Beyond tired

I know I've been slack on the blog.....coming back from Italy and then running Big Sur, well, I'm beyond tired.  But I do want to share all the adventures.  Top of mind, this weekends marathon - it was fantastic fun from beginning to end.  It really is a tough hilly beautiful course.  We had sun, fog, wind.....no rain thankfully.  The adventure begins having to catch a bus at 4am to the start line, for a 645am start.  I stayed in a swanky expensive hotel (this because I didn't get it together early enough to book and get the marathon rate.....), that was 5mins from the shuttle pick up point.  Dozens of buses ferried the 4000+ runners to the start, no cars allowed.  They close State Highway 1 for the race so everyone has to bus to the start.  I decided to go with a Pace Team this time.....I should have done this long ago.  Basically you choose a finish time and start with a group who has a pacer whose sole task in life is to get you across the line on time.  It was totally awesome.  The guy was fantastic, joking, being a tour guide, asking questions.  You find yourself running with a bunch of strangers who you end up chatting with.  I was very nervous about this run, given I ran a marathon two weeks ago.  But the pace team was great.  We lost some folk along the way (there are some mean hills on this course) then at mile 23 someone in front of us had fallen and was bleeding from a knock on the head - our pacer dropped to help and told us to keep going.  A group of four of us kept chugging along.  Best moment was when a voice from behind said "I've been with you guys for 23miles, I'm not letting you go now.......".  It was a woman from NY, in the end her and I paced each other to the finish, including the very gnarly hill that is part of the last mile.  It's an odd way to meet folk but for 2miles we were best friends, keeping each other going and determinedly crossed the line together, 5 mins under our goal time (5hrs).  It was totally inspiring and fun and worth every step.
Italy pictures next.

I've seen the rain........

In case anyone is in any doubt that it did rain, a lot...........

Around mile 17.  Laughing because the puddle was so big it stretched across the entire road, no place to go but through the middle of it.
Off to Big Sur Marathon this weekend, drive down to Monterey after work.  I'm a little afraid, it's a tough course.  Slow slow slow BUT this year we get to run the entire course (last year the road was flooded out so only an out and back, this year, point to point.......).  Going to be beautifully scenic, crowd is always fun and and and...
Will add other holiday pictures over the weekend (assuming I survive the marathon).

I haven't forgotten

The blog is here.....I am back from Italy, awesome awesome trip.  I have pics and adventures to share - had to take some primitive less than "1st world" phone and internet not easily accessible.  Downloading pics etc and will do a BIG data dump of adventures later in the week.

Marathon done

I woke to a very very wet marathon day! Early breakfast at the hotel then I caught the subway to the marathon start - located near a very cool expo building that was definitely an architectural highlight. Given the weather hundreds of us milled about in the carpark waiting for the start. I had paced some of those little sack things that heat up when you expose them to the air, so mostly kept the chill at bay. The course was flat a wound through farmland initially, including a sweet little town that was a picture perfect image of a "little Italy". Coming into the city I saw a bunch of other sights as well but the real highlight had to be running around the Duomo. It really is an impressive building. Given the weather I was surprised at the number of folks out cheering. It really is true, Italians are very expressive - even if I didn't know what they were saying ('go' does sound a lot like 'die' when you are running tho....). Rose and Jo met me at mile 20, so a real boost to get me through the last 6. It really did rain the entire time and some puddles were unavoidable. Yay for the best running socks in the world, no blisters! Rose and Jo met me at the end with my chocolate milk (and dry clothes) then we caught the subway back to the hotel. Now to find somewhere to eat!

Milan day 1

Got to the hotel at midnight and happily fell into bed. Took the path of least resistance and stress and cabbed it from the airport; not cheap but guaranteed fast, safe and efficient. Met up with Rose and Jo in the morning and we headed off to the marathon expo. That after we got Jo some crutches. Seriously the girl has plantar faciatus and it has flared up. Didn't hold her back tho as she rented some crutches from a pharmacy down the road. Took the subway to the expo - small but efficient affair. This year the marathon is combined with a relay so about 10k running, so a nice crowd and along way from NYC or Big Sur for that matter. Rego done we did some sightseeing - Duomo (big arse church), pizza and people watching for lunch, wandering around the up market shops including some very impressive shop fronts (photos when I get home). Evening (when the rain came) we headed down to the canal to partake in the Italian tradition of aperitifs, which turned into dinner as these proved to be impressive buffets. Enjoyed two non-alcoholic cocktails before we headed back to the hotel. Tired but happy with the days adventures. I think the marathon will be a wet one, which is nicer than a hot one....will see, hard part will be making the call what to wear at 6am before a 920am start.

Marathon flight

7 hour delay at SFO. Now at Frankfurt with a 4 hour layover. Arriving in Milan around 11pm - ditching all thoughts of the fast train into the city and will cough up the cab fare. Such is life. It really hasn't been unpleasant and United staff very pleasant. I navigated the change of connecting flight etc thanks to the uber efficient Germans. Food at the terminal is fresh and yum after mediocre plane food. Rose & Jo will be in Milan hours ahead of me (not the original plan but I emailed the hotel so they should be able to checking (all in my name). So just chilling and enjoying the adventure. Oh and United offered up a pretty sweet compensation deal, so no complaints from me.

Milan update

Actually it's really SFO update - engine broken. Depart at 2pm....nah.....430pm....nah....8pm....nah....830pm... Promises promises. They did take us off the plane after 2 hrs son some part of the system is working. Got a meal voucher. Not sure about my connecting flight yet. Some folks got a little angsty - jeeze. I think the airlines done fine myself (at least they picked the fault before we took off!). I'm relaxed, on holiday after all. I'll arrive eventually and the only thing I have to do between now and the marathon is pick up my bib.

Milan.....

Sitting on the tarmac waiting to fly. Flight delayed for 1.5hrs.....sigh. Nothing to be done about it but wait. I have a connecting flight Frankfurt > Milan. All going well I will still make it, time will tell. Rose & Jo flew out Monday, heading to Venice. It was great to show them San Fran. Hung out in the Mission Friday then kayaking Saturday near Monterey. Lots of baby seals and otters, schweet. Michelle also flew up from LA to say hi. Afterwards we went to Santa Cruz and road the wooden roller coaster. First time I have visited for a while - kind of surreal to think I lived there for two years. Sunday I went running and the others headed out for brunch. Met Rose and Jo later and did the mandatory Golden Gate Bridge. All up a fun time. I meet them again in Milan; marathon Sunday then more adventures. Not a bad life!

7 hour extravaganza

Sunday a group of us headed to Oakland to watch a 7 hour silent movie accompanied by a live orchestra. Napoleon was made in 1927 and has been restored. It was fantastic and I am as surprised as anyone that I actually sat through it and was riveted. There were two intermissions and a dinner break so all up 9hrs worth. Beautiful theater too.



Saturday went to see Boy again....interesting to see it through American eyes!
In-between kept at the training and enjoyed a mixed bag of weather.

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