California
International Marathon
December
4, 2016
4:01:24 2,714/6,174 overall 14/73
65-69
Jodi –3:54:20 2,350/6,174overall 87/395 45-49
The Good, the Bad, and
the Beautiful from Jodi: “When everything comes together on race day and
all your hard work pays off! Official CIM finish time of 3:54:20, a PR and
Boston Qualifying time!! Leave it to me to take a little tumble at Mile 26:
landed on my knee, cheek, chin and lip. Thank God I was so close to the finish
line and for my wonderful friends at the finish who helped me out, Stephanie Negin
and Oliver
Valenzuela!!”
Supreme congratulations
to Jodi who ran both a PR and a BQ at CIM. She gave it her all and had
amazingly even splits the whole race, keeping them all in the 8:48-8:50 range.
Unfortunately, that untimely fall just 365 yards from the finish cost her close
to 2 minutes. After the race she spent time in the med tent which is where Bill
Hastrup and I found her when Oliver told us that was where to find her. We got our
sweat bags and then Jodi got gigantic cramps in both calves. They were
excruciatingly painful and Jodi was hollering in pain. Bill, who is a doctor,
remarked that they were the biggest knots he’d ever seen. Another record for
Jodi!! “Worse than childbirth” was Jodi’s comment.
Jodi ran the first 6
miles with her Wascally friend, Erica, but then did all the great pacing on her
own the rest of the way. She ran the last 6 miles better than she ever has
which is a huge accomplishment. This was Jodi’s 10th marathon, and
she has gotten stronger and wiser! She trained more weekly miles with more
intense speedwork and really got her race hydration and nutrition just right
this time.
I had Bill Hastrup to run
with most of the race. It really helped to pass the miles as we told stories
and pulled and pushed each other. So many of the early miles just seemed to fly
by; so much better than when you’re alone and spend too much time thinking
about how you’re feeling. Then in the later miles when one of us would not feel
that strong, the other would keep him going and get us through the rough patch.
It was so helpful to both of us. We are the same age and both needed sub 4:10
for BQs and we got well under that. (Bill finished in 4:03:25.) After the first
two warm-up miles, we kept each mile in the 9:10-9:20 range. We went through
the half in 2:01:50 which means I got the second half under 2 hours. I finished
really strong with my 4 fastest miles coming in the last 7 miles: 19-8:52, 21-8:47,
23-8:48, 26-8:56.
Race day could not have
been more perfect. After experiencing wind and rain or extreme cold in the last
few CIMs, this one started in high 30s and got up to low 50s with little wind
and some clouds. The night before we had pasta with Bill and his wife, Jeri,
and Anita Lee and her brother, Alan. When we got to the restaurant, we ran into
Oliver Valenzuela who was finishing dinner with his wife and son, Nick, who was
running his first marathon. Also, Nick’s wife, Joanne (who is the daughter of
our great friends, Howard and Marty Zinn) was there with their children. “Small
world in Fresno”J)
At the expo I got a
“Loyalty” Award for having run CIM 15 times. It was a CIM blanket and medal
that you can see in the pictures. The pictures also include some of the history
from CIM that has been meaningful to me. There are members of the Sacramento
Running Association that John Pius and I were familiar with in the 1980s. Chris
Iwashashi was a woman that we seemed to see a lot at races and got to know because
we were around the same pace (sub 3 hour marathoners back then) and Dennis
Rinde who had won CIM and the old Central Valley (Fresno) marathons. Tim
Twietmeyer was a legendary ultra runner and Helen Klein ran world record age
group times in her 70s and 80s. The pictures of the highlights of the last 3
CIMs that I had run included the rain and wind in 2012, the 28 degree
temperature in 2013, and running with Jodi in 2014.
We got to ring the Boston
Qualifier Bell together and see Oliver do it with his grandkids. Later we celebrated
with a Salted Carmel Pizookie at BJs in Elk Grove. Monday, Jodi was a wounded
warrior with the marathon hobble as she walked, but she got the hard-earned
“Red Plate” at dinner!
This was Marathon #151; 21 states on 2d go round; All 10 Canadian
provinces. Next up: Dopey Challenge at Disney World Jan 5-8 with 5k, 10k, Half,
and Full-Marathon on 4 consecutive days.
Pictures at: https://www.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0MbNGThy3bPJg&emid=shareprintviewer&linkid=link
