Thirteen Point One

So, I made it... 13.1 miles on a beautiful Sunday morning in So Cal... ocean breeze in my face, rigor mortis setting in to my joints, and the fellowship of great friends. The first couple of miles had been daunting... the last couple of miles were grueling... everything in between was amazing. But, I've gotten ahead of myself - it's important to start at the beginning of this story...last year, after AJ's own Lost Dutchman Marathon (one of the best "little marathons" in the nation, according to Runner's World magazine) JJ said, "We should all do that"... WE SHOULD ALL DO WHAT? I mean, really, I don't think I have ever ran more than 3 miles at a time in my life - in fact, when I played basketball for MCC, I used to hope I'd fall in a hole and not have to finish our daily 2-3 mile conditioning workout... I would TRY to find a rock to twist my ankle on... I prayed I would pass out from heat stroke... you get the idea. But, JJ is pretty convincing... and thinking he would never really find us a suitable run according to the criteria I gave him - Chrystal and I carelessly agreed to run with him. Before long, he found the perfect run - along the Pacific Coast Highway in Carlsbad, the half marathon idea became contagious, and we were able to add Wayne, Tayna, and Dan to our list of lunatics. After months of "training" - and I use that term loosely - we got together the week before to make our final arrangements. It is important, at this point in the story, to explain that we, at Parks & Rec, can rarely take a trip together without fighting about what we will "do" on our vacation getaway... we spend the majority of our time in indecision about how we will spend our time. It was clear we needed an itinerary... and being the control freak I am, I took this task very seriously.

Tayna, Darren, Wayne and I set off Friday afternoon. With a bunch of "chick flicks", our head phones, and lots of munchies, Tayna and I felt well-prepared to weather a long drive with our men. After a hilarious two hours of Charlotte, Carrie, Miranda, and Samantha and a painful two hours of Mama Mia (I swear Wayne is rubbing off on me... I knew it was a musical, but really, did they have to sing every meaningful monologue/dialogue?), we finally arrived in San Diego. It was at that point that I realized the guys would take great joy all weekend long in mocking the itinerary... no respect at all for the well-planned adventure. While the food was okay, El Norte was NOT the BEST MEXICAN FOOD PLACE IN ALL OF CALIFORNIA, according to Tayna... and I have to agree, the margaritas were not "perfect" - I should know (it is a little-known fact that I am a margarita aficionada). Regardless, NOTHING was going to spoil our big weekend... not even the toxic gases that oozed from the front seat inhabitants every where we went! Seriously, men, the war in the Middle East would be over if we could find a way to lock that in a capsule and smart-bomb it over our enemies. On Saturday, the rest of our team arrived and we spent the day at the Expo and then went out to my personal favorite: The Old Spaghetti Factory... Darren, not to be confused with the New Spaghetti Factory... I think it's my favorite because it reminds me of the good 'ol days and Mr. O. on our annual Math Club trip (Go Prospectors). We hit the sack early that night, resting up for our big run. Among the MANY arguments that night (inspite of our itinerary) was the time we should all meet to travel - together, in one car, packed in like sardines because parking was THOUGHT to be scarce... The itinerary clearly stated that we would leave at 6am, but our fanatical runner, Wayne, was worried there may be traffic or, gasp, a long line at the port-a-johns so we finally agreed to leave at 5:4am. Well, let me tell you, we were there in PLENTY of time... which Dan reminded us of at least every few minutes. I've never stretched so much in my life... Anyways, after 20-30 minutes in the port-a-john line... (now that was an experience I will not soon forget)... we finally made it to the start line. Wayne was in Wave 2, JJ was in Wave 5, and the rest of us were in Wave 6. We decided to live on the edge and move up to JJ's wave... I have to admit, it felt like cheating... I kept trying to hide my bib with the wave printed right on it in a big orange stripe... nobody else seemed to mind, but I was ready for some running nazi to come through the crowd and loudly (so everyone could hear) tell me I needed to move to the back of the line with all the other first timers. Thankfully, I was able to shrink in to the pavement there... Eventually, it was our time to move up to the front and get ready to go... the announcer was doing his best imitation of a Young Life club leader trying to get the girls to shout louder than the boys and encouraging group participation... the guys weren't having any of that! We were off with little fanfare and all I can say, is that I am amazed I didn't fall down (my sister would have laughed). The volunteers and the Carlsbadians (Sidd is that what they are called?) were wonderful - shouting out encouragement, dancing to a rockin' beat, holding signs - "Go Daddy". One house - no doubt old frat buddies that were still living the dream - had a mannequin of a girl in sexy lingerie out on their deck, blaring music, drinking beer and doing shots at 7:30am in the morning... now where were they when I finished?... not a beer in site at the finish line. The rest of the run was breathtaking... running on the coast was exhilirating (good thing, because it was very hilly... we were constantly running up a little hill and thankfully back down again... though, by the end my knees didn't care as much for the downhill portion as my lungs did). We managed to eek out a respectful 2hours and 39minutes... respectful because while we ran most all of the way, we did stop to take pictures and to pee. Tayna and I tried fruitlessly to get our pictures taken by the race photographers... but to no avail - there was always some little runner messing it up for us (she got hers, though: in all of our commotion to move into the camera's view, we accidently jostled a few people... not sure if she bit the dust or not, we tried to pretend it wasn't us... there was a crowd, it could have been someone else). We think they might have gotten our pictures at the end of the race, but we were laughing so hard by then, we're pretty sure no one could tell who we were. Wayne, of course, ran his personal best... we waved furiously to him as he ran past us on his way back from the turn-around... finishing nearly an hour before me. His knees are still hurting as I write this... mine aren't... that's what he gets for being such a show-off. Seriously, he is part of my inspiration to run with the crazies.

After LOTS of recovery time, we went to a great seafood place called King's Fish House... pretty awesome food - Tayna was feeling like she could conquer the world after our run, so she ordered lobster (this was the whole lobster, shell-on... very comical). I've got to give a shout out to our friend Sidd who saw the picture of Tayna on facebook and described her style as that of a hummingbird beating the poor lobster to death with her wings. Very observant. Anyways, all-in-all, it was an awesome weekend and an experience that I will always remember for the rest of my life as my FIRST half marathon... There is nobody I would rather have shared this with... Chrystal, Dan, Corinne, JJ, Tayna, Darren, and Wayne... best people in the world to step out of my comfort zone with. Now, to start planning my NEXT half marathon...