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Old Jun 8, 2009, 8:45 am
  #14  
DCAKen
 
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Washington DC USA
Posts: 427
My DCA-DFW-SFO-ORD-DCA on Saturday wasn't quite this bad, but it wasn't a trouble free MR.

The day started out early with a 4:30 am alarm for my 6:50 flight. The first leg was unremarkable, landing at DFW early. While I strolled to gate for the next flight, I got the first indication that the rest of the trip might not go so smoothly.

I noticed on one of the weather displays that a line of thunderstorms was heading to Chicago later in the day and wasn't too surprised when the flight notification system called me and said my SFO-ORD flight was delayed by an hour and a half. Unfortunately, that would arrive too late for the final ORD-DCA flight of the night. I could have stayed at my brother's place in SF, but I really did want to get back that evening...I had signed up to run a 5K race on Sunday morning.

So I got on the phone and started rearranging my way home. The AA CSR proved to be quite helpful, noting that I was doing a mileage run and even suggesting the longer SFO-MIA-DCA way home to garner even more miles. That was tempting, but then he looked up the weather forecast and noticed that thunderstorms were expected for the evening which could leave me stuck in MIA overnight. (I found out later that both flights were delayed and I would have arrived at DCA at about 4 in the morning.) Yes, I'll be sending a letter to AA CS to note his helpfulness. I ended up changing my return to an SFO-DFW-DCA itinerary, giving me a 45 minute turnaround in SFO.

After boarding the DFW-SFO flight, the pilot announced that our depature would be delayed, since one of the SFO runways was closed for maintenance. I was figuring that all flights would be delayed, so I wasn't going to get too worried about my flight back east. I didn't hurt that I was in F and sipping on some sparkling wine while we waited, either.

We finally arrived at SFO at about 1 pm and unfortunately, my SFO-DFW had already left. So it was back on the phone again to reschedule my flight home. The flights through ORD or STL were delayed enough to miss the final flight to DCA for the evening, so I had to reluctantly settle with a redeye through LAX. That would get me into IAD at 6:30 am, barely enough time to get home, change, and get to the race. At least I would be sitting an exit row.

What to do with five hours in SFO? I gave my brother a call and asked if he'd like to meet for a drink. He laughed and asked if I was on a mileage run. I picked me up about 20 minutes later and we went around to the back side of the airport to watch the afternoon heavies flight out. After a drink at his neighborhood watering hole and a stop at the In 'N Out Burger, it was back to the airport.

The new itinerary back home was uneventful and the LAX-IAD flight even got in 20 minutes early. I was able to get home, change, and cycle to the race location, arriving about 15 minutes before the starting gun went off. I told my friends there that it wouldn't be my best race, having gotten less than four hours of sleep the night before. I just didn't confess to doing a mileage run that evening. I surprised myself by finishing with a 20:34 time, but I could feel my stamina fading in that last half mile. No more MRs on the day before I run a race...
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