We flew in late Wednesday. I timed my vacation perfectly, as the first submission of our annual budget was that morning. Fortunately, all was quiet during my time off and no one needed to call me on vacation. We spent that night near the airport, since our plane landed near midnight. The next morning we took the train to a hotel less than a mile from the marathon start. The hotel was nice but the same cannot be said for the area between the hotel and Union Square. We walked through the area a couple of times that day, the last time on our run that evening before buying our bus passes and never doing so again.
The race expo opened in Union Square on Thursday at noon. We dropped by, only to see the line extending around the corner of the block and chose to find lunch first. An hour later, there was no line for packet pickup (note to anyone wanting to run this race: go early, the line was twice around the block on Saturday). The expo was unique in that it was sponsors only. I was disappointed not to be able to pick up a magnet for my car but did enjoy getting a chair massage, my hair braided and make-up done.
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| My name at Niketown. |
On Friday, we attended an all-day acroyoga immersion. It may not seem like the best thing to do two days before a marathon but acroyoga is awesome for tight hamstrings. And it was a lot of fun! Everyone that participated got the chance to be the flyer, the base and the spotter. We also did quite a few non-acro exercises involving trust, leadership and communication. In other words, good practice for other realms of life. We were in a large open room with many other workshops going on simulataneously, so occaisionally would pause to take in the amazing advanced classes.
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| Divine Play AcroYoga Festival |
After the event there was a food truck party outside with a couple dozen different types of food. Between the two of us, we sampled the wares of four different vendors. We then walked along the shoreline to wind up at Ghiradelli Square. There was a salted caramel hot chocolate calling my name from one of the several chocolate shops and then we hopped the bus heading back to our hotel. On a whim, we got off the bus at the base of Telegraph Hill and climbed the steep slope and 173 stairs to Coit Tower, which provides a nice overlook of San Francisco. I was wondering if my performance in the marathon was going to suffer for this sightseeing side trip, but the city lights at night were gorgeous.
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| Ghiradelli Square |
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| Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill |
We attempted to walk a little less the day before the marathon, but ultimately failed. Cody wanted to visit Lombard St. Unfortunately, the buses did not go directly there and every cable car we saw was packed like sardines. It was only a three block walk from the bus stop but it was up another of the famous cable car hills.
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| Climbing the Hill on Lombard St. |
There was no official pre-race pasta party but we met for dinner with a group of people running the race that had grown out of a women's obstacle racing group on Facebook. We'd never met any of them before but had a good time hanging out.
The night before my marathon, the husband had a nightmare that we missed the start...and he wasn't even running it. I guess someone has to be the neurotic one. We got up for the marathon at five to give me time to get breakfast (bagel and banana) and coffee in my system. We actually bought soy milk and coffee concentrate just so my coffee would be early enough that it didn't mess with my race performance.
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| Getting Ready |
The start corrals were full city blocks. I was in the 10:00 - 11:59 min per mile corral. I stumbled into the 4:40 pace group on accident. Although my goal time was 5 hours and 30 mins, I decided to start with the group because the corral was really crowded. In the back of my mind, I was also hoping to maintain that pace...
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| In the Start Corrals |
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| Start Line |
The first half of the marathon involved a lot of crowd dodging. At the course split, my times started to pick up significantly (minus a bathroom break) just due to the thinner crowds. In fact, the husband heard one woman say at that point "now we can really start running."
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| Marathon/Half Marathon Split |
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| ~ Mile 15 |
The course was pretty, going through some very nice neighborhoods and along the shoreline. However, it was so foggy that most of the advertised iconic scenery was invisible. The hills on the course were pretty mild (the biggest elevation change was 235 ft) and actually felt pretty good. I may have over-prepared for hills by training on a local mountain because my pace actually picked up on them.
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| Foggy Scenery |
"That fuel belt makes your butt look good."
"I don't do marathons, I do marathoners."
"Run faster. I just farted."
"Worst parade ever."
"Keep going. Keep going. (That's what she said.)"
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| Best Sign? |
Mentally, the toughest section was from when we passed the half marathon finish to the lake (miles 16 - 19) and the last part of the lake (miles 22 - 24). That's when things like indiscriminate cheering, signs and songs played along the course actually made the difference. I "danced" (sporadically waved my arms in a semi-crazed fashion) to the songs I liked and found that if you cheered at/with groups of people, they would cheer back. I got a little light-headed during mile 22 but was pretty much going on momentum at that point and wasn't stopping. Worrying about my electrolytes, I switched from drinking water to the odious nuun drink (basically disgustingly flavored water).
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| ~ Mile 20 |
I walked most water stops during the race. After the second to last water stop, I was taking an extra walk break (which actually didn't happen that much during the race) when the 4:50 pacer went by me. I was starting to feel like there might be something left in the tank because the end was in sight and decided to go after her. I ended up passing her and pretty much ran as hard as possible the last mile and a half to the finish.
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| Final Kick to the Finish Line |
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| Woman Finishing the Half on Crutches |
My official time was 4:47:29. I was really proud of that time, considering my projection had been forty minutes more. The race had splits tracking about every five kilometers and a friend of mine was watching my chip online during the race. Another friend asked me to text my time to him afterwards. It felt pretty good to have friends cheering me on. Unlike all of my previous races, the husband was only a spectator this time. He rode the spectator buses / public transportation (because for some reason the shuttles didn't go to the second half of the marathon course) and met me at several spots along the course.
As promised, San Francisco firefighters were there in tuxes handing out our finisher's necklaces. I picked a good looking one to receive my box from. After meeting up with the husband, my first stop was the stretching tent. An instructor led runners through a series of stretches with a foam roller and a strap. I also paid a visit to the massage tent. There were literally dozens of massaueses giving runners fifteen minute massages. My massuese commented on the fact that my legs were shaking.
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| SFFD in Tuxes with Tiffany |
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| ...also available for photos! |
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| Stretching Tent |
We rode the shuttle back to Union Square...then turned right around and got on the cable car (which was overrated and full of rude tourists from Georgia) for Fisherman's Wharf to get a celebratory dinner. We started with sashimi and sushi, then went to another restaurant for crab macaroni & cheese, then finished with hot chocolate from Ghiradelli.
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| Celebratory Meal |
Finally back at the hotel, I attempted an ice bath on the advice of a friend...and didn't even last a minute. Instead, I had the husband get me gallon sized zip-lock bags and put them on each section of my legs for 15 minutes. I also wore my compression recovery socks to bed and for the next two days.
On our last day in San Francisco, we visited the Golden Gate Bridge. The course had passed within a half mile. I recognized some nearby houses but had failed to notice the big-ass bridge in the fog. Of course, we couldn't see it when we first arrived the next day, either.
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| Golden Gate Barely Visible in the Fog |
We finished up our vacation with a visit to the Russian Hill neighborhood for some shopping, stopping into a tea shop, bookstore, French lingerie store, athletics store and a cheese store. We spent the night at a nice hotel near the airport due to our early flight the next morning. We were on a shuttle at five a.m. SFO security was so bad they were actually jumping people ahead based on their departure times to make sure they got through in time. That may be a hint you need to improve your system...
We actually got home and to bed at a reasonable hour (my plan with the early flights), but the time difference still kicked our butts the next morning...
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