first 26.2 journey

Finally, race day is here. I’ve been looking forward to this race for a while. After all the training that I did, so here it is. The week started with some easy run, but somehow I felt a bit faster on the run. Not sure why, but I definitely felt good about my run.
Then, on the day before the race, as always, I can’t sleep. I always plan to sleep at least 8-9 hours, but ended up sleeping for like maybe 5-6 hours. This is always happen on the night before any race. Not sure whether I was afraid, or maybe it was just anxiety. I know I would be out for about 4 hours and I did races more than 4 hours, then again maybe it’s just my head that cannot stop thinking about the race tomorrow. Thinking about what might and could have happened, or maybe even I was thinking about the pain that I had in training would come up again. But oh well, I guess I’ll just have to deal with it.
I woke up as the alarm went off at around 5am. So, I said to myself, ‘all rite time to get up and here it is.’ I got up, took a hot shower, since it was like 15 degree celsius, even in my room. Then, ate some breakfast (bagel with peanut butter and honey, cereal, and cup of coffee) while watching the ironman 2005 race on dvd (one of my inspirations for the race). After all that, I got ready, making sure I got everything that I need for the race in the bag.
I got to the race parking spot around 6.30am. I drank some Gatorade endurance, packed my fuel belt with all the nutrition that I need, get all my race gear ready and as I looked at the watch, it’s almost 7 already, so I do my run warm up to the race start. As soon as I got out of the car, I felt the cold weather, but yet I thought to myself, ‘hmm….this isn’t so bad.’ When I got there, off course there was a whole crowd, so I thought, ‘ all rite, time to line up for the bathroom for now, while waiting for my friends.’ As my watch showed 7.15am while waiting for my friend that never showed up, I decided to just go make my way to the start line. And, before I knew it, the race is starting.
As the race start, I saw the mayor on left side of the start line. I didn’t see a single person that I knew, so I thought, ‘oh well, ok then, time to run.’ I started the race in the pace that I wanted, I felt pretty good. At the first aid station, I took the advice of my running coach j to just take some water. Then, I think I must have not seen the first mile marker, because after looking to my watch, then looked up, I saw the second mile marker and my watch showed 20min. So, I thought to myself, ‘great….perfect….’ And, oh…I also saw the governor about this time. After I had ran for about 5 mile (which is around bexley area), I started thinking about nutrition and my body temperature. So, at mile 6 (after passing the capital u), I decided to take a gel (thanx to coach j’s suggestion), gatorade, water, took of my long sleeve shirt, and threw it on the street, as I planned from the beginning. As I got to mile 8 (back to downtown area), I realized that I was ahead of my regular pace and also, a little bit a head of the 4.30 pace group. So I said to myself, ‘wow, this is great, just as I planned.’ Then, at mile 11 (around the edge of german village), I started to see some people that I know. I picked up troy and talked to him for a few seconds, and then kept on running. At around mile 12 (which is in the main area of downtown), I saw mags and smith. And, before I knew it, I was mile 13 (passing the nationwide) and I started thinking about nutrition again and I decided to take another gel at mile 14 (around short north area). Then, a short time later I saw a couple people that I thought I knew. And I was right, it was cal and scott on the bike.
After I got to mile 16 (inside osu campus), my body started to react on all the stuffs that I had put in, so it told me to go to pit stop, so I did. After this time, the 4.30 pace group passed me, since I slowed down a bit to drink along the aid station. I did not feel down at all, since all these were part of my plan; to be ahead of the group as much as I can, so that I knew when they picked me up, I would not finish worst that I thought I would. Then, I kept on running until about mile 19 (at the edge of upper arlington) as I saw another face that I recognized, it turned out to be rob (one of my co-workers). Somewhere between mile 20 and 22, I started to think about nutrition again, so I decided to take another gel. And, from a far, I saw another familiar face, it turned out to be ally. As I got to mile 22 (around grandview area), I checked on my watch, I realized by that time, I was actually running faster than when I was at mile 14. I think it was the crowd on the streets that cheering for us (the runner) that kept me upbeat and definitely help my spirit up. Or, maybe it was the gel that I took earlier, hmm…. Regardless, definitely a big thanx to all the cheer and support sections. Then, just before mile 23, I saw a familiar face again. I saw troy in front of his place.
When I got to mile 24 (at the edge of between grandview heights and victorian village), I looked on my watch again and it showed 4.07. Then, I said to myself, ‘all rite, all I got to do is just ran for about another 20 min more.’ Then, at mile 25 (inside victorian village), I saw faces that I knew. It turned out to be jeremy and jen. Then, at the last aid station, I took in gatorade and water. Then at that time I realized I was about to finish my first ever marathon in my life.
As I got closer to the finish line, seeing all that many people on the side of the streets cheering and just waiting for their friends and family members to finish, I heard the announcer trying to pronounce my last name, so I yelled, ‘just say my first name.’
All in all, it was great and I felt great. The pain that I had during training was not even a factor at all. i was targeting to finish around 4.45 and ended up finishing in 4:29.14. YEAH.....nice.... I’m glad that the off season is here, but that doesn’t mean I’m glad all this over. I’m glad that this is actually a beginning for me. A beginning for me to build from for my next years’ quest of ironman races. A lot had happened this 2008 season. A lot of fun, a lot of fears, a lot of tears, a lot of experiments, a lot of pain, a lot of experiences, and a lot of everything. I just hope all these can be an inspiration for someone anywhere that read these. An inspiration, not about doing the same thing as what I’m doing, but an inspiration to never give up, to keep going, to do something different, to explore, to never be afraid, to never be negative, to never say cannot, because there has got to be a way to do everything under the sun as GOD intended.
With these, I wanted to thank GOD first of all for giving me the abilities, hopes, dreams, blessings, etc. to do all these. I also wanted to thank all my loved ones that are in my home country (indo). Thanx to all my friends (from church, work, etc.), teammates of human powered racing, coaches, especially coach j that put the assurance within me that I can do this 26.2mile. Thanx also to all the volunteers at the expo and throughout the course of the marathon, the pacer, the person that put on the medal around my neck, to the ones that took pictures, and to the bands that were playing throughout the course.