Ok, here it is finally, my race report. WARNING - it is long and rambling. I tried to edit it, but I was getting annoyed and felt like I was never going to finish it, so here it is in all its unedited glory. Hopefully, it makes some sense and is intelligible.
Rock N Roll Marathon San Diego
My second marathon.
Friday May 30th
We flew to San Diego. We didnt have a direct flight. I know having a connection saved some money. Not sure how much, but Im going to pretend that it was A LOT so that I can think it was the right decision. Not fun. Delays in both airports and our flight got rerouted (to be longer) because of storms. 11 hours after we left our place to drive to the airport, we landed in San Diego.
Matts parents picked us up at the airport and we went straight to the expo. Im really glad we got to go on Friday. It was sort of crowded, but not too bad. Im sure it was packed on Saturday. As I expected, the expo was huge with tons of vendors. I tried more free samples than I can count, saw the picture of the special medal people get for doing both WDW and
Disneyland, stood on some machine that vibrates you and is supposed to help get your fast twitch muscle fibers working faster, etc. Matts mom won a free loaf of bread. We registered for the Philly Distance Run for only $35 ($20 off) and I made a few purchases.
Although Matts parents live in San Diego, we had decided to stay at a hotel, mainly so that we could sleep in a bed instead of a futon and so that we wouldnt have to deal with getting downtown on race morning (which I had read can be difficult). So, after spending over 2 hours at the expo we went to check in to the hotel and then went out to dinner in Little Italy.
Saturday May 31
We picked a hotel (the Doubletree) that was 1.1 miles from the start so that we could walk to the start instead of having to get a hotel shuttle (most of the hotels offered shuttles either included in room price or for a charge) (we liked the hotel, btw, it was one of the less expensive options and it had just been renovated). Anyway, we did our 2 mile run by running up to the start area so that we would know what we were doing on Sunday. The remainder of the day was spent doing far more walking than is recommend for those running a marathon the next day. My best friend from undergrad (who lives in LA) came down to San Diego for the day to have lunch and walk around town with us. We then went to Matts parents for an early dinner and were in bed by 8:30 (I could normally never go to bed that early there are some advantages of flying to a different time zone and never letting your body adjust to the time).
Race Day
I thought the race was very well organized. The only real complaint I have about this race is that there were far too few port-o-potties at the start. The lines were crazy long. The race started at 6:30. We got to the start area around 5:30, got some water, and got in line right away. It took almost a half hour. After we walked around a bit to loosen up and checked our bags (bag check was easy), I really wanted to use the port-o-potty again, but I would have been in line until well past the start of the race, and I didnt want to do that.
The race started a few minutes late, but nothing terrible. As I was running the first half of the race, I felt great and was enjoying the experience. Water stops were great. Volunteers were great. The bands were great. There were a ton of fans way more than at the MCM. There was one neighborhood we ran through where every house was giving out orange slices. The course was less flat than I expected, but I wouldnt call it hilly. A lot of people have complained that the highways that a significant portion of the race is run on are really slanted. They are, but it didnt bother me that much when I was running (although I think it might have impacted the way my legs felt afterwards). The weather was great at the start, but when the sun came out around 10:00, it got really, really hot.
Actually, I do have one other complaint Fruit Punch Accelerade is nasty, but I knew that beforehand and planned on not drinking any on the course (I did have a sip at the end, but it kind of made me want to vomit).
All of my comments above about the race really apply to the first 19 or so miles. After that, I was miserable and I dont really have any idea of what was going on. I wasnt paying attention to anything, just trying to understand why I felt so sick. I felt great until 15 or 16 miles in. I really thought I was going to make my goal of 4:30. In terms of what went wrong, my one thought is that it is likely that I was dehydrated. As I mentioned before, I didnt drink that much water in the beginning because I didnt want to have to wait in the port-o-potty lines.
It was hard seeing the 4:30 pace group pass me between miles 20 and 21, but I think I kept a pretty good attitude about it the whole time. During and after MCM, I was kind of disappointed in myself because I felt like I just gave in to the desire to stop running and walked when I didnt really need to. This was different. I really felt like I was going to pass out or be sick if I didnt slow down and walk for a bit. I really dont think I actually walked that much of the race, but my running pace also slowed down significantly from mile 19 on that I went from being on pace to finish in 4:30 to ultimately finishing in 4:50:28. (At least it is a 6 and a half minute PR).
As for Matt, he didnt have a good race either. I was really sad when I came up behind him at mile 23, I was really hoping that he would have a good race. He ran the first half too fast and the just felt like he had nothing left by mile 19 and walked most of the rest of the race. He had missed a lot of runs because of his knee problems so he wasnt exactly well trained.
When I saw the finish line, I almost wanted to cry, I was that happy to be able to stop running. I have since seen the video of me finishing. It felt like I was running at the time, but looking at the video, it looks more like some sort of hobbling/limping combination. The finish area was great tons of people were finishing with me, but it wasnt congested. The first thing you got at the finish was an ice-cold towel this was fabulous (I think Elite racing does this at all their events we got one last year at VA Beach). I then got some water and and my medal (very nice, btw). There was plenty of food, but I was having a hard time eating anything, a few bites of a plain bagel were about all I could manage. At some point in here Matt finished a few minutes behind me and we found each other while still inside the finisher area. Then I started to get the chills really badly. I got a Mylar and we got our gear check bags and put some dry clothes on. We called Matts parents and started the search of trying to find them. This took awhile. After we found them, we sat and rested a bit before making the journey to their car. Unfortunately, I never got my free beer. I wasnt sure I couldve kept it down, but I would have tried if the line wasnt so darn long.
The logistics of getting back to the car after the race were somewhat challenging. The race ends in the Marine Corps Depot. No parking. Everyone has to park in a lot near the airport and walk or take shuttles to the finish area. All the hotel shuttles were also picking people up at the entrance to this lot because they couldnt drive on the base. When we decided it was time to leave, we went over to where the shuttles were to take people to the parking lot and hotel shuttles. The lines were massive. I couldnt imagine standing in a line for that long, so I decided we should walk. Race organizers said that the lot was ¾ of a mile away. Not sure where they were measuring from, but we walked a little over a mile and a half to get to the car. Im sure it was probably good for me to keep moving, but I was moving really, really slowly. It was as if my legs didnt work properly anymore. My knees were so sore that the act of bending them and moving was a challenge. This didnt happen after MCM so I can only guess that running on a lot of concrete and the slanted roads might have had something to do with it.
Matts parents dropped us off at our hotel and we went in the pool and the hot tub and relaxed a bit. When we felt better, we had Matts parents pick us up again and we went out for some great Mexican food and beer in Old Town. Pat Benatar was the headliner concert but we didnt make it. The concert was kind of far away and would have required us walking to the trolley stop and using the trolley. I was still not able to walk in any way that would be called close to normal, so that didnt seem like a good idea. Instead, we went to the convenience store, got a 6 pack of Miller Lite and drank it in our hotel bed.
The next morning I felt much better. I was sore, but able to walk more normally. We got a big breakfast and then headed to the airport for our flight.
Final thoughts.
Marathons are really hard.
I've only been running for 20 months and I've come a long way.
I'm obviously not happy about how the race turned out, but I'm not overly upset either.
I'm looking forward to my next marathon where I will try to break 4:30 again.
, you just have to show up!! Fix that achilles, man!
As far as a fall marathon, Steve's inviting everyone to his house for some marathon in October....see ya there!
Training has commenced!! Is it true that you were diapered in a "Terrible Towel"?
I guess I will do Philly and Disney. So, which resort for Disney, I need to start making plans? We need to stay somewhere relatively close so we can go for a beer after the marathon and tell our race stories.
I'll touch base with you to make arrangments to purchase your bib. Now I can plan for the fall season...
Those are the ones I will be walking/running/something as well so I am VERY happy you'll be there
. I am staying offsite for WDW Friday-Monday. At this point I'll most likely have DH and the kiddos with me since I had to break it to them that I cancelled their Hawaii cruise
and they can't accept any less than 3 vacations a year
Holy smack, 10 miles in the 3H's is no small feat!! Glad Colleen's hooking you up for MCM
and that you fall schedule is shaping up nicely.
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in the heat. Nothing much going on here - Corinne's 7th b-day is on Thursday then I'm going to Boston next week on business
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if you have to ditch us for Philly but we will be sad and will miss you. That being said, it would obligate you to WDW '09 for sure!! Sorry we'll miss you in July as well but it's great you're able to get a vacation in with the family
Patiently waiting for that race report! Man, if you'd stop running races perhaps you could sqeeze in a little time on the computer
. Stay cool y'all!!
I'll run 3 or 4 tomorrow a.m., even though my "training" schedule says to go 2 miles @ a 11:07 pace 
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which NEVER happens. It's gotta be the heat. Poor DD has a field trip today and it's supposed to be 96 degrees today. I hope everyone is managing to stay cool and being careful with the outside running
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