San Diego Workcation

Last week I got to take a workcation to the lovely city of San Diego for the AIAA Joint Propulsion Conference (aka - Nerd Convention).  My presentation was on Monday, so I made sure to take full advantage of my time in CA after I was done.  Yes, I did attend the rest of the conference...at least the portions that were applicable to me, but I also got in some quality "me time."  It was a wonderful little getaway and a nice little break in our typical training routine!

I stayed at the Marriot Marquis downtown right next to the convention center, which brought back fantastic memories of my first ever marathon!  (Flashback) When Matt and I first started dating he was "training" for the San Diego marathon.  I use the word training very loosely because he was more interested in hanging out with me than actually taking the race seriously.  Ahhhh, puppy love...where has the time gone?!?!?  Anyways, we ran together quite a bit, but never more than 3 miles at a time.  I went to San Diego with every intention of being his number one fan, but when we got to the expo at the Convention Center it was just too much to handle!  I am so frickin' competitive (and I really wanted the race shirt) that I was actually jealous of all the people doing the race and I started to think, "Why can't I do it too?"  With a little persuasion from Matt who told me he'd stay with me the entire race, I signed up on the spot!  I have never hurt so bad after a race in my entire life!  But I finished with Matt by my side and have never looked back since!  (End flashback)

Matt and I before the 2006 San Diego Marathon with Matt's friends from Case.

Seriously, if you ever go to San Diego I highly recommend this hotel!  It was by far the nicest hotel I have ever stayed in...even nicer that the Bellagio (in my opinion)!  I mean when was the last time you stayed at a hotel that had a fitness center with 12 treadmills, 8 elliptical machines, spin bikes, a separate room for yoga, that offered fitness classes, had personal trainers, and had a guy who walked around handing out ice cold water?!?!!?  Definitely top notch!  Plus it's right by the boardwalk, so I had an excellent running trail right outside my back door!  This was the loop I ran while I was down there:

Running trail.

It was all along the coastline and ended up in Esplanade Park which was beautiful.  In this park the trail went from pavement to a surface similar to the towpath, only it was compacted sand.  Bathrooms and water fountains were available pretty much every  mile.  The air was fresh, the temperature was in the mid to upper 70's, and the humidity was non-existent.  I could actually breathe and I ended up running the 10.5 mile loop at a faster pace than I can maintain back in Ohio.  It almost felt effortless!

I got in some biking at the fitness center and wanted to get in some swimming as well, but was too afraid to do an open water swim all by myself and didn't have time to hit up the local 24 Hour Fitness which apparently had a lap pool.  I did float around a bit in the hotel pool and relaxed by the poolside reading the book I brought along: Devoted.  This book is an excellent bio of Dick and Rick Hoyt (Team Hoyt) who are a father and son marathon and triathlon team.  Rick suffers from cerebral palsy and is bound to a wheelchair for life with no verbal communication nor control of his muscles.  He communicates through a computer specially designed for him and depends on personal assistants to care for him 24-7.  Dick has made a life out of pushing Rick in his racing chair through countless marathons (27 time Boston Finisher)  and has pulled him on a raft, pedaled him on his bike, and pushed him through several Ironman triathlons including Kona!  It is quite the inspirational story and will leave you with the feeling that if they can do it there is no reason you should not be able to do it!  The best advice I got from the book was that Ironman is not about time or place...it is 100% about finishing what you started.  This is exactly what I intend to do on September 11th....finish what I started.  I don't care if it takes me all 17 hours or longer for that matter.  All I want to do it finish!

In addition to my daily workouts I made sure to get in a little shopping at the local mall and treated myself to Thai food for lunch and lobster for dinner!  Below are some pics from the rest of my workcation.  Enjoy, and thanks for reading!

View from my hotel room balcony.

View from the boardwalk.

Lyle my lobster dinner!

Hotel pools at night.

Another view from the boardwalk.

Yet another view from the boardwalk.

The USS Midway aircraft carrier.  It's now a museum open for tours to the public.

USS Midway.

USS Midway.

USS Midway at night.