The Marathon of Life?

"Life ain't a track meet, it's a marathon." Surely when Ice Cube sang those immortal words back on 1999's 'You Can Do It', he was dwelling on the accomplishments of the Greek runner Pheidippides, who allegedly ran the full distance of 26.2 miles from the battle of Marathon to Athens to tell the Athenians about their victory over the Persians. Surely that's what Ice was thinking. He was also surely thinking about the fact that Pheidippides died upon delivering the news. How lovely. Well, regardless of what Ice was thinking, I myself have been thinking a lot and I've determined my time in Saudi felt a lot like a sprint. Going from job to job, rig to rig, remote desert location to remote desert location, and then traveling to this country, that country, and the other country during my days off. It was nothing but hectic and draining. Luckily, now I've had some time to slow down a bit, dwell on what I've learned, and plan for my next move.

I also realized that there aren't many people who are afforded the luxury of time to do literally whatever the hell they want. We tend to get caught up in whatever jobs and challenges and stresses we're in at the moment and many people far too infrequently stop and smell the roses. Well, let's just say I'm finally smelling. I'd read that some of the things people regret when they look back at their lives are never learning a language, never playing an instrument, not traveling when they had the opportunity, working too hard, and failing to take care of themselves and their health. I am determined to avoid such a painful fate and I'll try to lead a satisfying and interesting life. That doesn't stop just because my future has become a lot less certain. Therefore I decided I would push myself in the interim to brush up on some things that had been lacking in my life.

Habla espanol?

I've now traveled to 5 Spanish-speaking countries in the past 5 years and in each of them, I realized it would be so much better if I spoke a little bit of the language. I took classes when I was about 10 years old, so I remember that leche means 'milk' and bano means 'bathroom' (not that there's a connection between those two things), but outside of that, I'd forgotten just about everything. Latin classes in high school gave me at least a little baseline Romance language knowledge, but once again, the finer points of Spanish still eluded me.

After some internet searching, I found a class that suited my very-open schedule. A nice woman from Chile teaches classes 5 days a week at her home here in Brisbane. Our 'Level 2' class met once a week for a couple hours. I was a little nervous going in, since I still didn't fully feel 'involved' in Australian society, probably because I wasn't working. However, everyone in the class was very friendly. There were never more than 5 or 6 other students at any one class, but the most consistent attendees were a retired grandmother who loves to travel and an Australian art student who loves Penelope Cruz. We got along pretty well and our teacher Patricia made every class friendly, fun, and functional. I even decided to continue to the 'intermediate' class for the remainder of the year. It brought back a lot of my old Spanish knowledge and now I'm definitely building up my knowledge,  although not nearly to the point of fluency. I can pick up about half of what is said when native-speakers have conversations, and the other half gets lost just in the speed of delivery and my limited vocabulary. I don't think I ever got more than about 25% of what was said when Arabic guys would have full conversations in Arabic, so my Spanish is officially better than my Arabic.

AP and I still have some destinations in the Spanish-speaking world on our list of must-see places, so hopefully these classes will help me communicate more effectively on those trips.

'Modern-Day Mozart'

...is how no one described me ever. However, I've always loved classical music and the piano, much like Spanish, was something I'd practiced as a youth. I eventually lost the motivation to play, but with time on my hands, I figured I might as well get back into music as well. I poked around on Gumtree, which is the Australian version of Craigslist, and located a decent keyboard at a pretty good price, so I pulled the trigger. I also hunted down as much sheet music as I could find, which turns out, is not so easily found in Brisbane. However, during my search I went into an audio shop and asked the guy if he sold sheet music. Unfortunately, he said he didn't, but the customer he was serving said she was never able to find much sheet music in Brisbane, but she'd ordered a bunch from an online seller based in Sydney. She gave me the contact info and a week later, the books I'd ordered showed up. Plenty of Pachelbel, Adele, and Pink. Don't ask. It's amazing the decompression that takes place when you play instruments. I find it relaxing and pretty damn fun. Luckily for AP, I got headphones and I only practice when she's at work, so she doesn't have to endure my numerous mistakes.

The Running Man

Well, having checked the language and music boxes, the last thing I wanted to do was make sure I got myself in serious shape. I figured it was probably best to challenge myself physically and do something that was both affordable (no income for 2 years) and fun. I had originally considered going down to Argentina to climb Aconcagua, but that would've set me back a pretty penny. Recently it seemed that a lot of my friends and family had gotten into distance running, and a part of me was pretty curious. It's relatively cheap (shoes notwithstanding), the Brisbane weather in the winter is perfect for training, I had a bunch of time, and it would force me to be pretty healthy. So I threw my hat into the ring.

I took the official plunge by signing up for the Sunshine Coast Half Marathon in August and the Melbourne Marathon in October. They fit pretty well into the schedule that I'd worked out, which was influenced heavily by one of my buddies who'd run a marathon a few months before. I'd never really run much more than a 5k in my whole life, so the prospect of somehow punching out 26.2 miles (42.2km) was very intimidating. I started reading about proper diet and proper gear and proper stretching and eventually developed strategies through a sort of trial and error. Legs feeling too sore? Stretch immediately after running, not after a long cool-down. Joints aching? Take magnesium supplements. Getting too hungry during training? Eat enough carbs before and during the runs, and eat enough protein after for recovery. Getting blisters on your feet? Get padded socks and rub vaseline on your feet. Nipple-chafing? Vaseline 'em.

The training got pretty hard pretty quickly for me, but every week, slowly but surely, my distances were increasing and becoming enjoyable. Brisbane has some awesome paths along the Brisbane River that go for pretty significant distances and I could map out my runs before to get an idea of where I would be going. I got briefly inspired to train barefoot after reading 'Born To Run,' but eventually just settled on one of the other themes from the book; people run the best when they are enjoying it the most. I consciously tried to smile as much as possible while training and just enjoy the music and the scenery. I think it paid off in the Half Marathon as I finished ahead of my goals.

The whole weekend was a blast, with the race taking place around and between the beachside towns of Malooloolaba and Maroochydore, about 90 minutes north of Brisbane. The route was extremely flat and I'd loaded up on some carbs with a heavy Asian feast the night before. I was definitely nervous, but the race environment was very energetic and upbeat and it gave me a good vibe. After AP and I watched the marathoners take off, I hustled over to the starting area. I even accidentally stepped on a guy's ankles right before the race and he just kinda laughed and told me 'Don't worry, I won't be needing those.' That put me in a good mood. Once the gun went off, a mass of people started plunging ahead. It was really difficult early to get any separation, simply because there were so many bodies. After probably 3 or 4 miles, the participants started spacing out a little and I found my groove. AP cheered me on at mile 5, which gave me a bit of a mental boost. I stuck with a few people for the next few miles before I started trying to pass people on the final 3 miles. I was still feeling pretty good and eventually came upon a guy running the whole marathon carrying an enormous American flag. I think it was for the Wounded Warriors, but whatever his motivation was, it proved intensely motivating for me. I more or less sprinted for the last kilometer and I'm sure it shaved a minute off my time. I beat my goal by a couple minutes and I was still feeling good afterwards, if not tired. AP even captured my hard charge at the end.

Finishing strong!

Got a medal....and a towel.....

It was a very cool experience and I found it to be a very manageable distance, considering I'd trained for just a little over two months. AP and I even saw the winner of the full marathon crossing the finish line. He was an Ethiopian guy who had previously won the Brisbane Marathon and then annihilated the field at the Sunshine Coast with a time of 2 hours and 18 minutes. I was seriously impressed, especially considering he crossed the finish line barely breaking a sweat.

For me, the training only got more difficult however, as my weekly 'long runs' jumped up from 12 miles to 18 to 14 to 20 miles before then tapering down before the big race. I went back to the US for a couple weeks to see the fam and did some of these long runs around Manhattan, suburban Detroit, and back in SF. The hills of East Bay in SF were particularly not fun. The trip home was pretty awesome as well, as I got to see AP's cousin get married in Central Park in NYC and my uncle finally get married in Ann Arbor. I was able to squeeze as much family time in as possible and got to catch up with old friends and cousins who I hadn't seen in ages.

Upon my return to Brisbane, I continued my tapering down by running 12 and 8 mile 'long runs' on the weekends and doing shorter stuff during the week. I also noticed that my carb and protein loading added at least 2kg to my overall weight, which I was hoping I could simply shed on marathon day itself. My general strategy, which I stole from a guy who trained the British Olympic running team, was to protein load for 7 days and then switch to carb-loading for the final 3 days before the race. The protein would help with recovery during the week and the carbs would essentially hang out in my system in the form of glycogen until they were needed. And oh boy were they needed when the race finally came.

AP and I flew down to Melbs on the Saturday before the race and wandered over to the Melbourne Cricket Grounds (MCG), where the race would finish the next day. MCG is the biggest and most famous sports stadium in Australia, so finishing a marathon there would sort of be like finishing in Yankee Stadium or the Rose Bowl. Just a quintessential cathedral of Australian sporting history. We walked the grounds a bit and got our registration packs, which included adorable backpacks with visors and t-shirts. We tried to soak in as much of the vibe as possible and I know AP started to get psyched for her 10K as well. We trudged around town and found a nice little lunch spot in the Southbank area of Melbourne on the Yarra River. Beers and burgers later, and we headed back to the shopping district and hunted for good deals on suits. I've noticed that my body type is strangely un-American and the suits back home always end up being way too large on me. Luckily, there's a few Australian brands that I've come to realize actually fit me and look good, so we sought sales on these suits. Naturally I found nothing and continued my streak as the 'worst shopper ever.'

That final night before the race we needed to carb-load one last time, so we met up for Italian food with a friend of AP's and mine who we actually met all the way back in Peru. She and her friends were running the half-marathon dressed in 'Where's Waldo' costumes (actually called 'Where's Wally' in Australia). It was pretty nice catching up with her because I hadn't seen her since Peru and she was one of the 3 or 4 people I got close to.

Yarra River

The second consecutive night of pasta left me completely stuffed and AP and I retreated back to the hotel to try to sleep. This proved quite elusive. The hotel we were staying at actually had a night club in it and despite sleeping 4 floors above it, I couldn't avoid the pulsing sounds and vibrations it produced. The techno rang in my ears as it coursed through the building's skeleton into my pillow. My plan was to sleep from 10pm until 5am, which inconveniently were the exact times that the club got going. I think I might've slept for approximately 45 minutes the entire night. The only reason I think I even slept that much is because I sort of came to around 4:45 and realized I'd just dreamed about finding the owner of the club and beating him mercilessly in front of his staff. I really should've just read the damn reviews online before booking. That certainly explained the lower prices!

Anyway, when I finally got over (or at least tried to get over) how angry I was, I started doing a full stretching session, not unlike my pre-half marathon routine. I smashed a Berocca and one of the little GU running gels as AP reluctantly woke up and got into running gear. I think I probably short-changed my stretching and I know the lack of sleep was probably pretty unhealthy before a big race, but it was too late for any drastic changes to my preparation. We finally zipped up our hoodies and got walking over to MCG at the pre-dawn hour of 6am and we ran into another girl running her first marathon. We all slowly started seeing everyone in their little red race backpacks emerging from the nooks and crannies of the city, including a few people jogging over, no doubt to get the juices going, but AP and I were thinking we shouldn't waste any energy.

We wandered around Batman Street (really!) as we found where the race was set to begin. People were already gathering and stretching and hydrating. It was pretty exciting! Although of course I didn't do my research and found that the place where I was supposed to leave my hoodie was at least a 10 minute walk away and the race was to start in 15 minutes! Thankfully AP supported me and took my hoodie to put with hers, although she missed watching me take off on the full race. I finally got settled into the starting block, eyeing one of the 3hours-45minute pacers that were around. The announcer came on and we had a rendition of the Australian National Anthem playing. It was actually an awesome experience, since that was certainly the first 'sporting' event in which I'd participated in another country.  I definitely felt a little more Aussie.

Sleepless and still excited 

We're fucking ready! 

And with one mighty flash of a gun, all of us participants, with our countless hours and miles of preparation, gallons of sweat, probably a little blood and tears were off. I did the math and apparently I ran about 480 miles in my 4 months of training, which, according to Google Maps, is almost like running from Ann Arbor to St. Louis. In other words, far. The first few kilometers of the race were definitely very crowded, but I was feeling strong. The route took us through some of the botanical gardens west of the MCG and we slowly started being less shoulder-to-shoulder than we were at the start. My game plan was to get a drink at every station and to eat a little carb-heavy GU pack every 45 minutes for the first hour and a half and then to go every 30 minutes from there until the finish, since that's when the body typically runs low on the precious glycogen that carbs provide. I had my race playlist going strong and I finally noticed that the 3:45 pacer had caught up to me after about 10km, which means my pace was slowing to his. I therefore tried to stick with him for the remainder of the race. We kept trucking through the main roads of Melbourne, not breaking into massive sweats thankfully. Since we started at 7am, the weather was actually perfect for running. The forecast called for a high of 22C (71F), but during the race it probably didn't get higher than 16 or 17 (60-61F) with clouds. It was pretty ideal actually.

From about kilometer 12 to 29, our route took us down along the water through St Kilda, where it was noticeably cooler, but also windier. We slowly approached the half-way point (21.1km) and I was just a few meters behind my 3:45 pacer. It was around that time that I noticed a funny tension slowly building in my right hip. During the course of my training I'd experienced most types of pain - soreness, ankle pain, blisters, fatigue, knee pain, hamstring tightness, twitchy calves, chafed nipples, sunburns - but never anything in my hips. It was really strange, but I figured I could just keep running through it, try to perfect my form a bit, and it would correct itself. Once '99 Problems' came on my playlist, I thought I could subdue the feeling by singing 'I got 99 problems but my hip ain't one.' However, the more I ran down by the water, the more that tension built up into full-fledged pain. My entire upper body and my left leg were both feeling fine, but my right hip was on fire. Every step was getting more and more uncomfortable. I was definitely falling further and further behind my 3:45 pacer, and I noticed the 3:50 crowd was on my ass. However, being the stubborn idiot that I am, I decided to push through, consequences be damned. I started throwing my arms a bit more, trying to draw power from my upper body to put less pressure on my hip. The funny thing about the hip though is that it's seeing a lot of action every single stride, and to my knowledge, there wasn't a ton I could do about it. As soon as we finished up our trek through St. Kilda's, I wasn't necessarily feeling fatigue, but more of just deep pain in my hip. My father had warned me that his hip was what prevented him from doing any distance running, and I was wondering if, after 500 miles, genetics was finally catching up to me...

I started really slowing down when I passed the water stations from 30kms and later, almost getting run over a few times, but I needed to give my hip a little very light walking every 3 or 4km. I picked myself up every time though, slowly noticing the hip less and less. Unfortunately, the reason for this is because the pain had somehow shifted, moving down to my knee and, in a very piercing fashion, my right ankle. I was at least used to this kind of pain, so it became something I was a little more comfortable with. I noticed the 3:50 pass me by and the 3:55 crowd was pretty much all around, although they were passing me with ease essentially. When we got to the Botanical Gardens, we all discovered the real treat of the Melbourne Marathon: a big bloody hill. I was getting pretty beat at this point, to say the least, with pains in all my main joints of my right leg. I noticed a lot of people had pulled up lame throughout the past few kilometers and I was determined to avoid that. I worked too damn hard to NOT finish. The uphill portion was more or less all arms for me, using as little energy for my legs as possible. Apparently the hill was where the winner of the marathon took charge, passing his nearest competition and finishing strong. I didn't exactly have the same strength, but I also didn't get terribly worse by that time. I inhaled my last scheduled gel and kept pushing. I think the 4 hour pacer got ahead of me by a bit and was pushing everybody to finish.

My little legs were trying!

We passed by some of the most scenic places in Melbourne over the last few kilometers, including the Flinders Street station seen above. There were plenty of people cheering us on throughout the entire race, but I was particularly touched by the people at this point, because every single runner was struggling at that point, and every little bit of encouragement helped. I tried to channel the 'Born To Run' secret to racing - my inner happiness - by smiling and throwing the occasional thumbs-up whenever I could muster it. I recognized the area close to the stadium and when I finally saw the tunnel entrance where we would finally enter MCG, I knew the end was near.

Only a few more KMs left

The slight downhill run of the tunnel was very necessary and when I got into the MCG, the sun was shining brightly and the 20,000 or so people were cheering. The emcee was keeping everyone pumped up as we made our final 3/4 lap around the stadium to the finish.

Final lap

I was still getting passed, but once I saw the time was still under 4 hours, I was pretty pumped. I crossed the finish line at 3:56:09, gave a puny fist pump, and grabbed whatever water was available to me.

Kindly note the fist pump

I think someone gave me a towel, but eventually I saw AP right down in the front row waving me over, so I hobbled my way over to her. We chatted quickly and I found out she had done very well during her 10K, so we were both understandably proud. However, that brief moment of pride subsided and I realized immediately that my legs were dying. I did a little stretch right there next to AP in the front row of the stadium. Then she informed me that there were further treats and refreshments underneath the stadium, so I slowly marched down that way. That walk felt like something out of the Walking Dead. Everybody was hobbling, their faces more or less dead, the setting was dark and people were hungry and thirsty. I was no exception, although I managed to squeeze out a smile for the camera once I got my medal.

I eventually made my way out of the stadium after eating an apple and taking down whatever Gatorade and water found its way to my mouth. AP and I found a nice little nook on the grass to sit down, and I tried to get another stretch, but everything was pretty tense at that point. We'd both finished our distances and it was almost lunch time. We walked over to the hotel, stopping only to get me some much-needed chocolate milk, and cleaned ourselves up for the rest of the day. I could only manage walking very gingerly and anything uphill or downhill became painful. But it was still good to know it was over and I wouldn't have to think about that distance for a while. I still to this day wonder what I could've done differently to avoid that hip pain, but my guess is that the lack of sleep probably didn't help my muscles and I would've been more prone to injury as a result. I also know I didn't do a LOT of hip stretching throughout my training, and a few couple minutes here and there probably would've loosened it up and strengthened all the little supporting muscles for the joint. Regardless, I'm still happy that (A) I finished the distance, and (B) I finished under 4 hours. The only unchecked goal was under 3:45, but I think if not for my hip, I probably would've met it, or at least had a half-decent shot at it. The first half of the race was actually better than my half-marathon time, and even if I had slacked a little in the second-half, I would've been right there.

It was a very hard distance, but I'm convinced that any able-bodied person can train themselves into shape and can complete it. You certainly don't have to be a great 'athlete' but a little commitment and discipline go a long way. I'm pretty happy that I did it and I'll always have my medal to hang up somewhere.

So. Many. Steps.

AP and I rounded out our weekend in Melbourne with a little bit of romantic row-boating on the Yarra River and then devouring an Asian-fusion tapas meal before actually getting some sleep that night. We flew back to Brisbane and AP went back to work, while I searched for things to keep me busy from there-on out. I finished up my intermediate Spanish classes, and I definitely noticed improvement in my vocabulary and verb knowledge. It was hard to say goodbye to our teacher and to some of the other students who made the class fun. I also tried to heal myself from my marathon. I was 100% sore for the first 48 hours, but slowly the pain subsided, except my hip and my ankle. They have now finally healed, at least to my knowledge, a full 2 months later and I can run a 5k easily without pain. I don't have any marathons scheduled for 2016, but I think a half-marathon is a manageable distance and I can see myself training again for that.

The last few months of the year, AP and I went to some weddings and engagement parties around town. We visited Sydney for a quick weekend and moved some of our stuff into the new apartment. I managed to take a trip back home for Thanksgiving, which provided me with awesome times with my family and friends. I helped organize my high school reunion and it was simply fantastic catching up with a lot of my old buddies. I got to spend even more time with my two newborn nieces as I visited them at their homes. The trip really reminded me just how lucky I am to have a strong family and friend network.

My 2015 ended in roughly the way I wanted it to, although the route to get there was way different than I'd planned. Was I in Australia? Yes. Was I working? No. Did I have a plan? Yes. Was I in Brisbane? Sort of, since Sydney beckons. I even managed to gather up the courage to ask AP to marry me, and thankfully, she said 'yes.' My inner romantic kicked it up a few notches as we spent a great weekend at the beach and she was rewarded with a beautiful ring, flowers, champagne, chocolate, and one goofy-ass fiance. Another big step in the journey of life. It turns out that my bird astrologer back from my India trip was right: '2015 will be a big year for your love life.' Who knows what he'll predict for 2016.