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On Sunday, October 4th, I ran the San Jose Rock & Roll Half Marathon. That’s 13.1 miles. In my sophomore year of high school, I remember P.E. class; every Friday, we had to run “the mile”. It was simply four laps around the track. I could never run “the mile”. I could maybe run two of the four laps, and not even sequentially. But there I was this past Sunday morning, running a half marathon and thinking, “am I really doing this?”

Yup.

The Map

I mostly couldn’t believe that I got up at 5:45am on a Sunday to go out and run for a couple hours.  I mean, who does that?  I don’t think there was ever a point in my life where I would have even considered that was something that I wanted to do.  And yet, there I was on Sunday morning, in the dark, eating peanut butter on toast, getting ready for 13.1 miles of running.

Evelyn, the most supportive wife in the world, assumed the role as my personal photographer that day.  She came with me as we met up with Mike, Amy, and Mark at 7am.  There were soooooo many people.  TONS.  It was cool.  All these people were here for the same thing, and I couldn’t believe that I was going to do it too.  The weather was perfect; not too cold and clear skies.  As the race started, you could hear everyone cheering with excitement, and everyone was just… happy!  We squeezed our way onto the street from the crowded sidewalk and got started.  Mike stayed with Amy and myself for about the first mile or so, with Mark starting behind us.

Running Past

This being the Rock and Roll Half Marathon, it was pretty cool to see the first band.  Actually, it was great to see all of the bands; they were all out there having a great time and being really encouraging to all of the runners.  I loved when I could hear the next band coming up; it kept things interesting and gave me something to look forward to.

A word about encouragement: we ran through many neighborhoods, and there were a lot of people outside their homes watching us.  And all of those people were awesome.  A lot of them had made signs, or were ringing cowbells, or were just cheering for us.  It was incredibly motivating, and the amount of positive energy was amazing.  It was like nothing I’d ever felt.

And I couldn’t believe how fast the whole thing seemed to go by.  I mean, before I knew it, 8 miles were done, and I still felt great.  It probably wasn’t until around mile 11 that my feet started getting a little tired.  But all I had to do was think about Evelyn and how she was so supportive of me, and it really helped me get through to the end.  It also certainly helped to have Amy with me the entire time.  Having her there to chat with made every mile a breeze.

At mile 12, Amy and I agreed to kick things up a notch.  I was prepared to finish strong, but I didn’t quite know when I would start the whole “finishing strong” thing.  With a mile to go, speeding up was a little challenging, but it felt great to be able to pass people on the way to the finish line.  All of the previous months of training felt like it was paying off.  Now, it’s not like I was running crazy fast.  I had a pace of about 10min 30sec, but it was just right for me.  I finished with a time of 2 hours 20 minutes, and I was ecstatic.  I really was just thrilled that I could finish the race without stopping.

Finish Line

Here are some highlight moments:

• Seeing the crazy old, asian dude running past us in the first mile yelling, “Everyone go faster!  Go faster!  It’s a race!”.  And then seeing him puttering around mile 10 and looking very tired.
• The guy early on who was holding a sign that said, “11.25 miles to go!”.  Wiseguy.
• A family handing out bacon.  Very tempting.
• The sound of all the cups hitting the ground from the volunteer kids handing out water.
• Seeing Evelyn’s old teacher from high school (and friend), Ponnicelli, conducting the marching band at the San Jose City Hall.  I was like, “Hey! I know that guy!”.
• At only the 6th mile or so, watching the first place runner heading towards us on his way back – truly amazing.
• To the guy sitting in the lawn chair with the boom box playing the theme song from “Rocky”, thank you.  You’re awesome.
• Seeing Mike’s parents and sister on the side of the road was cool for me, but knowing that Amy got to see her daughter was very cool.
• There was a guy who remained around us for quite some time throughout the race that was carrying a folded American flag.
• In the last mile, I had already increased my speed.  I thought I could go faster, so I picked it up even more.  Then, my right leg sent me a signal in the form of an early cramp.  I got the message and took it back down.
• And of course, crossing the finish line, and hearing Evelyn call out my name.  I looked to my left and slightly behind me, and there she was cheering me on.  What an awesome feeling.

I’m still shocked that I can say this, but I had a blast on this run.  Seriously, that doesn’t even make sense.  I enjoyed running 13.1 miles?  I sure did.  And I’m looking forward to my next one.

Mike, Amy, Mark, and me

And I couldn’t have done it without the help of my friends.  Really.  It’s amazing how much guidance and support I received during the past year to get me to this point.

I would be quite rude if I didn’t thank my friends. Firstly, my friend Jen, who encouraged me to start exercising in the first place.  Last year, she got together a group of people from our department at work to start a lunch boot camp.  We had a personal trainer from our gym train us twice a week and it was later in the summer of 2008 when I ran my first 2 miles… non-stop.  It’s not a lot in comparison to the 13.1, but at the time, it was the most I’d run without stopping to catch my breath.  After our boot camp sessions ended in November, Jen and another coworker-friend of mine, Mike, both kept me going by running with me a couple times a week during lunch.  Their motivation really was truly amazing.

Enter Mike and Amy.  Two of the coolest people I know, they were a tremendous help when it came to get serious about training.  After signing up for the half marathon in July, they helped keep me on track and gave me TONS of great advice.  I got to run with them a number of times before the race, and I know I wouldn’t have been able to get through it without their racing wisdom.

I was also able to run with my high school buddy, Rob, as well as (work) Mike, and Mark on a variety of trails.  Some runs were definitely harder than others, but having them with me made it easier.

And of course, Evelyn.  Where to begin with Evelyn.  After every training run, she expressed how proud she was, or how impressed she was.  She was always 100% supportive, encouraging, loving, and helpful.  And I couldn’t ask for a better person to share this experience with.

Medal

The half marathon was an awesome experience; something that I’ll never forget.  Though, the first thing that comes to mind right now is that it’s going to be really weird to not wake up early this weekend to go train.  (I think I’ve run a long run every weekend for the past 2 months or so.)

You can see all of Evelyn’s great pictures from the race by clicking here.