Nike Women's Marathon Experience! NWM 2011!!!

OHHHH... MYYYYYY... GOODNESSSSSSS!!!!!

So we didn't actually run the full 26.2 mile marathon, but instead a bunch of us girls signed up for the half. So 13.1 MILES! I don't even know where to start! It all happened pretty fast and I am still in too much amazement. I was starstruck-like.

We woke at 525ish at Wong's place because the OH SO VERY GENEROUS John Kim and Jon Yee wanted to help transport us to the race at 6 in the morning! I know rightttt?!? Goodness, thank you 2 so much! Now that I think about it, we forgot to have a Jennifer, John, and Tiff pic. Oh wells. But yeah, they totally saved us by driving and dropping us there. All 7 of us gals! Also, thank you WONGton for housing all that estrogen! hehehehe. Such comfy house and carpet you have! And so lucky to have finally met your uberly cute g momma!

Anyways, back to the race. We get there around 645 and the race starts at 7. The closer we got to Union Square, the louder and louder it became. It was pretty cool seeing groups and groups of women in their running gear all headed to the same place. We got nearer too and I could start feeling the energy, then as we saw Union, I saw the energy too! It was 6 in the morning, but the weather was perfect and the crowd was spectacular! It was SOOOOO COOOOL! So much music playing, people all giddy and pumped, all these people running together to support cancer and prob for the necklace. But the fact that there were so many women, record breaking of 20,000+ or so made the atmosphere sooo... captivating and EMPOWERING! It felt so good! Such an experience. From the get go I was already pretty pumped. It was mad chaos in the bag check and start line though. We were jam packed sardines and didn't start til 15 min after. Our bibs conveniently don't start til then, smarties.

WAHHHH!!! So the race starts and we start running as a group for a bit, then some people run ahead. I ran in the beginning with Tiff, Wilson, Jenn, Rebecca and Gina and we are together for the first 1.5-2ish miles then Reb had to portapotty. haha. Bye Rebecca and Gina! Then it was the 4 of us kinda together til 3ish miles. Then Jenn and I run ahead to almost 4.5ish miles. Or something like that. I was supposed to run with Jen Yee but she split at the get go when I still wanted to run with the others for a bit. Jenn Sum wouldn't let me run with her anymore so she made me just go. I eventually did, but then had to use the bathroom for some annoying fem problems. Bleh. This pitstop will come and haunt me in the future. But after that I ran into Jenn Sum again on one of the many hills. What a coinkydink! aha. I left and ran on my own again though.

So as the miles went passing by, I just kept running trying to look for people. So that was my motivation and distraction and for the most part, I wasn't even tired. Very surprising. And breathing and lung action was all okay. So strange. Breathing was okay for a lot of my fellow runners, but my legs and ankles started hurting a bit after the 6th mile. And I started getting some side cramps too, but that was about it. I am pretty surprised and thankful that nothing else went wrong considering we didn't stretch and barely trained for this thing. ahha. I also got shin splints 2 days prior, but I rested it the day before and that too surprisingly didn't flare up too badly during the race. I could kind of feel it during the hills, but it never fully revamped itself to the 2 days prior. Thanks for looking out again :) Knees hurt a little though, but the hills are always a fun place to pass a lot of people.

Running, running, running... the miles passed really quickly. When I passed 8 I was thinking... woaahhh, I've never ran this much straight in my whole life! But it didn't even feel that long because the views were gorgeous and the motivation on the side of the course was well... motivational and entertaining. I regret dearly not having a camera. I may steal pics from Reb or Gina for those. It would have been nice to snap a pic at every mile.  Having a bunch of people running with you is also very helpful. I am a secretly a very competitive person, or not that secret for the ones who know me, but I get a pretty good drive when I can beat people. tehehe. So as I ran, I just liked passing people.

I was still looking for Jen, but spotted many others on the way. Let me think of the order. It was always exciting for me to see someone. I would always sprint to them all crazily. Like Phoebe! ahaha. JK. But first I think I saw Robin on one of the hills. Then I spotted Winnie. Then Emily Wong from LAX. She is usually pretty fast so I was like, oooooh! I Want to try and run with her! But when I caught up, she said she wanted to pass out and told me to keep going and didn't want me to stay back. So i just kept running and looking around. I think Virginia (from HS) yelled my name as a volunteer and shortly after I saw Courtney and Stacy cheering on the other sidelines. That was exciting! I got a good burst for awhile. It was also super awesome seeing Chris and Josephine! They spotted me though. Im glad I at least got to see them for a bit. They told me Minerve was just a little ahead, so I push onward. I eventually spot her and yell her name moded-ly. She didn't hear so I just ran up to her. We run together for a bit then I saw some med students that I've worked with at PHAC. I ended up running the last 2.5 miles with Yen and see Megan (LAX) on the way. I wanted to have a good last mile time and sprint the last 200m. But that mile seemed ridiculously loooooong. Took forever! They had Ghiradelli squares in that mile and was so sad I didn't want to stop. I was trying to get under the displayed 2:30 time and pushing hard. There was so much people and energy on that last turn before the last stretch that was right along the beach so it got a little cold. But you've got to sprint it out. I felt all chilly and jittery but I pushed onward, waited for Yen a little and crossed it with him! It was EXHILARATING! 

They handed us our Tiffany's Box and shirts and goodies and yeah. Such a rush! They also covered me with that foil balloon material which was really nice. I was pretty cold at the end. OOOHO! Almost forgot! All along the trail, there were volunteers handing out water, gatorade, gummies, ORANGES, everything. It was always a mad chaos at those stations, but funny to see the desperate runners and helpers trying to pour out the water. ahha. They catered to us really well. I just walked around by myself for awhile after finishing and got free stuff whenever I saw things. I didn't have my camera for a lot of it so I didn't get to take as many pics as I would have liked, but we still got some!

Would I do it again, MOST DEF! It was such a great experience! Maybe because I also got lucky since all my muscles didn't cramp and all that stuff. But it was soooo much funnnnn! I loved the energy and support that was held throughout the whole event. It was also a very nice feeling to accomplish such a big event with good friends. Something we can talk about in the future. My next goal is to maybe train for the next one and get under 2 hours. That will be my mission for now. NWM 2012... Bring it ON!

Oh, and I listened to a strangers earphone when I heard him talking about the Niners game on our way out. I listen at just the right time as it was 4th down and Smith threw a TD!!! OMMMGGGG!!! When did you become so CLUTCH?! We both jumped and screamed at the same time. Jenn was watching and thought it was entertaining. Thanks stranger! Reb says I have STDs in my ear now. haha. Worth it! WHAT A WIN!!! BEAT THE UNDEFEATED LIONS!!! WOOT WOOT WOOOOOT!!!

It has been a great day!

We head back after and I get to see and share stories with me mumz and lil broskii for a bit until we had to head back to Davisizzle with T. Stopped by old house to see gam and gum a for a short bit as they made me food and I showed them the necklace. 

We were trying to rush back for soccer (we already missed frisbee... i know, I, a terrible captain :P ). We hit traffic, so that was a bust. And we just barely made football. Yowsers. We played against the EXB club and I really wanted to beat them. *sigh*... they were not even that good... but we were just... i dont know. Adam and Daniel and Kevin were not here today and the defense on the guys side kinda stumbled. Boo. Frustrating. We wanted to be non exclusive and have whoever wants to play to play, but this has proven to be quite difficult if you kinda want to win. It's hard to accommodate everyone and subbing gets chaotic. We can't afford any more losses, but I have faith in the skill of our team to accomplish this. Go Squirtle Squad!

Senior Meeting for our Senior trip at 106 while Ed makes us smoothies. It was between NY and Disneyworld. I was for DW, but our consensus ended with a cruise to probe somewhere in Mexico. Nice!

As for my soreness, it's sore. Both my 2nd toes are bruised, so those nails are probably going to fall off again. They just grew back -_- and its the worse to sit/lay down and get back up. You just don't realize how jelly your legs are. It's fun though. I dont mind. And I like being sore anyways, let's me know I worked hard enough.

I shower and pass out on my bed. But then awaken to try and write my LIN paper. Ellen, Shannon and I head to 106 while they study and I have been writing this for more than an hour... haha. And not my paper. Typical. But I just wanted to document such an accomplishing day while everything was still fresh in my memory.

I'm really excited for next years Nike marathon! Us girls should make it a tradition! It was a great first experience for me because I really didn't know what to expect. I don't usually like running just to run, I def enjoy it more if it's during sports. But after today, I may just reconsider that. It's pretty relaxing, but that may be because the course was so nicely laid out. FUN FuN!

This concludes my first  NWM! Or first half marathon for that matter! I also heard there was a Disney's Half Marathon run. I would do that in a heartbeat!

I don't remember if I mentioned this before because I come back here and there to edit posts. But God really answered prayers for this marathon. Everyone had a way there, no one got hurt, we all had a TON of fun, but most importantly... we remembered to rely on Him to give us strength to help carry us through the race with flying colors!

This was our theme verse for our Women's Runner for Christ Group:

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God"

-Hebrews 12:1-2

Thank you God, you are always so great!

P.S. On a not so happy note... today, Dai Hao #1 aka Kevin Leung hurt his knee during frisbee. Seaton brought him to Kaiser and they said it's a torn LCL. Not serious enough for surgery though, thank goodness! So I just wanted to take some time to give him a shout out that we all hope that he can get back on his energized feet soon! He strongly contributes to forming Compass to be the way it is now and we all appreciate all that he does. He def makes college life lively and entertaining. Keep high spirits, get better soon, and we will all be praying for you!
 
All the pics are on facebook. Maybe I will choose the ones I like and put them here? For now, here are the ones the professional photogs there took. So well organized! I don't know how they sorted everyone. Thank you Nike for such a wonderful experience!

http://www2.brightroom.com/83327/7096

[these pics are taken from Rebecca and Gina of ON COURSE pics. Yeah, I am really gonna try to bring my picture taking device next year. The views were really spectacular! And it would have been cool to document these mile checkpoints]

Here are some of the pics that I took before and after the race. Full album on my Facebook.

 

My mommy got me these. Fav colors and sooooo comfy!
Also a big contributor for my successful run, i feel.

matchy matchy!

Sardines! It was pretty cool being in the middle of it though!

This pretty much sums it all up.

*sigh* I am still on such a high from this day.

I must say, ONE OF THEEEEE BEST EXPERIENCES EVER!

So glad I did it with all the girls and I can't wait for next year!

This Year- 2:17:30
Next Year- <2:00:00