The Day Of

Here's a pre-race Melissa O., LMJS member and Oakland Running Festival pacer coordinator extraordinaire. Loved her outfit!

So I ran the Oakland Marathon. From where I sit now, two days out, I'm glad I did. From where I sat yesterday? Not so glad. I'll get this out of the way early here: I ran my worst marathon time ever. I had to run-walk a lot of the way. I'm not proud of my time. But I am proud that I pushed through and finished. My cold did not substantially abate, but I toed the starting line because I'd said I would--and at least my cold hadn't gotten much worse.

The starting line.

In many ways the race was a magical experience. It started with the weather clearing up for the first time in two weeks. It continued when I met my new friend M at the start and was able to run with her a lot of the way. Seeing Oakland (and seeing Oakland and seeing Oakland and seeing Oakland) on foot was a treat.

My friend M, looking strong as she chugs up the first big hill.

The first 10 miles of the course were pretty much uphill. Because the hills came early, they were reasonably easy to scale, although scaling them took its toll later on, I'm pretty sure.

The final hill took us so high that we saw alpine musicians and mountain goats. Oh, bah, that's really a dog.

But running wa-a-a-ay up and then wa-a-a-a-y down was fun. It was also fun (GREAT fun) when I got to Fruitvale and saw a smiling Z waiting to cheer me--the sweetest sight!

Somewhere along this section we passed the halfway point.

Then we were on International Boulevard, which was colorful and festive. But running south from there, I found my energy flagging and my body beginning to protest.

M gives a thumbs-up as she runs beneath the fire.

The run to West Oakland felt long. By the time we passed under the flaming arch at the Crucible, the sun (incredibly!) was out and we felt too warm. Just when my body and my mind were about to start throwing punches at each other (Body: "Stop!" Mind: "No!"), there was Z again, smiling and keeping me smiling.

Toward the south end of Mandela Parkway, I told M to go ahead. She looked strong, and I wanted her to have a great finish. Not long after she took off ahead of me, there was my friend L on the course! She was screaming at me like a happy maniac and boosting my flagging energy. She'd come to cheer on the group she paced during our training and to scrape melted-down runners like me off the pavement and kick us in the direction of the finish.

By the time I got to Lake Merritt I was pretty trashed. A great (but, sadly, unidentifiable by me) runner appeared as from heaven and gave me an unopened bottle of water, which I downed in a flash.

Near the Lake Merritt avian sanctuary I could swear I saw brightly colored birds roosting in a tall column, one on top of the other. Nah, probably not.

Finally I turned left onto Broadway, mere meters from the finish. There again was Z, my sweetie-for-life, urging me on right up to the end.

That's it. No triumphant finish-line photo here--I even forgot to check my time or shut off my watch. I know it ain't over till it's over, but for me, thank the stars, it was definitely over, then and there.

Oakland was my ninth lifetime marathon. At this point I don't know whether there will ever be a tenth. I'm eager to get rested enough to start running again, but not at all eager to think about another 26.2-miler.