Beep beep beep. 5 am came quickly. Outside I could hear racers arriving on their scooters and milling about. I had slept in my race clothes, anticipating that the single bathroom at the hostel would be occupied. I drank some water, ate a banana and hard-boiled egg, and prepared my shirt number and shoe chip.
Around six we headed to the race site. On a large stage, young women in color-coded jumpsuits conducted warm-ups choreographed to pop music. Thousands of runners stretched around us. As the starting time drew near, a drum line started pounding bongoes. My heart felt like it was beating along with them as we crowded into the starting area. Suddenly, we were off!
The first mile took us through a tunnel inside a mountain; on the other side the beach and cool ocean breeze greeted us. Groups of cheerleaders in neon outfits with rattles were stationed along the route shouting "Jai-you, jai-you!" (You can do it! Keep going!) The runners around us were encouraging, too. I think we were a bit of a novelty...two curly-haired white girls running in a sea of Asians. One man asked to take our picture as we ran, and many asked where we were from.
The first 9-10 miles felt good, even with the gently sloping hills. After that, it started to get tough. I felt tired and tempted to slow down. But the steady sound of pounding feet and Beth's encouragement kept me going. We looked forward to the water stations and wet sponges we could squeeze over our heads.
During the last mile, as we ran through a dark tunnel, Beth and I couldn't help but wonder if this would be what the end of our lives would be like. Pressing on, through the pain and exhaustion...pounding through that dark tunnel, with the hope of the bright light and finish line around the last bend.
We had made it in 2 hours and 2 minutes! We couldn't stop smiling.
Our husbands cheered and greeted us with big hugs of congratulations.
We felt great. We had trained hard and finished well--together.
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