Aurora's Blog

There was a huge delay on the BART this morning, so I arrived at the half marathon at 7:59. (The start time was 8am!)

Luckily (for me), the race started over 10 minutes late. I had time to grab my bib and drop off my bag.

As I waited at the start, I could’ve sworn I saw Endorphin Dude, but he was cape-less, and wasn’t surrounded by people taking his photos. It couldn’t be him.

I saw him later on the course. (He was on his way back from the turnaround; I was going toward it. (He was very far head of me.)) He shouted out my name, and gave me a quick hug. It was Endorphin Dude (Tony) after all!

He was going incognito to focus on only one thing – getting a PR (which he did)!

I jogged a bit in the first couple of miles, which was really fun. I looked down and saw the ground going by. There’s really something special about jogging, but I reverted to walking for a very large part of the race (trying to save myself for Ohio and some upcoming doubles).

After I switched to walking, I fell further toward the back of the pack. Those of us bringing up the caboose we’re pretty spread out.

I had a long stretch for a couple of miles where I didn’t see anyone. I was alongside of the highway (safely behind a very tall fence on a pavement path). I took advantage of that loudness and alone-ness, and sang my heart out.

I started rotating through some great musical theater songs, giving all the emotional eyes and everything as I sang along to Spelling Bee (my absolute favorite show) and more (such as Dreamgirls, Gypsy, and all that good stuff).

Before I got halfway through the race, it started to get pretty hot outside. My poor face that isn’t covered by my hat or sunglasses has been taking a brutal beating lately.

I ripped of my overshirt, pinned the bib onto the shirt I was wearing beneath it, and wrapped the shirt around my hat to block out more sun. (In case I didn’t already look crazy enough belting out showtunes, I’m sure this look screamed “there’s definitely a normal girl inside that belting shirt cocoon.”)

My cheeks are thanking me. They stayed nice and cool in the shirt cocoon.

Once I started to get toward the end of the race, people were already starting to pick up cones. I got a little confused on where I was to go, but I found my way.

At the end, there was Tony (Endorphin Dude) waiting for me!

He asked if he could give me a ride anywhere. How amazing is that? I didn’t even have to navigate the public transportation back to San Francisco. Then he asked if I wanted to have lunch somewhere.

Sure, that’d be great!

He started asking about what kind of food I wanted. I sheepishly said, “Um, I’m a vegetarian for now, ’cause I’m in this challenge. And I’m not allowed to have dairy today…”

He excitedly said, “I’m a vegetarian!”

Yay! I’m so glad I wasn’t a bother. We went to this delicious salad place.

(He even treated me to lunch. A ride to the greyhound station and a free lunch? This is first class, gold star treatment here, baby!)

We talked for a while. I loved hearing his stories about ultra-running. He’s a fun, interesting, lovely guy. It was an excellent afternoon!