Rebel Runners

OF DELAWARE

The General led a bunch of rebels out to Phoenix, AZ for P.F. Chang's Rock'n'Roll Marathon on 1/12/05

The event included a marathon and half marathon. We were represented in each race, along with over 30,000 other participants. Everyone finished, with Falcon Ray successfully making his marathon running debut.

Post-race relaxing. Nice medals!

On Thursday 1/6/05, 12 of 14 Rebels flew into Phoenix AZ for the P.F. Chang's Rock N Roll Arizona Marathon and 1/2 Marathon. Included were Falcon Ray, Szymanski, Herko, BBQ, Loco, the General, Beaches, Procrastowitz, K Drive, me and 2 "honorary" Rebels - Gorgeous George and Aimless Horowitz. Smarty and Sharon Smarty came on Friday. Given the long distance travel and the lack of familiarity any of us had with this marathon, I highly recommend arriving 3 days prior. We had time to relax and absorb the different environment and weather. Also, we could get our legs back while adjusting to the time change. Our home base was the Spring Hill Suites in Tempe, a few miles from the finish line at the Arizona State track and football stadium.

   
Richmond and Megaphone playing nicely.       1972 Olympic Marathon champion Frank Shorter joins Rebel Runners at the Expo

In the time before the races, we went to the very good expo in Phoenix, where we had our picture taken with the reluctant Frank Shorter, and downtown Tempe. On Sat, we went to Scottsdale for light shopping and touring. These were areas that we would actually be running the marathon thru on Sunday. Of course, there was lots of good carb loading and massive hydration of sorts taking place (along with other things that I was not privy too). We took in good restaurants in Scottsdale and Tempe with Sat night's occurring at Buca Di Beppi courtesy of Herko's niece.



 
We were very fortunate on Sunday, the day of the races, as the weather started off somewhat cool and rose to just about 60 degrees with no rain as may have been predicted. Senator John McCain and Curt Schilling sent us off on the Marathon (both of them had spouses in the races), and the 1/2 Marathon went off 50 minutes later. There were 11,475 entered in the Marathon (7365 finished) and 18,053 entered in the 1/2 (15,848 finished). The "Rock N Roll" part of the race was quite invigorating and helpful as the Marathon had 26 bands spread throughout the course and the 1/2 had 15.

Along with great weather, the streets were wide, the course was very flat, the supports very good and the scenery at times outstanding (especially Camelback Mtn and other red rock formations). Although a couple of Rebels struggled with intestinal problems, I think we all agreed it was an excellent Marathon and 1/2, recommended for anyone. The medals were attractive and sturdy. PRs were obtained by Szymanski, Falcon Ray, K Drive, Horowitz and myself for the Marathon, and Beaches, Aimless, Gorgeous and Sharon Smarty for the 1/2.

Sunday we all went out for a recovery dinner and gave complements to a race director whom I met in the bathroom of the restaurant. Many of us then walked across the street and enjoyed a free outdoor concert at Tempe Beach Park by Jason Mraz. The next day I and some others accomplished a goal I had of climbing the ASU mountain that overlooked all of Tempe and beyond before boarding the planes for home.

Rebels rejoice after the races.