Rock n Roll San Diego Marathon

Background
This race may not be the best marathon out there, but the race has special meaning for me. For one thing, I ran my very first marathon here back in 2003. Little did I know then that I would be back here for my 7th SD RnR, 7th marathon of the year, and 25th overall. There are definitely bigger badder marathon maniacs out there, but believe me that's plenty enough for me! My overall marathon experience for this race was the best out of all that I've ran to date!

Expo
I drove down earlier than I had originally planned when I realized that Ryan Hall was making an appearance. The drive was uneventful until it started drizzling. When the roads get slick, car accidents are bound to happen in the always sunny southern California. There was a pretty good accident that happened which felt like it was going to threaten me making it in time. But I was able to make it in time. I checked into the lovely Motel 6. I was trying to save some money, but seriously it's really not worth it. The location was great though. It was walking distance to everywhere that I needed to go. I walked over to the expo and made a bee-line for the featured speakers and grabbed a seat near the front. It was very cool to see Ryan Hall in person. It was pretty much a Q&A type forum lead by Bart Yasso. Ryan of course explained what happened at Boston. Seems like he took a lot of heat for rushing out so fast at the beginning of that race. One quote he mentioned was that "if your memories are bigger than your dreams then you are already beginning to die". He encouraged us to continue dreaming big. They announced that Ryan will be signing autographs later at the Nissan booth, so I rushed over to pick up my race packet/shirt and made my way over there to line up. I had Ryan sign my bib. He is such a mellow guy.

I then made my way back to the speakers, to listen to Michellie Jones, Elite Racing's medical director (forgot his name), and Frank Shorter. Michellie was very cool, listening to her makes me want to go out and train for a triathalon. She mentioned that she had some of her best races eating a burger beforehand. That's awesome because I sometimes "carbo-load" the night before with a steak. Frank Shorter talked about how athletes back in his days didn't have the special drinks and such that we have today. They had to try things like de-fizzed cola and if it worked, it worked. He told us that everybody is different and that we have to go with what works based on what our own bodies tell us. Salt may taste bad at the beginning, but when your body is low on salt, it will taste really good.

FE
I went back to my room and just crashed. I woke up and was late for the FE. I was just plain tired all week starting with the completion of the LA marathon. I walked over to the restaurant and everyone was pretty much all there and chowing down. It was great seeing everyone, but it felt very short. I definitely did not get to talk to everyone. Now I owe RoarinRyan at least 2 drinks. He was going to crash at my place, but there just wasn't enough room in my rat hole of a room. I was glad he was able to go with plan B and stay with Mr. 261. Many thanks to SMD and Charlie for organizing and running the show.

Race Day
I woke up pretty early out of habit. Took care of business. Showered and was ready to go. I checked out and drove my car to the airport authority parking lot. I relaxed a bit in my car and wondered why everyone else was in such a hurry to get on the bus to the starting area. Man, there are a lot of N*Sync songs on my iPod. When I heard the Rocky theme, I knew it was game time. I got my stuff together and took the bus to the start. Ate my Powerbars and headed over to the photo op area, but didn't see anybody. When I walked over towards the UPS trucks, I was immediately spotted by Shacky. We shoot the breeze for a while before heading over to the potty lines. Then when we were headed to our corrals, I spotted RoarinRyan in his super bright yellow maniac singlet. I wished him a good race and I headed way way back to my corral. As soon as I entered my corral, I was spotted by Ingrid. She moved further up and I just settled into an open spot. Then it was the national anthem and we were off. I heard and saw Amuse right at the start. It's still kind of weird to know so many of these people at these mega races. Back in 2003, I started off not knowing a single soul.

Somewhere in the first few miles I followed a few bunnies that were clearing the way for me and I caught up to Jorel. I talked to him a little bit and I told him that most likely I will see him later. I powered on to see what I had in my legs. It wasn't much, my left Achilles was already protesting. I spotted NYCParkrunner and ran with him a little. He was planning on running the race based on feel... see, no need for a Garmin!
1: 9:34
2: 9:17
3: 9:06
4: 8:58
5: 8:50
6: 9:21
6.2: 57:09

I was rather nervous at this point. It was very early in the race and it was already feeling hard. I wasn't running as fast as I normally do and I'm sweating profusely. Going up the 163 was where I was spotted by James. I think he attached an invisible rope to me because I would see him over and over again. I was glad that I didn't kill myself by running a sub 2 on the first half.
7: 9:49
8: 9:35
9: 9:16
10: 10:20 - passed James on the uphill
11: 9:09 - James caught up to me on the downhill
12: 9:35 - James lets me go ahead
13: 9:48
13.1: 2:03:47

This section has always been hard for me. It is usually when I switch from Shotbloks to Clifshots. Clifshots tastes better to me during the later stages of a race. There were a few changes to the course due to construction and it looks like the course gained a hill around 17 and 18.
14: 9:52
15: 9:57
16: 10:55
17: 10:24
18: 10:27
19: 11:40
20: 10:54
21: 11:16
21: 3:28:25

My brain was getting hazy at this point. Good 'ol Frontage Rd. I always walk a good portion here. But I knew it was going to be over soon. I was passed by Jorel and soon spotted by Chic runner as I passed her. I would have stuck with her but I had to duck in for a potty break. I guess I'm different from everyone else because I really liked the out and back at 22-23. It was like a huge block party. Soon thereafter James passes me for the last time. Halfway to mile 24 while I was walking through a water/Cytomax station, I spotted Cheezmo sitting on the curb. I walked with him a little bit and gave him some advice on how to work out the cramps. Somewhere after crossing mile 24, I spotted both Chic runner and Wadiasoft. I ran with Chic runner a little and told her what's left. It was kind of hard doing math in my head at this point. I told her to run it in when we got to mile 25 and that I was going to walk and take my last Clifshot. I stepped on the gas and was going for broke, but I was feeling pretty gassed with the legs starting to cramp up. When I crossed the finish line I felt very light headed, almost blacked out a few times. I saw Wadiasoft and Cheezmo finish not too far behind me. It took me a moment to recover and get my bearings straight. I ran into RunnerInParadise as I was walking back to my car. I was kind of fading in and out as he told me that he ran a 2:54, first in his AG! I hope to be that fast when I stop marathon maniacing!
22: 11:48
23: 11:07
24: 12:19
25: 11:34
26: 11:00
26.2: 1:49
26.2: 4:27:47

And here's my happy ending: I went and had a big bowl of karamiso ramen! I could've had at least 3 bowls. That really hit the spot. I got home, took a shower, took a little nap, then woke up to devour 4 Hebrew National hotdogs. The End!