From a Marathon to the World Cup

You can spend your time, waste your time, or invest your time. It's your choice.

Sunday January 6, 2008 ~ The Orange County Marathon in Irvine, CA. This was my 18th marathon in 6 yrs and the 4th year in a row that I’ve run this particular event. Each marathon that I’ve run has been memorable in one way or another and this one was no exception. I enjoy this marathon because I have either run or biked some portion of the course nearly every day for 20 yrs. Overall, the marathon went well for me....even considering the weather conditions.

The race started at 7:30am with wet roads, an icy wind and heavy clouds that threatened to rain. The first half of the race was a pleasant time of meeting and greeting fellow runners as we all fell into our pace. By mile marker 17 the heavy clouds finally gave way to a gentle but icy drizzle. As the bike trail brought us up onto Portola Rd at Jeffery and we approached mile marker 18, we could sense the drizzle turning to a steady downpour leaving half a dozen aid station volunteers to huddle under a small umbrella and wave sympathetically to us as we continued to run on by.

From Jeffery Rd we turned left/east onto Irvine Ave right at mile marker 19. Those of you who ride Como St regularly know this section well. This section on Irvine Ave from Jeffery past the Eucalyptus trees to Modjeska Rd is a long gradual painful up-hill. By the time we made the left turn onto Irvine Ave, the drizzle was turning to serious rain. Within a few seconds the seriuos rain became a horrific gully washer with curb-to-curb ankle deep water instantly!! I zipped my rain vest up to my chin & trudged on. During the next long uphill mile the temperature kept dropping.

As we approached mile marker 19 the rain turned into really cold HUGE droplets that actually hurt my skin when it hit me! Next thing we know the rain has turned to HAIL!! For a brief moment I thought of climbing into the nearest car and calling it a day. I’ve never walked off a marathon course yet and I knew I would finish this one…but the thought did cross my mind.

I slowed to a crawl but continued limping along through ankle deep rivers of water flowing over the top of my shoes while freezing rain mixed with hail pelted me from head to toe. Ever so slowly I approached the 20 mi marker.
As if someone hit a light switch, the sun suddenly appeared and the rain slowed. In that moment, I simultaneously committed to finishing all 26.2 miles and to letting go of the tow rope as I readjusted my goal finish time.From there to the finish I slogged on in squishy wet cold shoes that made all the bones in my feet really really hurt as I shivered on trying not to freeze to death. Even running did not create enough body heat to counter the cold wind mixing with the wet clothing. (Thank God for Dri-Fit fabric!!)

I shuffled across the finish line of marathon #18 in 4:45 with a huge smile on my face looking like a recently drowned cat. It was certainly fun! I have had better marathon performances and worse marathon performances….but this one definately gave me some new memories...and I burned 3000 calories!!

Now on to some important cycling stuff ~ ~

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Saturday January 5th at 12PM ~ Ladies Only Track Session ~ January was another busy LOTS! We had about 30 Ladies attending the session with almost half of them attending the New Rider Certification Class! It is so exciting to see all the smiles as each of the Ladies discovers just how much fun this track cycling really is!! Thank you EVERYONE!! The LOTS are successful because of each and every one of you and because of all that you do to support Women’s Cycling!! As soon as the February LOTS is confirmed, I will post the date!

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January 18-20th ~ The LA World Cup is almost here! The LA Velodrome will be CLOSED to the public starting Wednesday January 9th thru Monday January 21st.

A complete schedule of World Cup Race events can be found on the LA Velodrome website.

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We Still Need LA World Cup Volunteers ~ It’s never to late to volunteer!
We have specific needs in the following areas:

1) Hospitality ~ AEG will be providing 3 meals a day on the infield for all 400 athletes from Lunch on Thursday Jan 17th thru Breakfast on Monday Jan 21st. We need a team of folks to help me distribute each meal each day. This is a great opportunity to meet/greet athletes!!
2) Medical ~ WADA still needs at least one nurse and a doctor or two for a couple of sessions.
3) Training Session Monitors ~ Roger needs at least 3 people at a time to be in the Velodrome during the athletes training sessions this week and next week. Roger has set up a schedule with 2-3 hr shifts available from as early as 9AM to as late as 8-9PM. Most sessions have 1-2 volunteers but we need 3 for every session. Please RSVP to get on this schedule.
4) Host Housing ~ With at least 400 athletes due to arrive in town next week for the LAWC and with 1200 Elite, U23 & Jr Road Nationals atheltes due here in August, we are expanding our list of Host Housing! If you are ready willing and able to Host athletes from time to time throughout this year and beyond, please RSVP to me! Hosting athletes can be tons of fun ~ many host families become “addicted” to it. When you RSVP, please indicate how many athletes you would have room for and whether you have any additional criteria/restrictions such as kids, pets, transportation or anything else.

Please Email me if you are able to help with any of these items!!

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Saturday February 5th ~ The 8th Annual Boulevard Road RacePresented By UCSD Cycling. Ladies: you will notice that this race offers a WCat 3-4 35+ category (2 laps) in addition to a WCat 1-4 event (3 laps).The entire 2008 SCNCA Racing Calendar is now available.

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Have a super week Ladies!!