Running a marathon has never been a goal of mine (too far fetched.) I must’ve been thinking with me knee when I signed up for Tough Mudder, a 12 miles obstacle course designed by British special force (badass,) that’s happening in Sept. In the downtime, Michelle and I figured a half-marathon (13.1 miles) would keep up motivated to run and train till the time comes.
She was right. Except we didn’t really know what we got ourselves into.
Back when I was in the college, a productive workout would be a 1.5 mile run. I was in awe when a friend of mine ran 3 miles straight. Running was never my strength (neither was walking.) But since we signed up for the half-marathon, we’ve been picking up jogging and running for an average of 6-8 miles per workout. Although, we usually end up in bad shapes after each workout, we still had the confidence that we can nail the 13.1 mile run. (we were wrong.)
Soon enough, the day came.. (Pardon the quality of these photos, they’re all taken with an Iphone 4.)
The run starts at 6AM. I didn’t know Marathons usually start this early. To make sure we are physically prepped, we slept at 11PM (3 hours later than planned) and woke up around 4:15AM.
People on the web say we should eat 2 hours prior to the race to make sure the nutrition’s ready for the run. And so we did:
This was the earliest breakfast I’ve ever eaten.
A bit misty. 56 degree was the average temperature for the race. I had long sleeves on, and with the sweat pouring down on me when I ran, I barely noticed the rain.
The route: from pier 23 to Fisher Wharf, then pass Fort Mason to Golden Gate Bridge, and finally across the shoreline to Sunset area. It was a long and epic journey.
Showed up noticing there’s tooooo many people and toooooo little restrooms. Average wait time was 10 minutes.
We were wave 6, took off at 6:12AM.
Adrenalin rush.
Ghirardelli Square marks the 3rd mile.
Uphill was my weakness. Never trained for and never expected it. Bad move on me, uphills are obvious obstacles for the SF terrain.
Quick water stop:
Grandiose.
Really really wanted a banana slipt at the moment:
“1 mile left. Pain is temporary, glory is forever. “
2:37:14 for the run. Average of 12 minutes a mile.
13.1 miles was a long way, but when running along side of 2000 other men, women, and kids, the distance just started to fly by. It was a good starter and prep for what’s waiting for us in Sept.
Met up with Tony at the finish line – he was 15 minutes ahead of us.
Taste so good.
Courtesy of the Wipro SF Marathon: Free oranges, banana…
Scones provided by Panera!
…I can’t feel my legs right now. But it’s so worth it.
I ran a junior Triathlon once, too.
til my next run,
-Benson|| Twitter || Facebook || 365. || Shop of Imagination ||
