the big day

Here we are 2 months after the ride and I finally sit down to recap the days events. It turned out to be a great day after some logistical headaches. All ended well. Here's the story...

Well the big day finally came for the half marathon. What a weekend! The Silver Strand half marathon is from point A to point B. An absolutely beautiful ride. The Pacific ocean on one side, the San Diego harbor on the other. The A to B type format presents some challenges to all the competitors. You either have to get dropped off at the start and have someone pick you up at the finish... or... park at the start (which they discourage) and get someone to bring you back after the event. They provide shuttles. This works pretty well. Well, it works okay if you're not also dragging a handcycle, wheelchair and crutches along, not to mention 3 people. =) It's a bit of a logistical struggle. We ended up driving 2 cars to the start line, leaving one there and my stepson brought the wheelchair and crutches to the finish. I had transferred to the handcycle by this point to do the 1/2 marathon. Then we need to get all the people and apparatus back to the start line where my car is.

The 1/2 marathon.

We got off to a late start. You see, there are about 30-40 port-a-potties for roughly 2000 people. The line wrapped around the little park where the start line is. I kept hearing announcements... "the challenged athletes start is 20 minutes away", the line was moving very slowly. "the challenged athletes start is 10 minutes away". At this point I went to the head of the line and people were gracious enough to let me in ahead of them. Now off to get in the handcycle and start. By the time I got in and strapped down the challenged athletes had left 5 or more minutes before. I rode up to the line and asked if I just go or do I have to cross the start line to trigger my "chip" on my shoe for timing. The announcer said no just go ahead and then turned and asked me my name. I told him and as I rode down the long street the race starts on I hear him say "Let's hear it for Doug, he slept through his alarm I guess" Never mind, we had arrived almost an hour before start time. Oh well, no worries. I like the extra attention.

I start down the street and take it a little easy. If you've kept up with this blog you read that the last few weeks of training I hadn't felt particularly strong. I just figured I'd see how it went. After a mile or so if I felt like I could maintain a pace of about 12-13 mph I would. It wasn't long before I was passing some of the other handcyclists. One by one I would catch them and go by, shouting at them "good job", "you look strong", "keep it up". The mile markers started to go by one after another. Now, just so you know, the roller bladders start first, then the challenged athletes, then the runners. As the mile markers went by and I was passing other handcycles I started to pass roller bladders. I kept thinking it was just a matter of time before the elite runners started to pass me. I'm feeling strong, so i started to push it a little, my confidence is building. Mile 6, mile 7, mile 8. Still no runners. Right around mile 10 the course heads into a neighborhood before entering a naval radar station. Still no runners. At about 10 1/2 miles I hear a voice over my shoulder, "lead runners coming through". It's an escort on a bike. As the runner comes up next to me I wonder how fast this guys going after running over 10 miles so I pick up my pace to match his. I look down at my speedometer and he's going 16 mph. Wow! A little bit later there's a short hill and as I slow another runner goes by me. We go out and do a loop and start heading back to the neighborhood before we get to the finish line along the beach in Imperial Beach. At this point a 3rd runner goes by me. We turn around at the loop and I know that small hill is ahead of us and this time going down I'll be able to make up some ground. Sure enough I catch up to and pass the 3rd runner who had passed me. I get out a little ahead of him, but he's going a little faster than me now that we're back on flat ground. As he comes up next to me I think to myself  let's see what kind of kick he has after running almost 13 miles. I pace him down the home stretch. He's going over 16 mph. Very impressive. I let him get in front of me, he's a competitor, I'm here mostly for recreation. I didn't want us getting tangled up coming to the finish line.

It's a great feeling. All these people are cheering you on as you come down this long street to the finish line. I finished feeling very strong. I was very happy and surprised and wished I had pushed myself harder. By my computer on the bike I completed the 13.1 miles in 1 hour, 15 minutes. ( I would learn later from official timing my time was 1:13:12. A personal best. )

I hear some voices giving me words of encouragement. It's some members of the Kiwanis Club of Rancho Cucamonga there to cheer me on. Rick and Sharron made the trip down from Rancho. Thanks so much for their support and all of the many contributors. The money goes into our general fund and will be used to help out kids and adults in our community.

Next I turned my attention to looking for Natalie, my daughter, to complete the 1/2 marathon running. At about 2 hrs 30 min, she crossed the finish line after struggling with a sore knee for the last 2-3 miles. It still was her personal best. I'm very proud of her.

Once again thanks for all your help and support.

Until next year... See ya out on the road. =)