SF Marathon Profile: Harold Lueders

This is part of a series on Albany runners who took part in the San Francisco Marathon event last weekend.

Name: Harold Lueders

Age: 25

Profession: I work at a gym in Alameda as a personal trainer and a group fitness trainer. I have a degree in kinesiology, which is exercise science, from CSU Fullerton.

Albany Connection: I live in Albany and graduated from Albany High in 2003. I played football and baseball there.

Why did you run? I wanted to say I ran a marathon in my lifetime. My goal was to get in under five hours. I did it in 4:42. It was my first one. And my last. I wasn't trying to place in the top 10 or anything crazy like that. I just wanted to say, "Hey, man, I ran the San Francisco marathon." It's pretty respected in the running world. So that was my goal. I'm not trying to be a hero. 

What was your training routine? I had a friend who helped me with the training but I only trained for five or six weeks. My passion is weights, but I run occasionally for fun. It was a big challenge for me doing something aerobic rather than more anaerobic. I trained with a friend in the city. We did two small runs and one long one every week. We started off with 10 miles and went up every week: 12, 15, 18. The highest we got up to was 20, a couple weeks before the race.

What was your favorite part of the day? We had perfect weather, it was nice and cool, foggy. There was a good atmosphere. The best part was the food at the very end. They had free Jamba Juice, free Muscle Milk, a bunch of scones, fruit, cereal. And all kinds of random food, like cookies. I ate at least 10 of those. My favorite part of the run was the views, running up near Crissy Field, Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay. The actual bridge was too crowded, but people were going by honking and screaming, having a good time.

There was also great music. Lots of random bands. There were speakers here and there but, for the most part, people just decided to come and play their music. There was a lot of music throughout Golden Gate Park. And a group of drummers right around Giants Stadium.

I loved how folks along the route were cheering everybody on. Our bibs had our names on them, and people would yell, "Go Harold, you can do it, you're doing great!"

How did the run go? I was actually hurting at the end. My knees were hurting, my ankles were hurting, my stomach was hurting. Running for four hours straight is hard on your body. Halfway through, at mile 13, I was thinking to myself, "Why the hell didn't I just run the half-marathon to start with?" But I had a real good time.

Did anything surprise you about the race? I was wondering why there weren't any naked people. I ran the Bay to Breakers in May, and there were all kinds of naked people just jumping out at me everywhere. In the marathon, I was surprised at the wide range of experience levels of the people doings it. There were guys speeding through and folks who didn't look like they were in the best of shape. 

So you don't think you'll do another marathon? I do enjoy running, but I'm happy to keep it to just an hour. The last eight miles I was really in pain. But I was texting my friends with my time. The race let you sign up to receive text updates about your time and your pace. So I'd get those and forward them to my friends and family. So they were texting me and cheering me on. That really helped keep me going.

See profiles of other Albany runners here:

• Natalie Kay
• Erik Charp