Sunday, March 28, 2010

The Oakland Marathon

Well, today was the day! I ran my first marathon. Let me just say, "If you're thinking of doing a marathon, do not underestimate it!" I'm going to start from the top and give you a play-by-play of today.

For the past four months, I've been training with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training. I've raised $2,000 for the cause, and have been running every Saturday and a few days during the week to prepare for the Oakland Running Festival. The city of Oakland has not had a marathon in over 25 years, so this was quite a big deal to people who live there. You may know that Oakland has a bit of a bad rap. Well, after seeing a lot more of it these past few days, I have to say that Oakland definitely has it's nicer areas too. A marathon is something that would help attract positive attention to the city, and the residents were pretty happy. In fact, they kept thanking us for running as they cheered us along on the sidelines.

The race started at 7:30am, so I met up with my team at 7am. We did our usual cheers and headed over to the starting line in downtown Oakland. (I used to refer to downtown Oakland as the bad part of town, but it's actually the really nice part right by Lake Merritt. The bad area is more southwest Oakland, I believe). Anyway, as we were waiting at the start, we were greeted by Oakland's very own Mark Curry. (You know, from "Hangin' with Mr. Cooper?) He ran through the start line about 10ft from me, giving everyone hi-fives. I thought it was pretty exciting.

As the race started, I was with two of my teammates, who I became friends with during the season. We ran together for about the first 9 miles or so, which is where I was feeling pretty good. Mile 5 had a pretty serious hill, which I conquered proudly. Then miles 6-10 had rolling hills, which I still did pretty well on. In fact, I passed several people up these hills and was on pace to make my goal of 4:30. Then I ran into my cryptonite: the downhill. Mile 10 had a long, steep downhill out of the Oakland hills. Running has given me knee problems, and it's something I've taken several precautions and remedies to overcome, but one thing that I can't protect myself from is a serious downhill. I tried to land softly, but every step was torcher. If the pain alone didn't make me want to cry, it was the crowd of people I had just passed now passing me. All I could do was watch them go by and pray for this downhill to be over soon. Once it finally was, the rest of the course was pretty flat, but my knees were already torn-up by that time. I tried to push through it, but from about mile 13 on, I had to alternate running and walking. When I stopped to walk, my knees got a break, but my hips and thighs started throbbing. Then I'd try to run again, and my knees were so stiff that I could barely take the first few steps.
My two teammates, who I had got ahead of during all the hills, ended up catching back up to me around miles 16 and 20. The second girl and I ended up running the last 6 miles together. She was in a lot of pain too, so we alternated our walking/jogging together.

The last 3 miles of the race were around Lake Merritt, and we ended by running into the City Center where we started. There was a large crowd and a live band playing. The event itself was pretty exciting. I would've stayed longer if it didn't hurt so much to walk. As soon as I got home, I took an ice bath in my pool. Since the pool isn't heated yet, it's perfect for this. I just took off my shoes and walked into the pool waist high in my running clothes and stayed there for 20 minutes. It's hard to get in at first, but I swear by it! It helps so much!

By the way, my time wa 5:08, which was pretty far from my goal. I was beating myself up about it during the race when I figured out I wasn't going to make it, but towards the end when I was hurting so much, I didn't care anymore. I just wanted to be done! And now, I just feel proud to have accomplished such an extreme event. I can't say that I'll ever be doing one again, but I've wanted to for a long time, and now I can say that I have!

2 comments:

Felicia Monique said...

"...but towards the end when I was hurting so much, I didn't care anymore. I just wanted to be done! And now, I just feel proud to have accomplished such an extreme event."

Exactly! Congratulations!

Jessie said...

Good Job, Becky! That's so cool! I don't think I will ever be that ambitious or in good enough shape. You did great!