Marathon #27: Santa Barbara Marathon 2009

Here is my write-up from the inaugural running of the Santa Barbara marathon in December of 2009. It was my fourth marathon for the year and probably not the smartest move, especially since after the marathon an MRI revealed I had a fracture on my ischium. (Google it). Still, I am glad I did it, even though no, having the option to do it again, NO! OK, maybe..
FYI the marathon didn't survive. I think it ran for a few years, but never improved the course or gained in popularity.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pre-marathon: My left leg had been an issue since before the Hartford marathon in October, and had gradually gotten worse. After the Turkey Trot my left butt cheek went on strike. Its protest sign read "NO MORE RUNNING". Sure enough, a week later, Thursday's attempt to run resulted in a painful 3 mile hobble, which gave a grim outlook. I massaged it was best I could, took Celebrex, and hoped for the best. Toby said I was taking it well, but it's hard to try to garner sympathy when you are going on a vacation to Santa Barbara! Besides, there have been times where being injured turned out to be a blessing (Quebec)...

We got to Santa Barbara, met up with Ginna's dad, and ate fish tacos on the beach at Shoreline Cafe (thanks Christine Shirer for the tip).  We were  literally on the beach, with our chairs in the sand. And this is December? Santa Barbara, for those who don't know, is heaven. (Heaven is short for perfect weather all the time, palm trees, ocean, cyclists with bike lanes to ride in, and fresh seafood.)

Saturday morning before heading to the expo I went out for the "test run". The strike was over, and all that was left was the "normal" left leg pain, so this was when I applied the Kathy Murgas principle: "NOT running the marathon would be more painful". So yay! I'm running a marathon tomorrow!

Expo was small but good. They seemed to be on the ball for a first annual. (And in conclusion, yes they were, in many ways). No tech top--short sleeved cotton tee only. But I did buy a tech top with a women's cut, yay!  I also made a race volunteer describe to me what the finisher's medal looked like. Race motivation! ;)

Race day: Lori, Ginna, and I are ready to roll by 6:30, but the race is delayed by 30 minutes. Oh well, more time to chat with Lori, as we'll never see her again after the start! ;) 

 I know I won't like the first half of this race, so I am trying to mentally get past that. First of all, it's rural and not so scenic, and secondly, it loops back around itself past the starting line, to where the runners repeat a good 4 miles of the course before finally heading towards Santa Barbara at mile 13. (Goleta, the start, is 13 miles north of Santa Barbara). This is really my only official complaint about this marathon. Five years in the making and this is what they came up with? Anyhow, finally, the show gets started--bye to Toby, only not for long, because Toby was everywhere on the course! He was worried my mind-over-matter would fail me, so he stayed close, which means this one would be well documented with pictures, videos, and live Facebook updates! He had "command central" going on in the Kia rental!

Sure enough, the first half was work. Ginna was chatting away, I'd see a hill ahead and go, "&*#@" and she'd be like ??? I was so crabby! Ginna got me through that first half of the marathon, folks. NO DOUBT. Funny thing on the first half: Randy Tinney, who used to live in Dallas, now lives in Santa Barbara. Well he's marshaling on the course. We run by and he yells at me, "faster faster". If you guys remember a cyclist who would taunt me like this at White Rock, yes this was him! Too funny! (We had met up with him Friday night for beers and he told us how much he loved living in Santa Barbara).

So FINALLY we get to mile 13, NEW scenery! Yes Ginna I did look left and see the goats the first and second time, but enough already! ;)  Oh, and for the record, Santa Barbara is freaking hilly!! So the challenge began here with the hills, but now my little rain cloud in my head was gone, and dare I say we were having fun??? Here is proof:

Ginna would charge the hills, and I'd gradually come back to her. We did this all the way to the big hill at mile 23-24.  I caved, and had to take walk breaks, but she charged the whole thing! Crossing this was the ridge back into Santa Barbara, so you knew crossing it would be bad, but the breath-taking view from here to the finish was SO WORTH EVERYTHING! A screaming downhill finish, with ocean on one side and mountains on the other--just spectacular! I was trying to catch Ginna, but couldn't and didn't know what to yell at her to tell her I was there, so I just reunited with her in the finish chute! (4:03, 4:04, about 4 seconds apart) We found Lori, (3:40!), chatted a little, but then quickly scattered in different directions.

Ginna up ahead

Later, Toby, Lori, Bob, and I ate seafood on the pier--didn't have time to hit the wineries, but Toby and I managed to make it out to a few on Monday before heading back to Dallas. Overall, a great, but too short vacation. It was great meeting Ginna's dad Mike and her half brother Marshall that she kept calling Jeremy. ;) We really fell in love with Santa Barbara and are seriously considering retiring there, somehow. $$$. Anyhow, in conclusion, I think this marathon is good and will only get better with a few tweaks of the course.