Done. I am a proud marathoner now. It was dead tiring. My muscles/joints are still hurting as of writing but it's all worthwhile. I enjoyed the run as much as the physical pain it inflicted. It's sense of achievement at work that keeps runners coming back every year.

On the race day I woke up at 4am and drove to SF downtown not long after. I thought i was early enough to avoid the jam and parking problem but i was proven wrong by other enthusiastic runners that thronged the city. When i got to the starting line it was already 6.30am, which was exactly the starting time for the last wave. The first wave which consisted of elite or semi-pro runners started their race about an hour ago.

Glad that i wore long sleeve because the SF weather was chilly in the early morning. My regular weekday running actually helped a lot as I was doing okie for the first half, took a toilet break before entering Golden Gate bridge, and drank along every water station. Despite the hilly SF terrain that I am not used to from my regular training, I managed to hit 20 miles in roughly 4 hours. Everything after that started going downhill (pun intended). My hands felt numb while knees/legs/joints pain kicked in. Every step, literally, hurt and I could only hobble through. The last stretch of 6 miles felt like eternal and it took me almost 2 hour to finish that. The official time limit is 6 hours, mine is 5 hours 50 minutes, lucky me:) As you can see, my time/ranking is pretty crappy but considering the lack of training + steep hilly SF route, i still think it's a feat. Certainly I want to improve, when should be my next one?

As hard as it sounds, here's what written on one of the runner's shirt, "If you think running is hard, ask my mum about her chemotherapy".

I am already thinking of running a different marathon now. I am hooked!