Had an action packed filled morning, starting with getting up at 4 am to make the NBC morning news. They had a segment on the Rock n Roll marathon and wanted to include some Team in Training members to illustrate their story. I was told to get there by 5:45, not realizing the segment started AT 5:45- lesson learned, I need to show up a half hour early for television spots! I got there at 5:46 so just stood along the sidelines as they did their segment outside the NBC studios with John "The Penguin" Bingham, TNTers and running Elvises. The link is here . More then anything I really wanted to meet The Penguin, whose running column I've always loved in Runner's World- about being a back of the pack runner (ah, HELLO!) and doing races for the enjoyment of them and not to win/ break any time records. I was pleasantly surprised to find how friendly and down to earth he was, and he was absolutely delighted when I gave him a Penguin stuffed animal from my company, Ganz. We took group pictures and he had that penguin front and center, and asked for my photo with him so he could put it up on his facebook page. Since I was late and the PR person for the Rock n' Roll marathon took pity on me (or so I think), he told us of another press opportunity with the local news KUSI Channel 9 at the finish line for the race a half hour later. So my Team in Training teammates hopped in our cars and did a caravan over to the Seaworld parking lot. It was nice to meet the news anchor Bridget Naso, who was very funny and easy to talk to. I also found it interesting that when they are speaking on the news they have someone talking in their ear telling them what to say- it's got to be very confusing! The news was a lot of hurry up and wait- they did a segment at 6:30 am and again at 7 am, basically talking about the course, how they added a half marathon, and their new finish line. One of our Team in Training teammates also talked briefly about how the San Diego chapter raised $700,000 for this race (!!!).
While we were waiting to go on camera I got to know the other TNTers who were on the different teams of the San Diego chapter. One was doing TNT because a friend died of leukemia, another, Erik, was a consultant for medical research and pharmaceuticals, and the third, George, has had leukemia for the past ten years. George has been going through chemotherapy again, and just had a treatment two weeks ago, and a blood transfusion two (?) days ago AND is doing the marathon on Sunday. Okay, I'm done bitching about how hard it is!
After we were done with the news segment George and Erik and I headed to the Hilton Resort on Fiesta Island (wow, what a place!) to cheer on another Team in Training teammate, Mike Sheehy, who is trying to break a Guinness World Record for most miles run in 7 consecutive days, ending by doing the Rock n' Roll Marathon on Sunday. Basically doing two marathon distances plus 12 miles for good measure a day. WOW! You can see his blog here. He wanted to raise $30K for the Leukemia Society by doing the run and is now up to $42K on his fifth day so his new goal is $50K. He's such an inspiration! I got a chance to see him run as he was finishing up mile 14 this morning (and 304 miles in five days) and he looked completely refreshed and was as if he was running on air- like, la la la, so fun! Let me just tell you, I have NEVER looked so good running as he did after running 304 miles! He is also on the front page of the sports section of the Union Tribune too : ). I was especially touched by this blog post by the woman who inspired Mike to do marathons for Team in Training because of her bout with leukemia.
So excited, scared, nervous and thrilled to be doing the race on Sunday, I can barely concentrate on anything else! I'm looking forward to the expo tomorrow to pick up my race number!!! : )
Practicing my finish line photo at the ACTUAL finish line!
Team in Training Teammates, the anchorwoman for KUSI Bridget Naso, George, and Erik- ready for our closeup!
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