February 8, 2010
THREE CRAZY DAYS.
Let me just tell you what a crazy few days it’s been. Long story short, a long time ago I signed up for the Surf City Half Marathon in Huntington Beach. Time went by.
Then, like a month ago, my friend Jim Kennedy asked me if I am still planning on running this race. I looked at my calendar. Turned out I had booked a wedding the day before in AZ. I immediately responded, “not this year, I have a wedding”.
But after some thought, I decided I could at least try driving from AZ to CA after my wedding! If I could manage to stay awake behind the wheel, I could leave the wedding at 10:30 PM, and drive to Huntington Beach and arrive by 4AM. Then, I could sleep for a couple hours and go run that thing.
Somehow I couldn’t visualize actually doing that, but I went for it anyway.
I arrived in AZ on Friday and made my way to the amazing Arizona Biltmore, where I met with my future bride and groom, Lisa and Nick for some engagement photos. The Biltmore is an amazing property and many thanks to Becky from the Biltmore who let me conduct an engagement session there! Meet Lisa and Nick:
We had a GREAT time and I’m excited to go through their photos later this week! The next day, after canceling all of my credit cards because I thought I lost my wallet, I headed out to the FireSky Resort in Scottsdale, and photographed a great wedding! Meet Janelle and Shaun!
So yeah, after that wedding, I got into my rental car, a Toyota Prius, and started the drive to Huntington Beach. I spent the entire drive with the interior light on to stay awake better and went throuh my entire iPod collection. Eventually I made it. That was more grueling than the ensuing half-Marathon!
I arrived at Jim and Stephany Kennedy’s casa, and made my way to my room at about 4AM.
It felt like I closed my eyes for like 2 seconds when suddenly Jim was knocking on my door telling me to “Wake up, gotta go!”. In less than an hour, I found myself standing here:
Rewind a little, here’s a quick photo we took as we were leaving, that’s Jim on the left, myself, and Heath, who is a really great guy, the husband of Jim’s studio manager, Michelle. I met heath in Cozumel a couple years ago when we all went out on this really awesome vacation. I secretly wanted to beat Heath, but he’s in awesome shape and edged me out by 4 minutes! Jim is terrified of the cold weather. I was thinking it was nice and warm out! These Orange County People, I tell ya.
So I managed to keep about an 8-minute-mile pace for the race, which was OK considering the sleep I got and that I am not the lightest I’ve ever been (I’m workin’ on it!). I wish I could find out how I ranked among the Clydesdale (runners over 200lbs). The course was AWESOME. Views of the ocean the whole way. We were literally right along the beach. It was an awesome course and a beautiful morning. I love just being surrounded by tons of healthy, happy people.
I managed to find Jim as I just passed the turnaround point. As you can see, he’s very easy to spot: Just look for the guy with the full body suit and a yellow shirt. It was his first half-marathon and he did awesome, finishing under 2 hrs which was Jim’s goal. Nice job!
Last year at the PF Changs Rock and Roll Half Marathon, I did a video of myself as I crossed the finish line. I decided to do it again. Why? I have no idea. But here it is.
After the race I found Jim
Then we found Heath but I look stupid in that picture so I am not posting it!
Check her out! This made the drive worth it! (this and being out of CO and into the beach, and hanging out with great friends!)
So my result this year:
Overall: 1359 out of 11783
Men: 958 out of 4268
M 30-34: 169 out of 645
Age/Grade: 54.34% Place: 3343
Finish: 1:49:11 Pace: 8:20
So, better than average. That in mind, I’m happy.
There were lots of dogs out today. Everyone knows that I love dogs. Here are a couple I found: Bulldog Puppy:
This dog belongs to Heath’s cousin and was VERY cute (taken inside Jim’s studio):
So there you have it! Today I’m just going to chill out here in Huntington Beach, heading back to cold, snowy Colorado tomorrow!
Adios!
February 8, 2010 |
February 8th, 2010 at 3:52 pm
Mark, you’re crazy. The 1/2 Marathon looks like a blast, and the coastal run and medal make me want to sign up for next year!