marathon training and lifting during SDCC

because no one wrote an article about this. 

A few observations:

• you can do it, but it's probably better to take it as a deload week due to all the walking, standing, and jostling on top of the runs. my calves are so shot that I didn't run at all today. BUT, again, you CAN do it. 
• while there are less crowds running towards the airport from the Star of India, you can only get about 4.4 miles without running into Liberty Station and having to run through random shopping districts 
• and you can't really run the famous Embarcadero route because it's full of Hall H queuers -- the paths are not all open. you can run one of the parks, but not the one near the con
• If you run towards Seaport from the Star of India you will run out of path, even with taking the peninsulas, after about 2.9 miles. 
• so much looping. so much freaking looping around to hit mileage targets. holy hell. 
• Please note, all of this assumes starting at the Hotel Little Italy / Courtyard Marriott Little Italy, which is about 0.6 miles from the Star of India. 
• The stoplights are so bad that your runs will end up taking as long as if you had run them at cooldown pace. 
• it will be hard to make early panels, especially if your roommates don't wake up early and you have to get ready to work out in the dark. 
• meanwhile, my friends would be up and ready in...10 minutes, and still got to the con before me despite sleeping 2.5 hours longer than I did (I slept 7.5; they slept 10) -- that kinda sucked
• the hotel gyms will not be empty -- they are usually pretty busy. Hot nerds lift, and all. 
• backpacks will hurt your shoulders by EOD even if they feel light when you set out. 
• All the concrete along the waterfront really starts to beat you up after day 2 or 3. 
• the hunger is less of a problem than just random episodes of weakness - I would just immediately stop what I was doing and get a high carb + protein source from one of the food stands, plus a Gatorade, and usually chugged the entire thing. Yep, I got food directly within the con. Gaslamp has good food but I didn't want to waste valuable con time going over there until dinner. 
• I ran 10, 10, and 14 miles, then took Sunday off, with a total of 61 miles for the week. I was completely destroyed by the end. 
• it would have been better to do something like 5, 5, and 12. 12 or 13 will still get you the entire waterfront route, and it's a lovely route!
• I was hoping for at least 1-2 Strava kudos. By Saturday, I was not getting any at all, the whole l4 miler with waterfront pics and ...just silence. Lol. 
• calves would get brief, sharp pain -- like a knot in each -- after the first day or so, but then it would go away. 
• had to go light on shoulders due to backpack. 
• the forecast says 80s but it feels significantly hotter, both running and while at the con 
• don't walk to the con if your hotel is not right next to it. take the SDCC official shuttles. SIT. 
• refill water as much as you need, pee as much as you need, etc. 
• if doing an offsite, do not expect finding bathrooms to be easy. I had a stressful 25 minutes trying to find an actual open bathroom by Petco Park and eventually found a coffee shop but had to order a smoothie to use it. I almost lost my spot in line but rejoined my friends just before the point of no return
• but obviously finding bathrooms is super easy within the con itself, thank goodness!
• I did not do any wicked lines like Hall H on a Saturday. The longest I waited was probably from 11:05 AM to 12:30 PM for My Little Pony G6. If I had shown up to the Black Panel at 10 am, I would have also made one of the smaller Marvel gaming panels AND MLP without having to stand for as long -- but again, I had just ran 10 and lifted that morning.