Marathon Photo Page
Friday, May 29, 2003 - Lorri and I went down to the San Diego Convention Center where all runners must pick up their race numbers, timing chips and goodie bags. While there, everyone has the opportunity to spend large sums of money on everything from souvenirs to shoes and collect bagfuls of free stuff, some of which is pretty cool and some of which, well, isn't.
L to R: a portion of the Convention Center from 5th Street; the goodie bag tables; some Suzuki stuff
The Team in Training booth; Me and Lorri; just another view of the Expo
Saturday, May 30, 2003 - The TNT Pasta Party
On Saturday night before the Race, TNT puts on a gigantic pasta dinner, just to make sure everyone is well-carbo-loaded and ready to rock and roll for 26.2 miles the next morning. Imagine serving five or six thousand hungry marathoners in a huge hall in the Convention Center! Amazingly, the food was decent, plentiful, hot and I hardly spilled any on myself.
This was the line to get in just before they opened the doors. On the right is one of the many pasta troughs, where hungry TNTers piled it on. There were "Teams" from all corners of the U.S. and Canada and people from all 50 States, several foreign countries and many nearby planets. Many of the people I've been training and running with were there.
These are two of the many interesting characters I've been lucky enough to meet during my marathon training experience. On the left is Mel O'Keefe, who last year competed in 53 consecutive running events (On Tour for a Cure) while raising thousands of dollars for the L&L Society. He ran the R'N'R on Sunday and is now running his way to Phoenix, AZ. That's right, running to Phoenix, one marathon at a time over 18 days, again to raise money for "the Cause". Please check out his website to learn more about it at http://www.ontourforacure.com/. On the right is Mark Feinberg, world-famous San Diego litigator, whose nearly non-stop chatter and story-telling have made many of our long Saturday training runs seem to go by in a flash! Mark has a son named "Jack" which proves at least that he has excellent taste when it comes to names. I plan on staying in touch with Mark in case I ever need a good lawyer or excellent running partner.
On the left is Mark, Mary, me and Debbie, who together with Gerry (still eating pasta somewhere), spent a lot of time on Saturday mornings running and talking together and generally finishing close to last. We got used to hearing "anybody else out there behind you guys?" Usually there wasn't. On the right are Debbie and Dave. Dave is a wheelchair guy and an inspiration. Despite his disability, he was out there every week, huffing and puffing, mile after mile, having fun with the rest of us.
The guy on the left is the guy who came up with the idea and founded the first "Team in Training" in 1988. His two-year-old daughter was diagnosed with leukemia shortly before then, and not expected to survive. But she did and on the night of the Pasta Party, she was attending her senior prom.
June 1, 2003, Race Day!
The weather was perfect for running - a little cool, overcast, slight breeze, a typical Sand Diego "June Gloom" marine layer that didn't burn off until the early afternoon.
New June 7th - Photos from the disposable camera!
Sea of purple TNT humanity before the race. It was dark!
A porta-potti line and Gerry standing calmly in the porta-potti line. There were hundreds of porta-pottis. Unfortunately, there were THOUSANDS of potti-goers!
Gerry & Mark; Mark & Mary
Mary, Mark, Jack & Debbie. We all look so calm, confident and happy, don't we?
Corral 9 before the start. We all started from Corral 9, along with 990+ other runners. It took us nearly four minutes to reach the starting line after the gun went off because there were eight corrals full of people in front of us. Thank goodness for timing chips.
Taking a video of Mel - Will we be on TV?; Mark Mary & Mel at the start; Looking back at the starting line.
Jerry, Mel & Mark settling into their strides.
End of photos from the disposable...
The following photos were taken by Lorri with the digital camera.
I was happy and honored that my good friends Dru, Edith, Glenn & Lynn, journeyed down from Orange County to party a little in San Diego, keep Lorri company and cheer me on. Here they are waking up to some Starbucks downtown before the race.
The elite runners whizzing by on the left and "Team Stork" on the right, Dru, Lorri, Edith, Lynn & Glenn. Thanks for getting up so early, guys, I really appreciate it. Those flags sure made you easy to spot!
Running Elvis, miscellaneous runners and the Jamba Juice banana boys (and girls).
I'm a little hard to see in the one on the left but I'm in the middle waving. On the right, I'm easy to see and you can read my name on my shirt. Just behind me is Mel and just behind him is Debbie. It was great having spectators all over the course yelling "go Jack!" and stuff like that, because they could read my name on my shirt. I think I'll print it even bigger next year.
Running down Friars Road (?); Lynn & Glenn on an overpass; Dru & Edith out in the street.
Me at the finish line!
Me, dazed and confused, at the finish line. How do I get out of here?
Here I'm probably looking at my medal. And here is my medal and my TNT pin.
Some post-race photos: Lynn, me, Glenn; Lorri, me, Glenn; Lorri & me
This is Debbie and me, no, not my daughter Debbie, my good friend Debbie who, like me, runs at Lake Miramar. The day in January that I ran into the TNT group at Lake Miramar and decided to join, I also ran into Debbie. I told her about TNT and SHE JOINED TOO! She says I talked her into it. We've been running with TNT on Saturday mornings ever since. It's been fun, right Deb?
OK, in the back are Jack, Debbie and Mark. In the front is Gerry French, high school biology teacher and part-time philosopher from Ocean Beach and I think the only other guy in my age group on TNT. Gerry and I met on one of the early "long" runs (ha! it was only a ten miler, but it seemed long then). We were running at the same pace (slow) and noticed almost everyone was passing us. Like the wise old guys we were (and are), we decided "slow" was a good thing as long as we finished, and we've stuck to that philosophy ever since. WE ALL FINISHED THE MARATHON!!!
It was a great experience. The training was fun. I met some great people. I learned a lot. I was touched by the generosity of my friends, family, acquaintances and some people I hardly know. I feel like I accomplished something by completing a marathon, but more so, by helping to raise a little money to find a cure for a deadly disease. Have I mentioned lately that cancer sucks?