On The Road To San Diego (April 3, 2009)

By Ross Forman

I am officially On The Road To … San Diego, for the 12th annual Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon on May 31. Start time is 6:30 a.m. that Sunday, and this will be my fifth-ever marathon over a 554-day span; that’s one year, six months and seven days, to be exact. This will be my first marathon of 2009 and my second-ever from Elite Racing, the group that produces the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series, including such festive events as the Country Music Marathon, held annually through the streets of Nashville. I ran the Nashville Marathon with Coach Katie and Coach Dan in 2008, and that was one of the reasons I chose to kick off my ’09 marathon season in San Diego.

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon series marathons are … fun, or at least as much fun as the 26.2-mile grind can be. With bands, cheerleaders, thousands of cheering fans, these races truly are events, happenings, spectacles. Though I enjoyed running the Florence and Amsterdam Marathons in 2007 and 2008, respectively, these European races are nothing compared to the Rock ‘n’ Roll runs. It’s always great to hear and see marathon supporters, if only to help eliminate the boredom and pain along the multi-hour journey.

The San Diego Marathon also will be my first-ever all by myself, on race-day and during the five-months of training. Heck, I might not even know anyone along the streets on race-day or at the finish-line. But that’s on purpose. My last race was the Honolulu Marathon on Dec. 14, 2008, which I ran – and prepared for in the final days – with others from the National AIDS Marathon Training Program and a veteran local runner, Dell.

Now I want to see how I do all by myself, as scary and as boring that can be.

I’ve done all of the training so far by myself, though Coach Katie has offered suggestions of mileage.

I’ve trained for San Diego while on the road in Nashville, New York City, Philadelphia, Charlotte and Orlando, among other places.

Ah, yes, Orlando, where I spent countless nights for TNA Wrestling and other work-related projects. I’ve been to Orlando more often over the past five years than any other city in America, yet I still haven’t completely adjusted to its weather just yet.

We’re talking hot and humid. And unfortunately, I haven’t listened to my gut instinct on the Orlando weather, or my former colleague from WCW and TNA, Darryl, who lives there. In March, I had training runs in Orlando of 14- and 16-miles. Neither was exceptional, mainly because of the heat. It was just too damn hot while running. Still, I finished each run and followed each with strong runs in the days and weeks after.

I only have two, potentially three, long training runs before San Diego. One will be 18-miles; another will be 20. And I’ll also have a bunch of 8- and 10-mile runs before boarding my United Airlines flight to San Diego.

Also on the schedule for 2009 will be the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, which should be the complete opposite for me from San Diego. I expect to see, and know, literally hundreds of friends, family and fellow marathoners along the course, which starts and finishes at Grant Park.

And I’m thinking of returning to Honolulu in December for its marathon.

Here’s hoping San Diego delivers a Grammy-like Rock ‘n’ Roll race, as I’m expecting.

Ross.