Istanbul Marathon

Last Sunday, I ran the 9k at the Istanbul Marathon with the gym teacher and some kids from the school. This is the longest distance I have ever run at one time and I was amazed when I crossed the finish line and was shown my time of 39 minutes! That's just under 7 minutes per mile. I guess all of the sports I'm playing at the school are keeping me in a lot better shape than I thought...The race started about a kilometer before the Bosphorus Bridge on the Asia side of Istanbul. This is the only time that you are allowed to cross the bridge on foot so it's a pretty big deal and there were tons of people doing the 9k for that reason. It's pretty cool that we got a certificate when we completed the race that said we ran from Asia to Europe. The last half of the race winds it's way through the Beşiktaş area before finally finishing in between the Beşiktaş futbol stadium and Dolmabahçe Palace. It was a very nice run. Next year I would like to run in the 15k...unless I can get myself motivated to train for the whole marathon.