we woke up race day morning to clear blue skies - a 70 degree day high. absolutely gorgeous out!!!
our hotel was right at the starting line, so getting to the start was as easy as walking down two flights of stairs, past a few fabulously fierce statues in the lobby and out through the rose garden. at the starting line there were 25,000 runners (plus all of their support people) all awaiting the gun. we made ourselves to our designated corral, slipped through the fence, did our warm-ups and took some nervous but fun, pre-marathon pics.
soon our corral had made it up to the start and it was our turn... the rope dropped, we took our first steps and we were on our way.
those first miles sure flew by fast. starting in balboa park we ran around the museums and past the zoo. in the distance we could hear an organ playing which we soon found was coming from the spreckels organ (one of the world's largest outdoor pipe organs). the music was amazing, whoever was playing for us was extremely talented. the course then took us through the gaslamp quarter (downtown san diego) where we ran between glass skyscrapers. they were incredibly beautiful with the sun peaking through the atriums and over the tops of them. there were lots of spectators downtown with very creative signs, all of which were very entertaining. "it's not sweat, it's your fat cells crying!" and "ran faster... i just farted!". then we got to the stadium where they had actually opened it up and let us run through petco park.
from there we ran down along the harbor and admired all of the awesome sailboats docked before it was back up through balboa park... up meaning up hill. miles seven through ten were all on a slow but steady uphill. this portion of the course was on the highway where we ran under some very cool old bridges, but, being a highway in california meant that it was also at a steep slant to the left. we held our pace strong (even though we were still trying to slow down!!!).
next to us was a guy running in a green t-shirt with a sombrero on. he was running with his camera taking pictures of just about everything. we ran by him from mile eight-ish just about to the end. this young man definitely attracted attention - some people yelled to him that he was getting a bit of wind resistance, while others chanted "mex-i-co, mex-i-co" and some other random spanish words. it was entertaining.
continuing along friars road we heard an enormously loud sound behind us... it sounded like an angry dinosaur had awoken from a deep sleep and pushed up through hundreds of layers of earth to friars road where we happened to be running a marathon (that is literally what went through my head)... turns out it was a moving truck that had hit a tree and hadn't stopped until it had ripped the entire top and side off of the truck. i've never seen anything like it, and we all turned around and stood there for a minute wondering if that really had just happened or not. i kept telling dad that we were having a much better day than the guy driving that truck!
still running we could see the golf course coming up on our left, which meant we were at the halfway point. we passed the half-marathon check point at 2:38 (well under dad's half marathon pr). again heading up hill we were at the point in the course where there was no longer any shade... and the temperatures were climbing. we continued with our nutrition and added more water stops to try to stay hydrated. morena blvd was another slow steady hill up to mile 17 where we turned around and ran back down.
mile 18 was the best - denver street. it would have been the best regardless of the name though. the water stop on denver street was the best decorated and manned. they had a pacman theme with a huge pacman, and then all of the people handing out water were wearing colorful ghost costumes with the big googly eyes. there was even a guy dressed up as a banana and another as cherries. as if that wasn't enough, the residents had sliced and were handing out orange slices... they were the absolute best oranges i have ever tasted and i have no doubts that my dad would agree.
as we made it to mile 19 we could see our little cheerleaders on the sidelines: lyndsay, ben and jackie! we ran to them and then stopped to chat. it's always so encouraging and motivating to see people you know out there supporting you, especially in those later miles of a marathon. we took pictures, exchanged some hugs and kisses and were on our way once again.
we had a little more bounce in our steps after we saw our fans and made it to mission bay at mile 20. this part was fun because we were now running on a concrete bike path instead of a road. that might not seem like fun, but when you have been staring at asphalt for four hours, concrete is actually pretty awesome. the temperatures were getting warmer and warmer, and the breeze off of the bay was so refreshing. if it weren't for that breeze we would have overheated for sure!
coming up on mile 22 there was a slight lift from one concrete slab of the sidewalk to the next and before i knew it i tripped and was doing a triple salchow, hands and feet all over the place. luckily i am experienced in clumsiness so when i came down i tucked and rolled and somehow landed on the beach sand... like any good ice skater i jumped back up hands in the air, pretended like it didn't happen and kept running. other than a couple scratches and now being covered in sand it was like nothing ever happened.
this is where we met fiesta island, and where dad met "the wall". miles 23, 24 and 25 were spent running around fiesta island. this was mentally challenging as we could see people three miles ahead of us exiting the island as we entered. we stayed focused, and kept running on one foot in front of the other. at this point it's 100% mental. mile 24 was probably the hardest as we were on the wrong side of the island and so there wasn't even a hint of breeze. people kept telling us, "mile 24 is just up the road", "mile 24 is just around the corner"... etc. the island was dry, hot, and empty - much like a desert. when we finally saw the mile 24 marker we had to joke about whether or not it was a mirage.
just before mile 25 dad turned to me and said "dad wasn't made to be a marathoner" - i told him he better get over it, cuz it was too late now - he already was one. at the 25 mile marker there was a man cheering us on, yelling how amazing we were and how we were doing this, how we were accomplishing something amazing that only 1% of the world has done. i told my dad to take it all in, cuz soon it would be over and he would be sad. words cannot describe the look he gave me, but i still know i'm right.
still he put his mind to it and refused to stop running. just before mile 26, elvis was there to cheer us on and direct us to the finish line. the announcer and the crowd at the finish line kept getting louder and louder and then finally they were cheering for us! i heard the announcer say "bob rocks" (as i wrote that on his race number), and i told the announcer "yeah he does!". we crossed the finish line and i gave my dad a high ten and a hug.
we finished in 6:13:23 - and whether or not he wants to be, my dad is officially a "marathoner".
