Dan: Redding Marathon

Thank you Dan for representing Team Lucca at the Redding Marathon

Hi Terri,

Thank you once again for a fantastic team building evening last night. You always amaze me and are such an inspiration. Attached are the photos from the Redding Marathon last weekend (16Jan2011) with all the Team Lucca gear in action. The race started above Shasta Dam, crossed over the dam and continued and included some of the most beautiful scenery I've ever had the privilege to run in and it finished at the Sundial Bridge (some of the views that I got to see along the way are also included in the photos, thanks to my folks who took the photos. And yes, I do use my cell phone as a camera, just in case you were wondering, but these photos are not from there).

I ended up finishing 39th overall in the race (only 3 people finished under 3 hours---my time was 3:46) ---a race that included a hellish 2 mile uphill climb that hit 4% to 6% grades for good chunks of it at miles 12 through 14 and other quad-pounding hills along the way, primarily the start. The most beautiful part was the scenery and the friendliness of absolutely everyone encountered during the race on the course--runners and spectators. The most painful part was a cramp that literally stopped me in my tracks at mile 21 that took hold first of my right quad, then, upon stopping, my left hamstring, followed by my right one. That hit required me to hobble-bobble the last 5.2 miles (which took a grueling 1 hour and 15 minutes to complete, if that gives the picture of how impaired I got. If you look closely at the pictures of me running across the Sundial Bridge the pain is pretty visible). I owe tremendous thanks to angels from Redding, Sue and Lynn that were monitoring the course and inspired me all the way to the finish line.

All the best,

Dan