I am just finally getting things back to normal after an amazing weekend in Carlsbad Cali. Here was a break down of the epic weekend.
Arrived early friday morning at the San Diego airport to be greeted by the sun and gorgeous 70+ temps, man was that a welcoming site. Loved the feeling of my skin feeling a bit of the warmth from the sun as opposed to the cold moisture that has been the norm for the last few months. I quickly picked up my rental vehicle (4 door jeep) and the first thing was to pull the top off and drive up to Carlsbad to join fellow Insulindependence peeps at the Expo. What an amazing spread the Carlsbad folks put on for the event.
Saturday morning we my fellow Triabetes team captains and I joined up with the local Insulindependence crew for a Dawn Phenom event enjoying the sun, food, and the surf. Man it has been awhile since I have made it out on a board. After cleaning up we drove down to San Diego and walked around the endurance expo. It was great to run into Peter Kaufman from GenerationUCAN and to see all the progress they are making. The night I made it back to Carlsbad for a great banquet to which I had the privilege of running into more Type 1 and 2 and humbled to hear their stories as they are overcoming their challenges and struggles in life. Early bedtime that night as the Carlsbad Marathon/half was early the next a.m.
Alright so aside from the traffic of getting their first thing in the morning. I have found my favorite Marathon. It starts near the local mall and within a mile you are running along the beach enjoying the sun, and watching as the surf breaks over the beach. The volunteers were amazing, the water stations were perfectly spaced, and the crowds were perfect. This race I had the privilege of running with fellow captain Jenny Crandell. Jenny made it a goal to try and finish this race under 2 hours so I helped pace her for the event. Although we did not make her goal she did PR with a 2:02 half. WELL DONE JENNY!!!
Glad to be a part of the story or at least my "Yellow running shoes"
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/jan/26/local-volunteer-didnt-run-in-the-carlsbad/
Sunday afternoon we all Celebrated a great run, and then it was back home to the Rainey Pacific Northwest.
Here is Coach Andy Minck recap of his race
Insulindependence.org. (If you like this story, please give $10 or more to the organization that means the world to me, and the reason I did this past marathon).
Marathon Dumbness:
Marathons should not be taken lightly, no matter how many you do, or how well you think you can do. Its still a long way to run. When you do it without your own shoes, it seems even longer.
You read right, not my own shoes.
This all started back in October-January. I needed to get new shoes by October, but I waited, waited, waited, waited. Procrastinated, procrastinated and procrastinated. Sure enough it was Wednesday before the marathon. I have the most broken down shoes I have ever run in. I did not want to run in them for Sunday's race. It wasn't ideal, but I decided to get a new shoe, run in it a couple of times, and then race. If your counting this is dumbness number 1, and 2.
Dumbness 3 was the kicker. As I was focusing on the nightmare of taking public transportation to Newark airport from Brooklyn (3 trains and 12.75 if you wanted to know) I grabbed my bag and headed out the door. Almost off the subway at Penn Station, people in the next car could see the white of my eyes. The expression "Oh S&!!" written all over those eyes and face. I never tied those new shoes to the side of my backpack, my only luggage. Oh well, I guess Ill just buy more in San Diego.
As soon as I got there, surfing came up, good friends and food. The procrastination continued It comes down to Saturday night, and I have no shoes. A great friend asked if I wanted to use his size 10 shoes. Yep, there my size, why not? Dumbness number 4.
Sunday morning comes, I put his shoes on and get ready to run. Sure they're a little snug, but they're okay. Mile 6,7,8,9 somethings not right. My toes are starting to hurt. Downhills are especially painful. Mile 10,11,12,13,14,15. DANG Im slowing down. Was doing 6:20 minute miles now doing 6:35's. Okay not the end of the world. Turn around comes at mile 18. Two things came to mind "either I ask for shoes at the aid station from volunteers or I go barefoot, not going a foot more in these shoes!" Being unbashful I yell at the crowd. "DOES ANYONE HAVE A 10 1/2 or 11 SHOE!!??!!" (Didn't want them to be too small) Sure enough a great and awesome older gentleman says "YA". Right there at the aid station at mile 18 he takes off his shoe and gives me his super supportive "Avia's" I untie the double knots he had on, tied 'em up and we discussed really quickly that they will be at the "Shoe-Giveaway" at the end. I ran from mile 18-26.2 in his shoes. Second pair of shoes that I didn't own, but ran in. The timing chip though was still on my left shoe. What to do? What to do? No time to think, I ran with that shoe in my hand from mile 18-26.2. Every checkpoint on the ground, I bent over so that the shoe could connect with the ground electronic timing device." Quite the scene, according to the spectators.
I went from a possible PR of 2:55 to finishing a "save face" goal of under 3 hours. 2:59.40. Thanks to my friend who gave me his shoe, and thanks to that VERY Special Volunteer. In 2011 with all the bad news, you don't always get to hear about that "special volunteer" Thanks to him! Thanks to him! Thanks to him, I could still break a 3hr marathon. And yes. I have VERY black and blue toenails!
Oh, and if you want to race a marathon, my advice is BRING YOUR OWN SHOES.
Video of me crossing the finish line can be seen at Brightroom at http://www.brightroom.com/go.asp?92094626 (SUPER FUNNY, but painful)
You can see the early morning photos' I have a yellow shoes on, and towards the end I have large white ones on.
