In my early years of running, the joke was, when you get old and slow, you run ultras and buy Hokas! Well, I for sure ain’t old! And I still got a bit of speed on me still! And Hokas just don’t work for me. So the marathon is where I capped the distance at.

For years, a good ultra buddy of mine and I had this long standing stalemate that we mutually agreed upon. “When you do a tri, I’ll do an ultra.” A gentlemen’s agreement that has stood for about a decade. There we stood, line in the sand, that neither of us would cross.

Until one of us did. I signed up for the Noble Canyon 50K back in May. Equal parts giving in to peer pressure, listening to my mentors to do the scary thing, curiosity in understanding the runner’s POV compared to just coaching it on the sidelines. I always said if I were to do a 50K, Noble Canyon would be it. It also fell on the same day as my birthday. I figured the stars aligned to make this the year to make it happen. So I plunked down my money and put my training plan together.

Sixteen weeks later, here we are stumbling in the dark through the pot hole filled field to pick up my bib.

I had been wanting to run the Oakland Marathon since the first one 15 years ago, so when the calendar finally cleared way for it, I jumped at the chance and signed up. Having lived in the Town (as it’s affectionately called) in my 20s, it’s got a special place in my heart.

Going into the race, I knew I would be able to put out a solid effort just based on my overall fitness, but I didn’t have no real expectations. Besides, with it being my first time doing this race, I don’t have any history with it. Luckily, I got a chance to ride the bike route once a few weeks prior. It felt comfortably hard and not as bad as I thought. I’ve ran the run course dozens of times prior so I know that part very well. And for the swim, with it being in a harbor, I knew it would at least be calm waters early in the morning and the water temp will be whatever the water temp wants to be.

We’ll deal with what we got, put our best foot forward and give it all we got! I know it’s not gonna be a great race – I hadn’t ran more than three miles in the past two weeks. Lungs felt somewhat heavy with a suppressed dry cough. Body felt weak. As I get to the top of the hill around mile three, turn right and head toward the beach, I finally know how this race is gonna go. And it’s not gonna be pretty.