Marine Corps Marathon 2011 - Go Pink!

Marine Corps Marathon is a little too large scale of a race for my personal taste, yet there always seems to be someone every year that manages to convince me to sign up for it. I decided that if I was doing it this year, it would most definitely have to be in costume because that is the only way to draw attention to yourself in such a large crowd and I missed out on being ketchup last year when Chris ran as hotdog. However, I had no intentions of actually racing this event until a stress fracture set me back a month on training and caused me to skip out on the early October marathon than I was intending to race. With my other fall marathon not until December, I felt like I needed to put my Next Step training to good use while it was fresh and race MCM.

I woke up with a bad sore throat and stuffy nose, which is never a good way to feel before a 26.2 mile run. I carpooled down to Crystal City with Bromley and Caroline and took the shuttle buses in. This worked out way better logistically than my 2009 metro experience and I even took advantage of the bathroom in the back of the bus. No lines (although the starting area was filled with so many porta-pots that lines weren't an issue at all)! With snow the day before, this was probably the coldest marathon race start I ever experienced and was thankful for the foil blanket I saved from Baltimore and brought with me because it blocked out the wind so well (thanks Chris Farmer for the tip of saving the foil blankets to use at the next race). While waiting for the race to start, so many photographers approached me to take my pre-race photo because of my crazy pink outfit and wig that I ended up turning a few down after 5 photos were taken already.

At 7:45 AM when they started the wheelchairs, I turned to my Garmin watch to lock it onto satellite, only to find that the screen was completely dead! After a few failed attempts to reset it, I began to panic. I have never run a marathon without a watch before. Even before my Garmin days, I at least had a stop watch to keep track of overall time. I considered the idea of running with the official pace group before deciding they were going to be too chatty for my personal quiet running nature. I decided I would just have to run the entire race on feel, relying on my internal pacing and whatever race clock splits were available.

I lined up in the 3:20-3:39 corral and was surprised to cross the start line only 36 seconds back from the clock. Unlike when I liked up in the 4:00 corral in 2009, there was no wall of people disrupting my pace. I ditched the foil blanket and hand warmers about 0.5 miles into the race but my hands did not stop feeling numb until mile 3. The whole first half of the race went off without a hitch. I was dead on 8:00 min pace at every mile marker where there was a marine shouting out the clock time and feeling good. I was able to jog through all the aid stations, practicing the water drinking technique Next Step taught me (who knew there was actually a skill to this?!). The crowd support was amazing and I heard some variation of "Go Pink/Pinky!," "Nice wig/outfit!," and just straight up chuckles every few feet (I only heard "Go Amanda!" once at mile 9 and knew that had to be my coworker because I told her to look out for a pink fro). I almost started feeling bad for the runners around me for having to be subjected to that, but it definitely brought a smile to my face because I didn't feel as ridiculous as I probably looked.

I passed the halfway point in a time of 1:44:46 feeling good, but then things started to go downhill from there. At mile 14, I started feeling nauseous and my mouth was dry. We were around Hains Point at this point in the race and the sun was beating down. I could feel the sweat dripping down my face and my hair was completely drenched under the pink fro. Although comfortable to run in, I didn't account for the fact that I would be sweating more and hadn't been hydrating enough. To make matters worse, there was a 3 mile stretch between miles 13 to 16 without a water stop, so I had to suffer through 2 more miles before getting any more water into my system.

When I got to mile 16, I slowed to a walk and made sure I got two full cups of water down. I continued running but didn't really start to feel better until around mile 19. By that point, my body was ready to push again but my legs were starting to feel dead. The marines at the beginning mile markers were really good about shouting out the times, but in the second half, I didn't see as many of them at the mile markers and some of them were slacking on calling out times when I passed, so I really had no idea what kind of pace I was running. Nor did I really care, I just wanted to get to the finish line safely and not be that girl in a pink fro passed out on the sideline. Since I was running in costume, I didn't have any serious time goals/expectations for this race and just wanted to have fun. I had planned to pace around a 3:35 time with my watch, but since that died on me minutes before the race, my plan B was just to run as fast as I could comfortably and see what would happen.

The 3:35 pace group passed me as we were crossing the bridge, but I honestly didn't really care cus I had already tossed all goals but to finish out the window. I was running the little out-and-back stretch in Crystal City lost in my own little world when my cousin yelled my name out from the other side of the street. I did not expect to see him at all during the race, especially only a mile behind me, but I was so proud of how strong he was looking in his first marathon. His longest run in preparation for the race had only been 12 miles but I guess he could get away with that and still kick ass being in the Naval Academy and only 21 years old.

As I was making my way through the final stretch to the finish line, the announcer called out my bib# and was asking to get a name. He then announced to the crowd "Here comes Amanda An from Ellicott City wearing all pink!" I was pumped and put my arms up in the air as the crowd cheered. I waited in line to have a marine put a medal around my neck and he joked that he wasn't sure he could get it around my big hair. The medal was the coolest one I've received from a race thus far. It was the Marine Corps logo (the eagle, anchor, and globe) with the globe part spinning and having the Iwo Jima Memorial in the back.

The post-race amenities were an improvement from 2009. They had the standard bagels and bananas but also gave out these snack kits with hummus, pretzels, trail mix, edamame, and chocolate. I didn't see too many Hoco Striders after the race, but was able to find Hai pretty easily, who unfortunately had to miss out on the race but still came out to cheer.

I finished the race in a time of 3:37:17, which was a 1 min and 31 second PR, but I felt like crap the whole second half of the race. There are certainly a lot of things that I could/would have done better, like hydrate more and pace better with a watch, but I am happy with the way I handled the circumstances. It was definitely a great experience to run such a large-scale race in costume. If I ever do it again, I definitely don't think I'd wear a costume AND race it.

I definitely look forward to the Rehoboth Marathon in December, which I will be racing more seriously (the watch better not fail me then!). It's a much smaller race field with more personal attention, amazing post-race buffet food, and hotels within walking distance of the start/finish.

Winning

MARC Train 5 Miler
Saturday, June 25, 2011

I did it! I won a race! Something I would've never dreamed possible. After all, I've never considered myself fast. But I guess you could say my recent accumulation of race prizes has proven otherwise. Either that or I'm just not in a very competitive age group.

I had originally planned to give the Dreaded Druid Hills 10K another shot after having to walk a good portion of the course last year due to still recovering from food poisoning, but after looking at previous years' winning times of 40+ minutes for the MARC Train 5 Miler, I knew I had to give this race a shot because I would at least come away with an AG prize.

Looking around at the start, I didn't see many fast women out there, but as always, I still doubted myself and started thinking that some of these women might be faster than they look. I lined up at the front of the pack and found myself in first place right off the starting line with only a handful of guys in front of me. This made me slightly uncomfortable as I've always found myself in the position of the chaser, picking out women to catch up to and pass throughout a race, and didn't want to be the chasee. I fully expected several women to catch up to me at any moment and didn't enjoy the paranoia. Throughout the first two miles, I kept hearing footsteps behind me and thought one of them was the 2nd place woman getting ready to pass me. When the person did pass me, I turned my head and directly stared him in the face. Surprised by my reaction to him passing, he asked me if I was alright and I told him, "Yeah, I was just checking to see if you were female."

This course was an out-and-back, so it was nice to be able to gauge how far back the next woman was once I made it to the turnaround point and was heading back. When I calculated that she was about a minute behind me and would probably not catch up, I lost a little motivation to keep up the pace and eased up a bit. It also didn't help that the trail trended slightly uphill on the way back because it was so subtle on the way out that I didn't even realize I was going downhill.

It was extremely encouraging to hear people still running in the other direction cheer for me and tell me that I was in 1st place. Although I knew the second place woman was pretty far behind me at the turnaround, I was still paranoid that she had caught up to me on the way back, especially since I eased up on my pace. When I crossed Rt. 170 at the traffic light, I was able to get a glimpse of whether anyone was behind me and was overcome with excitement that I was about to actually WIN a race!

I would post pictures of my winning plaque, but it is still in the process of being made at the moment. They only had one overall winner plaque made and gave it to the overall male winner and were planning to just give me an AG plaque, but when I talked to the race directors after the awards were given out, they agreed that the overall female winner was just as deserving of a nice overall plaque as the male winner and planned to have one made for me.

Greene Turtle West 5K
Sunday, June 26, 2011

Chris and I decided to make Sunday a beach day, but found a quick 5K in Ocean City that we wanted to do before hitting the beach and bumming it up for the rest of the day. Since we had a blast with my cousins on our last day trip to the beach, I asked them if they cared to join us again and didn't mind getting up early and waiting/sleeping in the car while we ran. Much to my surprise, not only did Melissa agree to go, she wanted to attempt to run her very first race and signed up with us.

After a night of bad decisions and limited sleep, we were on the road at 5 AM. We got there with 45 min to sign up, get ready, and warm up a little. The weather wasn't too hot and there was a nice breeze going through. I saw a girl with ponytail braids that looked very familiar and was trying to place where I'd seen her before. I thought that she might be the girl that beat me at Damien's with her finish line sprint, but couldn't get confirmation from neither Chris nor Hai and didn't get a chance to talk to her before the race started. She was lined up near the front and since I wanted to be the chaser and not the chasee today and Melissa was feeling a little nervous, we moved further back in the field.

We took off on the shoulder of Stephen Decatur Highway for about 1/2 mile before turning into some neighborhood streets. Chris and Hai were out of my sight in no time as well as what I thought was a handful of girls. Unlike yesterday's course, this course was completely flat, not subtly up or down at all and I found myself running closer to 7:00 min/miles than 7:30 and even saw my watch dip into 6:50 pace for a little bit. I knew I was on pace for a PR and would be able to break 23 minutes if I kept it up. After the turnaround, I set my sights on the familiar ponytail braids girl and spent the next half mile trying to catch up to her. I finally caught up and passed her around mile 2 and spent the next mile paranoid that she was on my toes. Right after turning off Stephen Decatur Highway and into the Greene Turtle parking lot where the finish line was, I spotted Chris with his camera and was preparing to give him my best ham face before realizing that ponytail braids girl was right over my shoulder and sprinting. I kicked it up a notch and sprinted to hold her off and beat her by 2 seconds. We both keeled over after crossing the finish line and were gasping for air. I complimented her on her excellent sprint at the end and she turned to me and said "You too!"

Turns out that the all-out sprint between ponytail braids girl and me at the end was a race for 3rd place female overall, so I was happy to have barely won! I later talked to her inside the Greene Turtle and found out that she was at Damien's 5K a few weeks back and after looking at some photos from that race, I was able to confirm that she was indeed the girl that beat me at the finish line. Oh, redemption feels so good!

After catching my breath and a cup of ice water, I headed back out on the course to run Melissa in. It was so much fun to be there for her for her first race. I made sure to cheer for her extra loud when I saw her after the turnaround point. I prepared her to ham for Chris with his camera at the turn into the parking lot and told her to sprint when she saw the finish line and pass as many people as she could, which she did!

We were treated to unlimited wings and beer inside the restaurant after the race (in addition to bananas and yogurt, but who cares about that?). I can say wings is pretty high up on the list of the most random things I've had post-race. Hai came in 4th male overall (1st 25-29 AG), Chris got 2nd for the 30-34 AG, and I got 3rd female overall (1st 19-24 AG). We each got a Greene Turtle pint glass as an award. They were giving out random goodie bags that contained shirts, water bottles, and other goodies. I didn't want Melissa to be left out of prizes, so I pointed to her and told the race director that she should get something for finishing her first ever race and he handed her a goodie bag. Then, slightly peeved that they only went one deep in overall prizes, which included not only the pint glass the AG winners got, but a nice tote bag, lunch bag, and gift certificate to the Greene Turtle, I was able to con the race director into giving me a goodie bag too! Yay! We all left the Greene Turtle happy and vowed to make this an annual tradition before hitting the beach and cooling off in the ocean!

Lower Potomac River Marathon - 3/13/11

The Lower Potomac River Marathon appealed to me for a few reasons. First, it takes place on a very scenic course through Piney Point and St. George's Island in southern MD, right along the Potomac River and very close to St. Mary's College. Second, the course is very flat, which would be a nice welcomed change from the hilly training routes of Howard County and other previous marathons. And finally, with a limit of only 200 participants, the race is very low-key and crowd-free, offering a lot more personalized attention and a nice sit-down hot lunch for a very reasonable price of $50.

With DST annoyingly taking place the night before the marathon and a very early race start of 7:15 AM, Chris and I opted to drive down the day before to avoid being too sleep-deprived before the race. The drive down to southern MD brought back many memories of my college days and we even dropped by St. Mary's College for a quick visit. We also got to drive the whole course the day before and know exactly what to expect for the race. We stayed at the race's host hotel, St. George's Inn & Suites, which was only a few miles from the race start and offered a very beautiful view of the sunset over the Potomac River.

I had a very conservative goal of 3:50:00 +/- 10 minutes for the marathon, confident that I could finish under 4 hours and very hopeful about breaking 3:40. With the thoughts of BQing still tearing at my heart, I knew I was only kidding myself with that goal, but I seriously wanted to convince myself that I'd be happy with a 3:50 given the circumstances of winter training. Putting in only one 20 miler, I knew I wasn't much better trained for this marathon than National last year and I definitely burned out at the end of that. I was very afraid that I would burn out by starting out at an 8:20 pace, but I also feared the opposite happening. What if I started too conservatively, felt good, and picked it up, but wasn't able to make up the time I lost by running too slowly at the beginning? Therefore, I refused to commit to attempting 3:40 and resolved to just run based on feel.

Race morning consisted of a 5:30 AM wake-up (which was really 4:30 if it hadn't been for DST). I had my usual breakfast of a Panera cinnamon crunch bagel, but also had a free shortbread cookie from getting the MyPanera rewards card. I was beginning to regret the buttery goodness of the cookie as well as my dinner choice the night before of a turkey burger and fries, but I was able to clear myself of all gastrointestinal issues before the race and didn't suffer at all during.

The race started promptly at 7:15 AM and we were off onto the small, scenic roads of Piney Point. I ran comfortably for the first mile, refusing to look at my watch until I got to the mile marker. It beeped for the first mile with a time of 8:28 and I thought to myself, "Ok, 8:28 was comfortable. I can definitely do 8:20's." Still fearing the prospect of starting out too conservatively, I wasted no time in picking it up to 8:20, especially since I was feeling good.

The first 12 miles of the course took place on 3 out and back portions. Although making U-turns was slightly annoying, it was cool to be able to see how far ahead the leaders were, especially Michael Wardian, who was wearing a Spiderman costume and trying to set the world record for fastest marathon dressed as a superhero (he looked pretty ridiculous out there, actually). The third turnaround was at the Piney Point lighthouse, which was so short and stubby that I disappointingly couldn't find it, even though I was looking out for it after driving to it yesterday and missing it.

The last portion of the course was an out and back on the shoulders of Rt. 249. I got to the halfway point with a time of 1:49 and felt good about giving myself a 1:51 window of time to break 3:40. But then the heat started kicking in, which was only exacerbated by the fact that there was hardly any shade on this portion and the morning breeze had died down. Bad memories of the end of National last year were flooding my mind and I wanted to give up and slow down so badly. I had to mentally slap myself in the face and say, "Self, you did not just endure 13.1 miles at an 8:20 pace to just give up like that! Get it together!" It didn't help that miles 15 to 18 involved a very gentle incline up. Compared to the hills that I climb on normal training runs, this was barely even a speedbump, but I definitely felt it on my overheating, fatigued body. I kept feeling like I was slowing down, only to look down at my watch and see 8:17 and below staring back at me. I might have still been running at the same pace as before, but it was definitely taking a lot more effort now. I took a Gu Roctane at mile 18 and that gave me a good jolt of energy and I stayed motivated by thinking about getting to the turnaround point and being able to run back towards the finish line.

I didn't feel much better once I turned around between miles 18 and 19, as the sun was now staring right at me and just completely draining me at that point. I was taking extra cups of water at each aid station to try to keep the dehydration at bay. At this point, I was seriously starting to notice the slantedness of the shoulder lanes and how it was messing up my gait, especially since there was a wrinkle in one of my socks and I could feel the bottom of my foot blistering from it. I contemplated stopping and fixing the wrinkle, but ultimately decided that (1) if I took my shoe off at this point, I wouldn't be able to get it back on and (2) there really was no sense in trying to fix the wrinkle when the blister was already formed. The only thing that kept me motivated to run at a fast pace now was knowing that if I put time in the bank now, I would take a lot of pressure off myself for the final miles and give myself a comfortable window of time to slow my pace down and still get a BQ. I also distracted myself with looking for Chris coming up the other side of the road. I saw him shortly before hitting the 20 mile mark and heard him yell "You rock!" from across the street.

Although I felt like dying at this point, I was beginning to feel more and more confident that I'd be able to break 3:40 at this point and was still passing people. As I ran past one lady, she remarked, "Okay, you're allowed to pass me because you're younger!" Once I had only 5K left to go, I slowed my pace down for miles 24 and 25 in order to finish strong. I caught up to a woman that was way ahead of me at the beginning of the race with about 3/4 of a mile left to go and she asked me if I was trying to BQ and whether this was my first attempt. I told her "Yes" and that "I'm dying right now" and she encouraged me with a "You got it in the bag already," told me about her two already successful BQ attempts, and pushed me for a little while before running ahead. Soon after, I saw Karsten (who finished in 2nd place) out on the course taking pics, but had no ham energy to do anything silly. My watch clicked 26.2 miles at the 26 mile marker and I was severely annoyed that I still had to run an extra .2 miles before finishing (everyone else's watches seemed to measure long as well). For once in my life, I really did put everything I had out on the course and didn't even have a sprint left in me for the finish line. Either that or there was no one to really chase since the person in front of me and behind me were too far away. I clocked in an official time of 3:38:48.

All of the runners and volunteers were very friendly and supportive at this race. The one woman who had encouraged me at the end and several other runners that I had passed in the final mile congratulated me on a very strong race. After rehydrating with several cups of ice cold water, I walked back out onto the course to cheer for Chris. We were then treated to very refreshing showers and hot buffet lunches in the Paul Hall Center. They had the awards ceremony during the luncheon, where I was presented with the 2nd place award for the female 20-29 age group.

24 Candles

Standard birthday candles come in boxes of 24 count. As a child, I remember counting out 7 candles to put on my cake for my 7th birthday, 8 for my 8th birthday, 9 for my 9th, and so on. And I remember thinking what happens when you turn 25? You will need TWO boxes of candles to have enough candles for your cake! (Of course, this was before I realized that people stop putting the amount of candles that equals your age on your cake or use number candles when you get to a certain age). For as long as I could count, I've had one very specific wish for my 24th birthday: to blow out a full box of standard birthday candles because it will be the last time I will be only one box's worth of candles in age. I am so random! =)

Rehoboth Half Marathon - 12/11/10

The Rehoboth Half Marathon was my planned comeback race from injury. After hobbling through several pre-registered races in October, I withdrew from Stone Mill 50 and took the month of November off to fully recover from my calf strain. Towards the end of the month, I slowly started inching my way back into running with the HCS Weekly races and MCRRC's Turkey Burnoff. Although the calf feels completely healed, I have been running cautiously, especially because of shin splints, something I've battled on-and-off ever since I started running. Even though I've been cross-training with swimming and the elliptical, I felt extremely out of running-shape (running in cold air probably made it worse) and struggled to hold 9:00 min paces at these low-key races. Since the Army 10 Miler was my last double-digit mile run and my weekly mileage for the last 2 months was anywhere between 0-14.2 miles, I expected to barely make it in under 2 hours, if even that.

I was extremely excited about going to Rehoboth Beach in December because I have always wanted to go to the beach in the wintertime. Being the beach lover that I am, I've always been curious to see what the beach town looks like in the offseason. To my delight, the boardwalk and Rehoboth Ave. were strewn in beach-themed Christmas lights. The town was completely dead, save for the runners there to race that weekend. I ran onto the sand and jumped up and down yelling "I'm on the beach in December!" and would've run out to touch the water if I thought that I could ever get the sand out of my furry shoes. Practically all the stores were closed, but at least the one chocolate shop with the most amazing hot chocolate I've ever had was open.

Our hotel room was super nice with the most amazingly supersoft sheets I've ever slept on, a cozy little fireplace, and a jacuzzi tub. The deluxe club suites were on a private floor with a special lounge full of free snacks and refreshments! Even better, the hotel was pretty conscious of the fact that the only reason you'd be there this weekend was for the race and prepared a special early 5:30 AM breakfast for runners consisting of bagels and fruit and yogurt.

The start and finish area was a very short walk from our hotel, which was so convenient to not have to worry about driving and parking, especially since we were planning to partake in the free beer after the race. I started out the race at a conservative 8:50-9:00 pace, fearing that I might crash and burn by mile 10, since I hadn't run anything longer than a 10K in over 6 weeks. The first few miles took us through the Henlopen area, which made me reminisce about the annual camping trips my cousins and I used to take there. The course was so pancake flat that I was able to effortlessly pick it up to 8:30-8:40 pace for miles 5 through 6. As I was nearing the halfway point, I felt energized and confident that I could run another 6.5 miles at an even faster pace and picked it up to 8:10-8:20s. As I zoomed past runners, I felt so excited to be running again and running fast too! I was so surprised at how effortless it felt and was even thinking to myself, "I'm running at BQ pace!" I guess I didn't completely lose all that I had worked for in the my month hiatus from running. Chris was cheering me on a few hundred feet away from the finish line and I got the adrenaline boost to chase down a lady in front of me and even caught another guy while I was sprinting.

I finished in 1:51:46, which is a new PR for me. I wish I had started out a little less conservatively because I could've easily been under 1:50 with the pace I was running for the second half. When I realized I had to keep under 7:30's for the last 2.1 miles to make it under 1:50, I mentally pulled the chute. I still wanted to stay under 1:52 to make it a true PR, since that was my half split for a marathon and probably backed off a little too much because I had to haul ass at the very end to make sure I beat that time.

One of my favorite parts of the day was being able to walk back to our hotel and clean up before partaking in post-race festivities, which was a major plus considering the post-race party was worth sticking around for. It was so nice not to feel sticky and smelly or shiver with cold sweat-soaked clothes. And since our marathon friends wouldn't be coming in for another couple hours, we took our time and even turned on the jacuzzi tub to pamper ourselves. Chris had done this race last year as part of his 50 half marathon quest and kept raving about how great the post-race party was and they definitely didn't fail to impress this year. The food was amazing! None of the standard cold bagels and bananas. There was endless helpings of BBQ pulled pork, mac n cheese, sausage patties, veggie burgers, salad, pancakes with tons of fruit toppings, and all-you-can-drink beer. The mac n cheese was to die for and I love pulled pork sandwiches and this is only the second race I've seen offer them (Pike's Peek is the other). I probably ate more calories than I had just burned. And all of this was in a nice enclosed heated tent (that was too hot that they had to turn some heaters off) and non-runners could pay $15 to get into for free food and beer.

Another highlight of this trip was not having to hit the road and head back home right away since we stayed an extra night. Chris and I partied all morning long, got drunk before noon, passed out, and then I even got to subject him to tax-free outlet shopping that evening! =)

A Tribute to Dia Oi

I've been an emotional train wreck for the past few weeks. Things have just unfolded so quickly that I've barely had the chance to catch my breath and come to terms with reality. I've had such a hard time with this that I thought, although this is something extremely personal, maybe openly writing down my memories about how much my aunt meant to me and getting my feelings out might help me deal with this loss. This post is dedicated to Dia Oi:

From the moment I was born, I was put in the care of Dia Oi as my parents worked long and hard hours to make ends meet. Even when I started school, I was there before and after school and all throughout the summer. I remember all the times I spent with my cousins there and how the basement was converted into a playroom for us. I remember how my sister and I used to steal the Disney band-aids from her upstairs bathroom and she would never say anything and just buy us more. And of course, I will never forget our trips to the Dorsey's Search Village Center across the street. I loved when she took us to Giant to buy a French baguette because she would always let me buy my favorite candy bar and sometimes gave me coins for the toy machines. I particularly remember one time when she babysat my cousins Amy, Nancy, and Sandy and saw how much we were enjoying the 10 cent bouncy balls and exchanged several more dollars to let us get more and didn't even yell at us when we bounced them all over her house. Other times, she would take us to Party! Party! Party! or the ever-changing fast-food joint at the end of the village center, which changed from Hardee's to Roy Rogers to McDonald's through the course of my childhood. Even with her limited English, she was never afraid to take us out. She'd even shake her head at the cashier to tell them they miscalculated her change at Giant and figured out the Howard County Transit bus system, so she could find her own means to go to the Columbia Mall. I remember randomly running into her at the mall a couple times and wondering how the heck she got herself there because I sure as hell didn't know how to use the Howard County Transit (and still don't)!

As we got older and no longer needed babysitting, Dia Oi would keep in touch with us by occasionally inviting us out to eat at places like Pizza Hut, Bertucci's, Olive Garden, Cheesecake Factory, and sushi. She didn't even like those places and hardly ever ate anything there but never complained because she just wanted to spend time with us. Often times, she didn't even say much and just sat back and watched us cousins converse with each other. Dia Oi was a woman of few words, but don't ever let that fool you. It may have looked like she wasn’t engaged in the conversation, but that’s because she was too busy observing. She had an amazing memory and always knew what everyone liked to eat and drink at any restaurant.

Over the last few years, my mom started inviting her and Dia My over for dinner on Sundays and/or Mondays. I remember coming home from work and seeing her Old Navy flip flops at the door and smiling as I walked inside. She knew that my sister, dad, and I liked to drink diet soda and often came with a can for each of us. It was her attention to detail and all the little things she did that meant so much and were so special to me. And I knew quite a bit about Dia Oi myself. I knew she always wanted the right side back seat of the car, which is also my favorite spot. Whenever we picked Dia Oi up to go somewhere, I always joked with my parents that "Awww man, I had to give up my spot but would only willingly give it up for her because I would do anything for Dia Oi." I always thought it was odd how enthusiastic and willing I was to pick her up and take her home from anywhere. But now that I think of it, there are very few people in this world that you can say have never once pissed you off. I can say that about Dia Oi because she has never been anything but caring and loving towards me. I always felt a special sort of bond with her that no one in the world could ever replace. She was my second mother.

This summer, I was lucky to be able to spend a lot of quality one-on-one time with her, as I worked part-time for a brief period and helped my mom and aunts out by taking her to a few doctor appointments. I remember one specific time when my mom had her own doctor appointment and we were waiting for her to finish, so we could meet up for lunch. She asked me to take her to Walmart to waste time, specifically requesting the Ellicott City location even though we were in Catonsville at the time because the Catonsville one was no good according to her. As soon as we got inside, she told me to look around wherever I wanted and that she'd find me later. I decided to buy another pair of leggings and when she came back to me with two packages of Ramen, she grabbed the leggings and insisted on buying them for me. I briefly fought her for a moment but gave in to her, knowing it made her happy to be able to do something for me. She then proceeded to ask me why I was buying such tight, ugly pants, to which I tried to explain the concept of leggings to her. She still didn't understand my fashion sense and just shoved money in my hand and told me to get her chicken McNuggets, one of her favorite foods. Later that day, when she was leaving my house to go home, she pulled the crinkled Walmart receipt out of her pocket and handed it to me, saying in Vietnamese, "Here. In case the pants are too tight."

Seeing her deteriorating health condition over the recent months has been one of the hardest things I've ever had to endure, especially when she was hospitalized. Her mind was still as sharp as ever, casually asking me if I had worked today every time I came in to visit her. Us kids would joke with her, asking her when she was going to take us to Pizza Hut and she would just honestly answer that she wasn't healthy enough. Her body was failing her in every way possible and I felt so helpless. I found myself just wanting to spend more and more time with her. We didn't exchange many words, but I felt so comfortable just sitting there and being with her. I fell into a routine of work, hospital, and sleep. I dragged myself to work everyday wanting nothing more than to leave and be by her side. I had such a hard time pulling myself from the hospital room, scared that every time I said bye to her, it would be the last time I'd see her. I held my breath every time I answered the phone from my mom or aunts. I tried very hard to hold it together when I was with her because I knew it would make her sad to see me crying over her. But I cried myself to sleep every night, knowing I was losing her to that evil "c" word and wondering why she doesn't get to live another 20 years into her 80's like both of my grandmothers. She always hated taking pictures and would swat us kids away when we tried to snap a pic with her. In February at Vi's going away party, a few of my cousins and I subjected her to photos and for once, she complied. It kills me to look at those photos and know it was only 8 short months ago. Even passing the hospital yesterday brought on an outburst of tears. All I wanna do is sit by her side again.

My cousin put into words so well something I've been feeling all along: "Even though Dia Oi and I never said 'I love you,' we knew that when we said goodbye to each other, that 'goodbye' really meant 'I love you.'" When everyone got a chance to say their final goobyes to Dia Oi before they took her away, most of them brought up a couple memories or thanked her for her presence in their lives. All I could muster was "Bye Dia Oi."

Dia Oi, I love and miss you so much! You mean the world over to me.

Steamtown Marathon - 10/10/10

Pre-Marathon:

I was pretty excited about running the Steamtown Marathon in Scranton, PA this year because: 1) it was going to be my first marathon away from home that I had to stay over for; 2) most of my XMP pace group was also running it; and 3) the course was mostly downhill and flat, which would make it easier to qualify for Boston. However, I faced a major setback in my training in late August that caused me to scrap all plans of potentially BQing at any race this fall. A calf strain caused me to take the better half of September off and run really easy for all of the races I participated in. October was here before I knew it and I didn't really know what to expect of my still-recovering leg.

Hai, Chris, and I left on Saturday morning for the 4-hour drive to Scranton. We arrived at the expo and picked up our race packets. Nothing too exciting there, but I am glad that races are giving away less and less junk these days because I always chuck everything after a quick sift through for useful coupons or try to convince my dad that he could really use another free cup, fan, frisbee, pen, etc. Next, we checked into the Holiday Inn, a decent hotel except for the fact that they made us wait over an hour for our room and didn't give us towels until after 8 pm. I did, however, enjoy the ginormous jacuzzi.

We had planned to carb-load at Olive Garden, but after driving by and seeing over 50 people crowd the front door and realizing that every other marathoner had the same idea in mind, we opted for TGI Fridays down the street instead. No wait and we still got pasta!

Race Day:

I had a good night's rest but was tossing and turning by 3 AM. We got up at 4:30 AM, had our Panera bagels that we bought the night before, and was out the door by 5:15 AM. We boarded the buses at the finish line that shuttled us 45 minutes up to the starting line. It was 31 degrees at the time, but luckily we got to wait inside a high school until the start time. I can honestly say I have never seen such enthusiastic teenagers at 6:30 AM in my life. These kids were running around offering us water, directing us to bathrooms, chanting "Go Runners!" If there was one thing this race definitely had down, it was the volunteer support. Advertising 3000 volunteers for a race field limited to 2500 runners, there was never a moment before, throughout, or after the race that you couldn't find aid if needed. The aid stations were also very well-organized, so that there was not a lot of congestion and it was very clear where to go for gatorade vs. water.

After meeting up with friends in the school gymnasium, we all shuffled out into the cold, brisk air to the starting line. A very loud cannon fired to signal the race start and we were off. I used mile 1 to gauge how much I would be able to push it today. The answer was "not very much" and I spent the next 25.2 miles holding on for dear life.

If there's one thing I learned at Steamtown, it's to never take the diffculty of a race for granted, no matter how experienced you are. This was by far the most physically and mentally draining marathon I have ever ran, more so than even my first marathon. I kept a slow and comfortable pace to save my still-recovering calf, but it was mentally draining to not be able to push at maximum effort because of the pain that it would induce. After many months of hard training, I no doubt had the energy and fitness level to complete the race, just not the legs. I spent most of the race thinking "I hate you legs, especially you left calf!" I felt even more discouraged later on in the race when the rest of my perfectly functioning muscles began to fatigue and become sore. With 4 marathons already in the books, I was still surprised at mile 20 with the realization that "Holy $#@%! Marathons hurt!"

When time isn't so much a factor, I end up paying a lot more attention to my surroundings, using anything to distract me from the physical and mental pain that I am enduring. Usually, I don't pay too much attention to the crowds because rarely is there ever anyone there that is personally cheering me on, but today I did. And I can honestly say that their enthusiasm actually helped boost my morale. While most people held personal posters cheering on their loved ones, there were a few funny ones. My favorite was "Runners have balls, everyone else just plays with them!" Other good ones included "Keep it up! (That's what she said!)," "Chuck Norris never ran a marathon," and "Beat Oprah's time!" Early on in the race, there was an old man standing off to the side of the road playing some funky music. He looked so out of place, but I have a soft spot for old people and couldn't help but smile. When I passed him and he asked me how the music was, I gave him a huge thumbs-up just to make his day.

When I wasn't using the crowd to distract me, I had to give myself a mental pep talk to push through the pain. This wasn't like National Marathon where the miles were just clicking off without me realizing it. I paid attention to every mile, every half-mile, every 1/10th of a mile. I knew I couldn't look at the big picture and just had to get through my current mile. At the JFK 50, counting down to my next walking break or the next aid station worked to get me through each mile. So today, I convinced myself to get to mile 16, so that I could start counting single digit miles down. After I passed the 16 mile marker, I convinced myself to push to 18 and then there'd only be 2 more miles to the big 20. When I hit 20 and was mentally drained by the thought of another 10K (1+ hour of running), I kept telling myself that it's better to have 20 miles behind and 6.2 miles in front than the other way around. I finally made it to "Heartbreak Hill" and down the final stretch to the finish line, clocking in a time of 4:29:16.

Although this is my personal worst marathon time so far, I was proud of my mental resilience. There were so many points in the race that I just felt defeated and wanted to cry because my physical condition was holding me back, but I kept my composure, put on a smile, and pushed through. The other bright side to this marathon experience is that I didn't experience any stomach issues throughout the duration of the race and think I've finally figured out how to fuel myself properly for a marathon.