Marathon Completion!

Distance	MAR
Clock Time	5:15:42
Chip Time	5:10:50
Overall Place	8784 / 13291
Gender Place	3584 / 6463
Division Place	521 / 956
Age Grade	44.4%
Pace	11:52
Ttlrace	13291
Ttldiv	956
Ttlsex	6463
10 Km	1:09:57
Half	2:31:30
21 Mile	4:07:43

5 hours, 10 minutes and 50 seconds.  I finished the San Diego Rock 'n' Roll marathon today, my first marathon.  Whew, what a day.  I'm sore and tired but God was faithful today, as always.  My girlfriend Alisa was pivotal in pushing me through to the finish line.  

For those of you who prayed, thank you.  

More thoughts to come.  For now, rest, recover and well, oh yeah, eat anything I want.

Sailing Family

3 little passengers wait for Daddy to pick them up.

S:  "Does this boat have a dishwasher?"  

O Captain my Captain!

J takes care of his little brother Z.

Z waves his thanks to the Catalina Flyer for not running us over.

6 hours

I can't believe I'll be running my first marathon in just 6 hours.  It's 10:15pm now and my alarm is set for 2:45am.  My clothes and gear are all laid out.  I had a great nap, anticipating that I wouldn't get a quality night's sleep tonight.  

My brother James and his wife Lauren went out to Souplantation tonight with the devoted Mr. Garland and I tonight.  Loaded up on carbs (love the pasta bar and fresh sourdough bread with honey butter).  

I need to go to bed now, and try to sleep.  

Super excited.  Super anxious.

You might be able to watch some finish line coverage tomorrow here.

Seeking the LORD and HIS strength.  Thanks for your prayers!

Burrito Relay

It's a TEAM in Training tradition at the last track work out (sniff sniff).  12 Laps.  2 people.  Estimate your time.  Take off your watch.  Run.  If you're the closest to your estimated time, you win burrito gift certificates.  But don't run too fast.

Alisa and me.  We estimated that we'd run our 3 miles in 25:25.  Just like Coach Bill predicted, we ran too fast by 47 seconds.  Oh well.  Here we are holding our tin-foil wrapped tortilla baton. 

I can't believe the marathon is 4 days away... 4 DAYS, people!!!  Super excited and anxious.  I'm not going to sleep well at all on Saturday night.  Please pray for me?  

Roadtrip: Before and After.

Tim Kelly Family Visit

Our sweet friends came to visit us last year, and they returned again this year, yeah!  We had a great time playing at the beach.  We love it when people crash at our place after hitting Disneyland.

No fear.

The devoted Mr. Garland shows no fear as the Catalina Flyer (the largest passenger-carrying catamaran 

on the West Coast) bears down on his 20-foot sloop.

Sorta like a big rig coming up behind a bike.

If my Grandma were there, she would be scratching the mast and whistling to try to get the wind to blow harder.

Abbie

We got to pet sit for our neighbor's 13-year old golden retriever Abbie.  The kids loved it and amazingly now want a dog of our own (go figure).  I've never been a huge dog fan (dog kisses aren't my favorite) but Abbie is such a joy.  We even went over and said good night to her every night.  

But I passed on the good-night dog kisses.

Annual Harbor Outing

We've spent two mother's days in a row now at the Oceanside Harbor so let's call it "tradition."

S with her own personal sea kelp.

Hibiscus are in full bloom right now.

A nice walk near the jetty.  Z's "walking" stick is about 3 times his height.  Good luck with that little buddy.

There's a huge weighing station for the big fish caught out at sea.

Check out this cute 4-year old catch!

The weighing station doubles as a great jungle gym...

(caution, blood ahead.)

...except for when it's in use.

  There's always something new to see... sea lions, pelicans, oh yeah, and a 302 pound thresher shark.

We'll think twice before we hang on that hook again.

3 in a Tub

Watermelon Wow

Have you ever seen someone so excited about watermelon?

Watermelon clean-up is never easy.  No matter how hard you try, you always miss a spot on the floor, then you step in it and your shoe squeaks as you walk.  

Summer's just around the corner...

Memory Monday

A randomly selected Garland Family photo...

June 2007

The devoted Mr. Garland (tall handsome guy in the red T-shirt) leads games at our Westminster, CO church's VBS Program "Avalanche Ranch."  We love VBS!  (We'll be participating in the Crocodile Rock VBS in July 2009, can't wait!)

 

Running Thoughts: Final Prep

If you're not a runner, you just might find this post to be insanely boring because I say things like "here are my amazing running shoes."  Just scroll on down quickly, I won't take it personally.

After the 11 mile run, coaches gave us our final marathon prep talk where we discussed how early we'll really need to be there (5am! wake up at 3:30am!), what to bring, how to eat, how to sleep (you'd think this wouldn't be a problem, but the nerves and excitement kick in the night before and it's tough to sleep well), and basically to not change a thing from how we've run our training runs.  Do everything the same.  No changes.  Period. 

I wanted to document some of my running routines -  my marathon checklist if you will.

Night before

• set 3 alarm clocks for 3am (As if I'll need even one.  I'll probably not sleep well at all.)
  
• lay out clothes for run plus warm layer for before and after.  I get very cold after I run, so additional warmth is very important
• crinkle up bib number so that it's not so rigid, affix to shirt with safety pins
• I haven't decided yet if I want to wear a pace band.  I want to be a happy finisher.  If it's less than or greater than 5 hours, it's more important that I'm just happy.  

Morning of

• no friction:  I put Neosporin on every toenail and on the bottoms of my feet.  Also under my bra in areas where I'm prone to chaffing.  Sunblock and chap stick are required.
• fuel belt:  It's got 2 bottles (vs. the 4-bottle versions) and has a perfect little pouch for my car key, cell phone, scripture, salt packets, Gus, electrolyte capsules, etc.  Love it.  Even wore it today while Jeff and I were gardening.  Water right there on your hip.  Who doesn't love that?
  
• breakfast:  eat 1 slice multi-grain bread with butter and peanut butter and honey (mmmmm), some fruit (typically a banana or pear), and a glass of milk.
• Get there early.  The devoted Mr. Garland has graciously offered to drop me off... so we've filled up the minivan with nearly 6 of us marathoner types.  Jeff gets to take an extra long nap in the afternoon.  We'll most likely leave our home at 4am to start the marathon at 6:30am.  It's gonna be crazy with people everywhere.  

The Run

• I don't know that I've hit "the wall" yet.  Yes, I've had my moments when I'm insanely achy and can only complain and I want to walk.  I'm not pretty.  Maybe that's the wall.  I figure I'll find out for sure in 2 weeks.
• I'm so excited for the marathon because there will be 26 bands... one band every mile.  Talk about eye and ear candy.  
• Alisa and I will for sure be running together (maybe Chris too).  I hope we don't get separated in the crowds - we're running with our cell phones just in case.

The gear...

These size 11.5 beauties have seen me through many miles already.  (Boy were they dirt-y from our trail run!)

I wish I had bought my fuel belt earlier in the season (I just got it 2 weeks ago).  

My bible verse. 

Look for me in this purple shirt... just painted my name on it today.  

The lay-out.  I lay out everything from my hat and hairband to my underwear and socks.

My favorite Gu flavor: strawberry banana.  

Marathon countdown:  14 days.

Watch out, here it comes.

Running Thoughts: 11 miles

Our coaching staff during final marathon prep:  Coach Bill (in yellow hat), Asst. Coach Pattie (purple singlet), Asst. Coach Ken (purple T-shirt), and A, B, and C-Team Captains.  All wonderful people, very professional, encouraging and fun.  

Alisa relaxing during the TEAM mission moment.

After our big 20 mile run last week, 11 miles was a breeze this week.  We're officially in "taper" mode which basically means we don't push as hard any more, and let our bodies recover and build up strength and energy for the big 26.2 marathon in just two weeks.  Two weeks, people!  Fourteen days.  Crazy.  

My running partner Alisa got a very cool mother's day gift: a Garmin GPS watch (the Forerunner 405 - excuse me if I drool on your keyboard a little.  Such cute little piece of black plastic).  So we have official data supporting my claim that I ran 11 (actually 11.16) miles yesterday.    Tada!  Is that cool or what?  I especially like how you can use the "Player" (upper right corner) and see the elevation and "play" our route and speeds.  

I'm nervous that we won't be able to "happily finish" in 5 hours, so I'm shootin' for 5.5 hours now.  I want to be a happy finisher.  Happy happy happy.

We ran in Escondido (Kit Carson Park near the Wild Animal Park), it was perfect cool overcast running weather.    It was a trail run with time spent near Lake Hodges.  Our shoes, socks and ankles were covered in gritty grime afterwards.  

14 days... it's almost here!

Alisa and me on our 20 mile run last week.  (Thanks Deborah for snapping this shot!)