March 6, 2005

RACE DAY!!!

Above is the start and finish line of the 26.2 mile marathon. I must say that this was the most physically demanding thing I have ever done. I felt good all the way up until the half way point. I turned around at the 13.1 mile marker and realized that I was only half way done with the race. A running partner of mine had convinced me to do the whole race instead of the half. It was my first marathon ever. I crossed the finish line in 4 Hours 44 Minutes, which isn't a bad time at all for my first time out. Now I am a runaholic. I have been running every race I cna find and am keeping a log book of every mile I run, along with my heart rate, calories burned, lap times, average speed, etc. I think I'm starting to get a little obsessed witht eh whole thing, but I could think of plenty of worse habits to have.

This is what I saw throughout most of the race. The entire course runs along the Han river. It's in the heart of Seoul, Korea which is the capital city. About 25 million people live in the city. It is much like Los Angeles in many ways, only more crowded.

This is the Olympic Bridge. It was built during the Olympic games which were held here in 1988. ON the top of the bridge is a metal sculpture made to look like a torch flame. Its really shines when the sun shines on it and looks like a flame.

Ahh, here I am at the finish. Don't be fooled by the nice grin and smiles. I am in a lot of pain. Of course for the picture I am trying to look my best. It took a full week before I could walk normal again without limping. In the end I lost 2 pounds and my right toenail. Losing a toenail is a common problem for long distance runner's. The toes take such a pounding for 4 hours, that is becomes black and eventually falls off after about a month.

This is SSG Adams. She is the one who convinced me to run the whole thing. My only motivation was to beat her. I mangaed to finish before her, but only by about 6 minutes. In the end, I'm glad she drug me out there.