The Catalina Marathon

There is just something about days like Saturday. Time itself is meaningless. Moments seem like hours seem like seconds. Through all the trials and tribulation, through the uncontrollable laughter and maybe even tears, you simply never want that day to end.

It is challenging to start this story because I don't think there is a way that I can use words to give it justice, but I will try. I woke before my 2am alarm, quietly got ready and snuck out the door. My heart was beating fast - partially because I had not slept but mostly because I knew that the day would be one that I would not soon forget. It wasn't long before Bob and I were loading in to Jean's car and heading towards Marina Del Rey to catch our boat. We were way too lively for a group that was up that early! As soon as we pulled up to the dock, on cue, we saw Donn and Ko getting out of their car. The group was officially complete.

The first challenge of the morning was making it safely from the boat dock to the island itself. This was no small feat! With swells as high as 8 feet in the water that morning, you were in the minority if you were not getting sick on that boat. Despite our motion sickness, we were still too giddy for the majority of passengers. It was aboard that boat that I earned my nickname 'The Rooster' and Bob earned his - 'The Yak.' Use your imagination!! Towards the end of the ride, we all started to settle down and just concentrate on not losing our breakfast. The silence was broken by song... 'A three hour tour...' sang Jean. We all burst into laughter again and joined her.

Our second challenge was making it to the start line of the race. Because the swells had been so high, it took us a lot longer to get to Catalina than we expected. We barely had a chance to get off the boat before the race began. Jean and I were literally running and pinning our bibs on at the same time - still laughing I must say!

Ko was nowhere to be found at the start, but Jean, Bob, Donn and I took off together. The Rooster and the Yak had a faux race to see who could find the Moose first. We went chasing each other up the hill like little kids, making rooster and yak noises (whatever those are!) as we hunted down the real star for the day.

We were three miles in when there was a Moose sighting! Craig was clad in his traditional white wardrobe (to guard him from the sun) as well as his constant smile. Jean, Donn and Bob took off after a few minutes, but I opted to remain with the Moose. It was finally my opportunity to live the day that I had missed two weeks ago.

A few miles in to our walk, Ko joined us! All along, we had thought that he was ahead of us, but apparently the sea sickness left him ill at the start. He still looked rather green but he was tough. The Moose Crew was officially expanding. I walked for 11 miles with Craig, Kathy (AKA: Froggie) and the rest of the gang. I kept hearing him say over and over again "This is just great!" We shared stories, Craig made me a list of the races that I should do, we plotted his next race (The San Diego Marathon) we laughed some more, but eventually Ko and I had to begin running so that we would be able to make out boat. We left him in the capable hands of the Frog and the rest of the crew.

I really had no idea how challenging it would be to walk for 5 hours, then run for almost 3, especially on a day like that. It was beautiful outside, but extremely windy. As we reached the highest peak of Catalina Island, at 1800 feet, the wind almost became unbearable. Thank God I had Ko with me. It would have been a hard challenge to go through by myself. We had to walk for a good portion of the remainer of the race, simply because the wind would push us over if we did not ground ourselves. Ko was even knocked over once. I watched birds try to fly and go nowhere. After almost 8 hours on the course, Ko and I finished together with a story that I don't think we could possibly describe with words. Jean, Bob and Donn were there to cheer us in. My longest marathon - but probably my best experience ever.

The challenges of the day were far from over. As I cleaned up and changed into my comfortable, warm sweats (that I had never been so grateful for in my life) I received a call that my boat was cancelled but that we could still ride back on the Catalina Express (a larger boat). I ran to find Jean who was with Donn and Bob. Bob and I ran for another boat that still had room, however the last one out left in 20 minutes. We rounded up Jean and Donn, changed their tickets, but Ko was nowhere to be found. We looked at one another, knowing what one of us had to do. "I'll go find him," Donn finally gave in. Five minutes later, we saw Donn running towards the boat with Ko not far behind. We barely made it on.

I was so happy to be loading the boat. I remembered the Catalina Express - it was clean and warm. We walked inside... all the seats were taken. Only one other option - the open top deck. As we sat on a rocking ship, wind blowing on our cold, post-marathon bodies, waves splashing all around and on us, all we could do was laugh. We even realized that Jean had been given special tickets that would let us in a 'first class' inside area, but we quickly gave those away. Poor Ko was still pretty sick, but we finally made it back in one piece. When we arrived at the port in Long Beach, we had to find a way back to Marina Del Rey. We briefly considered running the 30 mile + distance, but eventually we all decided to settle for a cab. It was on the ride home that I found out that Craig had only had chemo 3 days prior to the race. What a hero.

You guys," Jean said, "this was amazing. Whenever you want to do it again, just let me know!"

"Well, the Moose's next race is in San Diego. You in??" I said to everyone.

They didn't even have to answer, their glances back and forth and mischievious smiles said it all.