Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Happy Anniversary
On June 14th, my husband and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. We usually go out to a nice dinner and a winery in Temecula, however this year we haven't been able to do that. It is funny how having a kiddo changes things. Regardless, we had a nice evening IN and Kellen celebrated with us. Happy Anniversary Colin. It is crazy to think we have been married already for 7 years and together for 10! I wouldn't change a single minute. I love you!!
Saturday, June 12, 2010
The San Diego Rock N Roll Marathon
Friday, June 11th, 2010
Well, it is finished. I am FINALLY fully recovered from last weeks AMAZING events and I have some time to tell you all about it. This will be my final entry.
Last Saturday (the day before the race) was pretty busy. Kellen and I went to Lakeside High School to help Colin with the final SAT testing of the school year. He is in charge of ALL the SAT testing at the school. (And does a fine job might I add). There were over 500 students taking the test so he needed some extra hands. We arrived around 7am and helped out until about 9. It's funny, the one week I needed to get plenty of rest by going to bed early, eating right and just relaxing turned out to be the most crazy-busy week of the year! (Isn't that how it always happens?)
Kellen stayed with Colin the rest of the day and I met up with some of my team mates in Temecula to carpool down to San Diego. Our hotel was off of Friars road somewhat near the Charger stadium. Upon arriving we parked under the hotel near the elevator (thinking we were smart because we would have to haul our luggage a shorter distance) only to find out that it was the service entrance where all deliveries were made! (Go figure).
The hotel had like 15 floors!So, we put all our luggage back in the car and headed up to the main entrance of the hotel. It was $15 a night to park in regular parking (um... no thank you), so we parked a little farther away. Thankfully we were still pretty early so we checked in and dropped off luggage.
This was the view from my room...
We met up with the rest of our team for lunch (the beginning of my carb load) and then headed to the trolley (wow that part was confusing) to the Expo at the San Diego Convention Center. It was HUGE! I wasn't prepared for all the vendors and excitement and the crowd! We were given a TON of free samples of all sorts of things. I wish I would have brought my Garmin watch with me, I could have had them help me out with my wrist band (Kellen broke it a while back). Any way, so after we picked up our race packets and goodies, we headed back to the trolley. I was VERY thankful I wore my running shoes and not flip flops.
Waiting for the trolley...
Posing at the Expo.• Our Temecula Team raised, over $85,000!!! (There were only 25 people on our team!!)
• The OCIE chapter raised almost $400,000!! That will provide funds for doctors to research and find cures for the next 4 years!!
• The top fundraiser was from New York raising over $53,000!!!
• There were 4,000 TNT participants that ran the marathon and half marathon and we raised a total of 12 million dollars!!!
It felt really great to be a part of such an amazing cause. After our team meeting we had a chance to get washed up for our Inspiration Dinner. We had to ride the trolley again (oh dear) and then we walked to a near by hotel and had dinner. Pasta, salad, chicken and even cookies!! It was REALLY good. I was surprised at how great it tasted since they had to feed 4,000 people.
John Bingham (he writes an article in Runner's World Magazine called, "The Penguin's Chronicles") was the guest speaker. He is an average man that has just happened to run over 45 marathons! He was really funny and encouraging for our race. We also had a survivor guest speaker that participated in the race with us. All in all it was a great evening.
We headed back to the hotel and prepped for race day. Surprisingly I think I went to sleep before 10 pm. It went by so fast before I knew it, it was 3:20 am and time to wake up! Everything I needed had been layed out the night before and I got ready in less than 10 minutes. We checked in with TNT and then hopped on the charter bus that took us to the start line. It was pitch black when we arrived. I had my water jug over my shoulder and somehow it leaked all over my back! Terri was kind enough to let me have a sweatshirt that I could take off and "toss" after mile one. It was a Great Oak High School sweatshirt, ha ha!
All my gear...
OCIE TNT
This girl's name was Mindie. SPELT the same way. She lives in Riverside and is the first person that I have ever met in my ENTIRE life that spells it the same way that I do. We took some photos (and went to the bathroom 3 times) before the race finally started. I wish I was not so competitive because it would have been great to run with my camera and take pictures along the course. I can't remember much of it. I do remember running past the Natural History Museum, Petco Park and the Convention Center. We ran on the 163 North Freeway, got off the freeway near the Charger's Stadium, we ran near a gas station I have stopped at many times before driving home, we ran along the bay and Fiesta (Satan's) Island, and finally finished in the Sea World parking lot. There were some interesting views along the way. Including several people (male and female) dressed up like Elvis. One man drank a beer around mile 10. There was a man wearing a diaper with a blow up monkey around his neck. LOTS of TNT purple shirts,
At the half way point (13.1 miles) I was at 1:58 and felt great, I thought for sure that I would finish in under 4 hours and make my goal time of 3:55. However, when we reached Fiesta Island, or as I now call it Satan's Island I almost had to walk! Up until that point there was a band every mile, with plenty of water stops and TONS of people cheering you on. However, once we hit the island, the breeze stopped, the sun was out by this time and my face was on fire! I just took my final Gu at mile 20 and was ready to quit. I didn't stop, but I am pretty sure my mile pace was WAY off. I finally made it around the back side of the island and there was a great breeze. The last band was pretty lame (why would you play slow music during a marathon??) I finally made it to the final mile, and I spotted my coach (Brian) wearing his bright green shirt. He was cheering me on, and I MADE him run with me the rest of the way. He was able to pick up my pace so I finished really hard. It would have been fantastic to have him on the back side of Satan's Island running with me, but he did have to coach 24 other people.
I finally made it across the finish line with a time of 4:04.08, (1,939th place out of 10,000 over all ha ha!) roughly 10 minutes off of my goal time. When I finished, I said to myself... no way I do this again. But after almost a week of recovery I am now thinking, heck yes! Is there anyone I can train with in Lake Elsinore?? I am too competitive to leave this distance without making my goal time. I LOVE the half marathon and will continue to compete at that distance for as long as my body will let me, but I have to find friends to run with to train for the full. It is very time consuming and hard to drive all the way to Temecula to run, but I am so glad I did it at least once!
THANK YOU so much to everyone that donated and inquired about my journey! I am so glad that I was a part of this marathon. My dad (yes my 54 year old stud-of-a-father), husband (his second half marathon) and brother in law (first half marathon) completed the half and I am pretty sure I have made Jon (my brother in law) into a half marathon-er. Looking forward to the next race!!
If you are interested in running with Team in Training just let me know. I can answer most of your questions and lead you in the right direction!
Thanks again!!!!!
These are some pictures of me from the race... I DO plan on purchasing some of them, I just can't decide which one yet...
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