We're here!

It's been a long day already. The alarm clock went off at 4:30am, and we were out the door at 5:15 (well, actually 5:25 thanks to K). Our flight was slightly delayed out of Austin, but otherwise no major problems. We flew into San Jose and rented a car to drive to Monterey. It was a nice drive down the 101 and 1, and we arrived here about 10:45am (12:45pm CST). We hit the Expo to get our bibs, chips, goodie bags, and bus tickets then walked to a nearby restaurant for lunch because we were STARVING by that time. Afterwards, we went back to the Expo to catch Dean Karnazes, the famous ultrarunner, speak. I read his book, Ultramarathon Man, several years ago, and I have to admit that he presented a lot differently today than I was expecting. He comes across as somewhat conceited in his book, but he was suprisingly friendly and generous with his time today. We got a picture taken with him and I also got my book signed by him as well.

We finished looking through the Expo and picked up a few goodies from the marathon. We tried to check into our hotel early this afternoon, but our room wasn't ready yet. So, we headed back to the Expo to hear Bart Yasso from Runner's World talk about some of the unique races that he's done on all seven continents. He was a great speaker and shared some interesting stories about different races and places he's been to. We also stayed to hear a little bit from Jeff Galloway, mostly advocating for taking walk breaks.

So, now we're settling into our hotel room. It's 4:15pm, but really 6:15pm (CST) to my body. We're going to head out soon to have an early pasta dinner, then relax and possibly watch a DVD (we're staying at a cute little hotel by the way) before going to bed early. We have to be at the bus pick-up location in Monterey by 4:15am. We'll get bussed the 26 miles to the start in Big Sur then have to wait a bit there before the race starts at 6:45am. The weather should be fantastic, I think. My only goal is to finish before the course closes (6 hours), enjoy the beautiful course, take pictures, and have fun. NO time pressure whatsoever. I will walk, I will stop to take pictures, I will talk to the other participants. Thanks for the best wishes. Wish you were here! :)