Rock N Roll
It is impossible
for me to report objectively on my San Diego Rock N Roll experience, so I won’t
bother trying. Reporting subjectively will probably make for more interesting
reading anyway.
The “journey”
to
The common school
of thought that “2 nights preceding the marathon” are the most important for
sleep (as is the diet); weighed heavily on my mind. The lack of sleep and
discomfort following the long drive only aggravated matters.
We departed mom’s
by 1 PM Saturday, (thankfully she made quick work of the two hour drive further
south to San Diego); arriving just in time to witness John “The Penguin”
Bingham of Runner’s World chair a Q and A session of famous athlete’s, most
renown being Frank Shorter (winner of the Gold and Silver Olympic Medals in the
1972 (Munich) and 1976 (Montreal) Olympics).
I had met Frank
at the Boston Marathon in 1992 (a photo of he and I adorns my wall)….his hair
is a lot greyer now than when I met him those 14 years ago…but at least it
exists… (Genetics took care of that in my case…)
There were
quite a few anecdotes passed on during the session…the one that I appreciated the
most was The “Penguin’s” relating a conversation with former marathon world and
US Record holder Khalid Kannuchi. (He
had run about
Bingham asked
Kannuchi what was the longest period of time he had ever run for, to which Kannuchi
replied: “Well I suppose my slowest marathon, just over 2 hours and 9
minutes.” Khannuchi than asked Bingham
a very similar question: Bingham responded “a marathon once took him well over
5 hours.” Khannuchi responded Bingham
was amazing, and he didn’t know how he did it!
After the
guest speaker session I departed to pick up my race number, my first “major”
indication that my association leading up to and beyond this marathon would be
atypical. Despite having registered in February, there was no record of my
entry into the on the pre-printed roster of tens of thousands. A thorough computer query at the trouble
desk only revealed that I was registered for October’s inaugural Rock N Roll
San Jose half marathon.
Fortunately, I
maintained my demeanor, rather than
verbalizing what I was thinking (“don’t tell me I reregistered for this race
more than 4 months in advance, drove 700 miles and got 5 hours sleep to be told
I am going to have to pay an additional $120 day of expo entry…!”) Eventually I was issued a replacement
number delineating the number of registrants to that point), and the dilemma
was resolved.
We got a hotel
about 40 minutes south of
Since the start
and finish are not extremely far apart, I got the experience of riding with an
interesting group of back-of-the packers and late arrivals who seemed to think
I was over concerned about my tardiness considering I possessed what I was
informed was known as a “chip” that would track my personal time… (These folks
obviously knew I wasn’t a maniac being adorned in a tropical shirt, (out of
maniac yellow and black uniform (again).
If there was
one race I didn’t have to worry about missing the start, I supposed this was
it. Arriving at the start line officially 15 minutes after the gun fired, I
still gauged about 3,000 runners waiting to cross from their assigned corrals
at the very back. A fiery announcer blared the rock group AC DC as the last of
the running crowd rocked past the starting line, and more than 25,000 official
runners, billed as the world’s 9th largest marathon, were off and
running.
From the start I
knew I should just concede my goals for a fast time and run the event socially,
but I somehow refused, zigzagging past and through the extremely crowded
surface streets of 12-15 minute milers at a 7:45 pace for the first 12 miles,
until the field finally thinned out,
by which time I burned out by
attrition like a fiery comet, which eventually parlayed into an over 4:10 event
for me. It was a fascinating experience chatting with the many charity and
first time runners.
Along the way to
my personal implosion, I was probably entertained better than almost any
marathon I can recall by everything from Reggae to rock to rap, my personal
favorite bands played the “classic rock” music from the 80’s which included
music by Journey, and U-2, while the Stray Cat’s buoyed me across the parade
deck and to the finish line at the US Marine Corps Recruit Depot, an especially
moving moment for me.
I had passed
through the Marine Corps Bases doors in 1984 when I went through USMC basic
training, and after recently retiring after 20 years in the Army it was like coming
full circle where the military started for me some 22 years ago. I observed
groups of Marines marching, and recalled with fondness the water under the
bridge.
I found the
entertainment associated with the course to be the most appealing aspect of
though the miles we got to run on the
freeway the course the unique.
Not the
consummate scenic course, there were residential neighborhoods, buildings, and
palm trees, but we couldn’t observe the ocean clearly through the smog. It was
fun running past and observing the humungous Navy ships docked in port, and I
made sure to run in the furthest lane out regardless of the so-called “tangent
dividend. After all, how often does one get to run (North) on the South Bound
lane of a 4 lane south bound freeway?
The following
Maniacs Rock and Rolled through
“CJ Hollywood” (Chris)
Andre Boulais 3:
Deo Jaravata 3:52:45
Christine Humble
Diva Burns
Eddie Hahn (author) 4:
Tom Karpowich 4:
Todd
Charles Sayles 5:44:12
Carol Dellinger 6:43:55
*All times denoted are “chip”