I did it!

I am so proud of myself. I completed the Avenue of the Giants half marathon in almost exactly 4 1/2 hours. I did train, but I was kinda lazy about the training and slacked off on it now and again. But I’m glad I did as much of it as I did, or would never have survived.

It’s a beautiful walk. If you are going to do a marathon, this is a wonderful place to do it, because not only are you walking through one of the most awesomely beautiful forests in the world, it’s shaded almost the entire way. Beautifully cool and no sunburn!

I chatted with people along the way. There was a married couple who were playing word games to pass the time and keep their minds occupied. Another couple from San Francisco who received a flyer to go for a walking tour of Tuscany one day before getting the flyer for the Avenue of the Giants, and decided it was fate. I walked most of the way with a lovely lady named Dee, who runs a sports medicine clinic and was also by herself. Like me, none of her friends wanted to do it.

After the race they hand you a medal, clip your timing tag off your shoes and let you stagger off. Parking is limited, so I ended up parking in a dry river bed, and in the final walk from the finish line, over rubble and ruts was just cruel, because by that point you swear you can feel the texture of every pebble through your shoes.

I drove to my motel in Eureka, and slept for 4 hours. I felt great when I woke up, and then I made the mistake of trying to stand. Ow! Ow ow ow ow ow. I was enormously hungry by that point, so I did get up and slowly creep to the car and to an Italian restaurant. (Linguini w/ clam sauce, and it was good).

This was only part of my vacation. I took a total of 10 days off, ½ of which were spent exploring California, and the other half at home, doing things I’ve been meaning to do for a very long time. I’ll go into more detail in my next post, but for now, I just want to revel in the accomplishment.