PRE-RACE TOUR

I hit the road with the sunrise this morning in Carlsbad, to acquire some java juice and drive this Sunday's marathon route.

I have been hearing tales of challenging hills, and figured the exact opposite of "what I don't know won't hurt me". Truth told, there are more hills than I expected for a course that mostly parallels the beach, but there is nothing here that should present much of a problem. The few hills there are are long, granted, but are not steep inclines at all. San Francisco it ain't.

Started at the start...where work crews were busy setting up the big tents...and pouring chemicals into the hundreds of porta-potties.













From there the course jogs through the "downtown" Village of Carlsbad". Later in the day I noticed La Jolla calls itself a "village", too. I don't know what makes either of them that instead of a city or town, but I do know, as our current Secretary of State has written, it takes one. And palm tree-rich San Diego County has two.

Just south of the downtown the route runs down Carlsbad Boulevard, all along the shoreline. It's also the old Highway 101. It's typical SoCal beachy stuff. Picture Malibu but with smaller homes...but more of them...and the delightful Encina Power Station.

After the first pass of the power station the course turns inland toward the Palomar Airport. It's mostly industrial and tech complexs and the fast food joints and chain restaurants that serve the folks who work there and at the airport. It's also where the harshest hills live.

It's along this part of the course that we'll hit the 13.1 mile, halfway point. In a cruel bit of coincidence, THIS is the half marathon mark.

There's a sign at the end of the drive-through lane that says "Do Not Enter". Just for marathon day I think that should be changed to "Free Burgers for Marathoners - Come On In".

After this we turn south, back along the shoreline for about 3-4 miles, then turn around and head back up Carlsbad Boulevard...with no more major turns to make.

I'm not anticipating any major problems, other then mental, as I hate running out-and-backs, of which there are three major ones along this route.

That's it for now folks. Time for some complex carbs...and then some rest.

Gotta run.