Pictures and final reflections

So, I am now over a week out from the marathon and life has slowly returned to normal. I'm coping with the fact that I can't eat whatever I want without gaining a few pounds, and am now knee deep back in the grind of school.

Looking back, this was a totally worthwhile experience. I apologize to people who have seen me personally since I finished. I know that I haven't appeared all that excited about finishing, but truth be told being done almost feels like a let down. The training has been such a huge part of my life for the past 5 months; no longer having that leaves a little bit of a void.

I've posted a few pictures here in the blog, but you can also find a full spectrum of pics at http://picasaweb.google.com/mnarui/NikeWomenSMarathon# I took a disposable camera with me on the course, so the pictures above were taken during the race with Martin and Susan.



All in all, the experience has been amazing. For now, I am temporarily retiring from marathons but will continue training for 1/2 marathons. The biggest reason being that I have a dissertation to write and the training is so time consuming, it would make it hard to finish. I have already signed up for the Indy 1/2 marathon this May. This will likely be my next major race.

Finally, a big thanks for all of your support. It's been a blast!

Mitsu

It's OVER!

Hi all!

Okay, so I am happy to report that I finished in one piece, but I have to say that those hills in San Fran are BRUTAL!

Because of these rather brutal hills, as soon as we started, my immediate goal became to finish. I should also say that I been running for the past two years with two friends, Martin and Susan, that I met through Team in Training last summer. They convinced me that I should do this event this year, so the three of us went into this event together.

The three of us made a pact that we would start and finish the race together. Now Martin has been hurt with some back and leg issues for the past couple of weeks so he hasn't run all that far in the past couple of weeks. Needless to say, he started hurting at mile 8 and we knew it would be a struggle for him til the end. But Susan and I knew that it would be important for him to finish so we encouraged him throughout the race and stayed with him til the end, even though it meant that Susan and I were doing more walking than we originally intended. So in the end, I finished in a little over 5 hours. It was lengthy but nonetheless it felt good to finish. The three of us were able to cross the finish line hand in hand, which to me meant more than any time I would have finished in. With a course as brutal as this one, it truly becomes about racing for a cause and not about any personal gain. This was apparent to me throughout the race.

Now the weather here in San Fran is some of the strangest I think I have seen. It starts out cold and foggy (meaning you need as many layers as possible) and by the middle of the afternoon it can be sunny (meaning you shed all those layers) and by early evening you need all those layers again. Of course on race day, the sun decided not to come out so we basically had cold and rainy for the entire race. For much of it, I lost the ability to feel my arms and hands. Some of the views were great. I took a disposable camera so I will be able to post some pictures once I get them developed.

It's now the next day, and I am still in some pain but walking around and seeing some of San Fran really helped. I have to admit though I didn't see as much as I could have. I simply don't have it in me today. So, I broke down, paid $4 and have been using the internet for the past few hours. I figured my health is more important than seeing the sights of San Fran.

I'll post more in a few days (including my official time and photos) but til then, I wanted to share the experience.

Thanks for everyone's support!

Mitsu

p.s. Thanks to my fabulous friends for getting me a gift certificate for a massage place. I am happy to report I will be getting fully recovered on Wednesday!

One week to go!

Hard to believe that there is only one week to go until the big day! Needless to say, I am overcome with a sense of relief that the day if finally coming. It's been A LOT of work and I'm looking forward to seeing it culminate next weekend.

Training wise, I am now tapering. This week I have runs of 5, 5, and 3 miles. This is to allow your body time to rest before the big day. This is the week that I also become like a bear needing to hibernate for the winter. The goal is to load up on food in preparation for the beating that my body will take race day.

Race details. This link should take you to the official race site. I am hoping that there will be some way for you to track my progress in real time on race day but they have yet to post how to do that. If they do not, you can go to the site by the end of the day and they should have posted the results. If there is real-time tracking, I will make sure to send that info along. You can also see a pdf of the course by following the link (or http://insidenikerunning.nike.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/40000_2032_course_map_v7.pdf). I am most worried about miles 7-10 if you look at the elevation guide on the bottom. They are pretty much up hill.

Finally, a big THANKS for the support this summer. The words, both in person and in e-mail, have meant the world to me, and I cannot fully express my support. I'll make sure to post an entry afterwards to let you all know how it goes.