San Francisco Half Marathon

Well, I am finally getting around to telling the tale of running my first half marathon on July 31, 2011, the San Francisco half marathon!

- excitement – anticipation - apprehension - joy – discouragement

- determination - exhaustion - relief - jubilation - contentment - pride –

These are many of the emotions I experienced before and during running my first half marathon. What an experience it was!

When we arrived in down town San Francisco to participate in our first half marathon, it was still dark. Mike and I had woken up at 4 am to drive into the city to be there for starting time. The weather was perfect and the mood was electric! Our designated starting section was a little behind and we actually ran to the starting line to make it on time. Then we passed the line and our first half marathon officially began!

The beginning of the run was pretty easy; it was flat and interesting as we ran past the Fisherman’s Wharf area. In fact Mike and I had to make sure we were running our predetermined pace and not going too fast, we didn’t want to run out of steam near the end of the 13.1 miles.

I was excited about running on the Golden Gate Bridge and was thrilled when I actually stepped foot on it. We had bumped into our friend Oscar and he ran with us over the bridge. There was no fog on this beautiful morning and our view was magnificent! The bridge, however, is much longer when running over it than when driving! Nonetheless, running across the Golden Gate Bridge is an experience I will always be very glad I was privileged to have.

After conquering the bridge, what we did not know is that we would be required to conquer hill, after hill, after hill, after hill, after…well you get the picture! We were feeling pretty good and our pace was right on pace to accomplish our goal of a finishing time of 2 hrs 30 minutes. Then we hit mile 10 ½ and things began to change. Our pace began to slow; the hills were getting to us. In fact at some point I declared that I had a new goal, to finish in 3 hours! Honestly, I was disappointed in myself; I had trained so hard and thought I would conquer this challenge with ease. This was not easy, it was hard. It took all that was inside me to trudge on. We kept running.

Then when we were getting near the finish line I could feel it, we turned a corner and headed up one last hill, and then we could see it! I am embarrassed to say and as silly as it may sound to seasoned runners, my mind seemed in a fog and all I could do was focus on crossing that finish line. I did not really know what was going on around me; I just stumbled over the line and was much relieved!

It was over, I did it! I was pretty contented that I had pushed through the difficulties and accomplished my goal, and only 11 minutes longer than my original time goal of 2hrs 30 minutes. I was proud to place the medal around my neck and wrap myself in a strange silver, superman cape that is customary (I learned) to sport after marathons with cooler climates. As we headed towards the bus to bring us back to the starting line I could not believe how tired and spent I was. Then I knew that I would never do it ever again.

It’s funny how time changes our minds. Two weeks after the race I was talking to some of my Snail’s Pace running comrades, they asked me when my next race was and I said that it would probably be next year sometime. And now, 2 ½ months later, I am seriously calculating how long it will be before I have enough time in my schedule (after graduating from Grad-school to be sure) to begin training for my first marathon!