For once I am attempting to complete a race report upon completion of the race and not several weeks later. I still plan to report out on my races at the La Jolla Half Marathon and the Spring Sprint Triathlon, but those will have to wait.

I achieved a major milestone this morning by completing my first marathon, the Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego Marathon, in under four hours with a time of 3:51:28. Although I did not achieve my goal of 3:30, a Boston Marathon qualifying time for my age group next year, I am very pleased overall with my performance today.

The day started quite early, waking up at 3:00 AM to eat breakfast and change. Fortunately, I packed my race gear stuff the night before and put all of it in the car. I was out the door and headed to Qualcomm Stadium by 4:00 AM as planned. Surprisingly, it was barely enough time to make it to the start line. With over 30,000 runners competing in this event, I will be sure to leave even earlier next time so I don’t feel rushed and stressed out before the race.

After arriving at Balboa Park from the shuttle ride, I headed straight for the porta-potties for a last-minute pit stop. Unfortunately, the lines were so long that I finally reached the front of my line and finished my restroom obligatories with about five minutes to spare before my wave started at 6:16 AM. After the restroom ordeal, I dropped my gear back at the Gear Check (thank you, UPS). But then I realized that I had lost one of my nutrition flasks. I ran back to the bathroom area to look for it, but gave up when I couldn’t find it right away. My backup nutrition for the lost calories was to drink the Cytomax at the aid stations as needed for the first hour, and then use my two other flasks for the last two hours. As I ran towards the starting lines to find Corral #2, someone was singing the national anthem. I found my starting area with about 30 seconds to spare. As I maneuvered through a barricade, I accidentally stepped on someone’s toe. She told me: “You just stepped on my toe.” Thanks for that info. I said nothing and then we were off.

The weather was awesome, overcast. I began to believe that this was going to be the perfect day for the perfect race. My plan was to run the first 10K at 8:15, the second and third 10Ks at 8:00, and the last 10K+ at 7:45. I actually felt great for several miles. My biggest struggle was holding back and conserving energy. The cool weather made it easy to run, so I decided to just follow how my body felt.

I’m glad I was able to get all my mile splits in faster than 8:15 and sometimes faster than 8:00 because when the race headed on to the 163 Freeway after mile 8 for a three-mile uphill stretch, my faster splits earlier would allow me to stay on track as I ran up the hills slower than I wanted.

I ran into a co-worker who was volunteering at an aid station at Mile 11 and grabbed some water from her. Thanks for your support, Debbie!

Amazingly, even after 13.1 miles, I still felt great. I shoved the idea that I had another half of the race to run to the back part of my mind. I didn’t want to focus on that. Instead, I continued to focus on my arm swing keeping my arms pumping forward rather than swinging across my chest, keeping my strides light on my feet and letting gravity take the momentum trying to prevent my body from absorbing the impact, and finally relaxing my feet as they struck the ground so I wouldn’t cramp.

I was on pace to finish at 3:30, maybe even one minute earlier. The weather cooperated by staying cloudy. But things changed quickly at mile 16. My calves started to scream their displeasure with their current tasking. So I began to modify my stride to manage and prevent cramping. Unfortunately, I had 10 more miles to go. The weather began to change too with the sun burning away the cloud cover. By the time I reached miles 18 through 20, there were no more clouds.

As I entered the last 6 miles of the race around Mission Bay and Fiesta Island, my calves were screaming louder for me to STOP. I never really cramped during the race, but I definitely did not sustain my pace goals those last six miles. By that time I knew I had to change my Boston Marathon dreams and plans. My main objective was simply to not cramp for the remainder of the race and be sure I finished this marathon in under four hours. When the pain got unmanageable, I walked for a bit and then started running again. This seemed to be a better strategy rather than just running hard anyways until a major cramp took over and forced me to walk the rest of the race.

Fiesta Island was brutal. The sun beat down on me throughout the entire Fiesta Island loop. But sometimes a nice bay breeze would help me out. It seemed like the loop around the island would never end. By miles 22 and 23 I really wanted to get out of Fiesta Island, but realized that I still had 3 miles of this monotonous, circular loop to complete. At mile 24, my attitude improved with the knowledge that I would be finished with my first marathon in just over two miles.

At mile 25, I could hear the commotion at the finish line across the bay at the Sea World parking lot. I could also see the exit to Fiesta Island and was very happy to be finally done with 6 miles of a “running hell”. And so I picked it up a bit for the last mile. I took my last drink at the final aid station with 0.8 miles left.

With Fiesta Island behind me, there was about four tenths of a mile left (even though my Garmin 310XT told me I had already completed 26.2 miles). I noticed that most of the mile markers on the race were 0.2 miles further away than indicated by my Garmin watch.

With 0.2 miles left, I began a quick pace and a final sprint to the finish line. As I approached the finish line, I was thinking about what a huge accomplishment this was for me. Less than three years ago, I had just reached my health and weight goals. I never would have imagined running a marathon. In fact, I told my personal trainer that I would never run a marathon (spoken after he suggested that I try running one). Running marathons were for crazy people. So I guess I’m crazy now.

I passed a couple of people as I headed into the finish line chute. I saw my wife and two friends near the finish. They cheered and held up signs. The weight of completing this race under four hours as well as the soreness and fatigue in my legs got to me after I crossed the line. I bent over hunched on my knees from being tired and also overcome with emotion. It was difficult to believe that I just ran 26.2 miles. One of the volunteers noticed that I was bent over crying, and asked me if I was okay. I got a hold of myself, collected my medal, and waited in line to get my picture taken.

Ryan Hall & Me

The other cool thing at this race was meeting Ryan Hall, United States number one ranked marathon runner . He signed a couple of autographs for me and included his favorite bible verse, John 10:10. And after a day like today, life sure does feel abundant.