Marathoning.
I have been wanting to run a marathon again for quite a while. A marathon is 26.2 miles. It might sound crazy to pay to run the distance but the money helps make sure I'm safe while running on the 163 in San Diego and that there are medical personal every few miles. I also got an awesome medal and finishers jacket.
I digress. . .
I convinced my ultra marathon friend, Chris, (an ultra is a race over a marathon) to run a with me, which was much easier than I thought it would be. I started training in the winter and did a shabby job at it, compared to the first marathon I ran when I trained following a plan to the T. Once my friend Kimberly, whom I affectionately call BerlyKim, realized I wasn't planning on a new PR (Personal Record) she was game to sign up and join me for the race.
I had graduation on Thursday and the next day drove down with my friend Hillary (she was my support team--driver after, cheerleader, bag carrier day of race etc). Best laid back weekend ever!
Race day. I had to walk a mile to the start line because they were expecting 30,000 people and it would have been ridiculous to drive and park. The race started at 6:15 am and they suggested we get there 90 min early so as to make sure we were in our corral and had gone to the bathroom in time. I got up a little before 4 am and started getting ready. I toasted my english muffins in the bathroom so as to not wake Hillary, I put on my Body Glide to prevent chaffing, pilled my hair in a bun like Alexi Pappas, sunscreened up and headed out the door a little before 5 am. Chris, Kimberly and her husband Jason were already up there. I found Chris and we waited in the portapotty line for a long time while the sun came up. Eventually we met up with Kimberly and Jason and then waited all together for the race to start.
Chris, the ultra runner, was in corral 5 and Kimberly and I were in corral 28. . . that can show you how slow we were planning on being ;). We took a last picture and then we found our appropriate corrals, feeling very much like cattle.
The alarm sounded and the first corral started! There was fun music to jam to while in line and we were excited to get started. We were much farther back (almost the next county over!) so Kimberly and I waited. And waited and waited some more. Then we waited more. Eventually we decided we could go wait in the really long bathroom line and we'd be fine to make it back before our group went. We were right. We waited some more in that line then back to the main corral line to wait some more. Eventually we got really close to the start line. . . and waited some more.
The portapotties sometimes had a line and other times they were all free. Once it was at an angle and quite gross! I came out all disheveled and my shorts all twisted because I had to hold on to the door to not fall backwards into . . . well you get the idea.
In the middle Jason met up with us to offer support and bananas! It was fun having him run with us for awhile. Group running is fun! Had I needed to get a new PR I would have been much more focused but this was a fun run. We told stories, jumped around, high-fived the cheerleader squads along the rout. They were quite the help too! How can you not want to run a bit faster when all these chipper teenagers are cheering you on as if you are Louis Zamerini himself.
By the time you get to the higher miles you usually have found a pack of people who are going your pace. You pass each other frequently and in our case they over hear our stories. One lady thought I was funny and as she passed me at least 10 miles later I was telling a story about cheese balls . . . it was a good story. . . and as she ran past she said, "It's you!" I'm guessing it was a good thing and that her hearing cheese balls she was motivated to run fast and I helped her keep going. Haha. Runners are crazy fun.
I digress. . .
I convinced my ultra marathon friend, Chris, (an ultra is a race over a marathon) to run a with me, which was much easier than I thought it would be. I started training in the winter and did a shabby job at it, compared to the first marathon I ran when I trained following a plan to the T. Once my friend Kimberly, whom I affectionately call BerlyKim, realized I wasn't planning on a new PR (Personal Record) she was game to sign up and join me for the race.
I had graduation on Thursday and the next day drove down with my friend Hillary (she was my support team--driver after, cheerleader, bag carrier day of race etc). Best laid back weekend ever!
Race day. I had to walk a mile to the start line because they were expecting 30,000 people and it would have been ridiculous to drive and park. The race started at 6:15 am and they suggested we get there 90 min early so as to make sure we were in our corral and had gone to the bathroom in time. I got up a little before 4 am and started getting ready. I toasted my english muffins in the bathroom so as to not wake Hillary, I put on my Body Glide to prevent chaffing, pilled my hair in a bun like Alexi Pappas, sunscreened up and headed out the door a little before 5 am. Chris, Kimberly and her husband Jason were already up there. I found Chris and we waited in the portapotty line for a long time while the sun came up. Eventually we met up with Kimberly and Jason and then waited all together for the race to start.
Chris, the ultra runner, was in corral 5 and Kimberly and I were in corral 28. . . that can show you how slow we were planning on being ;). We took a last picture and then we found our appropriate corrals, feeling very much like cattle.
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| Waiting for the Rock'n'Roll Marathon to start. |
Then it was our turn to go! We finally made it to the Start Line ONE HOUR after the first group! It was 7:15 am!!
We took off out of the gate with the other bagillion people! We had a good pace and found our groove. We chatted the whole time and goofed off. It was a blast. We ran, yes, but we didn't push to make a new PR so it was quite fun. I loved sharing the memories with Kimberly.
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| Bathroom break. |
In the middle Jason met up with us to offer support and bananas! It was fun having him run with us for awhile. Group running is fun! Had I needed to get a new PR I would have been much more focused but this was a fun run. We told stories, jumped around, high-fived the cheerleader squads along the rout. They were quite the help too! How can you not want to run a bit faster when all these chipper teenagers are cheering you on as if you are Louis Zamerini himself.
By the time you get to the higher miles you usually have found a pack of people who are going your pace. You pass each other frequently and in our case they over hear our stories. One lady thought I was funny and as she passed me at least 10 miles later I was telling a story about cheese balls . . . it was a good story. . . and as she ran past she said, "It's you!" I'm guessing it was a good thing and that her hearing cheese balls she was motivated to run fast and I helped her keep going. Haha. Runners are crazy fun.
We ran hard. . . okay Chris ran hard, his time was 3.25 and Kimberly and I laughed hard :) I can't wait to run the next one. How about in Cambodia?! There's one in December! The Angkor Watt half marathon!
Thanks for the fun race friends!
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