making the best of it...

Last year a group of us put our names in the lottery for San Francisco's Nike Women's Marathon. Since we entered as a group, if any of our names had been chosen, we would have all gone. Looking back, I'm sorta glad we weren't selected because with this injury, it would have been a lot of money lost while not being able to participate.

So, I registered for the virtual one.  Still paid an entry fee, and as long as you sync up 13.1 miles before 11:59 HST today, you still get a finisher's kit.  The money also goes to a create cause, benefitting the Leukemia and Lymphoma society.  Finisher's kit includes a t-shirt and a Tiffany keychain.

Being only a few weeks into my injury-return, there was no way I was going to push myself to run 21.1k. Plus, I had 2 friends running the Toronto Marathon this morning.  I briefly tried to think of a way to see if someone would run with my ipod and sensor, but wouldn't feel right asking... plus that would be cheating.  I'm not like that.

So I figured, if I'm going downtown, and will be doing some walking to find people, why not have my sensor on... capture whatever I walk!  I wasn't going for a PB, so who cares!  I was planning a run later on in the day, so that would also add some mileage.  I had no idea if I'd even come close, but worth a try.

Got down there fairly early, and started walking.  The weather was perfect, and I layered well.  I walked, and walked, and walked some more.  

I eventually met up with Marlene and her hubby about 10 minutes before we saw Patricia coming in from her marathon!  She qualified for Boston!!! It was great! Shortly after, her husband nearing the finish of his first marathon! They were both superstars today... glad I was there.  By the time I got home, I had accumulated 16.74 km of walking!  I had no idea I'd get that far... so happy it was a nice day out, and that I took advantage of getting the mileage in, even if it was just walking for most of it.

Here's a few pics i got...

The winner...

After a bite to eat, some time to digest, I went out for Day 4 of my plan... 3 min walk/7 min run intervals.  I got just over 5k... so I am a Nike+ Women's Virtual Half Marathon finisher!  I wanted my bling.... it's probably the only time I'll ever get a Tiffany anything  :)

So I did a half marathon today... sorta, kinda.