You Know It! We Were Rock Stars @ the San Diego Rock 'N' Roll Half-Marathon

We Did It!!!!

Becky & Me @ the finish with Kate the our super TNT cheerleader!!!

Becky and I crossed the finish line of the San Diego RNR Half-Marathon in 3:18!!! (Click here to see the full results) Due to my unfortunate injury, we athletic walked the entire race - whew! Needless to say our bodies hurt in places we never knew even existed. Becky and I were among 4,000 other Team In Training participants whom together raised $12 million to help find a cure for blood cancers - simply amazing!

About the Race:

In years past, the San Diego RNR has always been a marathon and half-marathon combination. This year the organizers decided to eliminate the half-marathon to the general public and just offer this race for TNT participants. Becky and I decided to do the half-marathon as part of our Chicago Marathon training. I get VERY nervous for races (whether I'm running or walking) so it is important that I get out all of my pre-race jitters prior to the BIG event (on Oct. 7th - mark you calendars!).

During this spectacular event we encountered a few things that I would love to share with all of you. First, we had to get up at 3:45 AM to catch a shuttle to the course. We both asked ourselves what the point was of even trying to attempt to sleep. Then, once we got to the course we waited... and waited.... and waited. From 5:00 - 6:15 AM we huddled together to stay warm while watching floods of TNT people run in and out of the port-a-potties. Here is a picture of my fellow Illinois TNT teammates (the background is dark because the sun was still sleeping):

Just as the sun was rising, we checked our bags and headed for our corral. For those of you who don't know, a race corral is a designated area that you are assigned to based on your anticipated finish time where you wait for the gun to go off. After a quick pit stop in the not-so-clean port-a-potty, Becky and I reported to corral 14. I felt like a cow getting ready to be butchered. Honestly, the tension and anxiety you feel being pushed up against people is indescribable. Fortunately for me, I had Becky calming my nerves and cracking jokes about the array of runners participating in the event.

To run a marathon it takes a certain type of person and by this I mean that marathon runners are not at all "normal" people. And from what I have seen, the people at the RNR Marathon are even farther off the spectrum of normalcy. The reason they call it the Rock 'N' Roll marathon is that there is a band playing at every mile marker. There are RNR marathons in many cities, including Phoenix, Nashville, etc. At this particular RNR race, a world record was set for the number of Elvis impersonators running a marathon - the record as of June 3rd, 2007 is 47 running Elvi. Of course we just had to have our photo taken with an infamous Elvis impersonator... (see below)

During the race, we were accompanied by Superman, the Pink Ladies, and many other crazy runners including a man with a pink tu-tu. Even crazy spectators who held up signs that said, "23 miles to beer." (For future reference, if you are a spectator do NOT count down the miles to go - it's not fun to be reminded of what is left to run). My favorite runner that we saw was a man who juggled FOUR bean bags for the entire marathon - 26.2 miles in this position (no joke):
Now, I'm sure you are all wondering how the heck I got all of these photos... well, for those of you who don't know I'm a little obsessed with taking pictures. As I do most events in my life, I documented the half-marathon. I took several pictures of the landscapes since we ran through the city and hilly areas of San Diego. I won't bore you with all of my journey, but I would like to share my favorite picture though... just look at the sea of purple - these are ALL Team In Training people who are running for a reason! Very cool!
OH! And just as Becky and I thought we were alone running the race, Emily (our other teammate for the Chicago Marathon) was totally with us. When we were leaving the city all the sudden we both look up to the apartment building and see a HUGE sign that read "EMILY" - see...she really was with us in spirit!

...This photo was of my favorite group of men that were dressed in TNT drag clothing to cheer on their wives who were running the race. Here's Becky posing with one of them:

At mile 8, we saw Mark (the husband of an Illinois participant) who offered to take a picture of us at the mile marker - we're still feeling pretty good at this point.... (8 down 5 to go!)
...Little did we know what miles 9-11 had in store for us. Mile 9 started as a slow incline that really didn't seem to affect our pace/form at all, but this slow incline lasted for the ENTIRE mile! After a while we really started to feel it in our shins and our butts. Once we plateaued near the middle of mile 10, it seemed to curve downward on a slant through mile 11 - it was just miserable. We were literally walking with one hip higher than the other. Of course we were just ecstatic when we saw the MILE 13 marker and Kate on the other side of it!

GO TEAM GO!!!

We did it! We finished the race in 3:18 - that's a PR for athletic walking for sure! We had ourselves some cookies, bananas, and peanut butter & jelly sandwiches - yum! Shortly after we watched my TNT West teammate and blogging friend, Carly, cross the finish line of her first half-marathon (with her husband, Todd)... here's a before and after pictures:

Congrats, Carly - Way to Go!

This event was just a glimpse of what is yet to come. I loved being in San Diego and doing a race with Team In Training. That "do gooder" feeling is absolutely inspiring and simply contagious. I'm still on a high from all of the warm fuzzies. We met some amazing people including a mother-daughter team running for their son-brother who was currently battling Leukemia and came to the event to cheer us on! wow. I look forward to the next four months of training with Emily and Becky and to having the support of ALL of our friends and family at the Chicago Marathon in October!

A special thanks to Becky, Kate, Ken, and the entire Illinois TNT Chapter for such a fun weekend and a memorable event!!!

For those of you still wanting to make a donation to my Team In Training fundraiser, please visit my website at: http://www.active.com/donate/tntil/tntilNRubino.

Thanks for taking the time to read about my race to find a cure!

Love, Natalie