Almost Running a Marathon

The other weekend, I ran 23 miles! I was a little worried, because I had missed a lot of the longer runs because I was out of town. What I thought was great about it, was that it really wasn't that bad at all. I felt it a bit on my knees/legs later that day, but I still managed to have a jam-packed day of activities after the run and actually had a lot of energy! I'll post some pics from this day later. It was kind of funny, because there happened to be a parade that day in Burbank or Glendale, so we were like running through the parade at one point.

Here is a photo of me at the finish line with my running coordinator, Ariana, who also happens to be a friend from undergrad!

Also, probably over a month ago already, I participated in the Pasadena Marathon. My work uses this event as a fundraiser, so many people from my firm and partner firms were there. My intention was to do a half-marathon, but by the time I went to register for it, the half marathon was full! So, instead I decided to join two of my favorite co-workers, to do the full marathon... but on a bike!

I had not been on a bike since I was a kid so I started to become really nervous the more I thought about what I was getting myself into. I don't even have a bike, so I had to borrow my friend/former co-worker Jason's bike. The only thing is that he is really into cycling, so it was a more serious kind of racing bike. Anyway, I practiced on the bike for a bit the day before, but showed up for the marathon the day of, bright and early at about 5 a.m. all worried that I would fall off or that people would run into me.




Here is a little video clip, courtesy of Fil who was there to document the sad sight of me practicing riding the bicycle. I must have looked like such a silly billy going around in circles on a racing bike on this street, the most empty one I could find, near downtown LA.

I was still super nervous when I arrived at the site the next day and saw all the serious bikers hop on their bikes to ride from the parking lot to the start-line. But I strapped on my helmet, and hopped on my bike and pretended as best as I could to look like an avid bicycle rider. Since I was nervous about the heavy-duty serious bike Jason let me borrow, luckily, my dear friend/co-worker, Banafsheh, who is at least somewhat more of a bicycle rider than I am, was kind enough to switch bikes with me, so that I could use her more standard, user-friendly upright kind of bicycle. And, I made it through the race without falling!

Here we are on the cover of Bicycling World Magazine just after finishing the marathon! Haha, no but they had a little green screen or whatever its called at the end of the race to take photos like this. :) From left to right, Banafsheh, me, My, and Jason.

It was quite tiring to do 26.2 miles on a bicycle, especially at 5 in the morning and because it was raining that day as well. But I have to say, it was a lot of fun and I was proud of myself for doing 26.2 miles on a bike, for having not been on a bike for many years and even when I did ride a bike before, I was never that into it. I can see how people can easily get into bicycling. It was also nice to just ride the bicycle around Pasadena and have the roads closed off for us and have people cheering us on! There were some cheer/water stops where the people were so enthusiastically cheering us on, but then there were other sites where the people were being boring, probably annoyed to be out in the rain themselves, so I yelled at these people as I bicycled pass them. Anyway, it was a lot of fun and maybe I'll do some kind of bicycling event after I finish this marathon.