Magnificent Mile, which was closed to traffic just for the race. I saw the Bean, the Art Institute, and of course the beautiful architecture along the course.

There were only about 2,500 runners for both distances, but it felt like a pretty big race; they had six starting corrals and the lead 5K runner finished before the last group even started (so the last corral had to wait over 15 minutes for the other corrals to start). Easy to get to on the red line for the 7am start. And packet pickup was very organized.

One of the most impressive things was the pullover they gave away with your ~$40 race fee. It wasn’t a cheap t-shirt that will shrink once you wash it, it was a nice quality pullover that would be perfect for cold race mornings. This is one I will keep.

And finally, the post-race activity was one I actually enjoyed because it included actual food. You get your standard water, Gatorade, and banana, but you also get a nice size waffle, a plump mouth-watering sausage, a slice of Cheesecake, a free beer, and two free samples of food from food vendors. I’ve never seen a race with all the runners sitting down in a park enjoying a nice meal after a 5k!

DRINK (and other stuff you can do)

Wrigley Field

I feel even if you aren’t a baseball fan, you should check out Wrigley Field. It’s a classic baseball park without any waterfalls, large videos, or play slides. It was built in 1911, is the second oldest only to Fenway, and is also a National Landmark. Easy to get to on the Red Line (putting my unlimited pass to good use) and the Cubs fans are passionate. We sat on the right field side and it was pretty windy, but my 5K race pullover kept me nice and warm.

Chicago Food

Definitely not the healthiest, but I tried some of Chicago’s most iconic foods. I feel you try it once and then next time I can explore more of Chicago’s wide variety of foods. But for this trip it was:

– Chicago Dog

Our first day we stumbled on a random hot dog spot and got the classic Chicago Dog. It seems like this mainly has a lot of tart, crunchy and peppery toppings since it has that bright relish, pickle and peppers on the hot dog. Glad I tried it and it set me back ~$4 but probably not going to line up for another one anytime soon.

– Deep Dish Pizza

There are many options but we chose Lou Malnati’s. There was a 40 minute wait on Friday night but we were able to pre-order our pizza when we put our name on the wait lists since it takes a while for deep dish to cook. Went with the “Lou”, which includes vegetables as toppings. I was able to put down half a pizza but it was very cheesy and that was a lot of bread to consume. And half a deep dish really is overdoing it, so maybe less is more for this one.

– Al’s Beef Sandwich

This is basically like a roast beef sandwich on a white roll with au jus. What I didn’t understand was the difference between Wet and Dipped. So if you want your bread soaked in au jus, that’s “dipped”. All “wet” means is they take the meat, dip it in the au Jus then on the bread. So it’s not nearly as messy as the “dipped” option. Definitely hit the spot after the cubs game, and nice to eat with fries and a drink.

Second City Comedy Show

It’s amazing to think how many famous comedians have come through Second City: Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Keenan Michael Keen, etc. So I really wanted to see something here and it seems they have mutiple shows a night. The location is pretty big – an entire multi-story building. There is a main stage where the newest show is the headline. That was sold out. So I went with the “Best of Second City” and went with the value seats for $39 plus fees. This just meant I would be at the back of the club. For me, this was great because the show was actually a mix of very short sketches (couple seconds), to full sketches for a minutes or so. Then they also had pure improv bits and long bits that including crowd participation, always from the front of the club. So if you pay premium, your chances of being part of the improve greatly increases. No drink minimum but I did enjoy two old fashioned cocktails while I was there.

LAST WORDS

From one of the many dispensaries. This is called “granny panties”.

Just like San Francisco or Oakland, Chicago gets a lot of press for bad things happening, but I absolutely loved visiting Chicago! Although I didn’t intentionally seek out any bad areas, I felt completely safe taking the train every where downtown and we even went to Chinatown. It is way cleaner than San Francisco and everyone seemed friendly. Definitely seems like a running town and we lucked out with the weather being perfect. I do recommend checking out a show at Second City – just avoid the premium seats, lest you want to be brought up onstage and sing a Blink 182 song.

Fly.Run. Drink: Barry McGee art Exhibit Los Angeles

You know the opening scene of the Welcome to the Jungle video, where a young Axl Rose gets off a bus at the seedy underbelly of Los Angeles? I decided I want to run to there while I was in town to check out the Barry McGee art installation this weekend…please read on to find out what fun and games I got myself into.

FLY

Barry McGee, aka Twist, is one of my favorite artists because he was one of the graffiti names I saw on buses and walls when I was a kid growing up in San Francisco in the 90’s. So when the Perrotin Gallery said his exhibit is free but the last day was 4/23, I used my Southwest miles and booked a quick flight to Burbank on 4/22.

I also had a free hotel night from Hotels.com so applied that credit to a room at the Palihouse hotel, as that was central to the exhibit and this restaurant I wanted to check out. I think this is one of those “boutique” hotels, as evidence from the $13 artesenal water in my room (which I drank before discovering the liquor store across the street).

$13 artesian water. Yes, I tried it. And it tastes like water.

RUN

With the hotel being on 3rd street in West Hollywood, La Brea avenue wasn’t too far. So I decided I would jog my way to 6th and La Brea. I haven’t been running much, and definitely not street running, but so glad I went for it. Now, I can’t exactly tell if this is the same spot, but it sort of looks like it so I’m gonna believe it is.

Left side the the scene from Welcome to the Jungle; on the right is 6th and La Brea, West Hollywood.

DRINK (among other things)

Barry McGee Earthworm exhibit at Perrotin Gallery

I’m not an art aficionado by any stretch, but I am a fan of graffiti, particularly any graffiti from San Francisco during my high school years in the 90’s. This was a soft open for the Perrotin gallery and it was free. I spent about an hour there and I do recommend asking the staff some questions, as doing so allowed me to identify the art work from artists like Ruby Neri, Margaret Kilgallen, and Alicia McCarthy, all artists during the same era as Twist. My favorite pieces are any work that has traces of his graffiti background, so when the staff showed me the parking lot wall with new Twist graffiti, it made my day to see he still has that love for spray paint even though he is an accomplished artist.

Maude

Great dining experience here at one Michelin star restaurant from chef Curtis Stone. This was also the only time I ever tried the wine pairing, which I only did since the rest of the trip was basically free. I made reservations on Resy and had to pre-pay $175, which would be applied to my bill.

Tasting Menu with Reserve Wine Pairing list

My favorite dishes were the pasta paired with Rioja, wasabi cracker paired with Champagne, and the dessert pairing. Everything was excellent, not a lot of overpowering sauces, and the pacing was great, I never felt like I was waiting too long for a dish. Everyone was super friendly and attentive and I never felt out of place, even though this was Beverly Hills.

Magnolia Bakery

I went here twice because it was right across the street from my hotel. Apparently it’s a New York bakery that is supposed to have amazing banana pudding. That doesn’t really sound appealing but it’s more like a thick cream that isn’t too sweet or too- banana-y. I can see why it’s popular but I’m not thinking about it the next day. The cupcakes are solid but I didn’t feel the need to bring some on the plane or anything like that.

Give it a try

LAST WORDS

The Perrotin gallery seems like a great place to visit, it’s small so you could see everything on display pretty easily. There’s also Leo’s taco truck a five minute walk away. I was a little nervous going to dinner at Beverly Hills but it was fine, there aren’t a lot of Michelin star restaurants in Los Angeles, so try to check one out if you can afford it. I was full afterwards, but I still had some space to eat some left over banana pudding in my fancy boutique hotel room fridge.

Cupcake from Magnolia, with $13 water in the background.

Fly. Run. Drink: Santa Barbara Half Marathon!

Just ran my first half marathon since 2018 and it was awesome. Santa Barbara is a great place to fall in love with running again. If you haven’t run a race in Santa Barbara before, please read on.

FLY

The direct flight from Oakland to Santa Barbara was only one hour and since I used Southwest miles, the flight cost me $11.60. So I caught the 9am flight and arrived in Santa Barbara by 10:20am or so. Since my hotel check-in time wasn’t until 4pm, I had to kill some time and got my bib and shirt and scoped out the starting line location.

View from the plane

West Beach Inn

I’m really happy I got a hotel maybe a 10 minute walk from the race start. Nothing special about the hotel – they have coffee and complimentary breakfast snacks (think oatmeal, bagel, banana) and also complimentary wine at 5:30pm. It’s a little further from the restaurants but across the street from the beach. There is a 7-11 a few blocks away which was clutch because I needed some Tylenol after the half. It was quiet and perfect for my first half.

RUN

Such a great course and well organized and great people. The course is sort of a “T” shape, and loops along the beach in two directions before ending up on the main street of the downtown area called State Street.

On paper this looks like a flat course, but the locals I talked warned me there is a slight incline that keeps going for two miles until mile 12. Then the last mile is flat and fast but at this point I was shuffling.

I met so many cool people on the race and it seems a good amount of people from California travel to this race and for good reason. There were great volunteers and locals cheering the runners on, even runners like me near the back of the pack.

Once you cross the finish line, it’s funny they make you walk a pretty long distance to get your medal and water. There was a tiny snack table and the line for the free beer was so long I just skipped it as I was close to my hotel at that point.

Highly recommend this race for anyone, even if you haven’t run one before or haven’t run in a while.

DRINK

Sushi Bar| Montecito

Great experience at this one-Michelin star restaurant about a 10 minute Uber ride from the hotel. I paid a $25 deposit to make reservations on Tock a month or so before my travels and thankful they don’t have a dress code so I wore my asics Kayanos to the dinner. The restaurant offers a creative 17 course prix fixe menu of nigiri dishes for $145. There are three seatings per night and only 10 reservations per seating.

The best courses for me were the veal bone marrow nigiri and the raw A5 Wagyu nigiri. First time I ever had raw beef and I felt fine. They close with a very delicious and creative dessert of matcha ice cream bon-bon that you bite and then sip on a very alcoholic sake/whiskey hot green tea.

Not gonna lie. I was a little hungry after this.

Santa Barbara Shellfish Company

Located on the pier next to a lot of touristy spots, I felt I had to try some local Santa Barbara uni from the source. I like uni in small doses, so I’m happy they had an uni shooter, with a quail egg and tobasco. Also tried the lobster roll ($34) with additional uni on top ($14). They give you a lot of lobster but I don’t know if the uni was necessary. Also added some oysters from Baja. Good experience and about what you would expect price-wise.

Bottom left picture is the amazing uni shooter, with quail egg for $8.

Shoreline Beach Cafe

Definitely my favorite spot because it was pretty far from everything and inexpensive. I wanted to eat some seafood and rice as my meal the night before the race and this place was perfect. It was a nice 15 minute walk along Santa Barbara waterfront. Super safe and peaceful and I was able to order my food to go and bring it back to my room. I had grilled salmon and rice with fries for maybe $20 and I was perfectly satiated for my run.

Watching Andor while eating Salmon, rice and fries. What more do you need, really?

Santa Barbara Fishouse

I don’t know if it was because this was the first place I ate on my travel day after walking around downtown Santa Barbara killing time, but this place hit the spot. I ordered way too much food but everything was super flavorful and the location was across the beach and pretty spacious.

I decided to have a glass of some local white wine to go with my oysters and seafood. Their Mahi salad came with a generous portion of fish. I didn’t realize this so I also ordered the Sea Bass meal, but luckily that fish was very thin, so I devoured that no problem.

Kumiai oysters, Sea bass on potatoes, and salad with mahi mahi. And a glass of Chardonnay.

LAST WORDS

This trip reminded me why I love running. All the runners I met were great and supportive and the location was stunning. This was such a great half marathon course because it was challenging yet doable and I feel anyone can get through it if you keep putting one foot in front of the other. There are plenty of places to eat and drink and everyone is really chill and friendly.

Santa Barbara sky at 5:09pm after the rain on a Monday.

Fly. Run. Drink: US Open in New York!

I’ve been to New York a few times before, but I guess that was before I got into running. In addition to visiting the US Open for the first time, this was the first time I ran in Central Park, and along the Hudson River Greenway and to Washington Square Park. Please read on to find out more…

FLY

This was definitely my longest flight since the pandemic and masks weren’t required, but I wore my N95 mask anyways. We flew United economy so we brought food on the plane to keep us satiated for the 5+ hour flight. After four episodes of the Ms. Marvel series I downloaded on my phone, I was in Newark New Jersey by around 7pm local time. Then hopped on the New Jersey transit and got to Penn Station in about 30 minutes.

View from the One World Trade Center

We stayed at the Homewood Suites on West 37th, mainly for its proximity to Penn Station so we can get to the LIRR for the US Open.

Great coffee and cheap pizza walking distance from the hotel!

There was a small amount of drug users and dealing going on near our hotel, and I saw a little scuffle, but I feel this is par for the course. But the hotel was clutch because it was .3 miles from Penn Station, had good coffee on the same block, and was near a CVS, 7-11 and a cheap pizza place.

RUN

Being my first time running in Manhattan, I naively thought “how hard could it be to run the streets of Manhattan.” But the articles I saw all suggested running where there are long stretches, like Central Park and the Hudson River greenway. I think they were right to find running paths:

Hudson River Greenway

4 mile run along the Greenway to Washington Square Park.

I ran the Greenway both north from West 37th and south, and I definitely think running south was much more scenic. There were way more bicyclists out when I ran, and there were both paths for bikers and runners/walkers (at least I think there were).

What was great about going this direction is the clean public restroom at “Little Island” park right on the Greenway. It was a nice little park with great views of both Manhattan and Jersey and a water filling station as well as restrooms.

Little Island. It’s basically a public park with a legit bathroom!

View from top of Little Island

Afterwards I decided to make a run for Washington Square park for a some people watching. Lot of people sitting around the park at 9am.

HAD to run here because this is where the show Impractical Jokers filmed many a times.

Central Park

Apparently the park loop is about 6 miles, but my hotel was about 1.2 miles away. AND, I wanted to stop by Levain bakery to get some cookies, which would add .5 miles; luckily, Central Park has many paths where you could cross over from west to east and get a variety of distances. So I ran from West 37th to the west side of Central Park and ran the main road until the 86th traverse. Then I realized I reached the east side pretty quick, so decided to run around the 1.5 mile reservoir within the park.

Route around Central Park to Levain Bakery and to St. Patricks’s cathedral.

Never knew Central Park was so beautiful.

This was a 7am on a Thursday, and I swear there were hundreds of runners, all fit, running the park in a clockwise direction (I was running counterclockwise, not sure the difference). It all felt very safe and had some gorgeous views.

DRINK (and eat and other things)

US Open

You could take the subway multiple stops to the US open, or take the LIRR train like three stops and get to the US Open, I chose the latter. Super easy and the US Open is a short walk from the station.

Easy to get to from the train station

Rublev and Tiafoe

I had tickets to Arthur Ashe stadium, which is the main court you come across as you enter. There was a good variety food options at the large food court area in front of Arthur Ashe, but I would say the food is just alright. I was hoping to refill a water bottle but ended up buying a bunch of water.

The match, on the other hand, was spectacular. I loved how the US Open draws such an international crowd. One thing to note is the quarterfinal tickets are sold for either the morning games or the evening games. I got the morning games and I got to see a woman’s quarterfinal (Sabalenka v Pliskova) and the men’s quarterfinal (Tiafoe v Rublev). The night match is usually for the higher seeds or more in demand matchups, but I was so happy I got to see Tiafoe (last remaining American) make a run after beating Nadal. He won the quarters but lost in the semis against eventual winner , Alcaraz.

Kochi (Hell’s Kitchen)

One fun thing to do when traveling to cities like New York is to try one of the Michelin rated restaurants. Kochi is a one-star Michelin rated restaurant, meaning it’s “worth a stop” while you are traveling for very high quality cooking. It’s a Korean restaurant that prepares many dishes using “skewers”, which is what Kochi means in Korean. The 9-course prix fixe tasting menu will set you back $135 and it’s worth it. My favorite was the duck dish – I usually do not prefer duck dishes because it tends to be fatty and chewy, but they prepare it in such a way the fat has been reduced but without comprising flavor.

I tasted two different Sojus, but went with the Yangchon Chungju because it was atypical for soju.

MJ show (On Broadway)

Seeing a Broadway show is a must, and I chose to see the Sunday matinee of the MJ show, where the lead performer just won a Tony for this performance. It’s a story leading up to Michael Jackson’s “Dangerous” tour, and it includes music from the Jackson 5 days up to his current music for the tour, along with some original songs for the show, and covers/reveals some aspects of his life you may not be aware of. The original music isn’t going to be memorable or anything but the dancing and replaying of MJ’s hits is what makes this a great show.

Cast warming up before the show (which I think was part of the show!)

Museum of Modern Art (MOMA)

There are so many famous museums in Manhattan, I actually thought I had been here before. But I’m so glad I decided to visit on a whim. So many famous works of art all in one place. I felt it was spacious enough and you definitely have a chance to stare at a painting for a long time. Masks were required and the workers regulated on people trying to pull their mask down for a selfie (“no selfie for you!”).

Clockwise from top left: Dali, Derain, Matisse, Picasso, Kahlo, Pollack

There is a cafe, and the food was pretty good, but the line was pretty long. I feel like 45 minutes to wait to order (you queue to place your order, they give you a number and you find a seat and they bring your food).

Food at MOMA was good, but you don’t need to buy the expensive bottled water. Just ask for a carafe of regular water.

LAST WORDS

I absolutely love visiting Manhattan. If you haven’t done the US Open, go to the website and buy tickets early for a quarterfinal and just go. You’ll learn who you get to see a few days before. I feel you really should enjoy a Broadway show because they don’t last forever, and I like the shows that have more upbeat music so MJ was perfect for me. And finally, treat yourself to some fine dining if you can afford it. Not every city has these types of restaurants so it’s nice to experience this (then balance it out with some $1 pizza the next day).

One World Trade Center

But I will say, Manhattan is busy, and loud, but the locals I met were are really nice and helpful. Go for a run and explore and when you get back home you’ll be amazed at how quiet your place seems compared to Manhattan.

Fly. Run. Drink: La Jolla!

I needed to find a nice place to relax for the weekend and decided to spend a few days in beautiful La Jolla, California . Totally worth it. If you’ve never been to La, Jolla please read on…

FLY

I had Southwest miles, so I booked direct flights from Oakland to San Diego and it only cost me $11.60. I took off at 3:30pm and arrived in San Diego around 5pm and hopped in a Lyft (~$30) and was in La Jolla by 6pm on Friday.

Ride share area is across the sky bridge.

Where to Stay

I feel everything in La Jolla is expensive if you are near the beach with hotels bordering $500/night (it was graduation weekend, so pricey). I wanted to be walking distance to everything and I booked the Inn by the Sea, La Jolla, for about half that on Hotels.com, BUT, it was pretty basic (i.e., you’re just paying for the room, so don’t expect a whole lot of “nice touches” from the hotel) and they also messed up my reservation, but reduced my cost only after I showed them my Hotels.Com reservation. So it’s kind of you get what you pay for, and I was really paying for location so I’m cool with it.

RUN

San Diego Running Tours

About a 4 mile route

I did not find any 5Ks for the weekend, but I did find this La Jolla Running Tour for $40. Really cool idea as the meeting place was 5 minutes from my hotel, and the guide took me on a very nice coastal run up and down the coast, and through some residential areas to some local beach spots that I would not have visited on my own. You get a shirt with the cost of the tour and it last about an hour and you cover 4 miles or so and run about a 12 minute pace. The guide is a Boston Marathon type marathoner and was very informative and fun to run with. We started at 9am though, and it did feel pretty warm on the run.

Mount Soledad

So the next morning, I decided to head out at 6:30 am and tackle the highest point in the area: Mount Soledad national monument. The route on Google doesn’t really put you on the best “running path”, but I got a tip from the tour yesterday to run through the “La Jolla Natural Park” trailhead. It was so worth it and it felt like a hidden gem as I didn’t see anyone else out there. After the climb up the park, the route gets a little curious as it goes through some very expensive houses, and you have to enter what seems like an enclosed area to get to the road leading up to national monument, but I think everyone does this. The total elevation gain was about 900 feet.

Hidden trailhead off Al Bahr street

Not at the view from Mt. Soledad, but a view from La Jolla Natural Park

I’m told the view form the top allows you to see Mexico and a 360 degree view of San Diego – on a clear day. Unfortunately for me it was overcast, so I couldn’t see much, but fortunately that meant it was much cooler for my run. Naturally, I got lost on the way back but eventually found my way.

DRINK

Taco Stand

This spot is mentioned in the Michelin app and was a short walk from my hotel. There is a line and it takes about 25 minutes because they make the food to order – meaning the tortillas are rolled and grilled right when you order it. So cool! I got the California Burrito, chicken taco and freshly made Churros. Churros are usually old and stale so I was blown away with how a freshly made churro tasted. All of that was like $25 with a Dos Equis, so great price for the area.

El Pescador Fish Market

Right near the Taco Stand was this fish market that I hadn’t heard of before; but sometimes, the best places are the ones you stumble upon. They had so many fish options and you could get it in a sandwhich, plate or salad. I went with the local yellowtail salad and added half dozen oysters an order of sashimi and a local blonde beer to wash it down. Awesome meal – I probably would skip the sashimi next time.

Phantom Creek oysters, meaty and briny

Bird Rock Roasters

I’ve ordered beans from here before and I wanted to visit one of their many stores. So I walked the 2.3 miles from La Jolla Cove via the La Jolla bike trail to the La Jolla location. Very nice vibe here and they made a solid pour over of their Guatemalan Java beans. I also brought home two bags of beans. I took a $10 Lyft back home afterwards.

Puesto

I figure since San Diego is known for Mexican food, especially tacos, and since this place is also mentioned in the Michelin app, I might as well check in out. I got four tacos and the best were the filet mignon and breaded fish tacos. The shrimp ceviche was OK and I topped it off with their Cadillac Margarita.

Watching the Sea Lions!

No, this isn’t food, but it seems the sea lions are always hanging out along the La Jolla coast, it’s just fun to sit there at any time of day and just watch them lounge around and make bellowing noises. I knew there could be a smell but it wasn’t that bad really. I learned the “sea lions” can sort of push themselves up and are larger while seals are leaner and can’t get up of the ground. So I think these are all sea lions.

LAST WORDS

Sometimes you just need some time to relax, and not think about work or other things, and I think chill places like La Jolla are perfect for that. Not a lot of hustle and bustle and I only met really chill people, and did not notice any knuckleheads, or frats bros. It’s not really a “night life” sort of place, it’s more a place for outdoor enjoyment, I feel. I say stay away from the restaurants closest to the beach and explore Pearl Street (Taco Stand and Pescador Fish Market are there).

Fly. Run. Drink: Newport Beach!

Just got back from a short weekend trip to visit family in Southern California and am so glad I squeezed in a 6 mile run to Newport Beach just to get a Cronut. Was it worth it? Please read on to find out…

FLY

I brought fruit and bought this salad at the Oakland airport.

I thought about driving the 6 hours to Southern California but opted to take the hour and a half flight from Oakland to the Santa Ana Airport in Orange County. This was the first time flying when masks were optional, but I still wore a mask on the plane. With TSA-pre and just a backpack, it was easy getting in an out of security.

I decided on the Hyatt Regency because it had a free shuttle and it seemed close enough to a restaurant I wanted to check out and was running distance to Newport Beach. The room was OK, and it was nice they have a cafe at the lobby where I can buy stuff like bottled water and bananas.

Room at the Hyatt Regency by the John Wayne Airport

RUN

I plotted a route to Seaside Bakery in Newport Beach just so I could have a destination, then I would take an Uber back. This was about 6.2 miles from my hotel, but the first 5 miles were in plain residential streets with nothing else to see on the run.

I talked to a walker who encouraged me to keep going since “Newport Beach was only a mile away,” but when I got there, I realized Seaside Bakery was still another mile into Newport Beach. Not to be denied my cronut, I kept going and was feeling more energized as there were more stores to look at on my run.

It was getting a little warm by 8am so glad I wore a running hat and brought my water bottle. The route is pretty flat, and you have to go up an overpass, and many sidewalks disappear, but it was a great run.

Finally made it to Newport Beach!

DRINK

Seaside Bakery

So worth it! The Cronut (a cross between a donut and a croissant, I think) was only $2 and really hit the spot after a 6 mile run. And you are right across the beach and there were a ton of people out at 8:30am on a Sunday morning. I think it’s better I ran because the traffic was busy just trying to get to the beach. This place is cash only and, there was only a few minutes wait to place your order.

Newport Coffee Company

Didn’t expect to go here but noticed this place as I was wandering the area. They have their own beans, but I opted for Nitro Cold brew on tap. Totally hit the spot and went great with my Cronut.

Omakase at Ootoro

Otoro location in Irvine, a mile from John Wayne airport.

For dinner, I made reservations at a Japanese restaurant about a mile from the hotel. Such a great experience. I’ve had “Omakase” before and I know they could be pricy, but I feel this place really gives you some unique and high quality dishes. “Omakase” basically means “I leave it up to you” so you eat whatever the sushi chef makes for you. So there is no set menu for Omakase, and I had no idea how much food I would get, or what I was eating, and that made it that much more interesting.

Clockwise from top left: Santa Barbara uni with seaweed; Uni on bread; west coast oyster with caviar, uni/roe; scallops with uni and caviar;

There ended up being about 18 small dishes that were all amazing, but I was really impressed with the oysters and uni and roe and oysters with caviar. The most unique thing I ate was “shirako,” which the server described as “male eggs,” to which I nodded politely as I bit down on the chewy shirako. Only later did I look this up to learn I just ate the sperm sac from some fish. I’m really glad I didn’t know that before shoving it down my mouth. It also just dawned on me that the buttery uni I just ate, those orange/yellow colored tongue looking things, are the gonads of the sea urchin.

Clockwise from top left: appetizer w/ shirako, baked oyster, scallop; crab salad; fried smelt; sea snail.

The final dish were two small slices of Miyazaki Wagyu A5 rib eye cooked right in front of you. It was alright, but I feel the seafood dishes were really the highlight. Highly recommend but it’s not cheap but I felt it was very high quality.

Clockwise top left: uni with oyster and egg; engawa nigiri; Miyazaki Wagyu; Needlefish nigiri and Bonito nigiri; Kama toro; toro steak.

LAST WORDS

Im glad I decided to fly instead of drive as I didn’t have to deal with sitting in a car for 12 hours or worrying about traffic and parking. The trade off is taking some pricey Uber rides as everything is spread out in Southern California. Newport Beach was really lively, but the hotels there were super expensive, so I’m glad I stayed further and got in some miles…but I was pretty tired and sore for the flight back. If you got the funds, call Ootoro a week ahead and make a reservation and ask to sit at the bar.

Fly.Run.Drink: Seattle Tenacious 10K!

Just got back from a short trip to Seattle to run the Tenacious Ten around beautiful Lake Union in Seattle, Washington! If you haven’t visited the Pacific Northwest please read on to find out what it’s like to visit during a cool April weekend…

FLY

Since the race was on a Saturday with bib pickup on Friday, I took Friday off to catch an 11am flight out of Oakland and landed in Sea-Tac airport around 1pm. I wore my mask the whole flight and watched Bobba Fett on my phone to pass the time.

Once we landed, we walked towards ground transportation to find the ride share area on the 3rd floor of the garage. We decided we would just take a Lyft/Uber everywhere but we didn’t realize Seattle was so big. It was about $50 from the airport to Downtown Seattle.

We stayed at the Courtyard Marriott right along the race route on Lake Union, so a little north of downtown. Then we headed out to get our bib near the University of Washington, about 4 miles from our hotel so not exactly walking distance, so we had to take another Uber which cost about $37 (then about a $30 Uber back afterwards so you can see this is going to add up!)

View of lake from our hotel

RUN

The race started at 8am so we took a ~$15 Lyft around 7:30am and made it with plenty of time to find the start and use the restrooms. It was cool but not raining and I wore a light running jacket, running shorts and running gloves. I would say about 400 people ran the 10K and maybe 200 ran the 10 miler.

Probably one of the more beautiful starting /finishing areas with the entire Seattle skyline as your backdrop. It was a really nice run around the Lake and it was well marked with plenty of volunteers. Only one water stop and one porta potty that I noticed. All on road and a few small inclines and some street and bridge crossings.

There really wasn’t much to do after the run as the “snacks” table consisted of pop tarts, ding dongs and chips so we went to grab some breakfast nearby. I should note we turned down the running shirt/gear that usually comes with a race because doing so saved us $25 from our race entry fee.

DRINK

Pike’s Place Public Market

Lots to check out here, both walking into the Market and the street adjacent to the main entrance with the “Public Market” sign where everyone takes pictures. I would suggest to dress warm if it looks cold out as many of the places are outside or open air seating so it could get chilly. I really liked Piroshki, Piroshki and Pike’s Place Chowder.

The Lobster Roll and Clam Chowder at Pike’s Place Chowder were good. The lobster roll had warm lobster, but it will set you back $30. We waited in line for maybe 20 minutes. Also this is located on a side street so you need to walk around the small alley adjacent to the main market.

We also went to the original Starbucks that had a 40 minute wait to get in as there is no indoor dining, you just order and wait for your drink and then leave. I got the Pike’s Place reserve beans to bring home which they tell me they only sell at this location.

Knee High Stocking

Located in the Capital Hill area, had such a good time getting a drink and Filipino food at Knee High Stocking (~$15 Lyft ride from the hotel). It’s a small space with reservations required for this speakeasy (no signage at front except a small sign near the doorbell). A few weeks before my trip I texted the number on the website and they reserved table and they also texted me the day of to confirm my reservation. The drinks were excellent and well balanced and I ordered lumpia and a chicken adobo sandwich, with fries.

Johnnie Walker Black Whisky, Amaro Meletti, Amaro Cynar, Honey Simple, Cardamom Bitters, Cinnamon (Spirit fwd, herbal) ~ “Thank You for Smoking” cocktail

Pie Bar

Then we asked the host at Knee High Stocking where we should go afterwards and she recommended Pie Bar right across the street. Also somewhat mysterious how to get in, but you sort of just walk up to the door (that is blocked off with a chain, like at a club) and wait for the bartender to check your ID. But what a great idea, you can order fun drinks and also order a variety of pies. SO GOOD. I ordered the Peanut Butter pie with a scoop of ice cream and a hot cocktail I think called the Butter Baby, with Butterscotch Shapps and Hot cocoa and they melted sugar or something around the glass. Highly recommend but not sure the best thing the night before a race!

Space Needle

Yes, a super touristy thing to do, and true this isn’t the highest view of Seattle, it was still fun to go up the needle (~ $25 Lyft ride from Gas Works Park after the race). Couple things I didn’t know:

1. You reserve a time to go up the Needle. So after the race we went here first thinking we could just go in right away but the next available time was an hour later, so we just booked an afternoon spot for $33.

2. There is a restaurant, a bar and a cafe up there. The outside area could get really cold so bundle up!

3. After our scheduled time to “go-in” we still had about a 40 minute wait for the elevator to take us up. We spent maybe 30 minutes hanging out and taking pictures.

Hood Famous

Ube cheesecake, Ube Daiquiri, and Old Fashioned with Filipino rum

Then afterwards, we walked to the Chinatown area to check out the Filipino owned Hood Famous bakery, known for their Ube Cheesecake. Ube is basically a purple yam that is really prevalent in Filipino cuisine, and I loved how this place incorporated it into both the cheesecake and this Ube Daquiari. Highly recommend if you want a chill place to hang out and represent the Filipino culture. I also got educated on Coffee from the Philippines and learned there are some roasters trying to bring beans from the Phillipines. I never knew the Phillipines grew their own beans so I am looking forward to making a pour over of this Fulcrum Coffee I brought home from Hood Famous (~$20 Lyft back to our hotel).

LAST WORDS

I’ve been to Seattle a couple times now and have always enjoyed visiting. It feels like a really chill place and somewhat similar to the Bay Area. There are transients and homeless tents scattered about but I may be accustomed to seeing this being from the Bay Area. I was approached by a few homeless people a couple of times while walking to the International/Chinatown area at night but it wasn’t anything I haven’t seen before. Some places (Like Beth’s Cafe) have closed so double check both Yelp, Google and call places before you go and be ready for a chance of random rain by wearing a hoody or light rain jacket.

Fly. Run. Drink: Davis Stampede 10K!

I just ran my first 10K since 2019 and visited my alma mater for the first time in a VERY long time and had a blast running the 39th annual Davis Stampede in Davis, CA. If you want to read what it’s like to run your old college town please read on!

Fly (Or Drive)

There was a little traffic getting to Davis, CA for the holiday weekend. It was probably a good 2 hours from Contra Costa County with a couple accidents on the freeway.

I decided to stay at the Aggie Inn since it’s right in downtown and near campus and restaurants. The race start was a short 5 minute drive from the Inn, so on Saturday, I did some recon and got my bib, checked out the race parking, and found where the race starts.

RUN

There were about 1,000 runners either running the half, 10K, 5K, or 2K distance on a cool February Sunday morning. It was in the 40’s, but most people at least had gloves or a long sleeve on, so I’m glad I wore my light running jacket, which I gear-checked right before the race.

The 10k route was well-marked and does a meandering loop throughout Davis. And even though I lived here back in the day, I barely recognized any of the places on the course. Another reason why I love running – I feel running a city gives you a different view, and I appreciate race organizers who try to plot out a course that isn’t just an out-and-back.

10K course

It was pretty quiet over the six mile course, with a few locals cheering, a good amount of volunteers and maybe two water stations. There were some inclines as you go over an overpass, and it’s all on road. Then after the race, you get a medal, grab an orange, and grab your gear check and head out as there’s not much else after that.

Post-run snack table

DRINK (and eat)

Mustard Seed

This is one of the top rated restaurants in Davis, so wanted to check it out. It’s cozy and the seating is pretty close-quarters. I made reservations on Open Table and the food is alright, but I don’t know if I’d go out of my way to eat here.

Temple Coffee

Must visit if you are a coffee fan. Huge location and knowledgeable staff when I went at 6am before the race. They made me a great pour over, and I also purchased some beans from Columbia and Guatemala to take home.

My Burma

Tea leaf salad. So good.

Usually when I travel it’s easy to skip out on veggies, but this restaurant had some great vegetarian dishes with tons of flavor. Burmese restaurants will usually have “tea leaf salad,” and My Burma didn’t disappoint. I also tried a drink straight out of a young coconut and platha, which is something like a flatbread. Also had the Veggie Tofu Kebat that had tofu, string beans, opa and was flavored with paprika and lemon. I was stuffed! Definitely worth a visit.

Drinking straight from a young coconut.

UC Davis

It’s been many, many years since I’ve been on campus, and it was so nice to be back. I didn’t fully appreciate the campus nor the city of Davis while I was here, but I had some fond memories, and it was fun to walk around and see some familiar buildings and businesses. I also walked around the Arboretum, which I didn’t even know existed when I was in school.

I did not know there were horses at the UC Davis Arboretum.

Insomnia Cookies

This place goes to show sometimes you find the best things accidentally. My post-race walk around Davis ended up in front of a place called “Insomnia cookies.” It seems they will deliver hot cookies to you up to 3am. Fascinating. I got six and now I see why – it’s basically that taste of a freshly baked cookie – soft, not crunchy, but delicious and not at all fancy. My favorite was the peanut butter cookie because I’m a peanut butter addict.

LAST WORDS

“24-hour room” where we used to practice our own version of studying.

When I was in college at UC Davis I volunteered for a 5K as part of a community service activity, and remember thinking “why would anyone wake up so early to run?!” And here I am many years later, visiting my alma mater and probably running that same race. Such a well organized race and such a chill and pleasant city with enough coffee and food options to keep you busy for a weekend.

FLY. RUN. DRINK: Portland in the snow!

I had plans to visit Portland the last week of December 2021, but a cold front and snow brought the temps to the 20’s! Will this and omicron detract my travel plans? Please read on to find out..

FLY

First off, flights the last week of December around Christmas are generally more expensive (round trip ~ $600!). But I was able to find a nonstop flight out of Oakland at 8:05am and then a separate flight back three days later at 9:30pm. I booked two separate flights since I used miles for the more expensive leg and paid $157 for the cheaper leg so my total flight cost after using miles was $162!

So, I got up at 4:30am on December 27, 2021 to drive to the Oakland airport in the pouring rain, passing multiple freeway crashes, and made it to the air port. With TSA pre I breezed through but then my flight was delayed for 40 minutes. I came prepared and had downloaded the entire season of Ted Lasso from the Apple TV app, so I was good.

Light rail @ PDX

At the Portland airport it was super easy to find the light rail to get me to the Downtown area. Everyone wore masks and everything seemed copacetic and safe. A ticket costs ~ $2.5 and it took about 40 minutes to get closer to the downtown area.

RUN

This trip solidified my belief that it doesn’t hurt to pack some running gear, even if you are traveling light. It was absolutely beautiful running in downtown Portland right after a fresh blanket of snow fell on a cold Tuesday morning on December 28.

Here is my running outfit that made me feel comfortable running three miles in the snow, even though I looked like an extra from Spider Man No Way Home:

⁃ compression socks

⁃ Running tights

⁃ Shorts over the tights

⁃ Long sleeve hooded base layer

⁃ Vest

⁃ Rain jacket

⁃ Fleece beanie

⁃ Gloves

-Kayanos (though I was cautious over icey/slushy ground)

The tip I read was to make sure you change out of your wet, sweaty clothes when you are done and to spend some time warming up (burpees!) before getting outside.

DRINK

Flying Fish Company

Great spot! I’m an oyster fan and I think places that have a chalk board that lists the rotating oysters they have that day is a tell tale sign of a good spot. Only outdoor seating in the 29 degree weather but they had heaters, but it was still cold.

I love sashimi and appreciated they offered salmon crudo, which is an Italian style of raw fish, for $16. This had a little kick as I think they garnish with diced jalepenos.

Also ordered a dozen of the Washington/Oregon oysters (Kokus, Tide Point, and Netarts) and they were all fresh and not briny but meaty. This will set you back $36.

Trailblazers Game

We splurged and got some nice lower level seats for about $150. I was hoping to see Luka Doncic play but it seems many players in general were out for Covid reasons. It was fun to see Bay Area natives Damian Lillard and Jason Kidd (head coaching the Mavericks) on the same court.

The Moda center, where the Trailblazers play, requires everyone to be vaccinated and I was able to clear my vaccination via an online process. The parking was completely full but we were able to find another lot a few minutes away.

Lechon

Amazing South American restaurant that has a great happy hour menu. I was basically able to order all the dishes I wanted to try for almost half off! The best dishes were definitely the Foraged Mushrooms and the Tuna Tiratido. Both dishes had a lot of flavors going on that worked together. The pork belly buns were pretty basic and plain, especially compared to the other two dishes.

Tuna ceviche

Foraged mushrooms

Kachka

My friend suggested we go to this James Beard nominated Russian restaurant, Kachka. I never had Russian food before and I’m really glad I tried this. We had early reservations so were able to take advantage of the happy hour menu.

Russian dumplings

It seems Russian meals involve a lot of small plates (zakuskis), that could be either warm or cold dishes. You order a variety of zakuskis and share them while drinking vodka (we tried vodka from Beluga, Russian Standard, and one Japanese Vodka.)

Rabbit stew

We ordered Russian caviar (mid-level ~$60 for 1 oz), Russian dumplings called “siberian pelmeni” with beef, veal, pork and onion and a doughy grilled piroshky looking dish called “imerulian khachapuri”. All very savory and filling. Then we also added rabbit stew that came with some sort of potato crispy hash brown that was so delicious with the rabbit stew sauce. All in all about $200 for two and that was with the happy hour pricing.

LAST WORD

So glad I took this trip and didn’t let a little cold weather ruin my plans. You just need to plan a little bit so you have the right gear to stay warm. I do think it was good that I researched places to go so I had backup plans when I bunch of locations were closed the days I was in Portland. But also stay open to discovering new places like Saint Cupcake (the picture for this post). There were definitely tents and homeless people out and about I didn’t feel unsafe walking past them at night, but I did avoid the more notorious old town area.