San Diego AFC 1/2

AUGUST 16, 2009...SAN DIEGO, CA

I cannot believe I have waited this long to post on my 1/2 in San Diego...geez, I must be busy!!! It was a blast to say the least! I got there late Friday night and went directly to the hotel which was amazingly cool!!! It overlooked the Harbor Island Marina.

I slept well....I love hotel pillows! The next morning I had breakfast all by myself (WOW!) and then headed to the expo for the race. I did buy a few things and then waited for my friends to come.

I caught up with Kim Cornwell and my best friend from high school, Stephennie Tieri. After the expo we headed to Pizza Nova on Harbor Island Drive and met up with some more high school friends. It felt like I had not aged one bit....I loved hang'n with Kim, Stephennie (and her husband), Wes (and his daughter), Dana, Kisha, Scot, and Kristeen (and her sister). It was so much fun!

That night my best friend from PA, Keri, came down to San Diego (they now live in Simi) and we went to dinner. Keri stayed the night with me in the hotel and waited for me to finish my race the next morning....of, course, she did not have to wake up at 4 like I did...LOL. After the race we hung out at Horton Plaza and just loved being around each other until I had to take the red eye back home.

I could not sleep one wink the night before the race...I was so excited. I was so nervous though because I was worried I would have no energy for the race. At 4 a.m. I ended up getting out of bed and getting ready for the race. We all had to be on the bus at 5 a.m. in order to be shuttled to Point Loma Pt where the race was starting, as they had all the roads blocked for the race. Oh man....breathtaking!!! It was dark but you could see all the lights of downtown San Diego. I met up with Wes and Kim at the race point and ate breakfast and just waited until 7. Believe it or not, there were 8400 runners in the 1/2. It was AMAZING to see so many runners....all ages and shapes - very inspiring! It took us 10 minutes to cross the starting line and trigger our pace tag on our shoes once the gun went off. The feeling of running with so many people around you was weird....some places it was elbow to elbow.

It finally thinned out at about the 10k mark. I had run beside Kim up until then, but I felt a great boost of energy so I told her I was going to speed up. My 10k time was 1:04 which is an easy run for me and I was pleased. I knew I could speed up and try to finish by 2:00, which was my goal. It was so beautiful to run along Sea Port Village and see the ocean and the ships. I was in love and I become quite homesick for San Diego. To my surprise, I had known there was a bit of a hill at the end, the race started to incline about mile 10.5. I was not too worried as I am fine on hills...but it kept going and going; every corner we turned, the hill still existed. I was saying....there is always the downhill on the other side, but it never came. I was so frustrated and it kicked my butt. I ended up walking about 1.75 miles of the 2.5 mile incline. I was tired. Others were cursing around me and some sitting on the curb. Why would they

end a race with such an incline...are they SERIOUS???? Oh well...I did not make my 2:00 goal, but instead 2:23 which I am so fine with! I ran the race and loved it and it really did not matter what my time was. I loved it and it was a great adventure!!! I am grateful my sweet husband, Gordon, encouraged me to run and meet up with my old classmates, and hold down the fort here at home while I was away....he is amazing!!!