There is an R&B song titled: "It never rains in Southern California". They must have known what they were singing about. Sunday at Balboa Park at 5:30 a.m. PT was just wonderful. Overcast or foggy or something, but what a mild morning and never a chance for rain. First off, I walked from my hotel to the start, about 1.6 miles. Not a bad warm-up, right? Believe me it was a lot simpler than taking the trolley then a shuttle bus to the race. Shucks, when the guys got off the shuttle they still had a 3-5 min. walk to the park. Most folks just prostrated themselves on the nice comfy grass before the race and did final check and preparation for the start.OK. Can I digress for a moment? We stayed at the Bristol Hotel on 1st and Broadway. Cannot have picked a better location. The center of anyplace in San Diego. The Expo was at the Convention Center less than a mile from the Bristol. Horton Plaza was a mere block away. That place had absolutely everything you needed. Big outdoor mall with a Macy's, Movie theatre, and even a pharmacy for last minute drugs or ice cream. Two more blocks South and your at a Kroger cousin grocery store open 24/7. Oh and just four blocks up the street on 5th Ave, there are a host of restaurants to choose from. Saturday evening we ate at Asti Restoranti at 5th and C. I had the Pollo ricotta pasta with sun dried tomatoes and red peppers, fresh bread and calamari for an appetizer. Buona sapore!!
Back to the race. Wow, the beginning was very well organized. We're all in corrals according to our supposed finish times we gave at registration. They offered baggage drop off just across from the main drag. About 25 UPS trucks were numbered 1-25 parked neatly with plenty of attendees eager to take your goody bag so that it would be waiting for you at the finish line. About 15 minutes before the start, the Marine Corps marching band marched right down the main strip. Seventy sharp corpsmen marching and playing instruments in tight formation was very inspiring and patriotic. A cool way to get pumped up for the task ahead.
Since I was in Corral 12 it took about 9 minutes to cross the start line. Actually, that's not entirely accurate. I had to wait about 3 minutes for my Timex GPS device to find a signal. The mess started when I turned it on about two minutes before the scheduled start. Of course we started late and by the time I was ready to approach the start line it shut off. Everyone who understands what I must have gone thru please say, "boy, he was pissed". So anyway, the darned thing finally located a signal again so I crossed the start line and pressed start on my watch but, now the GPS device on my bicep won't sync with the freaking watch on my wrist. Oh, I am HOT now! I have to carry this blasted useless %#$& brick on my arm until mile seven. I nearly lost my mind, I've been sitting there watching people start the race waiting on this stupid thing to restart and all the while it doesn't even work.
{{Note to self: Get that Garmin 305 just as soon as I save up 300 bucks. Ouch!}}
So, the first few miles were entirely down hill. You really had to just let yourself fall forward rather than trying to hold back. I know you might be used to the early parts of the White Rock marathon where the start is downhill but you know you have inclines to come. You could not be further from the truth in San Diego. I mean the up hill parts of the race are barely worth mentioning. Anyone who runs the Dolly Partons, Winstead, the Friday run from Legal Grounds or the hill run on Tuesday morning in Dallas would have more than enough to tackle anything in the San Diego race. The course director certainly went out of his/her way to avoid too many inclines in this event. Even the continuous incline from mile 5 to 10 was so tamed that my legs welcomed the change in grade. I imagine, however, near the end of mile 10 we all felt like we had seen enough of the climb and our legs were getting a bit tired.
Really everybody, I think this is a perfect course for a PR or Boston qualifier. The course is either flat or down hill for most of the route. They even dumped us onto a freeway for several miles of down hill racing. As we approached mile 21 heading into Mission Bay I saw this tall pseudo brick wall named, "The Wall". Of course, I hit it. So to my rescue came my wife, Gina. She missed me at our preset rendezvous at mile 13. So, she spent the next hour reading maps, jumping off and on buses, and running around the city to get to me by the time I hit the 21st mile. I don't know how she did it. It was like a bad scene from "Last of the Mohicans"... "You stay alive, no matter what happens, no matter what occurs, I will find you!". Anyhow, she gave me my mp3 player and I jotted off revived and invigorated. At mile 22 we met up with a couple huge bands playing great music. But, honestly, I don't remember more bands than White Rock or even Chicago. I'd say the music rating on the course was just above average.
At the finish (the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, MCRD, near the airport) we were greeted with our medals and then Spenco sandals. What a relief for my feet. The typical bagel, bananas, oranges, water and recover bars were also served. And there, just off in the distance were those same UPS trucks waiting with our goody bags. How'd they get there so fast...oh yeah I saw them over 4 hours earlier.
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As I try to cut this message short I'll do some final brief ratings that I left out during my diatribe:
- EXPO Saturday: extremely well organized, took hardly anytime to get in, obtain your bib, t-shirt and confirm chip.
- Medical tent at course end: well supplied with table salt, ice and doctors (I should know since I spent about 45 minutes there lying on a cot after tossing my cookies- or should I say bagel, oranges and recovery bars). Not cool.
- The route: Scenic near the later miles with Mission Bay beach just to your right and looking out into the bay was marvelous. The early miles though, were very routine and blah. Reminiscent of the first half of Austin - not much for aesthetics and a little industrial. We did run by the San Diego Zoo, but no wild animal attacks, also reminiscent of the Austin marathon.
- My time: OK I guess, 4:31 not a PR. But remember, that's really 3:31. The course was truly designed to promote even faster times. This IS a PR course just keep in mind there's 20,000 runners out there.
- Transport from the finish back to the hotel (downtown): Be prepared for some walking my friends. You're gonna do a lot of walking, I mean a lot of walking. If you have a car don't even think about parking at MCRD.
- Purple Purple Everywhere - TNT must have brought runners in from every state in the Union. I could not get through the ubiquitous TNT coach shouting, "Way to go team". Or the large crowd of purple dressed marathoners counting off to ensure they were all still together. I read one purple shirt that said, "Just Cure It". Indeed.
OK, that's it. I'm sure I left a lot out but I needed to send this before the year's end. Most of you I'll see out on our routine runs and I can't wait to rejoin the fray.
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5 down and 45 to go. Marine Corps and Tuscon on the horizon.
