A Marathon Post before a Marathon

The time difference certainly wanted to play tricks on me this morning. After going to bed around midnight last night, I awoke wide awake at 3:30 this morning! I had a major headache and as much as I tried I could not go back to sleep. I finally gave up and have been wide awake ever since. I am still going strong on less then 4 hours of sleep. Oh boy.

I have to say it was great to have those few extra hours in the morning to myself. Once everyone else was awake, it has been nothing but, go-go-go.

My TnT Coaches had been raving about Richard Walker’s Pancake House since we have been training with them. Never one to turn down great pancakes, I met up with them and some others from our team at 7:00am and made the walk to the pancake house.

Richard Walker’s is a really popular pancake house famous for their Baked Apple Pancakes. Instead of having putting your name on a list, they have you form a line that typically will go around the block. Since we were there so early, we just happened to be the first ones to form the line.

Inside the restaurant was really tiny and all the table were squeezed in close to maximize the amount of space. I particularly loved the colorful menu that read like a story.

It even had a ‘The End’ on the bottom.

I was tempted by the Apple Baked Pancake, but was told it was basically apple pie for breakfast. I wasn’t sure about all the sugar in the morning, so instead I ordered the buckwheat pancakes.

I topped them with some syrup and strawberry preserves.

They were very hearty and so delish! I ate all but two of them. I also had some melon on the side.

I have to say I was impressed when my fellow teammate received her order of the Baked Apple Pancakes.

I had a couple of bites and I admit this is as good as it looks. I can’t even described how warm and gooey the pancake was under the apples. A-MA-ZING!

We were lucky to have arrived as early as we did, when we went to leave a big line was already building.

We needed to walk off the giant amount of pancakes we had just consumed, so Derek and I decided a nice walk by the water was in order. We headed down to Seaport Village, ignored the shops and walked right along the park for a great view of the water.

There was a great path that ran along the water, perfect for a nice long walk. Plenty of runners ran passed us on the run and I could not think of a better path for a nice Saturday morning run. I was actually a little jealous of the runners. But my time will come tomorrow. I need to rest my legs today!

While we were walking Derek made a new friend.

It was truly love at first sight.

Derek also learned birds don’t give kisses, they bite. She took a nice chunk of Derek’s lips. After witnessing his pain, you can see the scarred look on my eyes, when the bird was then placed on shoulders.

I kept thinking please don’t bite my ear, please don’t bite my ear!

The weather here has been kind of Meh. It has been cold, dreary and today even a little rainy. It put a damper on our nice walk and had to be cut short because I was just plain cold. Why does the sunshine disapear every time I visit southern CA?

I actually did not mind being forced inside, my idea of going inside involved finally attending the Expo!!!

The Rock n Roll San Diego Expo was HUGE and very crowded! There were a ton of booths worth visiting, free food worth sampling and the aisles were full to capacity of fellow runner wanting to see all the same things.

First things first… I picked up my Bib!!!!

We asked the officials and apparently tomorrow morning you will be able to rack my progress on the course. Once the race starts at 6:30am Pacific Time go to http://www.rnrmarathon.com and enter bib #13188 in to the ‘Track My Runner’ link that should be on the front page. Let me know if you track me!!

Next it was all about the goodie bag.

I had to sort through all the useless papers to get to the good stuff.

After picking up as many samples as possible from the expo and purchasing some goodies along the way I think I made out pretty good.

I really, really LOVE how pretty our shirts are. This blue is soo pretty!

These technical tees run big.

Back at the expo, I had a great time snacking my way through the booths.

(Froze Bar)

(Gu Chomp)

(Clif Bar)

These drinks were YUCK. I do not reccomend them!

After much exploration of finding every possible free goodie as possible I ran into Bobbi and we posed for some photo ops.

I saw someone with fresh Apple and I hunted her down to find out where the fresh fruit samples were.

We also ran into some other runners at the expo including Aron from Running Rambles.

And Amanda from Run to the Finish.

Amanda had flown in from Kansas City this morning. Amanda and her husband joined Bobbi, Derek and I for a light late lunch.

We walked out of the convention center and found the first deli that caught our eyes.

I ordered the Veggimanary that had Sprouts, Swiss Cheese, Tomato, Cucumber, Avocado, and Roasted Red Peppers inside as well as a small salad on the side.

The sandwich was very yummy and I gobbled it right up.

It was great talking to both Amanda and Bobbi and their marathon experiences. It was also helpful that Amanda’s husband is a spectator as well, so we all were able to study the course and find out where him and Derek would be able to see us along the race.

It felt nice after lunch to finally have a time to crash and relax in the hotel room. Sometimes a couple of hours of relaxation is all you need.

Dinner was suppose to be in form of the Team in Training Pre-Race Pasta Party.

When we arrived they did a great job of making us all feel like Rock Stars. All the Coaches and Staff members from around the country were cheering all the runners on.

It was a mad house getting through the door.

Once inside I even lost my team in the tables that were as far as the eye could see!

As well all know I am a very picky eater and the food before my first marathon is an important topic to me. With that being said, you could imagine my little panic attack I had when all they were offering was Noodles & Red Pasta Sauce.

And Ceasar Salad.

I think I’ve stated on here before how I am not the biggest fan of pasta.. especially just red sauce and noodles. I went to my mentor and staff leader on the verge of tears telling them there was nothing here I could eat. I felt like the biggest freak, making such a big deal about the food when they’re more important things in life, but my emotions are so out of wack with this race that I was literally in tears over this.

Everyone was really understanding and after I apologized profusely I sadly left the pasta party and met up with Derek at Sloppy Joeys for a before marathon dinner that I would enjoy.

Sloppy Joeys was right down the street from the Convention Center and had a friendly bar like atmosphere with a pizza menu filled with creativity.

I started out with 1/2 of a breadstick that was brought to the table.

After some thought I decided on the Spicy Vegetarian.

They weren’t kidding, this pizza was spicy!

I ate 1/2 of the pie and was fully satisfied. All of the odd anxiety and pressure I had felt melted away. I realize now I was freaking out over nothing and still feel terrible leaving the TnT dinner. I know its a regret that will stay on my shoulders.

To help cheer me up Derek and I walked to Ghiraradelli for a pre-race Sundae.

When we entered we were each handed a square of their Peppermint Bark.

Ghiraradelli is the first Ice Cream place I have ever been where they give you a number and bring the ice Cream out to your table.

We ordered the Very Berry Sundae to share.

When it arrived we were commenting on how big it was and how we should have had 4 people to share it. Of course as we were saying that the sundae miraculously disappeared.

We seriously finished it in 5 minutes flat. That baby was good!

Now I am back in my room with a happy belly. All of my running gear is laid out and ready to be thrust on after my 3:50am wake up call.

I can’t believe in mere hours I will be cueing up in the start area. Am I really running a marathon tomorrow?!?!? It seems unreal, I really don’t think it has set in yet.

Wish me luck!! And don’t forget you can track my bib # 13188 at http://www.rnrmarathon.com tomorrow!