Rob began training for the San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon back in December 2007. He was excited and a little nervous when the time finally came for us to head to San Diego for his big day. I'd made hotel reservations for us back in February, for the weekend, so we'd be assured of a place to stay. We got to town too late on Friday to hit the Expo and pick up his race packet, so we just explored the hotel.
SATURDAY
Saturday morning, we got up and around and headed downtown, relying on our new Garmin Nuvi GPS for directions in getting us from the hotel to the convention center for the Expo. As you can see by these banners, San Diego was all about the marathon that weekend.
Rob got all checked in for the race, picking up his packet, changing his starting corral, and getting his timing chip and then we hit the "Official Souvenir" shopping area of the Expo. After a lot of shopping and deciding what he wanted to buy, he ended up with a long sleeved Finisher running shirt, a singlet, a Rock and Roll Marathon buff, and a new gym bag. He packed everything away into his new gym bag and we went out to hit the exhibits, to see what goodies we could come away with. I think the highlight for Rob was that Jelly Belly was there and was giving out bags of Sport Beans. I think we might have ended up with more than our fair share.
After the Expo, we headed back to the hotel for lunch and an afternoon of lounging around the pool. I was content to merely sun myself on the pool deck, while Rob and Matt both ventured into the water for some pool time. Turns out the other guest who was relaxing by the pool was also there for the marathon, the 7th time he'd done this particular one. Altogether, he'd done over 30 marathons. So he and Rob had a nice chat and he shared lots of helpful hints for Rob for his first marathon.
We walked up to Little Italy, conveniently located a couple of blocks from our hotel, so that Rob could "carb load" for dinner before the big race. We had a fabulous dinner at Zagarella Italian Restaurant (
http://www.zagarellaitalianrestaurant.com/). All of the restaurants had long lines of people waiting to be seated as we walked along. We didn't think our 30 - 40 minute wait was bad, concidering!
Sunday
Rob was up well before the sun on race day, June 1. He was all dressed and ready to go and had left our room by about 4 am that morning. The hotel we were at, the Hampton Inn Downtown, really catered to the racers and had breakfast going for them by 4, with shuttles to the starting line also beginning at 4 am. Here you can see Rob showing off his running gear, including his spiffy Rock and Roll Marathon tattoo.
Being a sane, sensible woman, I went back to sleep after Rob left. Matt and I got up a few hours later and headed down for breakfast ourselves. Then we walked to the Little Italy trolley stop, conveniently located about half a block from the hotel. We'd investigated it the evening before and I'd located the ticket dispenser. On race morning, however, they had two tables set up and were selling tickets directly for the event which made things super easy. Since Matt was free, I bought a round trip ticket for my self and a one-way ticket for Rob for the return trip. Tickets in hand, we had about a 2 minute wait before the trolley arrived.
Two trolley stops later, we were at the Washington station which was just a short walk from the shuttles to the finish line. Since we figured we'd be walking back from the finish line with Rob, we opted to take the shuttle to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD), which is where the finish line and related festivities were.
As you can see, we were far from the first to arrive and the people just kept coming in waves. Every where you looked, it was wall to wall people. Matt and I arrived a little after 9:30 and there were already finishers coming in. I think the first ones we saw were the ones coming in at around 3:35. Matt and I managed to snag a couple of seats in the bleachers and sat there for the next few hours, watching the runners approach the finish line and baking in the sun. I kept refreshing the live results screen on my iPhone, waiting for Rob to reach the 21 mile mark. I admit that I was starting to get worried when he was later than I expected him to be in passing that checkmark.
Every time I'd see him pass another of the check points on the live update, I'd call his phone and leave him a message, telling him what his pace was. I finally got to speak with him, shortly after he passed the 21 mile mark. He was not doing well but was hanging in there and still running. He gave us an updated time that he expected to finish and I was paying close attention to the time, watching for him. I can't even say what a thrill it was when I finally spotted him approaching the finish line. Matt and I yelled and cheered and waved the signs we'd made for him but he was intent on finishing and didn't hear us.
His official "chip time" for the race was 5:21:14. There were 16757 finishers of the marathon, of which Rob was 11036th. Of the 8123 men who finished, he was 6217th. I couldn't be prouder of him!
As you can imagine, trying to connect with your runner after they finished the race was quite an endeavor, due to the sheer number of people milling about. We finally connected, though, and Rob collapsed next to us on the ground and exhanged his sweat-soaked shoes and socks for his Crocs. Unfortunately, at this juncture, we still had to get back to our hotel. The lines for the shuttles were ungodly long, so we opted to walk the mile or two back to the trolley stop. After a brief stop, that is, for Matt to explore the tank and other vehicles the Marines kindly had out for the kids to investigate.
Rob was more than happy to sit for another few minutes while Matt explored.
Matt was very impressed with everything and now talks about joining the Marines or Army when he grows up. Of course, he has a few years to go before that's even an option so we'll see how he feels about it in another 10 - 12 years!
After we finally made it to the trolley stop, we had a lovely wait for about 40 minutes due to the huge number of people trying to get back to their hotels or cars. Everything was very nicely maintained and orderly, though, which was a real blessing. We finally made it back to our hotel, an hour later than our arranged late check-out. The hotel was really nice about it (I'm sure it happens a lot on race day!) and I hurried to finish getting us packed up while Rob iced his legs quickly, showered and got cleaned up. We got the car loaded up and headed for home. All in all, a successful adventure for the Distante clan and a huge accomplishment for Rob, in completing his first marathon!
On Friday, we all piled into the cars and headed up to see some waterfalls and do some hiking in the national park. Our first stop was the road to Cade's Cove, an old settlement in the park. 
Our first stop was the cabin where the original settlers, John Oliver and his wife Lureen, lived. Olivers lived in this house, with no electricity or water, until the latter half of the 20th century.
As we left the Oliver cabin, we spotted this deer in the field across the way. There were two of them, peacefully enjoying the day.
This fellow crossed the path in front of us in the cemetery at the Primitive Baptist Church in Cade's Cove. He was *huge*. And fast. And that's an accurate depiction of his size.
After we finished in Cade's Cove, we headed deeper into the park to visit some waterfalls. Here, several of us gathered in front of one of the falls visible from the road for a picture. Looks like we're missing Rob, Chase, Tim, Staci, and Brandon at the very least. Still, it's a nice looking group.
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