Strand Half Marathon Imperial Beach Nov 11 2007 Starts at Coronado skate 13.1 miles to Imperial Beach San Diego really cool course past the pretty Hotel Del Coronado Then on the 75 highway along the ocean through challenging Radio Road then back through the residential section of Imperial Beach to the finish line with beer garden and a live band! Was interesting listening to Jake (Bont Skates) Chat with fellow skater friend about how his strategy was going to be for the event. His plan? Start at the front and stay at the front! And he did, to take the win! Congrats to Peggy Girgenti for her win too! The start of the race was cool with head winds and oh ya a chip start mat that was thick and bear to cross over but once through the race was on! There where about 200 skaters there and lots of friends from all over the USA. I lost the team pack from the start and ended up skating with Ian from San Diego Thanks Ian for the 13 mile bottle hold :) Skating with someone makes the event that much more enjoyable. While in Radio Road, Howard Yeh (SDSE) had a sign for Lizzy Loeb (LA Speed) "Will you marry me?" They met at this race a few years ago been dating ever since. Lizzy was busy racing and did not see the sign! Well, duh! Howard scoots up to the finish ahead of Lizzy and has a diamond ring in his pocket and was down on a knee at the shoot. Ya she said yes for sure!~ Just before the finish line was quite the scene as someone had put sand on the road causing the slide or flyout as we rounded the corner and headed for the sprint for the finish. Fortunately this small patch of sand caused some stress but no real accidents. There was a skater from Germany (on student exchange program) whom took an almost tumble but regained composure to complete the race. See the enclsoed photos from Glenn koshi from Bont skates for some great photo memories! His photography really captured the esence of the event!
photo courtesy of Glenn Koshi/Bont Skates
Jake out front photo courtesy of Glenn Koshi/Bont Skates
