What it is like to run a 1/2 Marathon with 15,000 others
I just got back to Denver, and finally have a stable Internet connection. I was in downtown San Francisco, staying at the Renaissance Parc 55, and for the life of the SSTN Highspeed Internet provider, they couldn’t provide me with Internet in my room. So, I did what every good geek would do and mooched wifi from adjacent buildings. Never before in my life have I seen 23 different SSID broadcast in one place, half of them open! But I was getting weak signals, so I could bounce from one another, but never got a great connection for more than a few minutes.
So, what is running a 13.1 marathon like? Well, this is actually called the Nike Women’s Marathon, but it was my wife’s idea so I go with it. It was 99% women, so it made for an interesting day. I also decide that I will be my wife’s running partner for the day since most of our team is doing the full marathon, and since I hurt my foot an can’t run the full and am not racing for a specific time.
Mile (-0.1) – 15,000 people packed into Union Square at 6:00-7:00 am. Damn it is cold. The Kenyan’s and Olympic mendalists are up at the front, we are divided by pace. Because I run an average 10:00 mile and my wife about an 11:00 we are parked in front of Macy’s listening to the teacher from Charlie Brown over the PA system.
Mile (-0.1) (7:00 am) – We all cheer, the crowd moves about 500 feet. Screeching halt.
Mile (-0.5) – The cattle start moving slowly, an occasional MOOOO! Can be heard, mainly by me.
Mile 0 – The pace picks up and people are actually starting to run down the hill into San Fran’s financial District. I try and keep it light and notice that there is a Versace store and ask my wife if she would like to stop. Scolding glare.
Mile .75 – I think we just passed the Microsoft NorCal Office. Round the corner onto the Embarcadero.
Mile 1- I’m hot, off with the long sleeve t-shirt, hold in hand for bag check at mile 2.5.
Mile 2.5 – Check wife’s jacket and my t-shirt, notice extreme lines for port-o-potties throughout the race.
Mile 3 – Fisherman’s Warf, ask wife if we can grab a quick crab sandwich. Scolding glare.
Mile 4 – Up into Fort Mason, steep hill, who would have known that this was the smallest hill on the course?
Mile 5, 6 – Nice and flat into the Presidio along the bay. Hear the fog horn and can hardly see the bottom of the pillars of the Golden Gate bridge.
Mile 6 – The Hill. We climb up into the Presidio and cross the half way mark for the Half Marathoners. The hill just seems to go on and on, we have to half walk, half walk, and half climb. Our cheering section appears at about mile 6.8, good inspiration wish they had brought motorized running shoes.
Mile 7 – Downhill on the Pacific side, we can hear the ocean crashing down the cliffs, but the fog makes it impossible to see.
Mile 8 - Who the hell builds roads and houses on these hills? I thought they said that there weren’t as many hills this year? We pass Robin William’s cliff side house.
Mile 9 – Downhill towards the cliff house restaurant and the Great Highway.
Mile 10 – Finally see the waves and the Ocean
Mile 11- We turn into Golden Gate park, up another, gentler hill. Marathoners and half Marathoners are split.
Mille 12 – Bison in Golden Gate park? That isn’t right.
Mile 13 – Approaching the finish line, big crowds, lots of inspiration.
Mile 13.1 – Finish! We both get necklaces from Tiffany’s guys in tuxedo. I threaten to sell mine on eBay. Scolding glare.
The runner’s plaza at the end had t-shirts, food, massages, and the dreaded coat check. OMG, the line for the coat check was unbelievable, until they told half the people they were in the wrong line. Then, they didn’t give us good directions where to find our stuff. Note to Nike: fix the coat check stuff next time.
Overall, it was awesome, and the people cheering along the way were inspirational. It is good to know that combine we raised over 14 million dollars to fight Leukemia, Lymphoma and other blood cancers.
As for my running career? I am considering running the Nike Rock and Roll Marathon in Phoenix in January or possibly training for a triathlon. Either way, I plan to keep it up, I had lost 15 lbs at one point (will get back to that weight in a few weeks), and I feel the best I have felt since High School. I also feel that this has helped me improve my performance at work by making me sleep better and think faster and more clearly.
I would highly recommend a Team in Training type program for those of you that have troubles staying motivated to loose weight or become better athletes. When you have a date set for something like this it really helps, not to mention that if you are forced to raise money by asking people to donate you won’t let them down.
Thank you everyone for your support.
