San Diego Rock & Roll Marathon

Whew I did it! June 6th was the San Diego Rock & Roll Marathon and I finished. My time was 4:30:00 but it was not too easy. First lets rewind to the weekend....

I have been training with wonderful people for a wonderful organization...Team in Training raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Greg and I flew to San Diego with the team on Friday morning. We arrived and got our rental car then headed to Wahoo's Fish Tacos for some lunch. Friday night we went to Sea World for dinner and some shows. I got free tickets because of my fundraising over my goal and the entire park was closed for Rock and Roll Participants. It was quite eerie to be walking around the park with nobody else around you but very cool at the same time.

Saturday we were up early for breakfast with friends at Broken Yolk in PB. Just a short while after that we headed to the Hilton downtown on the water for our Inspiration lunch...just what I wanted...lots of pasta after a big breakfast. It was amazing to be in this lunch for about 1500 people. We came up the escalator with coaches lined on both sides cheering like crazy for us. Inside the lunch our table had pictures of our honored hero's and I have to say I teared up seeing my Nana's picture on the table. A guy from Minnesota told his tear jerking story of his daughter that battled Leukemia 3 times and at the young age of 13 lost her 3rd battle with the terrible disease....this just gave me more inspiration to keep on running during the race.

Race day the alarm went off at 3:15 am...yes AM! We headed to the start line at 4am for the 6:15 start. Our group sat in a circle stretching and just getting mentally prepared for the race. Oh and I made MANY trips to the port-a-potties....which became quite gross towards the start of the race. Greg, Heather and I were in corral 8, out of 39 corrals. It was very exciting to be starting the race. The course was very beautiful except for Fiesta Island. Mile 20-25 was on this terrible, horrible, long island with nobody to cheer us on. Somehow I found my second wind once I spotted the Sea World towers and ran the last 3 miles to the finish.

The entire experience was incredible and very fulfilling. I've just signed up for the PF Chang's Phoenix Rock & Roll Marathon on Jan. 17. Of course I'm doing it with TNT...can't pass up meeting more great people and raising more money...and I'm a glutton for punishment ready to beat my time =) Enjoy the photos!