20 years, 30 miles and still going strong.
You're pretty sure you're not going to win.
Last weekend, I finished my eighth marathon in three years at the 11th annual Rock n Roll Marathon in San Diego. It was something of a fluke that I was there at all. I found out a bunch of friends were going to be racing and something about not being there just seemed wrong. I hopped a flight minutes after the summer season kickoff and landed just in time for the pasta party.
Don't ask how long I trained for it. Let's just say I wasn't sure if I was going to do a full or half marathon or just do some creative course cutting to support everyone else.
This is Gordy Lat, the honored patient speaker for the pasta party. He's currently battling chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) and after Gleevec drove his cancer into remission once, he became resistant to the treatment and relapsed. Gordy is now a Triple Crown winner with TNT, previously completing a triathlon and century ride. He talked about how everyone raising money was a superhero, wearing a cape of courage. He also raised over $15,000 this season (the top fundraiser, Ramon Burmo raised $51,000!).
Gordy's favorite quote was from Diana Hunt: "Goals are Dreams with deadlines". He fights on, a living inspiration.
Usually, I'm with my wife or another teammate and we depend on each other to make sure we don't sleep too late on race morning. I set two cell phones, the cheapo alarm clock at the Super 8 and - just in case - my wonderful Danish Alarm clock. Lady Anitavolunteered to give me a wake up call at noon, Denmark time. As promised, she was annoyingly cheerful (just what you need to roll out of bed at 3 AM). We got to the starting area at 4:30 to wait for a 6:30 AM start.
RNR had the music going early, even before we crossed the starting line. This year, about one in 5 were wearing Team in Training purple.
This is Tisha, one of the walk coaches for the Diablo Valley walk team. She's one of the 122 atlhletes to finish all 11 races since RNR San Diego started, each year, raising money for TNT. She and her twin sister are also cancer survivors.
The world famous TNT cheerleaders. (*snicker*)
We had a lot of angels on the course that day. Not all of them were wearing wings.
This picture is courtesy of Coach Alice at mile 8, just before we go on 3 miles of San Diego freeway (banked at about a 15% angle). About this time, Meg (far right) and I finished our 2 hours of discussions about the last season of LOST.
Last year, this guy was at the same place, coming off the rough stretch of freeway, holding the same sign (though he updated the number of years
). I'd already walked a pretty decent 11 miles and was feeling good about at least the half marathon. Seeing him made me realize I could finish the full.At the 13.2 mark, I caught up to this guy. He carried an Armed Services flag for the entire race, chanting out cadence and getting the people around him to join along. Guts. Honor. I was in awe.
Strictly false advertising. They may have had margarita-flavored Shot Blox.
Right around mile 15, I went into full blown Coach mode. I was planning on meeting Jaimi (aka. blah, blah, blah) at mile 18, but ended up walking with a woman from the Gateway Chapter who was having serious IT band problems in both legs. I got Kelli as far as the aid station at 17.8, but she didn't want to quit. The last official time cut-off was 12:15 at mile 19.2 (people who get there later are swept and aren't allowed to complete the race). Kelli gutted it out and passed the cut off with about 15 minutes to spare.
The cut-off is in a weird place for coaches to support unless they actually do the whole race. If you look at the course map, there's an easy shortcut from 13.4 to 22, but not a lot of people cover the northwestern loop. It's a real shame too. I've never seen people so happy, standing at mile 19.3 and telling them "you made the cut-off".
About this time, I'm wondering where Jaimi was. At 12:13, I see her coming up the hill, the sweeper wearing the big sombrero was behind her a few hundred yards. Clearly, she was maximizing the value of her marathon dollar.
Helpful tip: if you don't know a person's pace, do NOT text them at mile 19.9 and ask if they're done. You'll get a pic mail like this:
The last 4 miles of marathons are almost all a mental game. You take anything you can get to give you a boost - cheerleader squads, for example.
NBC San Diego had finish line cams this year, so instead of waiting for pics from the race, you can see us in low-res here. Videos are 10 minute captures until the very last finisher. (looks like some of the links are updated - I'll post the right ones in a second).
Race Clock time 7:53:10: Jaimi and I cross the finish abot 10 minutes into this clip. I gave her a hug, said "I've got work to finish" and turned around and headed back down the chute.
I walked back out to about 24.5 to cheer in maybe 50 - 75 more finishers. At 8:21, the last TNT participant came down the chute. She was from a local chapter, so there were maybe 60 people still waiting for her. Everyone who finishes is a hero, and she got the welcome she deserved.
About 5 minutes later, the last racer crosses. He had stopped about a half mile out and he didn't look like he could walk another step. A few of the TNT coaches put his arms around their shoulders and walked him all the way in.
The marathon community is a pretty tight knit group and TNT's Cause makes it that much more special. Seeing two finishes like that is something that keeps me coming back season after season. I feel truly blessed to be a part of something bigger. I covered close to 31 miles that morning and felt like I could keep going for another 30.
Maybe I actually DID win after all
The numbers:
3400 Team in Training runners and walkers
$12.5 million raised for RNR San Diego in the fight against blood cancers
In our 20th year, that brings the total to just over $850 million.
Summer season started last week.
What are you waiting for?
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