Penguin Journal - Archives

June 7, 2000

Wow… what a weekend! 20,000 of my closest friends and I got together for a little run in San Diego. Something we called the Suzuki Rock and Roll marathon.

Actually, it was RnR3, and I've done all three. The first year was as part of the Runner's World pace team. Last year, my son Terry and I rode Suzuki motorcycles from New York to San Diego and THEN ran the marathon. This year, I chose a more conventional travel plan, and flew in.

Race weekends for me and never just RACE weekends. Karen and I were at the Team Penguin booth all day Friday and Saturday meeting old friends, and making new ones. As a joke, Karen brought some "I'm slow. I know. Get over it" T-shirts. Well, they were the HIT if the expo.

We had them hanging on the wall behind us and people would come by, read the shirt, and either simply smile or laugh out loud. And a WHOLE bunch of folks just said "I've GOT to have that shirt". They're all gone now, but we'll probably get some more made up.

I was also a part of two Pacing Team clinics with members of the San Diego track club, and two Marathon 101 clinics with Jenny Hadfield, head coach of the Illinois chapter of Team in Training. All the clinics were well attended, and I think we really helped people get mentally prepared for the day ahead of them.

Saturday evening I had the privilege of speaking to the 6600 TnT participants and their families and coaches. It was VERY moving to be up on stage and see so many people who had worked SO hard for themselves, and, to raise money to help others. Together, they raised almost 12.5 MILLION dollars! WOW.

Race day? One word. HOT! I think I started out more fatigued than I should have, and even though we came to the half marathon point in 2:30 I was sure that it wasn't going to be my best day. The cumulative effect of standing so much, talking so much, and generally just ENJOYING myself so much was catching up with me.

So, I did what any seasoned marathon veteran would do [Sunday was my 21^st marathon] I revised my plan with nearly every mile and finished in a still respectable 5:30:14. YES, I'm bugged about the additional 14 seconds, so when I tell the story, I round it down!!

I'm off to Boston tomorrow for the Penguin Flight School.

We're taking it to the streets!!

Waddle on, friends.
John "the Penguin" Bingham