“Lateness” reared its ugly little head to try and spoil our plans. Anne worked late Friday night.  There were unprecedented long lines at Southwest check-in and airport security. cancel 60 flights on Friday, because with the slightest bit of snow, Houston enters into a state of chaos. We had a connecting flight in Las Vegas and it so happened that the Las Vegas Marathon was the same weekend!

We jogged a bit around downtown Sacramento and rehearsed our finish poses at the finish line: Anne, the Heisman; Sheldon, the survivor; and I the NYC Rockette. After eating pasta with Leno, Jennifer and Francisco, we stopped by a Safeway to pick up a little something for Sunday pre-race fuel.

My race day morning meal that has proven worthy to withstand the perils of a marathon has been a hardboiled egg, toast, a little ham, an orange, and a banana. I bought a couple bread rolls, 6 eggs, Gatorade, and water. Meyer and Anne would find us a bit later. Wayne, Steve, Leno, Francisco, Jeff, Meyer, Anne, and Sheldon. My strategy for this course was to run a negative split second-half to finish under 2:55. guaranteed entry into the 2010 New York City Marathon. The rolling hills combined with a nippy cold head wind made it hard to judge my pace. marathon in which you want to PR. shorten my stride up the hills letting my pace drop a bit and to allow myself to relax but stay controlled

There were definitely some distractions along the race course. runner fully clad in a ninja outfit with the works: numchucks, sword, and daggers. Anne caught sight of loose chickens. 1:30:58 was my time crossing under the half marathon mark. I could run a 1:24 second half; that’s about a 6:25 min/mile pace.  I caught up to the 3 hour pace group around the 19-mile mark. I ran with them for a couple minutes to feed off them.  My official finish time was 2:55:57. It was another marathon in another state but not a New York qualifier.

Anne, Sheldon, and I toured the wine country in style with the great hook ups Anne arranged through her boss at WineStyles and a Wine representative. The first winery we visited was Revana. The owner and founder practices medicine in Houston. practices medicine. Burt Reynolds is the kitty cat at the winery, guardian of all wine secrets.

Read the entire report at the following link.

2009 CIM