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| My Running Gear |
Lynnette, her husband John, and I (my John was up in Folsom doing a show with Taikoproject) left our hotel room around 5:15 a.m. The race officially began at 6:15. We're staying in Mission Bay, and the start line was down in Balboa Park. Goodness, there was MAD traffic getting down there. But luckily we exited further south than a lot of people seem to be exiting (Thanks John for checking the routes!), so that saved us a lot of time. We still hit major traffic, so Lynnette and I jumped out of the car at Laurel and Kettner and wound up walking up a very hilly 7 blocks to the starting line. Oh well, warm up.
Okay - this part may be TMI, but if you are planning on running a marathon one day, or if you have run one before, you KNOW how important it is to do #2 before hand. Otherwise, the run just isn't going to be pleasant. At all. We got in line for the Port-o-Potties with about 30 minutes to the start time for our corral. Plenty of time, right? Apparently not. I timed our wait and we were in line for 40 minutes. And they ran out of toilet paper. So Lynnette and I discussed using the old clothing we brought to keep us warm- her pullover long sleeve and my old paint-stained UCI jogging pants. We were going to get rid of them anyway, so why not? But some people got very clever and there just happened to be one of those surgical gowns (and I really hope it was just someone's costume) lying on the ground, and we all started tearing pieces off to take care of business. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. And note to self: next time, bring some toilet paper just in case.
Since the restroom line was so long, we missed our corral and just jumped into one of the ones that was about to leave. It was about 7:10 or so at that time, and only half the corrals had left. They had a couple of emcees announcing the start and some pretty pumping music, so when took off and it was a really moving experience. We started off with our 9-minute run/1-minute walk interval, and were doing great. We ran through Balboa Park, the Gas Lamp district, and Petco Park. Our time was pretty steady, a little under 10:30.
Until we got to the 5 Freeway. My brother's friend Derek warned me about it, and he was not kidding. It was so slanted that at times it felt like one leg was about 6 inches shorter than the other. It was like that for a few miles, not to mention that it was also uphill for part of the way. At that point too, my asthma started kicking in again. I normally do my steroid inhaler and albuterol for a long run, and I knew better than to change my routine, especially the day of the race, but I felt pretty good when I woke up so I only did the albuterol. But we brought Lynnette's inhaler in case, and it gave me my second wind. Literally.
When we got to Mile 14, we hit a pretty major uphill battle. Not as steep as the one we trained on in Griffith Park, but it went for a three-mile grade and turned around at the top, so we saw all the runners who were ahead of us coming back down on the other side of the road. That really got to me mentally, and around Mile 16 I asked Lynnette if we could take a little longer on our walking break because I was kind of losing it. It turned out that the little stint along the 5 also did a real number on Lynnette's left knee, and she was in major pain, so the break helped both of us.
When we got to around Mile 19, everything from there on out was next to Mission Bay. It was really beautiful and on a winding bike trail with a very welcomed breeze. I think on a normal day, I would really enjoy being out there because it is so scenic. But after having just run 19 miles, this part of the course was excruciating because it was all concrete. I tried running on the grass next to it, but by that time, my form wasn't as great and I knew that I could easily just trip and fall because I wasn't picking up my feet as much as I could.
By that time, I think Lynnette and I were having a hard time. Her with her knee and me with just being mentally and physically exhausted. We switched down to a 4/1 interval, which was really helpful, but around Mile 23 I had another mental breakdown so we walked most of that mile and picked up again at Mile 24. At that point, we just wanted to finish.
I really thought that I was going to have to walk through the finish line, but somehow, I was able to muster up some energy and came in at a nice stride at 5:31: 25. So I'm very happy that I beat my last time by about 15 minutes. The funny thing is, the last 3 miles I kept thinking, "What the f- possessed me to do this again?" and "I will never f-ing do this again!" (I was swearing a lot in my head by Mile 20), but I have to admit, once I crossed the finish line, I thought, "I could do this again." I just loved the challenge, the discipline, and the comraderie of running.
But, and I'm going to do a lot of prefacing and I know I'm going to offend some purple shirt runners out there. Sorry. I know that a particular training program was a major sponsor of this marathon and that it is a very worthy cause as well, but it got really, really, REALLY annoying to hear "Go Team!" over and over again. And yes, part of it is because I also hear it all the time when I train in Griffith Park, and I find it to be a little cultish, but to hear it at every mile, and every 10 seconds, and to not have any words of encouragement from these particular people thrown my way made me feel like I wasn't even part of the race. And I'm not saying that people have to cheer for me as I run by, and admittedly there were a couple of coaches from that organization that would say encouraging words to me and Lynnette, I think. I'm assuming we were the "blue team." But it really did feel like dozens and dozens of purple shirt supporters would just completely ignore anyone not dressed in their team uniform and only call out their "team members" names. Not only that, but the coaches would run up and down the course, trying to talk to their participants (who it did seem like a couple of them were slightly annoyed too, especially at the later mileage when all we wanted to do, non-purple shirts included, was to finish the f-in' race) and give them words of encouragement or ask them where they were from and if it was their first marathon, etc., etc. and would get in our frickin' way. At one point I just wanted to shove one of the coaches in the face. And, as my dear soul sister Lynnette pointed out, isn't running, at least marathon running, an individual sport? I'm just saying. We were all out there on the course today and I think we all deserved some love and support, so spread the love, Team in Training! Yes, I called you out.
But off my soap box and on to more positive notes. I saw some amazing people doing the race who were really inspiring. One in particular was a blind woman who was doing the full marathon. I'm very happy I'm running again, and I'm very grateful for all the love and support I have received from the spectators (especially John Rappaport - it was great to see your face a couple of times on the course cheering us on! and some folk from the Start! Training program that drove all the way down here to show some love) and to all of you who generously donated and helped me raise $1,200.
And of course, to Arlene and Russel Lowe - not only are you some of the kindest, warmest people I know, you truly are an inspiration in so many ways. Keep on keeping on!
Here's a link to when we crossed the 5k mark: We're on the right hand side:
http://www.asiorders.com/view_user_event_video.asp?ID=117412832&EVENTID=75623&PWD=&BIB=32347&FROM=photos&PHOTOGRP=11507773
And here's us crossing the finish line:
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| I do it for the free pita chips. |
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| We did it! |
Til the next race,
Rona
