Running for silver

After I completed my first marathon last year, I kept telling people that it was the hardest thing I had ever done in my entire life. After my second one, I am still saying the same thing.

Joanna and I ran the Nike Women’s Marathon on Sunday and the draw of this one was that finishers would receive a custom Tiffany & Co. necklace instead of the traditional finisher’s medal. We had done our training. We practiced running our long runs with Gu (unlike last time when we did not). Seattle has hills too. We were ready for the race in San Francisco.

Or, were we?

The beginning was the typical mass of runners — we had to decide whether it was worth it to weave around slower runners, even walkers. We tried not to do too much weaving since we wanted to conserve energy. We ran by Fisherman’s Wharf, Ghiradelli Square — which Joanna does not remember running by — toward the Golden Gate Bridge. The course was definitely scenic. Some things were just absurd like the “bra exchange” station where you could exchange your sports bra for a free new Nike one! I am not kidding! Both Joanna and I thought it was the weirdest / grossest concept for a race.

I was feeling good up until about mile 20. Until this point we were maintaining a  sub-10 pace which meant we would have set a PR. But step by step every part of my body from my knees down to my toes began to hurt. The last five to six miles I ran in complete pain — which would explain why my last two miles were at 11 min/mile pace and that I asked a spectator when I was less than a mile away if the blue banner was the finish line. She responded ‘yes’ but when i got there it was in fact purple.

The last 0.2 miles felt like for-ev-er. I don’t think my body is built to endure full marathons … Why am I torturing myself? … When will this end? … I am just going to stick to half-marathons from now on … those were my thoughts.

When I got to the finish line, the man announced my hometown and name over the speaker system and I tried to smile. Did I mention that you receive your Tiffany’s necklace from a San Francisco firefighter dressed in a tuxedo? Well, it didn’t really matter if the most unattractive, smelliest person handed me the teal blue box with white ribbon because I can’t remember what he looked like. I don’t think I made eye contact.  I just took the box, mumbled “thank you” and hobbled away to find water.

I’m still trying to figure out why I do marathons. They are really painful. The proper training for them is time-consuming. But, only a small percentage of us do them. I was disappointed with my time — 4 hours, 25 minutes, 56 seconds for all of you to judge — which was about two minutes slower than my first marathon time. But, I finished it. The race was slated to have about 22,000 participants. When I checked my official results, I came in 993rd out of 6,324. So, most people did the half-marathon or maybe did not even finish. And I’ll just throw out that I was 120 out of 655 in my age group.

A few miles in verses right at the finish ... there's a difference in how I look and feel.

Even through all the pain in the last few miles, I knew I would finish. Not finishing was not an option. Even if I had to walk — which I didn’t — I would finish. But, the point about a marathon isn’t about finishing. It’s about having the determination and motivation of starting in the first place. And, it is about having the support of friends and family and even strangers. Friends who trained with me the weeks prior to this race. Those who sent me texts and emails. Joanna, who I somehow coerced into racing this with me. The spectators who kept yelling “You’re almost there!” even though I felt like I was miles away. I couldn’t do it alone. And, Natalie. I’ve said it before, but if it wasn’t for her, I do not think I would have ever started running full marathons.

Look closely and you can see the salt crystals ...

I’m still tired like crazy and feel hungry after every meal I intake. And although my legs do not feel normal yet, if it wasn’t dark when I got home from work today, I would have gone on a quick jog. Running keeps me sane. Running marathons makes me sort of insane.

But, pain is temporary.

So, Joanna, when’s our next race?