This may be a little long, so make yourselves comfortable!
We arrived in San Francisco on Thursday evening, expo and touring around downtown on Friday, Fisherman's Wharf on Saturday. We have done a lot of walking, mix in the hills, and after only a few hours, 2 of us decided to head back to the house to rest up for Sunday's race. I'm happy I'm here until Thursday, it's hard being a tourist and resting up for a half marathon at the same time!
We arrived at Union Square at about 5:45am, still dark, and a few people were trickling in.
Imagine... me, a girl born in a small town, coming out here for my first time ever, just happened to turn around for a moment and seeing someone I recognize! Aron and Tara also got bibs for the race, and they were walking right towards us! Funny enough, I happened to see them leaving the porta-potty line next to mine about 20 minutes later.... small world!
I soon realized that there's a difference between warming up and warming up. The biggest race I've done had 10000 participants... this one was double that! No room to do any stretching, bending down to get my glasses from the ground when they fell off my head was a challenge! Regardless of the pace corral you were 'supposed' to be in, there was no where to move, we were stuck. At least all the body heat kept us warm! The energy with so many runners together in one place was incredible!
There were moments when I thought I'd...
when I saw hills like this! LOL
I love how running, whether in a familiar or a new city gives you a chance to see so many things! The scenery was amazing.
The signs on the course were so motivating and memorable!
Two of us stuck together, the whole race. I've been coming back from injury, and she's been on the cusp of a few, so we decided that doing 5:1 run/walk intervals would probably be best for us. Having travelled so far for this event, and being the event that it was, it was a perfect race to be out there to enjoy it!
Mile 12 was my favourite... the Chocolate Mile!
Now all that was left was to...
Which I did!
Passed the firemen...
and collected my necklace... LOVE IT!
Once I managed to get out of the finishing chute and collect all my goodies, we stopped to stretch before starting to search for the remainder of my group.
As luck would have it, I happened to be in the right place at the right time! Just as we were leaving a piece of curb we managed to squeeze onto for stretching, I saw someone pass me that looked familiar, I quietly, questioningly said "Alisa?!" She turned her head, it was her!! Again, out of all the people there, what are the odds!
Now it's time to continue to...
Tomorrow I will be getting a glimpse of JoLynn's passion of the trails! Looking so forward to meeting up with her tomorrow, more blog posts of this amazing week and post-race thoughts to come! :D
55 comments:
Sounds like a great race! I have always wanted to do that one! Glad you were able to meet up with some bloggy friends too. Enjoy the rest of your week in San Francisco...I loooove that town!
Blogville really makes the world very small! That is so great that you ran into some fellow bloggers.
Great race report! I loved the photos. It looks like a race that I would love to do (minus the hills of course).
Enjoy the rest of your trip!
Sounds like a great time! How amazing that you just bumped into all these blogger peeps you had never met before?! What are the chances.
That looks like a killer fun race.
Nice job Mel, sounds like a great day! Meeting up with fellow bloggers, that was awesome. Nice bling!
Very cool that you got to meet some of the West Coast bloggers!! Sounds like you had a great race. Smart move running the 5:1. The chocolate mile would have been my favorite too!
Such a small world!! Congrats on a great race!! Wear that necklace proudly!
the chocolate mile...ha..i love it...sounds like a fun race...great pics and report...
What a great time! Thanks for sharing pics of the signs - I'd never seen them before - definitely inspirational :)
LOVE the necklace too.
How fantastic. Love that you connected with people you knew and enjoyed your race thoroughly.
Great job.. I think I know the girl in the photo below the one that says finish like a girl. It is just the side of her but she looks like a firend of mine that ran SF Nike womans this weekend. That would be so crazy. Anyway congrats on your half mary finish. Have fun the rest of your trip.
That seems like such an awesome encouraging environment for a 13.1. All about celebrating what women can do. I like the sign "I'll prove them wrong" the best.
Glad you took it at a comfortable pace and took pictures.
I'd really like to make it to that event someday. :-)
So awesome, Mel!!! I'm glad you had a good time -- it looks like so much fun and so beautiful!
Go YOU!! That is awesome! I think I would have gotten stuck at the Chocolate mile!
AWESOME Mel! What a unique experience. I love all the special touches on the course. How cool that you got to meet up with some bloggers too!
Have fun on the trails and enjoy the rest of your trip!
Mel, I'm reading with tears in my eyes, after all you've been through this year I'm SO glad you had a great race....good for you!
Say HI to JOLYNN for me!!
give Boomer a hug too...
sounds like you were very open minded to new experiences. that's what so many people lose as our kids get older. Glad you had fun and saw so many people!
I love it - how fun. Now I want to do that race!!!
hahah! i loved how you fit all the signs into here. LOVE THE GIRL POWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! what a fun trip!!!!!
Sounds like San Fran is the palce to go for Bloggy Meet ups. CONGRATS!! And have fun with Jo Lynn
Congrats! SOunds like a great time.
I wish I could have been there! Congratulations and enjoy that bling!
So great to meet you! I was sooo looking for the canada shirts and glad that you recognized me!
Sounds like you had a fun race, I know I sure did. Enjoy SF!
So glad that you had a fun race! It sure is a beautiful course, eh? (Even with those hills...) Congratulations, and be sure to wear that necklace proudly!!
Awesome! So glad you were able to enjoy the race and the lovely scenery. Thanks for the beautiful pics...and the pics of the firemen!
Many congrats on your success at Sundays race. Im glad you liked San Francisco too!
Congrats on finishing an awesome race! Looks like it was beautiful.
I really love the pictures. Makes me remember...it was great!!!
Loved the race report. Great job!
Girl your a rockstar!!!! COngrats
LUCKY!!!!! You get to run with JoLynn on her trails? How fun! She's awesome. Tell her I said hello (yeah...I could leave that on her blog, but you know).
Great race and race report. I love all your photos!
Have a great week!
Congrats on the finish! As much as I love doing hills, the hills of SF look awfully daunting!
Sounds like it was such a fun and emotional day. Wow, those hills must have been painful. Congrats on a great race and awesome ’medal’
OMG - I love it!
San Francisco is one of my favorite places on earth and go every chance I get.
Congrats on the finish!
Thanks for the pics of the hills. I know San Fran is hilly so I need to prepare accordingly, but you sometimes don't realize just how hilly something is until you see it from a runner's eyes! :)
Congratulations! Sounds like you had a great time and that it was a great race. Nice neclace, too. Enjoy your trip!
What a fun race and post! Great job! Fabulous pictures, too.
this is awesome and inspirational, every year I catch a snippet in the W's marathon and get very inspired to do anything (as it is known us cyclist ehre in SF are masochists, we love hills... errrrr)
nice blog!! came across it via Groover. will visit often and welcome to fog city central ;)
xo/meli
You sport that necklace quite well, that's for sure! Wear it with pride.
Great job! I love the necklace! Those hills look pretty intense. Enjoy the rest of your week.
Very cool. Looks like you had a great time...now onto the trails!
Way to go! I swear, California has the best races!! Great pics, that's so neat you got to meet up with some bloggers. I met Tara, Aron and Maritza last summer when we did the Napa-Sonoma half. Such sweet girls!
Congrats! The motivational signs are cool.
Wow, Mel! Amazing pictures and a great race recap! That race sounds like it would be so much fun, I'm jealous. :) Even firemen at the end handing out necklaces??? *swoon*
Have a great rest of your trip!
Congratulations! Looks like an amazingly fun race!
Have a great vacation too!
Great job!!!
I'm a bit jealous of the awesome swag that you get with this race. I wonder what the guy equivalent would be? Probably beer. A full case of beer.
ahh i love the photos and i am so glad you enjoyed yourself! (and ran easy/avoided hazards!) too neat to randomly run into aron, i am jealous :) congrats on conquering those hills!! yikes!
Congrats on the finish! Looks like you had a great time despite the hills. They would make anyone cry:) Enjoy the rest of your trip and get home safely.
WOW, what a great race and race experience!!
I ran the the inaugural 2004 Nike 26.2 and it seems so different now than it was back then. I don't remember motivating signs like those you showed and we definitely did not get as nice of a necklace. But, yes, I remember the stunning views and those steep hills. OMG, yes, they kicked my flat FL butt.
Congrats on your half marathon, Mel!!
It was so nice to meet you this past weekend :) So glad you enjoyed this race and you're trip to the city! You got some great pics. This is by far the best necklace...I LOVE it!
I loved the sites and the comments during that race...it was hard as hell but all of that made it pretty wonderful.
congrats!!!
Great photos and report. Sounds like you ran the race you set out to run! Way to go!
Awesome! Love the report and all the pics. Sounds like a great race!!!
Great Race Report! I love your way of writing a blog! And what a coincidence! You have found one that you know along the porta-potty line.
Congrats!! Glad you had an awesome race! Nike is my favorite race!
SUCH a small world that we ran into each other that morning - it was meant to be :) AND then you ran into alisa too!! love it :) so glad you had such a great trip, you definitely deserved it!!
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