Eduardo's Half Marathon Recap

On the day of the half-marathon I felt ready as I would ever be. I am not going to lie I did get really nervous an hour before the race, but I began to stretch and work out the kinks relatively quickly. When it was time for all the runners to report the starting line, I was not expecting there to be so many people. The sea of people stretched down the block and then I heard the number of people participating: 4500. I was exactly in the middle of this sea of people and once the horn blew and the confetti cannon went off Don and I began running.

It was really weird running down empty streets and for the first mile all I could hear was the footsteps of the thousands of runners. The first two miles were probably the most hectic and the most tiring. By the time I reached mile four I was already in the rhythm of running and there was no stopping. By the time I reached the last three miles around Lake Merritt I was ready to just get to the finish line. Even though I was tired and feeling like I was going to die, Don kept me motivated and pushed me to make sure that I made it in time for my goal of 1 hour and 45 minutes. Once we hit mile eleven we stated to speed up. Those last mile was a push and the realization that all of my hard work was coming to an end set in.

Once I saw the finish line over the last hill, I began to sprint. During that last sprint to the finish line I felt like I was going to throw up, but as I passed the arch and finished, the feeling was like no other. At the finish line I thanked Don for all his help and was then congratulated by the two people in charge of RBO, Tod and Lesley. They told me that of all the RBO runners I was the fifth to finish out of the entire group. I later found out that I finished under my goal of 1 hour and 45 minutes and also placed third in the group of males 16-19. After that I received my medal and got myself some coconut water. I heard that there was a chiropractor at the RBO tent giving out free massages and I did not hesitate to have my legs massaged.

     

This whole experience running for RBO and for St. Liz has been one of the greatest in my high school experience! I never really expected that I would be running a half marathon or anything above six miles at this point in my life. I know after this I am sure that I will continue running and maybe some day in the near future I will be running a full marathon.