Ran Like a Girl

In my home, where the testosterone runs high, doing anything “like a girl” is used as an insult. I usually just ignore it because it just isn’t worth the fight. When I came home from my weekend with “the girls”, the boys were all watching football on TV. I said, “and *look* at my ‘medal'”, as I showed BoBo and YaYa my necklace – I think the inflection in my voice told them that this was something special. Then I showed off my race shirt, which I am wearing. BoBo read the tag line, “Ran like a girl” and laughed. I just smiled and walked away to get an ice pack.

What can I say about the race?

Yesterday at the expo we caught one of the speakers talking about how to run the course. She didn’t exactly talk about “how” but that was the premise. She broke the course into 3rds and explained the way you should run each section.

Run with your head:
This was the first third of the race. I did just that. Well, not exactly – I wasn’t running. That was my plan. My head would keep me from even trying to run until later. At first it was a strange place to be. I entered the coral for 12-14 minute/mile pace and realized that this would be too fast of a pace for walking. I wiggled back into the back of the next coral and waited. The race began, and I walked. It seemed like eternity passed by as I walked a single mile. After a while, however, I got used to it. I took in the sights and listened to the conversations around me. I was content.

Run with your personality:
The second third was a little different. The voice of in my head was a little quieter. I didn’t like being passed. It was time to run with my personality. I began to talk a little more to the people around me. There was the view of the Golden Gate. It was more beautiful than I’ve ever seen it with fluffy clouds covering the bottom and the sun showing off it’s grand peaks. I saw Marian, and old friend that has been so inspirational since I met her at mile 20 when I ran Napa last year. It was nice to not feel the pressure to rush past; I stopped a chatted for a few minutes. When the hills began, I powered up them. I attacked them as if I was running. And on the other side of the hills, on the downhill, I was passed by many. I didn’t like that. I let gravity take me and began to run a few steps. It was too uncontrolled, and too early. I needed to ensure a finish. I wanted the necklace.

Run with your heart:
The final third of the race was different. Besides the “run like a girl” tagline, there was another tagline that was promoted at this event. It was “I run for ___. I had decided to run (or walk rather) this race for my stepfather. In honor of him because he had been fighting Lymphoma. With my heart, I made a decision to “try” to run at mile 10. I hoped that this would not do much damage to my foot and ankle since I had over 2 hours to warm up.

After passing mile 10, I continued walking until downhill portion was completed and struck up a conversation with the girl next to me. She had a knee wrap and this was her first marathon. We just talked and walked along the Great Highway. Her name was Denise and she had completed all of her training without issue until her 20 mile run. She would walk the entire 26.2 miles. We talked about how much we loved running and, at the point where the marathon and half-marathon split off, I bid her good luck and began running.

I admit that it didn’t feel good to run, but I didn’t want to stop. By this point, I was sick of being out there. My sister and her friends were boarding the shuttle busses for the hotel and I also needed to get my things collected up by the hotel checkout time. I stuck with it finishing 3:15:28. Like a girl.