It is nearly impossible for me to believe that this is the 11th Rock 'n' Roll marathon in San Diego. I was here the first year, 1998, with the Runner's World Pace Team. Other pacers included Boston Marathon winner Amby Burfoot, Olympian Jeff Galloway, and 8 time Ironman winner Paula Newby-Frasier. Imagine being on a stage with THAT group.

In 1999 my son, Terry, and I rode Suzuki motorcycles from New York City to San Diego and THEN ran the marathon together. Amazing.

In 2000 I was out here with the Firebird  as part of a summer long West Coast tour. Long time Runner's World readers may remember a column about my drag racing some young kid in his souped-up "Euro" hotrod. The Firebird's big V8 was no match for loud mufflers on a VW.

The other years start to blend together. I've run the event several times, helped pass out water at Margaritaville, spoken and 6 Team in Training Pasta Parties, and been on the announcer's stand at the finish. It's been a great time every year.

Of course, it is in San Diego. Hard to imagine NOT have a good time in paradise. So I'm looking forward to another great weekend. If anyone is out here, stop by and see me at the Expo.

I don't think you can see it, exactly, but the bottom line on the banner says "Wecome John Bingham". The top line says "Positive Addiction Week". Now, there's so much irony in that photo that it would take an entire book to write about it. But, let's just say that the short story is all there in the picture.

It turns out that it was a very positive experience for me. I'd like to thank all of those who emailed me and encouraged me to just be honest with the kids and trust that they would "get it". From what I could tell, and from the feedback I got, I think they did.

The message that I hoped to leave them with was that  being YOUR best, whatever that is, is all you can ever hope to be. There's no sense trying to be anyone else's best or wishing that your best was better than anyone else's. The joy and satisfaction, from my point of view, is in the honest effort to find the best in yourself.

And, for those that asked, YES, I had a "Kewpie" burger in Lima. Guess it's the thing to do, and I have to tell you it was PRETTY good.

I headed through Cleveland before going home to speak at the Cleveland Marathon expo. Best part of the weekend was seeing Bart Yasso and introducing Bill Rodgers. What a treat.

This weekend I'm off to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. I'll be speaking at the pasta party on Saturday night.

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See you on the streets

John

Now I know how the other half lives.

I traveled with Jenny and her Chicago Endurance Sports training group to the Santa Barbara Wine Country Half Marathon. Because of a special "package" deal we stayed at the Four Seasons - Biltmore. Oh MY! It's an beautiful hotel, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, with gorgeous grounds. No way I could afford to stay there if we hadn't gotten a HUGE break on the price. But, it was nice to pretend to be rich for a weekend.

Somehow, I keep forgetting that just because it's California that doesn't mean it's going to be hot. Maybe because here in the midwest we imagine that there's nothing but fun and sun out there, but it WASN'T there this weekend. I own - without exaggeration - 20 fleece jackets or vest and DID NOT take one of them with me. So, I had to by a hooded sweatshirt just to survive the weekend.

The event itself was a bit of a mixed bag. Because I'm at so often a BIG races I'm always a little surprised at what "real world" events look like. They're often pretty low key affairs where the fun seems to come mostly from the social aspects of the experience. Most of the folks there were from the local running community and it was a chance for them to get together for a fun time.

The big difference at THIS race was the opportunity to do some wine tasting after you finished. I'm sure that provided MORE than enough motivation for the participants to keep moving. The course itself was very scenic and the only glitch I saw was that - somehow - they forgot to put out the mile markers! Other than that, though, it was a nice event.

This is a short week at home. I off to Ohio on Thursday.

Waddle on,

John