The Enlightened Warrior’s 1st Race

It finally happened on July 26, 2009, San Francisco Marathon event. The journey took almost one entire year of training and endurance, but my daughter finished her first event. She even has the medal to prove it although she (almost forget to get it) after crossing the finish line.

Her Pre-Race preparation was as organized as her training. First she was not able to pick up her packet and goodie bag, due to a few unexpected auditions which came up. No matter, I figured out of way to pick it up for her, she was not dodging this one.

In checking her athletic attire, and equipment, I noticed many things missing. Her answer to all the questions about where they were was “I’m going to use yours”. It’s a good thing I brought an extra water bottle. Imagine that!

Despite all the dodging training and previous events, she did well. She only missed her target finish time by 2 minutes. But, you have to see her face in the picture of her crossing the finish line! Something is missing a “smile” maybe. After all, it was the finish the line.

I’m very proud of you “Enlightened Warrior”! You ran the San Francisco Marathon’s First Half-Marathon, the tougher of the two. And you can now say that you ran the Golden Gate Bridge. An additional token to compliment a very memorable event.

Next?

My Son's First Marathon

My son who is a natural sprinter would always tell me that he would never endeavor in the task of completing a Marathon. So when he sent me a text message in August of 2007, saying he was going to run the LA Marathon, I was truly shocked. My first reaction was to text back and say, "What have you been drinking?" At this time I was struggling with my training after my surgeries. When I realized he was sober, I text back and said," I'll do it with you".

I felt that this agreement would keep us both inspired. I was struggling with pain, and this was his first event. Since he was training in Columbus, Ohio, the training seem to go well until the freezing weather set in. My son is not the type to run 22 miles on an indoor track or any track for that matter. In his words, "It's too boring". So as you can imagine the text messages and my coaching tips were well taken until the mileage was up to 22 miles. I would text, "22 miles today", and he would reply," I tried but only made it to 16, will try again next week".

One month before the Marathon, the last text he sent was on replay. He never got past 16 miles. When I recommended new shoes one month before the Marathon. His reply was, "My shoes are fine. I don't have time working overtime at MS".

When he arrived in LA the weekend of the Marathon, I could not believe it. He had "nothing". All the items I recommended were never purchased. He had nothing to protect his "Jewels", his shoes were so worn one toe was sticking out, I don't recall if it was the left or the right, all I know it was a sad scene. It was too late to try new shoes, since it is wise and recommended to start breaking them in (1)month prior the event.

We did go shopping for "jewel" protection, nipple guards, body glide, a dry fit t-shirt and double layered socks. Needless to say, he was as prepared as he could be for the day of the event. But, there was another problem, he had promised his friend to go watch a live boxing match the day before the event. I don't think he realized that even a 22 year old needs a good night sleep before venturing out to run 26.2 miles, especially when that 22 year old did not train or prepare as required.

At the boxing match his friend had a little too much to drink so my son had to drive back to my house. His friend came in to sober up a bit before driving himself home. I'm in my bedroom trying to sleep, when all I can hear is my daughter telling his friend to be quiet because we had a Marathon to run in the morning. He was too drunk to even realize that he was sabotaging our attempt to sleep. My daughter called his sister hoping she could come to pick him up. When that failed my daughter called one of her friends. Her friend took her and my son's friend to the movies, and finally my son and I could go to sleep.

My son finished his First Marathon in under (4) hours. He slept for (12) hours, and limped the entire week. He could not understand why I was wide awake and could walk normally. All I could say to him was, "proper training, the right shoe and comfortable attire does make a big difference"!

The Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon

I was very glad to hear my son say that he was going to train for The Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon. I thought that after his bad experience with the LA Marathon, he would not train for another one. He was really excited about this one though. I think it was the name of the event that attracted him to it. Neither of us had heard of "Flying Pigs". He wanted me to fly out and participate in the event as well. I told him I could not beIcause I needed to recover from the last one. After all, The LA Marathon was my first event after my recovery from ( 2) surgeries. I told him I did not want to push myself so quickly. But, I registered for the Half-Marathon and did not tell him because I wanted to surprise him.

The secret was well kept, and even my daughter who has a hard time keeping a secret, kept it well. Everything was going as planned until a week before the event. I received an email in reference to the upcoming event. This email was expected, because all the event organizers start a count down and email all the registered participants. But, the email for some strange reason wished everyone luck in the upcoming "Flying Pig Kids Event". Of course my son thought he had registered for the wrong event, so he went online to check the status of his registration. When he searched he typed his last name, and (2) names came up.

He then called me and said, "Sorry Mom, I just ruined your surprise". Well the surprise was ruined. My daughter's reaction was, "do you know how hard it was for me to keep that secret?" I started to think that it was only fair for the person who sent that email to pay for my registration, flight and the hotel. After all they were responsible for ruining everything.

The weekend of the event, I had scheduled a Friday morning flight from the Burbank Airport to the Cincinnati/Kentucky Airport. I scheduled an early flight, because I needed to sleep well Friday night, since normally it is very difficult to sleep the night before an event.

I arrived at the airport in Burbank at 5:00 AM, to discover that due to poor weather conditions all flights to and out of the Chicago Airport ( my layover location), had been delayed, because the Airport was closed and would be for most of the morning or the entire day. The delay and wait at both airports were intensive. I arrived at my hotel room at 3:00 AM Saturday. So much for Friday's good night sleep. Between the (3) hour difference and the LONG travel time, I was exhausted, I really did not know how I was going to function for the duration of the event on Sunday. And to top it off I was not able to have my pasta dinner Friday.

I slept a little then had to wake up to pick up my race packet. The packets are not mailed to you. All participants have to pick them up the Friday or Saturday before the event. My son and I went together to pick up the packets. He brought his friend along to try to inspire him to sign up for the next event. After we picked up the packets we had spaghetti for dinner. Then my son dropped me off at my hotel room. He was staying with his friend as he had previously planned.

Since he was not staying with me, I did not get to witness any of his night before event preparation ordeal. I was having issues of my own. I had to get up at 4:00 AM. This is normal on the day of the event, so logically I would have to go to bed by 8:00 PM. But, my body was saying it was 5:00 PM ( note the 3 hour difference mentioned previously). I closed all the shades tightly to make it look and hope it would feel like night. But, I could not fool my body. By this time, I was really scared. I had not slept well Friday because of the long travel time, and now I can't sleep Saturday because of the time adjustment my body had not made. I really did not know how I was going to perform on Sunday.

Sunday came and I woke up to the alarm at 4:00 AM exhausted. Well, I had to do it. After all this planning I could not back out of it now. My son came by to pick me up, so we could drive together to the event. It was pretty chilly and I was sorry I did not bring a trash bag to wear over me. This is something I normally do since I can easily remove and discard it after I start running and warm up. My son was pretty layered though. He had sweat pants a sweat shirt and thermals. We wished each other luck and said, "see you at the finish line".

Along the route I saw a large number of "Flying Pigs", costumes that is. They even had the little pig tails. And when I crossed the finish line, one congratulated me. Another gave me a face towel with a "Flying Pig"on it, another gave me a blanket with you guessed it , "Flying Pigs" on it. One removed the timing chip off my shoe and another placed a medal around my neck. It was all about "The Flying Pigs".

To my surprise, my son cross the finish line with only shorts and a short sleeve T-shirt. And I started to wonder, " What happened to all his clothes"? You see a trash bag you can discard and not worry about. But, sweats and thermals, I'd worry about. It could get to be a bit expensive leaving clothes along the route.

When I asked about the clothes all I got was a talk to the hand signal. Since I did not want to talk to the hand, I let it go. I would try to address the issue again later. As I was hurrying to get to the car, I heard my son say, "Mom", and saw him point to his feet as he limped. I got the hint and slowed down my walking pace. He then asked me if I could drive, because he was in pain and could not. I drove to his friends house where we showered, rested a little and ate lunch.

After the warm shower and nourishment, my son packed up his belongings because he was going back to Columbus since he had work on Monday. Before he headed back, he rested a little at the hotel where I was staying. It was then that I notice something strange. His toe nails looked like claws. He had not cut his toe nails before the race. No wonder he was in pain and was having problems walking. I asked him," How can you run like that?" He asked me for clippers which I did not bring, since I did not want TSA to confiscate them as a possible "weapon". I then proceeded to ask him how was he able to run during training without trimming his nails. He confessed that he had not trained that well. I was really surprised, because I thought he had learned his lesson from the first event.

By now I'm starting to believe that 22 year old young men really believe that they don't need to prepare for anything. They truly believe they can do anything. And they can if they put their mind to it. But, I don't know if the consequences are worth it. If you don't train properly you will have a bad experience instead of inspiring one. Worst yet, you can get injured. It is my advice to be true to the schedule and the training required to complete a Marathon. This will guarantee that you will truly have a positive life changing experience once you cross the finish line.