Welcome back to Chronicles of a Runner. It was a great race, from start to finish! I can’t tell you how excited I am to have finished my fourth marathon, so much to tell! I will spear some of the details, not because they’re petty, but to keep short. What a great race!
Rockin’ n’ Rollin
Rockin’ n’ Rollin
What a great race indeed! It all seems like a dream. There is no feeling in the world like setting a goal and accomplishing it. I must tell you it was grueling 26 miles. My weekend on Friday night actually, I left Los Angeles and made my way to La Jolla, Ca. A friend on mine was gracious enough to lend her place to me for the weekend. For those who haven’t been there, it’s great little town by the sea as they say there in La Jolla, “Jewel by the sea,” and I might say it is.
I arrived there late at night, it wasn’t till the next morning that I could admire its beauty. My friends’ place is just a hop, skip and a jump away from the beach. It’s now Saturday morning 9 a.m., as I made my way to Down Town San Diego, I made a quick stop for breakfast, at a nearby bagel store. It was a short drive from where I was staying, but before I got there, I made some quick observations as I drove. I noticed things like, for one, the great view of the seas’ horizon, a few eateries and some “mom and pop” stores, which make places like this interesting. I personally wouldn’t choose to live here, but vacationing here would be nice. I now have my bagel, egg and cheese with spicy sausage, so good, yet so bad and washed it down with a Café’ Latte from Starbucks. If you’re wondering were I am heading? I am on my way to the Rock n’ Roll Health and Fitness expo to register. I kept putting it off that I missing the cut-off date for online registration.
The expo is always fun! You’ll see the usual vendors who sell clothing and merchandise for those last minute shoppers. I enjoy all the freebees! They have latest in sport drinks and new tasty and not-so tasty snacks to sample. The runners’ shoptalk’s also enjoyable. They bring in expert runners to share some of their insight on how to improve your performance, the do don’ts. After spending half my day, I got here at noontime and it is now 3 p.m. I made my way around town looking for a place to eat and do some carb loading. I found a nice little place by the pier, Little Italy. At first I thought I was a nice place, but after my experience, I wouldn’t come back. First of all, the table that I was given was a bit small, and second, my food was a bit bland. How can anyone screw up a plate of spaghetti with meatballs? Come on! I hate to complain, it’s called “Little Italy.” Although, the price was somewhat reasonable I guess. It’s now 5 o’clock and I need to head back to La Jolla to end my day. I need to be up on Sunday at 3 a.m. to stretch, eat and allow myself some time to get to starting line.
Sunday morning is here. I had plenty of time to sleep, I must it wasn’t so easy to fall asleep Saturday night. I kept getting this fluttery feeling in my chest. I couldn’t really explain why, I guess I was excited, a new town and another race. I was also a bit concerned about missing my alarm. The morning has come; I get dressed and begin my stretching exercise followed by a light breakfast, a bran muffin with orange juice. I’m ready to go, the shoes’ are on, the outfits’ complete and bib number is in place. Bring it on!
I made my way to downtown. I get to the parking lot, and it’s there where I begin to realize the size of this race, as I park my car in what looks like a sea of cars. There’s no structure, just an open lot, nothing but space filled with cars, and flashing break lights as runners arrive, park and make their way to shuttles’ waiting to rush us off to the starting line. We arrive at the park, this was well orchestrated, and I’d imagine so. After nine years of marathons at the same place, they had this to a science. Just to refresh your memory of time it’s still dark, it about 4:45 a.m. After hopping of the bus, the first thing I see is a massive row of port-a-potties, thirty or so. Not such a great sight, but beyond those potties is a park fill with early raisers’, sprawled upon the park grounds, stretching warming up for the race. Runners keep coming, people everywhere, music is play on speakers set up along the street, where runner will gather to start.
I check in my gear at a near by UPS truck, the good folks at UPS were one of the sponsors of the race on provided their trucks to store the runners gear. As I find a place to warm-up, suddenly the scent of “Bengay” hits me. It’s not a dream. I ‘m getting ready to run the Tenth Annual Rock n’ Roll Marathon. Wow! The race starts at 6:30 a.m., it’s getting very close, but before we find our place, we are honored by presence of the US Marine Corp band. It’s time, people gather in their perspective corals, corals are set by time to allow the faster runners a smooth start. The nation anthem is played, minutes before the start, my hearts racing. I answer some calls from family wishing me well. The crowds getting excited, we push forward to compact the heard. I can feel the heat radiating from their bodies, once again the smell of Bengay. I hear the announcer make his final comment. GO! Here I go again…
