Rocked and Rolled

If you walked up to me 2 years ago and asked if I would ever run a marathon. I would think you were out of your mind. But 2 years have passed since my first official race and I have not looked back since. As much as road cycling has taken over much of my spare time now. I will always be a runner at heart. With several half marathons and a few 10k's under my belt. I felt this is the year to step up my game and run my first full marathon. What better event to enter than the annual Rock and Roll Marathon in San Diego. But I didn't want to tackle this alone. With the help from my best buds Brian B. and Pat M., we used the last 5 months together training for the daunting task. Training for a race takes time and dedication. But with a wife and daughter, it also takes patience's and compromise on both sides. I was able to get in as much as 25-30 miles a week with their support. I also can not forget the daily running tips from my boss and avid runner Peter B. who has inspired me that anything is possible when you put your training to it. Having a great support system is the key to almost everything huge in your life. With that in mind my buddies and I decided to show our support for CAF on our run.

After several weeks of training and only 24 hours left before the starting gun goes off, I could not sleep. You can call them jitters, but I am sure it didn't help that my daughter was kicking and slapping daddy all night. It's 3 am and my body has not completely woken up yet. This won't be good since it won't be until the start of the race my body will then decide it needs to do what it has to. Oh well, you live and learn. When we got to the staging area, I was greeted by several thousand enthusiastic runners. It was a sight to behold. No one can say they weren't excited to run after seeing all the people in attendance.
When our corral was called and waiting in the starting line, only one thing kept running through my mind. What did I get myself into and am I really ready for this? But I just had to remind myself that I prepared myself as much as I could for this race. The guys and I made it a point to pace ourselves throughout the race. This was a very effective and evident when we got to the 13 mile marker where my body's limit was nearing it's point of no return. Yet at mile 14, I was feeling good. I have to admit that an extra boost of energy ran through my body seeing my cheering wife and daughter along with our friend Emily (Thanks Em for helping Cristal out) on the side of the road. Who says cheering fans never helps with the psyche? When running long distances such as a marathon, being mentally tough is just as important, if not more than being physically tough.
(By the way, thanks to the unknown spectators who cheered for the guys wearing the CAF shirts, you do not know how much that helped us get through the run.)

When we reached the 23 mile marker, both my brothers in arms almost had enough and had to turn it down a notch. Looking back at them they said to "just go ahead and finish strong if you have enough." As much as I didn't want to leave and stay as a team, I felt good and was thinking, "can I live with myself if I decided to not push it the last 3.2 miles left?" The guys understood and I pressed on and on. This must have been the longest stretch of the race. Seeing and hearing the end in sight definetly did not help the situation. I just looked down and drown out everything else. Next thing I noticed I made it up to the crowds of cheering people at mile 25 and the adrenaline took me the rest of the way. Wow, I can't believe I finished it!

There were so many little things I was not able to desrcibe in the blog. From seeing people taken out on stretchers, to people collapsing right in front of me and people bleeding and didn't even notice it. I had so many different emotions running through my head in such a short period of time it was hard to put it in words. One emotion I can put in words is a feeling of accomplishment. The feeling of finishing something not every one will get a chance to do in their lifetime. The one sign i saw and will take to heart read, "If it's easy, then everyone will be doing it". Will this be the last marathon for me? I don't think so, but my brain can not speak for my body.