Long Beach Marathon Sand Castle + Sole Runners!

Happy Friday!


Yesterday was pretty awesome.  During lunch yesterday I walked down to Shoreline Village where the Long Beach Marathon start/finish line is.  People were setting up the finish line corral,

fences along Shoreline Dr, tents, and the most incredible thing...the SAND SCULPTURE!!!  I met two of the very talented architects, Greg and Ko, who were so nice and let me scope out their progress.  It looked incredible already and they still had so much more to do!

When I asked Greg how they keep the sand from blowing away, he brought out one tool...a hose.

They keep the sand very moist which acts as a glue.  Let's just hope it doesn't rain!  Seriously though, it looks incredible!  The front is the medal which they are delicately working on and the back is the ribbon, which is pretty and structurally very supportive.

Amazing!!  After chatting for a bit, I walked along the Ocean path before returning to work.  Here's another beautiful icon that we will see on the Long Beach Marathon course -- the Queen Mary!  (It's a little off in the distance here)

It was a beautiful day :)

After work I went the Sole Runners meeting/pre-LB carb dinner/info session.  I've been looking into running clubs for a while, and I really liked Sole Runners.  I was on the fence about joining, but that changed as soon as I walked in the door.  I was immediately greeted and befriended by AMAZING people!  I even got hugs, and I am a hugger!  It was great!  We swapped stories, they told me why they love Sole Runners, they told me about their running experiences both great and terrible...it was so fun.  And Coach Steve is awesome.  He reminds me of a more runner/athletic (thin and fit) version of Thomas Haden Church (he even sounds like him a bit too!)  He was enthusiastic and so full of energy, I can't wait to run with him!  So without any further hesitation, I joined the Sole Runners!  I got some goodies including a Sole Runners tech tee, some Clif & Power Bars, a book on Chi Running, and my training schedule for the next 8 weeks (post LB).

Long Beach is in TWO DAYS!!!!!

Happy Friday!