Golden Horn Half Marathon

This last Sunday, April 25th was the Golden Horn Half Marathon here in Istanbul! Here is a detailed blog about the race! Unfortunately since I run with my blackberry for music, and since I didnt bring my camera for fear of it getting stolen, I took pre race photos with the blackberry. Which I continued to then dump water all over myself (due to the heat I will get to in a minute) and therefore ruined my blackberry, leaving me picture less..but worse blackberry-less which means no more music for me....damn it. Here is a photo I just snapped of the race shirt, my bib number and my medal!

Pre Race- Sunday morning was a crispy fresh morning, one of those morning that just smells good, looks good and feels good. I woke up at 5:00am to the morning prayer call from the local mosque here in Istanbul. Which is the most important prayer of the day so to me this was a good omen! A good luck charm if you will for my day to come. I had some coffee, got dressed, waited for the sun to come up and light the roads then went on a short 2 mile warm up run just like I did in Berlin. I was trying my hardest to mimic what I did in Berlin since it worked so well for me last time. After the run I decided on what to wear - it was already warm outside so I picked my pink shorts, black tank top and sports bra with a pull over to keep warm until the race. Then I packed my race bag with extra clothes, shampoos, deodorant, my flip flops and other essentials. I made sure to stretch for almost 20 minutes this time. Lots of leg kicks and crosses which are my favorite. Then I had my breakfast, as I have said before its a bad idea for me to eat within two hours of a run, my stomach cant handle it so its 6:45am and I have one hard boiled egg, some Gatorade, and a banana with toast. I was listening to come calming music while doing this, sitting on the couch to try and relax my body. Then at 7am I was off to Feshane, where the race starts!

Feshane is an expo center now right at the starting point to the Golden horn. Quick bit of Info: the Golden horn is the body of water that extends inland from the Bosphorous Straight and the Marmara Sea creating the peninsula that is Sultanahmet Square where you can see Aya Sophia and the Blue Mosque as well as Topkapi palace. (Click on those links and you can see my other blogs info about those places and what I did when I went there!) Here is also a fun interactive little map that the race website had, so you can see what I mean when I describe points in the race! Click here for map! 

So once at the main center awaiting the start of the race I was immediatly shocked at the amount of people who were there, I mean mouth dropping shocked.... No there was not thousands, in fact there was not even one thousand! It was so small! Only about 700 runners 63 of which were women. So see why I was shocked!! It felt empty, it felt like there was not this huge even taking place but rather a bunch of gym buddies decided to put together a show and name it a half marathon. I guess I just expected something more like Berlin. 

The Race- After trying to focus my nerves and think, visualize the race, get my head in the game. I took a short lap around the parking lot, did some butt kicks, knee highs and such. Then I got into place in the start area. I was at the front.... realizing this is NOT where I wanted to be I started stepping backwards only to bump into some American Army guys who were there running and thought I was crazy (not for running but for coming to Istanbul, never having seen the place, and deciding to stay/work for 8 months) It was nice to distract my mind which was racing with nerves. Then just like that the race started and I was off running. With such small amounts of people and with everyone so spread out it was difficult to really judge my pace (compared to others.) There were the obvious athletes passing me, the ones who will no doubt finish in under 1.5 hours. Then there were the seasoned group of teams who have been training all year for such events. They seemed to pass me as well, I started to realize that my energy was missing, the music I was listening to was not helping me to run in anyway. I started to sing songs, and remember stories to distract my mind. I was able to hit some bursts of energy here and there which was supposed to be my plan to come in under 2 hours. Then we left the Golden Horn and started running along the Seaside at about kilometer 7.5. 

This was the hardest part of the race, not only is it that middle part (7.5-12.5KM) but it was 75 degrees along the seaside at 10am! They had water stations for us with sponges as well (this is how my blackberry got broken, in my stress and rush to cool off I dumped the sponge all over my body before removing my blackberry from my shirt... it was soaked...) I am even a bit sunburnt on my shoulders from the sun which I wont complain about, but my nose being sunburnt I will. Its peeling a bit and it hurts! After we came out of the seaside area and back along the Golden Horn the wind really picked up, a head wind that was making me feel like I might blow over! Add this to the fact that they didn't do the best job of making sure that pedestrians stayed out of the crosswalks and I defiantly had to dodge an old grandma trying to cross the street. 

The scenary was gorgeous however, we started in the oldest district of Istanbul you could still see the old Constantinople city walls. Once out of this area we hit Eminönü a lovely district with the New Mosque and the spice bazaar on out left. The sunny seaside gave way to views of the seaside wall of Constantinople and the old 6th century port gates. As well as the Aya Sophia and the Blue Mosque minarets. The end was lovely because you were facing the oldest cemetary which has the Pierri Lotti cafe at the top. This Pierri fella was a famous poet that I don't know too much about, but apparently that face is where he wrote most of his poetry. Its a huge hill and that turned out to be great motivation or me. I was thankful we didn't have to run up the hill!!!

Post race- In the end I was not able to beat my time in Berlin. I crossed the finish at 2:15:58 about 8 minutes longer then last time. At first I was a little disappointed but then I realized that I did my best, the sun was not a factor I had anticipated and neither was the wind or the hills. I made my other goal of never walking, never slow jogging, but to keep the same pace which I am very proud of. I think my body deserves a bit of a rest and some relaxation (chocolate is where I will start). One thing about the post race was my stomach did not agree with the bananas and the water I was given. I had the worst stomach ache for the next 3-4 hours and sleep was the only thing I could manage on my day off... somewhat of a disappointment again since I only get one free day to explore. Until next time!! I wonder where my next race will be.....?