WOW! I did it! If you've never done a marathon or run this distance, you can only IMAGINE how exhilirating it is to finish something like that! For the last 3 miles I was running off the sheer excitement of it! Despite how much body hurt and wanted to stop after 13 miles, I just couldn't- not after coming so far! So I kept going! And going! And going! And going! Suddenly I'd gone 14 miles! And then 15 miles! And then.... there it was! I could see the train station where we'd started! But I'm getting ahead of myself.
I arrived at the train station in Solana Beach at 6:20am regretting my trust in the weather people who said it wasn't going to be raining that morning. I'd left my rain jacket at home and it was currently sprinkling. I had to park on the street since our team had already completelly filled the train station parking lot. Then I hot-footed it back to our meeting place at one end of the parking lot where I signed in. Then I made my way to the opposite end of the parking lot and got into line with the other hundreds of teammates waiting to have their tickets and id check before crossing the bridge to the boarding area.
I had to go to the bathroom, but decided to wait and go on the train since the line was so long and I didn't want to miss the train. As it was, I can't believe everyone made it onto the train- that train doesn't wait for ANYBODY! I didn't think it was possible, but I didn't hear about anyone missing the train. Once on board, I found myself a seat and headed for the restroom. With as long as it took to wait my turn and then return to my seat, that ride sped by in the blink of an eye. However, I still had time to note several differences between this train and a Chinese train (the only other one I've been on):
10. There were no graphic pictures warning against pushing in the boarding area.
9. There were two levels to the train
8. Train's structure and materials were modern.
7. The inside was mostly clean.
6. There were colors other than brown, black, & steel.
5. The seats were upholstered with fabric and larger than those found on airplanes; and had the same folding trays as airplanes (but larger).
4. No one stared at me because I was caucasian.
3. No one came down the isle shouting "chicken feet" in Chinese.
2. There was soap in the bathroom.
and most importantly of all....
1. you could not see the tracks passing below when looking into the "toilet"!
Once at the Oceanside train station, I was grateful that I had used the facilities on board as I watched the incredible race of nearly 100 ppl trying to get to the bathrooms first. Once most everyone had returned to our gathering area we placed our gear in a car that would drive it back to the Solana Beach Station for us and listened to the announcements. We did a warm up lap around the parking lot (taking up 1/2 the road with our larger than usual group) and returned to our gathering spot to stretch as a group.
After the stretch we split up into the usual groups A, B, & C, and then further into pace groups. I decided to stick with the Group A coack and do 9/1's (9min running/1 min walking sets).
It was still sprinkling as we started our run and the sprinkles continued (sometimes turning into actual rain at spots) until somewhere around the 7mile mark??? After a while I got so used to it, I didn't even notice when it stopped.
Our trail mostly followed Hwy 101 with some detours into little side streets.
We ran from Oceanside,
through Carlsbad,
through Leucadia,
through Encinitas,
through Cardiff by the Sea,
and into Solana Beach!!!
I'll be posting a copy of my map soon. There are even written directions and I'm fairly certain you could drive the entire route if you were REALLY curious! ;-D
As I mentioned in my previous post (with photos) I finished the run with Lisa & Susie, as well as Carmen, the Group A coach, and about 4 or 5 others who stayed fairly close to each other throughout the run. We completed the 16 mile run in 3hrs 27min (not including Aid Station stops- which range from 30sec - 2 minutes on threat of muscles seizing up). There were 5 aid stations on this run.
That's a running pace of 12min 30sec per mile! If I can maintain that pace for another 10.2 miles, I will complete the marathon in 5hrs 46min! And next weekend we're kicking it up to 10min running/ 1min walking sets!
8-O Oh my goodness!
.....you may be wondering how I felt after all that running... see picture in previous post! ;-D
