A life goal I think I probably share with many people is running a marathon. Last Sunday I took the first step towards this goal: running the San Francisco Half Marathon. It was a really amazing, fun, and memorable experience, much more so than I thought it would be.
For a while now I have been running, mainly to stay in shape for soccer. I was surprised several years ago, when, after never really enjoying running for the sake of running for so long, I found that it could be extremely enjoyable. Even so, I rarely have run more than eight miles at a time, and a half marathon is 13.1 miles, the full marathon being 26.2 miles (42.2 km). I was not too worried about the extra five miles, however; I was planning to run the half marathon for the fun of it, not to come in first or even get a certain time, although I suppose I was hoping to get under an hour and a half (just under 7 minutes/mile). Heck, I didn't even sign up officially ($100 for a t-shirt, nooo waaay!). I decided to go on a little longer run a few days before the half marathon, and found that I had no problem running 11.5 miles, but SF has hills and it would be mostly on pavement instead of softer ground that I am used to running on.
When the day came, my friend picked me up at 5:30 a.m. from my Grandma's, where my family and I were staying. Driving to the marathon, we were able to easily sneak into the bunch of runners at around 6:30. As soon as we got there I got really excited and pumped up. There were so many people (over 20,000 ran that day), packed into the road and spanning the whole distance of the run. I immediately remarked to my friend Rebecca, with whom I was running, "Wow this is awesome, I am so excited I don't think I will ever run out of energy." And it was! I had an amazing time and felt like grinning and laughing the whole time! It was great to see so many people being so active (too many Americans are too lazy these days :P). People wore attire advertising causes they were supporting or training programs they had gone through to get there. Along the sides there would be people cheering everyone on with cowbells, and occasionally stands with Music, Gu, and Electrolyte drinks in small Dixie cups to down as one ran past. The weather could not have been more perfect...slightly foggy and cool, so that I never got too hot or too cold. The route was gorgeous, along the bay, over the Golden Gate Bridge and back, and through Golden Gate Park.
The Golden Gate Bridge was especially exciting. Three lanes were blocked off to traffic: one each for runners going each way, and another for a buffer zone between the cars and runners. The jam of runners became even more dense, so that it was hard to run fast and pass people, but I actually had fun darting in and out and dodging back and forth between people to pass them. On the way back across, we were able to simply push the rope marking the edge of the runner's lane out into the buffer zone, running around people.
Throughout the course there were several hills we had to run up, although fortunately the route was mostly flat. Of course these parts were a lot harder than the rest, and the general speed of the crowd slowed drastically, but signs with trivia were put up (What is the steepest hill in SF? It has a 31.1% grade. Aren't you glad you are only running this hill instead) that made them bearable, and maybe I have built up stronger calves with the sprinting I do in soccer and hiking, but I didn't think they were too bad at all. It is also interesting, how in experiences such as these, I feel a strong attitude of support and community towards and from everyone. That is such a great feeling.
By the end of the race, I was still so pumped up and full of energy I think I could probably have run the second half and completed the marathon, and probably would have done so if I did not have other plans for the day and had to catch a train. We ended up running it in close to an hour and a half, having passed thousands of people and only getting passed by one near the end. I was proud of everyone who was running that day though, and it was a fantastic and extremely fun start to the day. I plan to do many more of these in the future!
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