So Much To Catch Up On!

Hello all!

I’m so so soooo sorry I’ve been off the blog wagon. I have lots to catch you all up on!

First: San Francisco First Half Marathon

Last year, I ran in the second half and this year I decided to finish up the Half It All Challenge and tackle the first half. I was expecting hills but… I think I underestimated them.

Expo: Great! I love expos for events like this. It wasn’t too crowded and there were tons of great vendors. Got some new compression socks that I now rock regularly after runs. I also bought a new running tank which is both functional and fun. Love having bright colored running clothes!

Event: I was in the 3rd wave so arrived bright and early around 4:20 (not Disney early, but still early) since my wave was going to take off at 5:42. So I found a really, really long bathroom line and waited and waited and waited (insert the tone of the Living Seas movie “It rained and rained…”). I waited in line for half and hour, missed my corral and jumped into the next one corral and got synced.

It was a great day for running in SF! It wasn’t too foggy or windy and it was warm but not hot. Really you can’t get any better in SF. So countdown and we’re off!

It started off running down Embarcadero and then through Fisherman’s Wharf. Saw the sign for Coldstone and had an urge to jump in for a bite. For better or worse, it wasn’t open that early in the morning. 🙂

From the wharf we followed the bay all the way to Crissie Field and then to the Presidio. This is where it got GORGEOUS! It doesn’t get any better. The sun was coming up and it was hazy but not foggy over the bat so in front of you was a perfectly lit Golden Gate Bridge and then when you looked back through the morning hazy you could see the faint outline of the Bay Bridge and the silhouette of Alcatraz. It was stunning and was one of those “this is why I run, to see beautiful scenes like this” moments.

However, during this moment, the hills came and they never let up. Holy smokes! I really underestimated the hills. You rise and fall constantly in the race. Running Golden Gate was awesome but then there were more hills after that too. There was a fun band at the turn around point for the bridge in Marin. The bridge was cool to run over but it was crowded and the expansion joints were slippery. It was an experience to say I ran the bridge, but I wasn’t as impressed as I thought I would be.

After running the bridge, I had just a few more miles (one mile was very, very downhill where I tried to make up some time, but that ended up coming back to bite me) and then we were in Golden Gate and voila! The finish line!

Finished in 1:48:08 so I’m still chasing my sub-1:45 goal but I ran the race well and I’m happy with my performance. I learned a lot and my legs at the start weren’t feeling 100% rested, the whole race I was in my head and just too focused I think. Still working on finding the balance between feeling free and easy and being too in my own head.

And of course the bling! So since I did the Half It All Challenge I got a bonus medal! Woot woot!