EuroAsia Run

Last weekend I participated in the EuroAsian Marathon - NO, I did not run the Marathon, but if you continue to read I will make a wild promise to you all that cannot be taken back...because, well, it's now on the internet....keep reading!

Nick and Trevor

My trusty running companions, Nick and Trevor and I took a cab to Taksim first thing in the morning to meet up with all the other European-side runners that were taking the provided buses over to the startline on the Asia side.  Of course the race is very hierarchal, separating us in terms of the color of our runner tags, which corresponded to our distance; Nick was a full-marathoner, Trevor a 15Ker and myself, the lone 8Ker...

So first thing's first: we have to wait in an enormous line to get on a bus that will take us over to the Asian side.  After seeing said enormous line, Nick and Trevor decide to leave me (with my encouragement) and go skip in front of all the other lazy 8Kers to ensure that they make it to the startline in time for, well, the start.

I wait in the line for about half an hour, and get many stares from people because of, my high-tech ipod armband...I think?  I generally am starting to get the sense that other people in this line are not taking the race as seriously as I am.  What gives me this impression, aside from the stares?  Well, maybe it is the array of donut-like pastries I see being consumed (I have nothing against these pastries, but an experience my brother had with pre-race junk food ended badly enough to dissuade me from eating anything other than very plain food the morning of a race), OR maybe it is the cigarettes that are lit up all around me....hmmmmm

crossing the bridge to the Asian side by bus...

Once we get to the starting area, I start getting excited as I see the crowd of people...and the plethora of Turkish flags - how many can you count?

Of course, people need to have a good breakfast before a race, and what is the Turkish answer to a good breakfast? Simit!  Sesame-crusted bagel-like pastries.

this guy had the whole station set up: Simit and Cay

my runner's chip, securely fastened

Now I shouldn't say that no one showed up to the race ready to get to business.  These two kids had their tags on, and were very focused on hydrating.

and being patriotic, of course.

By the time I see the starting line, I am really wondering how this race is actually going to work.  The Centreville, Virgina Turkey Trot I do every year is always a little dicey in the beginning, as people try to push past one another and get started, however the people around me don't seem like they are in any hurry to start running.  Now, I don't mean to judge people by questioning their athletic intentions just based on their outer appearances, however, babies in strollers?  perhaps not so athletically-inclined.

And we're off!  well, sort of.  More like we all start bumping into one another out of excitement as some people pick up their pace.

beginning of the race, the Bosphorus bridge off in the distance

Apparently the 8K is also the "fun run"...and walk.  But that's OK!  As long as I can get past people and get some space.

Which, thankfully, is not hard to do when you are competing against infants in strollers.

running across the Bosphorus bridge, from the Asian side, to the European side

The coolest part of this race is the idea of it: not only is it the only marathon to cross between two continents, but it's the one day of the year that Istanbul closes down its Bosphorus bridge to car traffic and allows pedestrians to walk across the bridge (hence all the families there or the fun run and walk)

Crossing over the bridge: Asia on the left, Europe on the Right

So we get to the European side and I really begin to notice that other downside to running with athletically-ambivalent Turkish participants: smokers.  It seems that it is perfectly acceptable to light up while participating in an 8k.  This makes me reconsider not signing up for one of the longer-distance races....

and we finish in Besiktas, right by the soccer (sorry) stadium there.  and surprise!  my friend Zac has come to meet me, the lonely 8k-er, at the finish line.

Zac and I then walk, taking our time, to the finish line of the 15k and the full marathon, which is ending at the Hippodrome, or, the end of the procession that the Byzantine Emporers would follow when arriving in then Constantinople - how symbolic!

As I pull out my phone to call my friend from d.c. Sarah (who is living and working here for the foreseeable future) I am amazed to see her right across from me, near the finish line.  Sarah is at the marathon to support her roomate who is running in the marathon.  So Sarah, Zac and I decide to go get a bit of brunch as we wait the couple more hours it should take for our respective friends and roomates to finish the marathon.

After a lovely brunch at a restaurant covered in carpets and kilims, whose owner apparently owns a carpet shop near Bennington, Vermont (!), the three of us head back to the finish line around 1:15 pm to cheer on and congratulate our friends in their last seconds of running the marathon.

So we wait....and we wait...and Zac takes a bunch of pictures of very old marathoners, in order to show these pictures to our friend Nick and make fun of him for finishing after these guys....nice, right?  it was all in good fun.

After about 2 hours of waiting, with a total time of 5 1/2 hours, Zac and I are discouraged, and decide to head home.  It turns out, Nick finished at 1:05, approximately 10 minutes before Zac and I showed up to congratulate him.  Nick ultimately timed in at 4 hours and 1 minute, yay!

Zac and I had a very long bus ride home, as all the roads had been shut down for the marathon, everyone wanted to get out, causing us to have a good 3 1/2 hour ride home.  Yes, Istanbul is massive, and totally packed.

That bus ride gave me a long time to think about the following: the 8k was very doable and I would prefer to not run with smokers next time.  Over the next few weeks the little idea that began to grow in my mind only got bigger, as my friend Breanna informed me of her plan to run in the Rome Marathon on March 20th, 2011.  Five months to train, again, doable!  My dear friend Megan is also a huge inspiration for this marathon, as she is running in the Marine Corps Marathon next week (remember that first spinning class last summer, Mega?) The final inspiration to do this came the other day, as I was talking to my sister, Jean.  Jean ran the Hawaii marathon while she was living in Singapore in the early 70s, when she was about my age.  She trained "anywhere I could" according to her, and if she can train in Vietnam in the 70s, I can train in Istanbul now.

So here it is, so I can't take it back.  I am registering TODAY for the Maratona di Roma, to take place March 20th, 2011.  Anyone is welcome to join me in my training and come run with me!