Joy of Running
by
Mark Jimenez
Thirteen years ago my buddy John and I ran our first marathon. I was 31 years old. I had just gotten into running maybe a year before. John had talked me into doing a half marathon. I had 2 half marathons under my belt, I think, by the time we did our first marathon. I had no idea what I was doing. I wore basketball shorts and a shirt from a previous race. I had an iPod mini with the chord coming under my shirt. I forget my exact time, but it was well over 4 hours. I think somewhere around 4 hours and 20+ minutes.
Mark coming to the finish line in his first marathon
Since that day I have run every Surf City marathon since. There are so many memories associated with this race for me. So many trips down to Huntington Beach. The joy of seeing my kids as I cross the finish line. The happiness of watching them run in the sand. Early in February my Facebook memories fill with the pictures of trips to the Surf City Marathon. Each year I've learned something. Some years I did wonderfully, other years I didn't. One year I DNF'd as I started the race with the flu and could only make it about 3 miles before I threw in the towel.
Nowadays I sign up for next year's race at the current expo. I am already signed up for 2023!
Here are just a few of my memories from Surf City over the years.
I'm not sure how many marathons I've done. Probably around 20 or 25. But Surf City is the first, and it's the one I'll do every year while I still run. There are so many memories there that it's hard to walk away and leave it behind. I'll usually do one or two other marathons a year, but Surf City will always be one of them.
2022 was a great year. I'm getting older but I'm also getting wiser. I'm not the 31 year old I was when I started this journey. Instead I'm a 44 year old who is running much faster now than I was at 31. But that isn't the point. Every run is a good run, and I have to live by that motto! Nobody wants or needs another boring race report. No offense to anybody, especially myself! I've written my fair share of race reports here in this space. Instead I want to talk about how much joy running brings me and how happy I am to have met the people I have while running.
This Surf City was a great experience. Yes, I ran my 2nd fastest marathon time ever, and that's awesome! But even more fun is the amount of people that came down with me to make this a fun and memorable race. What a great crew!
From left to right, Katie & Todd, Michael, Me, Ben, Andy, Justin, Carl.
It's been awesome to get to know Todd & Katie. We met when their daughter came out for Cross Country. I've been on lots of long runs with Todd since, and I even managed to stick with him through the first half of this marathon. Todd ran an amazing time of 3:03 in I believe only his 2nd or 3rd marathon. His wife Katie ran the half and posted a great time as well. They are such great people and they have brought a lot of joy into my life. I'm lucky to call them friends.
Todd in front with me chasing him, early in the race with the 3:05 pace group
I met Michael through Todd. The guy is just a powerful cyclist and a successful triathlete. Also an all around great guy. I got to meet his wife and son as well over the weekend and spend some good time with them. I'm so impressed with how Michael ran the race. He was just constant throughout, and even ran a sub 3 hour marathon!
Ben the speedster managed to take 6th place overall in the half marathon. I was headed out around mile 17 or 18 when I saw him coming in. I managed to yell at him and get his attention. He looked like he was in pain, but he was still chugging in to the finish line. Ben completes this group in a lot of ways. We all rally around him, and while we tease him like he's our little brother, we also don't let anybody mess with him! Of course, nobody could catch him if they did. Ben is fast!
Andy coaches Cross Country with me and is a great dude. He does so many things to make my life easier. I often tell him that when it comes to coaching all I do is run. Andy takes care of the rest. We make a great team, but even saying that isn't fair because he does so much of the heavy lifting and I just kind of show up.
Justin is one of the nicest guys I know. Any time since I've met Justin and asked for help, he is always the first person to show up and help. Even injured he ran an amazing race. I'm very glad to call him a friend.
Then there's Carl, running in his 2nd marathon and beating me again. I was ahead of him but after the last turn around I saw him and I thought, "Oh yeah, he's going to pull a Carl and pass me." Carl's classic moves during workouts is to be behind me and then pass me at the finish. Sure enough, he passed me with a couple miles to go in this race. That's ok! Carl and I are both running Boston in April so I have one more shot at him!
Carl coming to the finish
Running has brought me so many great friends and so many great times. It has helped me fight depression and it has helped me through so many difficult times. I'm not sure where I'd be without running. There's no doubt that running a marathon hurts. Just look at the expression on my face as I near the finish line here. That's not smiling, that's gritting my teeth and getting through the pain! But the benefits of running make it all worth it.
Some of my favorite memories of Surf City 2022 will be seeing my wife KJ around mile 16 cheering for me. She even managed to hand me a gel as I went by. She is the unsung hero of the group. She managed to carry ID of just about every member and even some clothing items as well. Michael got a water bottle and a gel at mile 16. She carried clothes, held water, passed out gel, put up with our post race BO, and took a ton of pictures. We couldn't have done it without her.
I even got to see one of my cross country kids who decided to run the half. It was awesome to see him place in his age group and walk away with two medals!
A new race tradition for me is walking to the beach and soaking my feet in the cold ocean water after the race. Justin did more than that and jumped right in! The cold water feels so good on sore feet. I have Drew to thank for this new tradition, leading the way 2 years ago!
There aren't a lot of things in life that give you more than you put into it. Running is one of those things. The benefits of running far outweigh the temporary pain of a marathon. Most runs don't hurt at all anymore. I know that when a person just gets started that running is hard. To those people I'd say, "give it a couple of weeks, give it a month. Eventually you'll get to the point where the run is one of the best parts of your day."
Running has brought joy and happiness into my life. It is my sincere hope that through Red Rock Running Company, I can share some of that joy with the rest of Las Vegas.
Every Run is a Good Run.
I love this picture. I'd guess it's about 11 miles or so into the race. We're all surrounding the first place female, who went on to win the race. Without saying anything we kind of formed a pack around her. It was pretty awesome!