On Saturday morning, Donna and I rode the scooter over to Movin’ Shoes on Garnet Avenue in Pacific Beach, to pick up her race packet. The packet contained her race number with timing chip, a T-shirt and some other goodies. Donna registered a few weeks ago for the San Diego Duathlon, which would take place on Sunday morning.

San Diego has a long history of triathlon and duathlon racing. The first triathlon was held at Mission Bay on September 25, 1974 – four years before the first Ironman triathlon. You can read about it here.

After we returned, Donna’s sister, Linda, picked us up and we drove to Little Italy. Little Italy is a gentrified district north of downtown San Diego. Originally it was populated by Italian fishermen. Nowadays, it’s home to many restaurants, sidewalk cafes, pubs, boutique hotels and residences. Donna and I stayed here at La Pensione hotel back in 2006.

Little Italy sign on India street

On Saturday mornings, they have a farmers’ market, known as the Mercato. The market covers three blocks of Cedar Street between Kettner Boulevard and State Street. This is one of the largest farmers’ markets in San Diego. It’s a favorite shopping place for tourists and locals as well.

Farmers’ market on Cedar Street

We browsed through the market for about an hour and a half. They had all of the usual local produce plus a few unique items – like live sea urchins.

Sea urchins

I like sushi and eat seafood, but sea urchins aren’t my cup of tea.

Donna wanted to buy marinara sauce. We didn’t find any at the market so we walked up India Street to find a store. As we started up India Street, I heard someone call out “Kuper!” I turned around and saw my old friend and former colleague, Skip Redmond, on the corner. Skip and his friend, Steve, are street musicians. They were playing on the corner at the farmers’ market.

Skip and Steve

I first met Skip in 1980, when I was the service manager at Herman Cook VW in Encinitas, California. Skip was working for Volkswagen of America. I went to work for Volkswagen of America in 1984 and our paths crossed many times during our careers. We’re both Volkswagen of America retirees now. We chatted for a few minutes, then continued our quest for marinara sauce.

We walked to Filippi’s Pizza Grotto and market. Donna was about to buy a jar of sauce when we decided to eat in the restaurant. It was nearly 1pm and we were hungry. We ordered a pizza and Donna asked our server if we could buy some of the restaurant’s sauce. She sold us a pint of their meat sauce to go.

That night, we had spaghetti with chicken meatballs and Filippi’s meat sauce. I opened a bottle of Stone Smoked Porter brewed with chocolate and orange peel. I’ve acquired a taste for flavored stouts and porters when they’re subtly spiced. The Stone doesn’t hit you with any over-the-top flavors. It’s a complex blend that tastes great.

Stone Smoked Porter with chocolate and orange peel

Donna was up early Sunday morning. She rode out of the RV park on her bicycle at 6am. It was a three-mile ride to the race transition area where she stowed her bike, helmet, gloves and cycling shoes. The race started with a 1.5-mile run at 7:30am. The run ended at the transition area, where Donna put on her gear and rode three laps (about 12.5 miles) around Fiesta Island. After the third lap, she returned to the transition area and put on her running shoes to finish the race with a 2.5-mile run.

I rode the scooter over to the transition area and arrived at 8:30am. I looked for Donna’s bike, but couldn’t spot it in the mass of bicycles there. I wasn’t sure if she was still riding or if she was already running the last leg of the race. I walked down to the finish area to wait. They had a band performing near the finish line. I can’t imagine rockin’ out at that hour.

Blue Rockit band

As I stood there, a guy next to me tapped me on the shoulder and pointed up the hill behind me. Donna was running past waving at me. I didn’t hear her call my name, but it got the attention of the guy next to me.

Donna approaching the finish line

Donna finished the race with a time of 1:33. She was pleased with her result, considering she hasn’t done much running since February. I scootered home and became a couch potato watching NFL football while Donna stayed back for the race ceremonies. She rode her bike home later.

While I was watching football, Jeff Sandler picked Donna up and they drove to her sister Sheila’s house for brunch. Later they looked at a few homes on the market in the Point Loma area.

Today, we expect cooler weather with highs in the mid 70s. I need to pick up a couple things at Costco, then I’ll go for a bicycle ride.