Toot Toot, beep beep, honk honk
Trip Start
Jul 23, 2005
1
60
72
Trip End
Jul 25, 2006
Naha,
Japan
Tuesday, December 5, 2006
I ran a marathon on Dec. 3rd, in 4 hours, 28 minutes and 28 seconds.
So most of you probably don`t know, that I was training for a marathon. I started training in October. Well maybe I ran a few times before that, but I didn`t start seriously training until October. And I didn`t let a lot of people know I was doing it because I wasn`t sure I could, so I didn`t want a lot of people to know if I failed. But I didn`t fail! I did it. Actually Craig and I did it together and it was awesome
01 going to the race
! I have been keeping track of my running on a website called coolrunning.com and since October 1st, I have run 180 miles, including the marathon. And I think all the practice paid off!
Here is the story:
On Sunday, we, Me, Craig, Perry, Yasemin and Ryoko piled in my car at 6 am. We went to Naha for the marathon. There were about 24,000 people signed up for the race. It was scheduled to start at 9 am, but we were to line up at 8. Craig was smart and put down an estimated time, so his number was 5000 something, I was not so smart, my number was 20534 or something. So I was supposed to go to the back of the line. But we all decided to line up somewhere in the 10000's, which was a really good idea. There were soooo many people. After they started the race, we had to walk to the start line for about 10 minutes because there were so many people. So each number that we wore had a little chip on it, and when you crossed the start line, and the check points it recorded your time automatically. It was really cool. Anyway, back to the race. The first part of the race it was really packed with people. Craig and I had planned to run together
02
. We had a hard time following each other for the first part because we had to weave around people so much. We ran up Kokusai dori, a famous street in Okinawa, and there were lots of people cheering. It was neat. But after the 1st mile we weren`t on pace, we had to push and work around a lot of people and that held us back a bit I think. It didn`t really clear up until after 10 kilometers, because that is when the hills started. But the first 10 k went by really fast it seemed. Between 10 k and 20 k there were some hills, but they weren`t too bad. 20 k seemed to go pretty fast and ok. There were lots of people out cheering and handing out food. And many runners were wearing costumes, as we passed a lot of people, we had a lot to look at so it was good. After 20 k we planned to stop and use the bathroom and put on some spray for our muscles. There was an aid station at about 22 k I think. We stopped and put on the spray first because we saw that first. I put it on my lower back and my knees. This spray stuff is maybe kind of like bengay or something back home I think. So anyway, I put it on. Then we spotted the toilets so we went. (if you want to hear a funny story regarding this point in the race you have to ask me directly. if you ever plan on running a marathon please do. its important.) And then we were back on track!After this point there were some down hill slopes which were nice, but the pain was starting to kick in
03 view from the monorail station
. And my back hurt a lot. I think I was ok until about 30 k or so. Probably between 27 and 35 k I don't really remember a whole lot except, I want to be done, just keep going. And pain. A lot of pain. A few times Craig and I stopped to grab a cup of water and walk while we drank it, but that was just as painful as running so we kept going. And we also kept each other going I think. Maybe my brain blocked out what happened between 27 k and about 37 k because of all the pain. I don't really remember much from that time. I was mostly watching the people who were cheering though. And also listening to music on my ipod. The day before, I got a cd in the mail from Amanda Jean and I put the new music on the ipod so I was very excited. It really kept me going!! Thank you Amanda! I picked a theme song, at random- Justin Timberlake, Sexy back and every 10 k I listened to that and sang to Craig and that also kept us going. When ever I felt in a lot of pain, I thought of my family. And I also thought of the students at my yogo school, who are in wheelchairs. I kept repeating their names over and over, and thinking of them, and that I was doing it for them. And if that wasn't enough. I told myself how lucky I was actually to have the freedom ability to do something like this. Usually those things were enough to keep my legs going somehow. So once we saw the 5k left mark it was kind of smooth sailing. We were like ok, not much farther now. And we had a good pace going again. Then there were no more signs! But people were saying, just a bit further, 4 k or just a bit further 3 k (in japanese of course) and I was like "just a bit further!!! Do you know how this seems right now? It is not just a bit further! It is a lot further!" But it really helped to have them cheering us on at the end. There were kids and students standing by the side of the road who we slapped hands with and that was fun
04 before the race!
. When the were say 2k, I was like ok, I know exactly how much longer I will be in pain for now. About 20 minutes, maybe. Ok. Less than 20 minutes now. Ok, 10 more minutes, I kept counting down.....When Craig and I came in the park, and on the track we even picked up the pace to pass people until the finish line. I don't know where that came from but it was pretty good. And we crossed the finish line at the same time. It was perfect. AND THEN THE PAIN REALLY HAPPENED.
They put us into a line where they scanned our barcodes on our numbers, like at the grocery store. And right there they printed a certificate of our time and place number. 3550 and 3549 (craig tho we crossed at the same time he was first, he must have stuck his nose out or something ;) ) and then we got our medals at another table.
AND THEN THE PAIN WAS SOOOO TERRIBLE.
I could not believe it. It felt so good to be done. But I hadn't even thought beforehand, how much it would hurt once we finished. What was I thinking! Hehe oh well it was a really good experience. I highly recommend trying it! Even 5 k or 10 k or something is fun! I also highly recommend, NOT moving the next day!
And now this recant of my day has been more of a semi truck (or laury?) blaring its horn at you than a simple toot. Sorry, but I was really happy!
Ok, Can I boast for my friends as well? They all finished too! And Yasemin, who was my training buddy- she did very well, even with her sprained ankle she was determined to finish. I was very proud of her. Nice work everyone!
