Tue 16 Aug 10.30pm
Yeehua sent me to airport, lugging 1 full luggage + 1 30L Backpack. Was full of my race gear/attire & cold wear (temperature in Leadville is between 1 degree celcius to 21 degree celcius).. wow.. haven't experienced such low temperature in a long while.
Checked in & hanged around the terminal for about 1hr before entering the departure lounge. My China Eastern flight MU 544 taxied into the runway from 12.45am, heading towards Pudong airport in Shanghai.
Arrived in Shanghai at about 6.05am. After passing through immigration, i searched for food, chancing upon a sandwich & a drink for only RMB9.30, which would be my breakfast. Then i sat down & surfed the net and did some work at the same time.. my transit time is about 7hrs before my flight at 1pm to Los Angeles. So had loads of time. When my stomach started growling, i had to quieten it by stuffing it with double sandwiches & 2 bottles of water. It was then at peace. And it was almost time for my China Eastern flight MU 583 to LA.
It was full load... and my flight only departed 1hr after the scheduled time, at about 2pm. But i wasn't bothered by it, or rather, i wasn't even aware it was delayed as i was in dreamland...yes, i was very tired and sleepy due to not sleeping in the morning at the airport. Hence, on the flight to LA, i was asleep for about 2-3hrs, only to be woken up when food/drinks were being served. The food was nothing spectacular. just only to fill our stomach. but no complains as i was given an aisle seat at the emergency exit, which meant i had extremely loads of leg room. hehee..
Managed to develop a Marathon Training Long Run Schedule whilst awake on the flight. Made good use of the time on the plane to churn it out. Just need some more fine-tuning before releasing it and letting people know about it and hopefully join in as they prepare for the marathon on 4 Dec 2011.
After a flight time of 11.5hrs, we finally touched down in Los Angeles Tom Bradley International Terminal at 10.40am on 17 Aug 2011. I then called the Los Angeles Adventurer All Suite Hotel for the pick up service, which arrived promptly in less than 10minutes.
The room was basic, and it came with a separate bedroom & loung/living area. Very spacious for 2 people. They even have a free glass of champagne in the evenings. Free Wifi was only available at the swimming pool area & at the Lobby, which was quite crowded, with some even in swimsuit as the weather was comfortably cool.
Had a late lunch at a HongKong Express food cafe about 5 mins walk away. I asked for rice with 3 dishes.. and i was amazed at the portion they gave.. the box couldn't close at the lid!!! At a cost of USD 5.99 + tax, it was a steal! It could last 2 meals for me, or 4 for my wife. but i managed to gobble it all down as i was famished and need loads of food for energy.
As i'm typing this out, my eyes are closing down on me... signalling the need to get some shuteye soon... and it's only 5.45pm here on a Wed... oh well, nature calls. Will update on my next leg to Denver/Leadville if i can get access to Internet.
till then, i'll be dreaming of Leadville 100 Mile race this Sat 4am...
