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(Editor’s Note: Shuhei Matsuo who graduated from Pepperdine in the spring with a degree in journalism is a former sports editor of the Graphic. He is now working at a Japanese broadcasting company while living in New York City.)
Although it has been seven months since I graduated from Pepperdine a part of me is still a curious college student: I love experiencing something new.
On Nov. 23 I had an opportunity to have multiple first-time experiences during my first marathon race in Philadelphia.
You may be thinking I am a lunatic because a marathon is just a couple hours but I guarantee that I had more first-time experiences on the morning of Nov. 23 than you did for the entire month of November (unless you were just born this month and everything you experience is new).
Let’s take a look:
4:45 a.m.I wake up in a hotel room with my parents who happened to be visiting me that week to get ready for the 7 a.m. race my first official sporting event on the East Coast.
4:50 a.m.I start putting on the race gear. Boxer-brief underwear Uniqlo Heat Tech spandex running shorts two pairs of pants and a pair of socks for the lower body – first time to wear this many articles of clothing on any day (and yes I’ve been to Big Bear to snow board).
5:30 a.m.We leave the hotel. The outside temperature: 25 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s going to be thr first sub-freezing-point endurance race in my life.
6:45 a.m.After a light warm-up jog I take some of my clothes off and go to my starting area which is about 200 yards behind the actual start line. And there are so many participants that I can’t even move. It’s my first time to race with 18000 runners.
7:11 a.m.The marathon begins. It takes me two minutes and 44 seconds to cross the start line the longest delay I’ve ever experienced in any race.
7:13 a.m.I quickly find a bizarre runner who is holding a bar with a couple of balloons saying “3:40” in front of me. I figure he keeps the pace of three hours and 40 minutes so I decide to follow him. First time to run with a professional pace keeper with balloons.
7:20 a.m.Male runners start pulling over to the side and yes they are urinating already. First time to witness more than 10 people taking a leak on the same wall.
7:29 a.m.First water stop in the race. I pound a cup of water and a cup of Gatorade back to back. First time to consume two types of drinks during a race.
7:43 a.m.I begin to regret drinking more than I really should have at the first water stop and feel ashamed for having a small bladder. I already want to pee. But I’m not stopping.
7:45 a.m.I see another water stop. I decide to pee while running which is of course a first-time experience.
7:46 a.m.I grab two cups of water take a sip and wash off the pee. First time to pour cold water in my underwear while running. It is amazingly cold.
8:00 a.m.The temperature is not going up. It’s seriously too cold to be outside especially for someone who spent the last seven winters in Southern California. I look down and notice something is wrong. A part of my spandex is white – make that my first time seeing frozen pee.
8:25 a.m.The sun is hiding behind a cloud and we have been running in the shade for a while. It’s still in the 20s. In fact a few volunteers are warning runners that there will be ice ahead. The road is frozen at this water stop because runners spill their water all over and it has become ice. First time to run on an icy road during any race.
8:56 a.m.Half-way done. There are thousands of spectators waiting for the half-marathon participants to finish. I decide to pee again as I’m about to go around the 13.1 miles sign. First time to urinate in front of this many people. I begin to wonder if this is something pro marathoners do all the time.
9:20 a.m.I see a female runner slowing down. She pulls to the side and starts taking her pants down only a couple of feet off the course. I refuse to look back to see what she was doing but it’s definitely my first time witnessing a middle-aged woman pull her pants off in public.
9:38 a.m.I’m starting to feel the pain but not quite hitting the wall. I see more people cheering as we hike up the hill. And I see a few people handing beer to the runners. They probably have thought beer could really help to hydrate the most dehydrated people in the city this morning. Clearly my first time to see alcoholic beverages handed out in an endurance race.
9:44 a.m.Another 180-degree turning point at Mile 20. I see a young woman with a tiny camisole that her breasts could be falling out of in any second going down the hill a couple of minutes before I reach the plateau. First time to see a woman exposing more than 50 percent of her skin when the temperature is in the 20s. No offense but I’m not letting a Hooters-waitress-looking girl beat me at this race. I try to speed up but my tired legs are not letting me.
10:15 a.m.I finally catch up with the Hooters girl. All right maybe she isn’t wearing a camisole; it’s just a very tight and small tank top. I start feeling sympathetic toward her because she must be awfully cold in this weather.
10:30 a.m.I see the 24 Miles sign. It’ll be the longest two miles of my life.
10:45 a.m.I hear music by Jimmy Eat World as I go up the final uphill. As I pass the 26 Miles sign I wonder why the Greek hero Pheidippides ran the extra 0.2 miles. I sprint to the finish line.
10:47 a.m.I finish the race with a time of 3:35:04. First time I ran 26.2 miles without stopping. And the first time to realize running can bring so much satisfaction.
See how many first-time experiences I had for just running a marathon? Well Nov. 23 2008 will be a special day for three reasons: a day I ran 26.2 miles straight a day I accomplished one of my life goals and a day I felt like I was back in college for the first time in a long time.
To read more about my experience please visit my blog at http://shusviews.blogspot.com/