Well, let me tell you the team pushed hard. This race wasn't for me. . . no PR's to worry about. No splits to calculate. No pace bands to think about or worrying about when to eat. My pockets were full, mind you, but this time I ate when I was hungry not when a certain number of miles had gone by. I only had one goal in mind - get 12 brand new runners across that precious strip of real estate. To get the voices in their heads to say CAN. Two at the half marathon, ten at the full marathon. There was still a finish line in San Diego, but this time it was different. This time it wasn't MY finish line, it was their finish line and my only goal was to get the team to meet the challenge of CAN.
My journey to San Diego really began in the Washington DC airport in October, 2007 after my last marathon. Richard Harvey handed me his cell phone, Chuck was on the other end and he wanted to know if I'd be interested in being a TNT coach. Well, sure! Its only 3 or 4 people he tells me, piece of cake. Thanks again to Richard "The Caboose" Harvey a whole roomful of people signed up for the San Diego Marathon and suddenly we have 16 people on the team! Shazam! The final number was an even dozen and oh boy what a season we had! Erin and I typed a novel of e-mails, the team ran 257 miles over the course of 17 weeks, we talked about what to eat and our bodily functions ENDLESSLY and before we knew it, June 1st arrived.
The team was up and in the lobby on time (4:30 a.m.), Tina took our Team photo, we choked down some breakfast and then we're on the bus in the dark. I thought the entire Tally Team was on one bus as we started out, but turns out we had 3 of our team on a bus behind us. No problem, right? More on that later. . . . .
So we get on the highway and we realize that hundreds, no thousands, of cars are all headed downtown. Oh man, the nerves were getting to us all. We all tried to get more bagel and G'aid down, but it was tough. The bus driver turned out to be an idiot - he decided to get into the far right line with the other 6,000 people. And we stopped. Dead stop. We crept and crept. And stopped. Meanwhile, TNT buses were FLYING by us in the left lanes. Twenty minutes we sat in traffic and make it about 400 yards. Thank goodness the other team members called to find out where the heck we were and our driver realizes that we might not be in the right place. Hello? He finally listens to us and gets in the left lanes and Lord have mercy on our souls, we finally got to the start line. Nothing like a little EXTRA stress on race day!
We got to Balboa Park and there are hundreds of people in purple clustered around and in line for the bathrooms. Team Tally gathered and started the stretching and organizing process. Everybody got in line to pee, we got our gear bags all situated, took off our sweat shirts. It was nice and chilly, but not as cold as we all anticipated. We tossed our water, final checks were made. Finally everybody started walking to the start line. And wow, the sights! I saw a man with a parrot on each shoulder! And yes, he had a race number on - I guess he ran with them? Can you imagine the poop? I saw two guys with full clown suits on and dozens of people dressed as Elvis. It was like a marathon carnival.
Leah, Jenny and I found corral #14 (for an 11 minute mile, I think) and we settled in. There were people out on the balconies of the apartment buildings around us watching and cheering us on. We laughed at one guy that had a sign that said GO and one that said TEAM. Well, he was still asleep because for a while he had TEAM GO on the balcony. He did finally get it right and he got cheers for his grammar. The speakers were turned up to full volume and the announcer was completely unintelligible, but it just added to all the excitement. We didn't hear the start gun - hell it was so loud with chatter! There was a helicopter over us, we couldn't hear him either. It took the three of us 14 minutes to get to the start line and then we started running. I really thought Leah and Jenny were going to come out of their skin they were so pumped. My lips were sticking to my teeth from grinning so much!
The three of us ran for the first 3 miles or so together and then we spotted Michele A and Christie, so I ran with them for about 2 miles. We passed the zoo entrance, what beautiful grounds! I saw Stacey twice, so the second time, I left Michele and Christie and stayed with Stacey. We saw her mom all decked out in pink at mile 6 - it was so cool that Stacey got to see her! Stacey and I hung together all the way up to Mile 11. Everything that Erin and John said was right about mile 7 to 11 - the slant in the highway was wicked! The road was concrete, so Stacey and I stayed up on the paved shoulder as much as possible.
At just over mile 11, I let Stacey go on ahead and I pulled over to pick up Tricia and Dalisha. Diana and her sister passed by and we got some photos - they looked fabulous!!!! Tricia and Dalisha were together and looked strong and happy. The sun was just starting to come out, but the day was still breezy and dry. The three of us walked/ran to the half marathon finish line and there it was - that sweet strip that beeped at us we ran across. I got photos of both of them as they finished and hugs all around. Give these girls some medals!!!!!
So at this point, I could have continued on the route, but I figured most everyone was ahead of me, so I would have been running by myself. How much fun would that have been? None! The course was perfect for me to run 1/2 a mile to the 22 mile mark - the course looped around on itself at that point. I stood in front of a stage where a CRAZY band was playing some fantastic rock music and drank some water. At this point the sun was out all the way and it was starting to get warm for sure. I had no idea where everybody was at this point but I was sure hoping I hadn't missed anyone.
Scanning faces, scanning faces . . . . there's Beth!!! She looked FABULOUS. Running at a strong 10 minute pace, she was just churning along. I fell in next to her and she said she was feeling good. We ran together from 22.5 to almost the 25 mile mark before I left her. She was feeling good and had about 1.5 miles to go. She was on track for a 4:30 marathon without any trouble at all and she said she was still feeling good. I was pretty sure she would meet her goal. I turned around and ran fast back to look for the next runner. Scanning faces, scanning faces . . . .there's Jenny! She and her dad had just split up at mile 23, so she hadn't been alone for very long. She said she felt good (this girl is running on a stress fracture in her leg, tendinitis in her Achilles and a cold!) and was keeping a very strong 10:30 pace. I ran with her down to almost the 25 mile mark. Go Jenny!
I turned back again and ran back scanning, scanning and there's Leah! Leah was just starting to cramp a bit so she stretched and I rubbed some magic BioFreeze on her legs and off she went. She said she felt good, and I didn't worry one minute more about her. At this point, I had Erin on the phone again - she was "marathon central" and was tracking everyone on the live website. For a while there was a glitch and the times weren't coming up so we didn't know where anybody was. But finally the site was giving the right reports and so Erin was my "eye in the sky". She could tell me just exactly where everyone was based on their 21 mile mark and their pace. So now I knew that I was looking for Michele A - and there she was! Gimping along in her steady stride and grinning like a true marathon runner! We ran together for a while, she was feeling strong so I left her at mile 25 and went backwards again.
You get the idea. Back and forth scanning faces, scanning faces and on the phone with Erin. My only regret is that I picked the absolutely WORST section of road to hang out! There was a water treatment plant on the other side of a 6 lane highway and that was it. Dry, hot parking lot all around and a long rough section of chewed up pavement. Ick. If I could have run harder going back I could have waited at a prettier section, but I never made it back that far. So I got cheered again and again by the same cheerleaders, the same water stops, the same two bands. They all kept telling me "You're running the wrong way, you know!" I really enjoyed the process, I have to say. There were 6 or 7 other TNT coaches that were on the same stretch of highway and every once in a while my backward runs would match theirs. We'd chat (some had 50+ runners!) and compare notes. Talk about who was still out, who was in. My race bib didn't have a number, it said COACH and the back of my shirt said COACH ROBIN so if any TNT runner that had an issue, I was their coach. I made eye contact with as many TNT runners as possible looking for people in trouble, etc. A participant from the New York Chapter waved at me and said "I have a question - I need help." She said she was starting to feel a cramp coming and wanted to know what to do. So we pulled over and stretched it out. . . .and she was on her way again. It felt good to help another runner.
So I finally got down to just one more runner that was still out. Erin was giving me Stacey's times and calculated her pace for me (my brain was no longer doing any sort of math successfully) so I knew she had to be coming very soon. Scanning, scanning - there she is! She was having some crazy knee issues . . . .both knees! But she was still smiling and still looking good and her fantastic "can do" spirit was still there. We walked the rest of the way in and through the last water stop sponsored by TNT. And just so you know how great TNT is, they were out there was big ol' homemade muffins!!! Just for the "back of the pack" folks. Oh baby, that was one wonderful blueberry muffin! Stacey and I walked along munching and drinking.
We finally saw 26 miles as we got onto the Marine Base and a number has never looked so good. She was super excited to see that and as we rounded the corner and saw the finish line she manged to break into a run. Her mom was yelling and carrying on and BEEEEEPPPP we crossed that last little two feet of real estate. Done! Finished! Give that girl a medal, please! The TNT tent felt like a mile away from the finish line, but we finally made it over there and the entire team was waiting for us. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, chips, cold drinks. Heaven, I tell ya. I ate 3 bags of Cheetos, OMG they tasted fabulous. We managed to get the entire team gathered one last time for a victory photo before we hobbled to the bus. The energy was high, the smiles were everywhere - what a great day!!!
So here it is . .. . A HUGE THANK YOU, TEAM!! You guys inspired me more than any marathon I've ever run for myself. Seeing your accomplishments after all these long weeks (remember that first 2 mile run?) has made me realize how truly rich I am. I've learned things about myself and about you, I've been inspired, I've been blessed, and I've been challenged. And most importantly, I've made new running friends. . . . no, REAL friends. THANK YOU, ERIN, the best Team Leader ever! We made a fabulous team, her and I. I know we couldn't have done this without each other. Thank you, thank you, Erin!!!
And now for a final quote. Just one more for the Team: "Some think guts is sprinting at the end of a race. But guts is what got you there to begin with. Guts start back in the hills with six miles to go and you're thinking of how you can get out of this race without anyone noticing. Guts begin when you still have forty minutes of torture left and you're already hurting more than you ever remember." - - - George Sheehan
Every one of you had guts on race day and I admire the hell out of all of you. GO TEAM!!!!!!!!!!
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