Finally, the San Francisco Marathon!!!

Yeah! I am officially a marathoner (although Pinal and I have been declaring this from day 1 of training per instruction from our training guide). There are a few things that I would like to share with you about my marathoning experience.

Marathoning: Life Changing?

Everyone says that finishing a marathon is a life changing event. I will definitely agree that my life has changed, but was it finishing the marathon that changed me? For me personally, I would have to say no. It’s not the running and finishing of the actual marathon, it’s the commitment to yourself to train for the marathon. It is 5 months of 4 days per week running when you don’t really like to run. THAT changes you. You may ask, “Why run when you don’t enjoy running?” It sounds crazy! I was motivated by the long term goal of actually finishing a marathon. As Peter (my blogging buddy who also ran this marathon as his first) put it, “You’re approaching this as a life list. Marathon. Check.” While he was correct, this is no longer my approach.

These months of running have changed who I am and how I view everything. The empowerment one gains from this experience is definitely life changing. It’s odd though, I still don’t love running. I begin each morning with a positive attitude about getting out there and getting my mileage in, but once I get to the start, I stall and temporarily dread the distance ahead of me. On the other hand, not running makes me almost feel agitated. I have all this energy bottled up waiting to be released and internally I tremble when there’s no outlet. I enjoy my days off, but I find myself looking for something else active to do. This is perhaps why I think I will enjoy my ironman training even more than marathon training, there’s simply more of it. There’s little down time with at least one workout 6 days a week and many days have 2.

This newly found life has rekindled my spirit and excitement for live. I have always loved competing. Growing up, I competed to win, but if that was my goal now, I would have a hard time training each day. I now enjoy participating and only compete against myself. I strive to better my own times and my own health. In the end, I just love being outside, being active and surrounding myself with other people who are doing the same thing. We're all winners now for challenging our self to get off the couch, out of the office and out there moving.

About the actual marathon (a little long, like always)

The day started early like with most long runs. We were up around 3:15am and out the door shortly after 4:30. It was really great. Jared, my brother who had come up the night before, rode his motorcycle down to the starting line. Irfan and I, bundled in sweats, took a nice easy 1 mile jog to meet him. When Irfan and I started out it was just us and 1 other man in front of us. As we got closer and closer, more and more people started appearing from no where. It was as if we were silently taking over the city.

At last it was time for us to begin our trek around San Francisco. The darkness had just given way to the rising sun, but the air was still chilly. Pinal, Irfan and I joined our group and headed off on what would be a very long day. Irfan took off immediately leaving us in his dust. Pinal and I started off slowly and wound our way through Fisherman’s Wharf and up to the first hill. No problem. We were smoking! Approaching the bridge we were excited, but that excitement soon ended. The bridge was so crowded, there was very little room to run, and thus we spent way too much energy maneuvering around slow runners. The bridge was windy and it had begun to drizzle. By mile 7, Irfan was already a mile ahead. I yelled as he passed us headed back over the bridge, but he was in his own world. Pinal and I ran to the turnaround, waved as we passed Jared and headed back over Golden Gate.

The wind was so strong by now that it was almost blowing us sideways. Oosh! We cheered on the other racers stilled headed over the bridge and finally got relief from the cold as we ran along a tree lined road.

As we were running up the next hill, I heard a man call out, “Go! MK! Go!” I had the words written on my tummy so people could cheer me on personally and it had worked! It was awesome! I needed this energy boost. My run wasn’t going so well. From the beginning of the run, my calves were tight like a rubber band and my pre-race meal had been a disaster. Anyway, I thanked the guy with some cheers and picked up my speed. Pinal made a pit stop and I ran on.

She didn’t take long to catch back up to me. We exchanged a few words of encouragement and off she went. It was awesome to run with her though for almost 2 hours! Now the rest was up to me.

I trudged along, moving slowly and feeling sluggish. The weather was nice for running, not much else, but wreaked havoc on my fueling. With the temperature being so much cooler than I was used to, I didn’t drink as much and my gu (energy gel) from my bottle didn’t flow as easily either. This lead to me not getting what I was used to during my training runs. By the half marathon point, I was already tired. My legs were heavy and remained so for the rest of the day.

The crowds along the route were awesome. Time and time again, people where cheering for me who had never seen me and will probably never see me again, but they were there, “Go Mary! Go MK! Looking good! You’re over half way!” They were always so positive and supportive and it was great. The other runners were great too.

There was a young couple walking together and I happen to be passing them when he had said to her, “Yeah! It’s going to hurt.” I ran by and told her to ignore her body and run. Later she passed me and said “Ignore the pain! Come on and run.” So I ran. We ran together for a while and then I had to walk. My legs were giving out. We ended up continually passing each other for the last 10 miles and would always offer up words of encouragement. In the end, we resorted to “Tag! You’re it!”. They were a lot of fun to have along the way.

Also in Golden Gate Park I had a bystander come and run with me to ask me my pace. I told him, he ran a few more steps and then stepped off the course. I tried to always encourage those around me when they looked like they were struggling because I know just how far someone’s words can carry me.

Towards the end, around mile 23, there was a girl who was upset about how slow she was going and wasn’t sure if she was going to finish. This was also her first marathon. Others around her were telling her about their first marathons and she was feeling better. Then I turned to her and said, “We’ve all come this far, we’re all going to finish.” She yelled back, “I like your positive attitude; I’m going to run with that”.

By mile 24 my left foot had such tremendous pain with each step that I felt like every step was going to shatter all the bones in my foot. I decided it was time to walk. Once I started walking, my calves got even tighter. I decided and tried to accept the fact that I may not run for the rest of the race. It would be ok, I would still finish. I walked and walked for what seemed like forever. During this time, I met up with another racer also walking. We walked silently together. Finally I told him to come run with me. He said he couldn’t, he was in too much pain. “Where?” I asked. He proceeded to tell me he was dizzy and needed to sit down. I gave him a bottle of my Gatorade; he drank it and still wasn’t ready to go.

I was nearing 25 miles and decided I should give running a try. I took a few steps. It was painful, going from walking to running when you are that far into a run is always painful. I trudged on and finally settled in for my last 1.2 miles. I crossed the finish line in 4 hours 58 minutes. Not the greatest of times, but I finished and I left tons of room for improvement for my next marathon.

I crossed the finish line and almost started to cry. I was so overwhelmed, mentally and physically exhausted. I was happy to be finished. I was touched at everyone cheering for me now and along the way. I was so happy Jared was there to see me finish and at so many other stops along my 26.2 mile route. I was just barely keeping it together.

I received my medal and my thermal blanket and found Irfan. We had a nice exchange, had some pictures taken and then headed to meet with Jared.

I was the last in of the bunch. Pinal was having a message which I desperately wanted too. I headed for the message tent while Irfan hit up the food line. We met up and had a nice post race gathering with Pinal’s friends at a local pub. It was wonderful!

Finally things were winding down and we headed out. Irfan and I walked together avoiding any changes in elevation. I’m talking about curbs, stairs, any up and down.

After a good night’s rest we were ready for a big breakfast. Irfan and I headed out, arm-in-arm in search of food. We would see a curb we needed to step down from, cringe and then look for the dip you would use to roll a cart or wheelchair over. That small step seemed so big and was very painful. For the day, if I needed to raise my left leg for anything, tying my shoe, curbs, to get into the shower, I had to physically reach down and lift it with my arms. For the first time in my life, I felt truly disabled. Obviously I wasn’t, I had just completed a wonderful journey and needed to recover. By Wednesday, Irfan and I were out hitting the trail of Redwood National Park; we had recovered!

I am very grateful for all the volunteers that provided much needed support. Without them, there could be no race. So to them, Thank you!

Our next marathon we’re planning is on January 13 at Walt Disney World! We’re very excited! We would love your continued support as we set out in our newly changed lives.