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I simply could not have finished this marathon – an amazing achievement! – without your encouragement, love, and support! Also, thanks to each of you, I have raised over $2,061 for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.
–Garrett Evan Omeste
–Derek Jung
–Talcott Bates
–Sarah and Benjamin Aslan
–Joy Hansma
–Scott, Heather, and Violet Hansma
–Dean and Donna Warner
–Tylene Warner
–Chris, Shannon, Jacob, and Trevor Rankin
–Robert and LaVonne Leeton
–Travis Hottes and Trevor Lanting
–Grant and Tannie Owens
–Patricia Heim
–Peter Nicholas Krembs
–Joan Warner and Jack Tamai
–The Jue Family and Greg Ashe
–Jose Zelidon-Zepeda
–Liane Ong
–Charles F. McClamma
–Stacey Schesser and Dan Rosenbach
–Sandy Li and Todd Kaiser
–Charlene Young and Toben Windahl
–Kiara Carvelli and Casey Cole
–Michael Daley and Meghan Riley
–Helen Hansma
–Richard Warner and Cynthia Ukai
Again, these are courtesy of Miguel.
Our designated meeting point was Justin Herman Plaza, away from the finish line (which was good because I almost beat the group to the Embarcadero from 14th and Guerrero). Thus, these post-marathon pictures were taken after I walked from the finish line to Justin Herman Plaza. Then we walked back to the finish line to see Garrett cross (notice how he is carrying Shelby), which was fun.
Please feel special that I included all of these pictures. I don’t like how I look in some of them, but I felt I owed it to you loyal readers and supporters to include them anyway!
These awesome pictures were taken by Miguel. You can see me running down the hill (Guerrero Street) on the right, as I approach mile 21 (at 14th Street). I stop to hug Meghan and Mike on the median before the intersection, then I see all of the others after the intersection. Pictured are Garrett’s family and their Yorkie, Shelby.
To view a particular photo, click on it, allow it to load (it will appear only part of it does so), then click on the partial image to see a bigger version of the whole thing.
Today I felt almost normal physically, as if I hadn’t run at all. Mentally I still feel a little fuzzy, but I’m not sure if that’s an accurate perception, or if it is caused by the race if it is accurate. I continue to eat a lot. To wit (just for you, Caitlin), I had a soy ruben, a chicken chop salad, a large jamba juice, and a large plate of Chinese food today.
The highlight of my day was having my massage, courtesy of Liane and Karin Jue. It was an hour of bliss. It definitely wasn’t your typical soothing massage with lavender oil, but it did seem to get out a lot of knots. He looked at me me all four views with my shirt off and asked about what problems I had while running, and what I wanted to focus on. That part was a little confusing. I wanted to be like, “you’re the professional, you tell me what we should focus on.” I think he got the idea because he recommended working on my hips and I suggested my upper back/shoulders where I carry a lot of tension (Meghan has pointed this out numerous times). It was surprising finding out there were so many knots in my hips, as I don’t think of that area as having muscles in the same way I do my legs, arms, and back, for example. He too thought the discrepancy in my leg length was contributing to the groin/hip/alignment/Achilles problems I’d had during training, which was sort of comforting because there’s nothing I can do to change my legs’ length. I felt so relaxed walking out into the evening sun after, I was all but obvilious to the hustle and bustle of the commute. I would definitely go back. It’s too bad it’s too indulgent to go back once a week.
There are a few thoughts I wanted to share about the actual marathon that I didn’t write down this morning.
You’ll be comforted to know that the marathon changed neither my personality nor my priorities: I refused to wear one of those metallic trash bag-looking ponchos that they were handing out after the race. Caitlin, Meghan, and Miguel were so sweet when I saw them, asking me if I needed anything, food, water, metallic poncho. I was incredulous that they thought I would wear something like that EVER. They asked whether I should wear one because I was supposed to post-race. Hell to the no. It’s just not cute enough. Unfortunately I think Garrett was wearing one for some or all of our photographs. I asked him to please take it off and I can’t remember if he did.
Another detail I omitted from this morning’s post is Sunday’s weather. It was cloudy until after 11, until about mile 21-23 from what I recall. Even then it wasn’t all that sunny or warm, I was merely hot from pushing myself. We were fortunate in that we couldn’t have had better weather.
Finally, I see the role of my wonderful spectators a little more clearly today. Yesterday I was so happy to see them at mile 21, as I am each time I see those who were present. With the passage of a little time, I realize that seeing them there at mile 21 cheering for me and telling me how proud they were of me totally motivated me to really kick it up a notch between miles 23 and 26. It seemed like such a far distance/duration while I was running, but I realize they were the reason for my strong finish. Once again, we have something I could not have done without my amazing friends.
Today’s update is below.
Before I left the house today I ate three slices of pizza, two servings of Ensure, and two or three bowls of cereal. Since my reduced schedule was not conducive to taking lunch, I ate (devoured, really) a whole roasted chicken, red potatoes, and a few pieces of bread after work. Oh, and I had a large Jamba Juice between work and picking up dinner. I feel as if I could eat more, but I’m so tired of eating and drinking water I just can’t do it.
It’s been fun telling everyone about the race – people at work, and people who live far away. They’ve graciously listened to so much about it for so many months, I love being able to provide them with a happy ending, and everyone seems genuinely proud, which of course feels good. I still have many telephone calls left to make.
I’m feeling better about my time though I was a little embarrassed telling it to people at work. Today the official results were posted on the race web site. My average time was 11:55 per mile. I guess that’s pretty good for 26 miles, or at the very least it’s a good starting point. Overall, I was 3434/4354 total runners, 2429/2873 total male runners, and (this one is not so hot) 430/498 total male runners ages 25-29. I can’t wait until I’m in the 30+ bracket. I think it will make my time more impressive. Ha ha ha. I remain proud of my strong finish and improved pace: I finished half in 2:43:49. Thus, my second half was shorter than my first half, and that is not necessarily typical.
By this afternoon I realized I was very tired. I wasn’t sleepy from boredom as often happens in the afternoon, but rather I just felt that I didn’t have a lot of excess energy left (less so than a typical work day). Happily I felt less stressed being at work. It could be because I was only there for 4.5 hours. However, I think at least some of that stress reduction can be attributed to the fact that the marathon is over and I met my goal. I think the pre-race uncertainty was making me anxious and irritable and I didn’t really realize it.
I feel less sore now than yesterday (taking steps one per foot now though slowly), but random parts of me hurt. For example, my sides hurt when I get up, my chest hurts when I cough, my back hurts when I raise my hands above my head while stretching, etc. A colleague who has run at least several marathons warned me that I could be more sore tomorrow. I can’t remember if that was true after previous long runs (and sadly I’m too lazy to look back on my blog to find out if that was the case. I know, Karin Jue, if I used tags or categories it would be easy to figure out). We shall see. Either way, I am SO stoked about my massage on Wednesday. I booked a male masseuse in hopes that he’s hot (unfortunately there are no pictures on the web site). However the female one didn’t fit as well with my schedule. Really.
I want to emphasize that I feel better today than I have after the bulk of our training runs. A colleague who runs commented that she couldn’t believe how well I was getting around today. That was awesome!
This afternoon I also realized that training for the marathon suits me so well because it is a concrete goal to work towards, a fun project with steps and a finite ending. I’m going to have to find another fun project to occupy my time constructively. I’m still half thinking of taking a creative writing class or workshop if I can figure out a place that will be the right fit.
Liane suggested that my performance might have been a little better if I’d slept more the night before. She could be right. I didn’t feel especially tired on race day considering what time I woke up, but it would be interesting to run a marathon after eight hours of sleep and see if there is a difference.
To that end, my thoughts have already turned to running another marathon. I think it’s more a question of if rather than when. I really want to improve my time, and the feeling that I had from really hoofing it at mile 23 until several hours after the race and perhaps even today – that runner’s high that is better than any drug – would be motivation enough. There is a chance that I wouldn’t have the patience for another training session, especially if there are more discouraging injuries, and that I would feel over it given the work involved because I already achieved my goal of finishing. Hopefully those feelings would be counteracted by the fact that I will be less discouraged by an injury during round two, and by desire to improve myself, respectively. God I’ve even turned my expressing my feelings into a point/counterpoint list. How disgustingly lawyer-ly. I did something like that during the race and Erica, a fellow pace group member, teasingly pointed it out.
I might like to run the LA Marathon. It would refreshing to experience a relatively flat course, and there would be something meaningful about running the marathon I grew up watching other runners run on television. I could train up here, but it might be tough to do the actual run on my own. Maybe I can convince Garrett he wants to do that one too!
As you all know, yesterday I ran my first marathon. I actually finished and for that I am grateful! My time is the title of this blog post. I won’t pretend there isn’t a little part of me that isn’t disappointed that I didn’t have a 4-something time, but at least it gives me something to work toward in the future. It’s sort of like when I was 16 and I passed my driving test but was mad because I did two things wrong and had points deducted. I also didn’t beat Oprah’s time. That wasn’t something I’d thought about at all before the race, but it would have been a cool factoid. Apparently there is a web site called www.beatoprahsmarathontime.com.
The night before I only slept 3.5 hours (Midnight to 3:30). I was a little worried about that, but I woke up ready to head to the site and get started. We arrived just after 5 (yes, it was still dark) and had to wait until we were released around 6:22 a.m. Next time I will definitely arrive closer to my release time because standing around waiting in the cold is not my thing. I did have the pleasure of randomly bumping into Teal before her half marathon, which was really fun.
I made an effort to take it all in as the race started and enjoy the experience – the pomp and circumstance, all of the other unfamiliar people, the camraderie – even though I was a little nervous. We ran at 5:1, which is much higher than we had done any other long runs. It was fine along the Embarcadero, and we walked the hill up to the bridge, which was also fine. I didn’t love running on the bridge. It was cool at first because I had never walked or run on it in the 10 years I’ve lived here, but I made the mistake of looking down and to my side (where there is a gap between the bottom of th wall and edge of the road). I will not do that again. Looking up at how high the cables go was also interesting, but dizzying. On the bridge I ran opposite a colleague doing the half marathon, which was fun. It was also running opposite other runners on the bridge that I really started to realize how many hot guys were running the race. I liked that part of running on the bridge.
After the bridge we ran down into the park. On the way there I was totally turned around as to what direction we were going, and sort of running on autopilot (but not in a bad way). A law school classmate had stopped to watch runners (he was biking) and at first I thought he was just calling my name because it was on my shirt, but it was fun to realize I knew a spectator. It was nice to run in the park because I was familiar with the route. Around this time I started to feel my right groin muscle. It didn’t hurt as much as it did during those long runs several weeks ago, but I definitely felt it in a way I didn’t during our final few training runs. This made me a little nervous.
In the park around mile 15 or 16 Garrett’t knee started hurting and he required more walking than we were doing in the group. He caught up to us once, but eventually I was far enough ahead of him that we weren’t going to run together anymore. He told me to leave him, and I would have told him to do the same if the situation were reversed, but of course I still felt really bad that we probably we were neither going to see our spectators together (who were waiting as one large group at 14th and Guerrero, mile 21) nor cross the finish line together.
As we came down the hill from the edge of the park and the very upper Haight, passing Buena Vista Park, by Miguel’s house and across Market, I started to hit a bit of a wall. This was probably miles 19 and 20, and I was playing a memory game with two people in Garrett’t pace group. By the time were were on Haight I had to add 30 seconds to a minute to each walk break, and I was starting to have doubts about the race. I didn’t think that I couldn’t finish, but my feeling was that it was going to be really, terribly hard to do so.
The best motivation – aside from a downhill drop into the Mission – came as I approached mile 21. Spectators! I was so excited running down that hill. Meghan and Mike were the first ones I saw, on Guerrero before 14th Street, on a median to my right. They looked so cute and color coordinated and told me I looked great (we all know I always love hearing that), and I was able to give them each a hug. After I crossed 14th I saw the rest of the group: Caitlin, Miguel, Anthony, Garrett’s mom, dad, and aunt, and their two dogs. I managed to hug everyone and pet each of the two dogs. Apparently Garrett just ran by when he came later, and Mike D. said that it was an interesting manifestation of our personality differences. Also, post-race, I told Meghan that she really got it right by telling me I looked good (most other people on the course obviously say something such as “you’re doing great” or “good job”). This cracked everyone up.
One thing you might find amusing: during the run I found time to send multiple text messages (including one picture one), reply to text messages received, call my mom once, and call two different spectators to give them progress updates. This included a post-spectator thank you text message to the six people there, a message that no one believed wasn’t pre-drafted (it wasn’t).
We ran east on 14th and 16th Streets, up a big hill by Potrero Center and near Sports Basement. That wasn’t as hard as the Haight because I was feeling motivated by seeing so many familiar faces, but I definitely had to take it slow. Before I knew it we were on the state streets (we turned south on Wisconsin) and I knew I was getting close, making my way east to the water before heading north to the finish line.
I saw the big sign for 23 miles, looked at my watch and realized that maybe, just maybe, I could finish in under 5 hours (of course that ended up being wrong). It was then I decided to try to push it all the way to the finish line. I figured the worst that could happen was that I would improve my time even if I was over 5 hours. I was surprised that I decided to do this, and I felt bad leaving the one girl I was still with (one guy had dropped off earlier), but I wanted to do it. It was so awesome to pass people. I must have passed like to 50 to 100 people between miles 23 and the finish line. I loved finding a small competitive streak in me that late in the race. During those three miles, I walked for one minute, and about another fifth to quarter mile, and that’s it. After the one-minute walk break I had this moment where I [silently] asked myself if I had it in me to keep going and to just push as hard as possible to get to my goal. I visualized the finish line and tried to ignore everything else. One thing I had to ignore was the feeling right after I started walking at mile 25 was the weak feeling in my legs, the dizzy feeling in my head, and the nagging question of whether I was going to pass out. It seemed possible but I tried to mind-over-matter it. The second walk break, just after (or was it before?) mile 26, did not have a definite end that I set (i.e., I wanted to walk for longer than one minute). I ran past a car that my Dad used to have that remains unusual and distinctive looking, and I took that as a sign to start again. I continued from that car to the finish line.
I employed many methods to keep going, including Monica Seles-style grunting (I never thought that would happen while running in public) alternated with sighing/woo-type noises. I also squirted water on my face (and you know how I hate to get wet outside of a shower) because it was so hot. I would look ahead and find someone to pass and make that my goal (it was amazing how my grannies and grandpas I was passing. If they could do it, I could do it). I kept setting my sights on a small goal such as that, achieving it, and then setting a new one. It was hard to drink too much water as my stomach was a little topsy-turvy, but when I took out the bottle to drink or squirt myself, I also sort of pulled on the belt it was in (around my waist) to straighten my posture and propell me forward. I was using my watch this point at 5:1, but I knew I would have a hard time avoiding walking – when I wanted to so desperately – if I heard that interval beep. Thus, I tried to psych myself out by re-setting it to countdown from 5 minutes when it was about to cycle over to a 1-minute walk break. I could have just turned off the timer, but this way I could see the clock and think “two more minutes” and half think I could walk.
One thing the coach suggested was having a mantra or catch phrase that we could repeat to ourselves to keep going when things got tough. The coach also suggested planning it out before the run to have it handy. Strangely (considering what a planner I am) I intuited that it was best for me to wait to think of my phrase when I needed it. Also, ordinarily I’m neither alone nor running hard enough to warrant such a phrase. At any rate, I really needed one when I was passing people, and it ended being “pull it out.” This seemed like a totally innocuous turn of phrase to me. It wasn’t until I told Meghan and Caitlin and they made a few jokes that I realized there is a fairly obvious psychological/adult interpretation to that catch phrase. Everyone had several good laughs over that one, including me.
One of the longest distances was from mile 26 to mile 26.2, the finish line. At that point it was very encouraging to hear random people shouting my name and saying good job (earlier it was just sort of embarrassing). I had the pleasure of seeing Joy’s mom and Garrett’s dad cheering me on (for some reason I missed Garrett’s mom and aunt though they were right there) right before I crossed the finish line. Stacey asked me if they annouced my first and last name at the finish line, and I can honestly say I have no idea. It was a blur by that point. I saw the coach and an AIDS Marathon Training Program employee, so that was nice. I received a medal, became a little emotional (I was too tired to become too emotional, I think), tried to push past all of the other dumbass runners creating a traffic jam while getting free sports beverages and nutrition bars.
Then I called Miguel to see where they were. They were at the designated meeting place near the AIDS marathon tent, and by the fountain in front of which Meghan and I took pictures during one of our first trips into the City ten years ago this year, just after we arrived at Berkeley. It was strange to me that I had that thought and it was how I verified which fountain they were in front of. It took quite a bit to walk to where they were, and I was very out of it (good think the area was closed to traffic), but I will never forget walking up and seeing the smiling faces of Caitlin, Meghan, and Miguel (Mike and Anthony went to buy water or something). It’s one of those moments I’ll always remember, just like seeing my parents and friends while walking out of the chuch after my law school graduation. I got to hug them all, and they were all so nice as to say that my hair looked good (I didn’t touch it during the race so as to maximize the odds it would look good), and I looked buff, etc. It took some convincing for Meghan to believe that I didn’t stop for a touch-up before seeing them (I didn’t). It seriously meant SO MUCH to me to have them there. We took some great pictures thanks to Miguel’s awesome camera.
We walked over to the finish line to see Garrett cross. He grabbed his mom’s Yorkie and ran across with her, which was too cute. We took lots of group photos together. Then he and Anthony headed home, and Caitlin, Meghan, Mike D. and I headed to Jamba Juice and Miguel’s apartment. We played video games and talked until Caitlin hd to leave. Then I took a cab with Meghan and Mike so we could hang out with our friend Mariska (visiting from Colorado) at their house. By the time I hobbled home around 8 to take an ice bath, eat a pizza, and watch a Sex and the City episode (season 1, yuck), I was very, very sore. Luckily I didn’t have any pain or even acute soreness, but I was very, very, very stiff. The stairs down from Meghan’s apartment and up to mine with 20 pounds of ice were murder (definitely both feet on each stair, which I NEVER do).
I also felt like a tool wearing my race singlet, bib number and medal after the race while on MUNI and walking around the Castro. People were definitely looking, which was embarrassing. Luckily Mike D. let me borrow a fleece for the walk home from his house (which honestly took two or three times longer than usual).
Yesterday was a day that I’m confident will be one of the top five or ten days of my life, and I couldn’t have done it without each of you.
It’s 10:08 p.m. and my preparation for tomorrow is an amalgam of how I normally prepare for many differnt events: I’ve shaved, exfoliated, and moisturized (date/party); I’ve laid all my things out (court appearance); and I’ve reviewed recent e-mails from the coach/training program and read cards from well wishers (standardized test). I have two alarms set for 3:30 a.m. Now it is time to try to get some sleep. I am so excited for tomorrow!
My plan for today is to lay low, rest up for tomorrow, and drink a lot of water and eat a lot of food. I woke up naturally at 7:22 a.m. and I looked over at the pitcher and water glass and realized I just couldn’t drink anymore water. But I have been doing it anyway. For breakfast I had a Belgian waffle with strawberries and nutella, a sesame bagel with cream cheese, and chicken apple sausage. Then I watched four or five episodes of Denise Richards: It’s Complicated (in the words of Meghan Riley, “it’s really not.”) For lunch I had a turkey sandwich and french fries. I’m off to Jamba Juice and to buy sweats/gloves to wear (we throw these by the side of the course after beginning and they are collected and donated to charity). Garrett’s mom is making a pasta dinner tonight at his apartment and he graciously invited me to that, which should be fun.
I appreciate all of your thoughts and well wishes! I will be thinking of each of you and your support tomorrow during the run.
My bib number is 8810. It is possible to track me during the race using that number and my first and last names (we have a thin, band-aid sized device that we loop around a shoelace for timing and tracking). Please go here: http://www.liveraceresults.com/liveRC1/
If the above link doesn’t work, please try starting at the results section of web page and then clicking on Live Results/Tracking:
My slow group should be released from our corral (their descriptor for where we wait) around 6:25 a.m., and I estimate finishing by 11:30 a.m. (hopefully a bit earlier)!
We picked up our bibs this morning in huge white tents erected between Piers 30 and 32 (south of Market on the water, near the Ballpark). I can’t believe this is really happening. I’ve been trying to eat a lot today (three bagels with cream cheese, a burrito, chips and guacamole, a large Jamba Juice, penne pasta with chicken, and a chicken Caesar salad) and drink A LOT of water (yes, I have the pitcher out here at home).
In other exciting news, I re-set the screwed up intervals on my watch without an instruction manual or Garrett. How far I’ve come.
Fittingly, Sunday is the same day that “People” magazine releases photos of the Brangelina twins. I honestly don’t care about Brad/Angelina news (I just now read about the photos while perusing today’s Dlisted posts), but it’s worth noting there is a major celebrity gossip event on the same day I’m achieving a major life goal. Coincidence? I think not.
It’s around 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday night. This means that in only three and a half days I’ll be running a marathon. Wow. I can’t believe the big day is so close.
We had our final group run on Saturday. It was a snap at only eight miles. It’s incredible to me that I now think an eight-mile run is a piece of cake. In the past few days I’ve been thinking about my injuries, and it struck me that for the past three or four runs (including the longest run), none of my recurring injuries have bothered me. How awesome is that? It’s amazing to think back on the time when I was so worried about getting to this point because I wasn’t running and was going to the physical therapist and doing my daily exercises. It seems like so long ago. Hmmm. If I’m this nostalgic merely writing a blog post several days before the marathon it seems fairly likely I’ll have the old waterworks on when I finish. No one will be surprised.
I’m engaged in some of the usual preparations that precede a long run, such as buying Gu (luckily Sports Basement had plenty when I went Monday after the dentist) and groceries, washing my running clothes, trying to get in the right head space, etc. There are also quite a few special – and new – preparations because it will actually be race day. For example, we have to pick up our race packets on Friday or Saturday. At that time we’ll receive a shirt (I’m wearing the delightful goldenrod AIDS Marathon 80’s tank top instead), a timing chip to be tied to a shoe lace that tracks a runner’s time automatically, a bib with my very own four-digit runner number, etc. Apparently the pre-race Expo also has many vendors there with free samples. I’m all for that! Today I learned there is a section of the web site where a runner can enter his or her name and phone number to retrieve the bib number before the race. Of course my name isn’t recognized for some reason and when I realized this at work I fired off two panicked e-mails (one to Garrett, one to the AIDS Marathon Training Program) and had visions of being told I couldn’t run and they had no idea who I was when I showed up to retrieve my packet. That doesn’t sound like me, does it? 
) Honestly I felt as I did before the SAT or LSAT or some other important event. Luckily I found a section of the web site where I could confirm my registration, and I came up as confirmed for the marathon. Phew.
I’m both nervous and excited thinking about the race. I’m excited to prove to myself that I can do this, and excited to accomplish something I’ve wanted to do for so many years. I’m nervous about the course (http://www.runsfm.com/events/full_marathon_map.pdf), especially the difficult parts (but comforted by the parts with which I’m familiar), and the fact that they’ll close it after six hours and anyone who finishes after that time will not receive an official time, race certificate, or medal. I’m nonplussed about waking up so early. We’re aiming to arrive at 4:30 a.m., which means a damn early (perhaps before 3:00 a.m.) wake-up time. I’m also nervous about the crowd – both during the race and before. But I’m confident I can tune them all out the way that I did during the Bar exam, which was in a giant convention center room with rows and rows of folding chairs and tables. I want to find the right balance between tuning everyone out to retain my concentration and absorbing the fun camraderie of the day (I assume people assembling for my snail’s pace aren’t going to emit a cutthroat vibe).
To that end, the best way I can convey how I’m feeling, at least to the other attorneys who have asked, is that now is akin to the time right before the Bar exam when I’d studied all I could and it was simply a waiting game time and I just wanted to do it. That’s how I feel about the race now. I’ve run all of the long runs I’m going to run and I just want to do it.
Once again I’d like to thank all of your for your support and encouragement during this long process. Two special thanks are due: one to Travis for a gift certificate to an awesome sports store, and another to Karin and Liane for a gift certificate for a 60-minute massage and a beautiful handmade card. It will be my first massage if you can believe that! At any rate, I will think of all of you and your loving support at some point during the race.
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