Nike 2011

Last Sunday, I completed my second half marathon! I participated in the Nike Women's Half Marathon that takes place in San Francisco every October.

Unlike last year, I didn't train quite as diligently as I should have. I had resolved that I might have to just walk the whole darn thing, but that was okay because at least I would still get to experience the beautiful course and be handed that little blue Tiffany box upon crossing the finish line.

Well, my competitive nature kicked in. I ran roughly 11 of the 13 miles and finished just 3 minutes slower than my time for last year! I think that stopping at an aid station for about 5-7 minutes screwed me out of beating last years time, but that's alright.

Here are some pictures from the weekend....

The expo tent in Union Square

On the side of the Niketown store in Union Square, they have all of the names of the runners/walkers who are participating. Here I am, pointing our my name : )

The group of us at dinner the night before the run. We ate at this great Italian restaurant called Firenze by Night.

Right before we headed to the start line - about 6:30 am.

Me and Judie with our Tiffany boxes - handed to us by firemen in tuxes as we crossed the finish.

Post run, Tiffany was hittin' the bottle in our room.

Me, feeling sassy because I rocked it!

Mostly just because I want to remember, here's a mile by mile recap of the run:

MILE 1: Tiffany and I start together, and then split up at about .77 - she's faster than me!

I hit the mile 1 mark and am shocked to have jogged the whole way. I figure why not keep going?

MILE 2: I felt like I really found my groove at this point. And, I was so glad that I had decided to run without music. Some people think that's crazy, but I think I appreciated the course and runners around me so much more.

MILE 3: HOT!!!! I was so glad to toss my sweatshirt into the donation bin. Then came the first hill at Ghiradelli Square. It was a short, but steep one. Made it up and down without incident.

Mile 4: This brought one of my favorite parts of the course. A beautiful view of Alcatraz and the bay, as well as the beginning of the Presidio. At this point, I started noticing a little hint of a blister on my arch. I hoped it would go away. It didn't.

Mile 5: Right at the beginning of this one, I saw an aid station and decided it was a good idea to stop and get something for my blister. An EMT applied moleskin and some tape. When I started back out, I thought for sure it was going to bug me the rest of the run, but fortunately it didn't.

MILE 6: Right at the beginning of this mile, there is a HUGE hill. And that hill is about a mile long. I had to walk the sucker. Kind of disappointing, but I figured at that point it would be silly to waste energy trying to run the hill when I still had about 7 miles to go!

MILE 7: The hill eased up a bit, and the view of the Golden Gate was beautifully distracting. I was proud of myself for having run as much as I did up to that point. Also, I knew that I was more than halfway through and that's always a good feeling no matter how much you love running. If I had made it that far, I was confident I could tackle the rest.

MILE 8: In a ritzy residential neighborhood. The beginning of this mile was alright, and then kind of boring. I was only able to look at pretty houses for so long without being sad that my house is currently a mess!

MILE 9: This is by far my least favorite mile of the course. It was last year, and it was this year. Don't know why....possibly because it has a slight incline the whole way and there's not really much to look at. I did witness a coach stretching a lady out on the sidewalk who was screaming bloody murder. That was somewhat entertaining, but I felt awful for her.

MILE 10: Freaking awesome. It's down hill about 90% of the way. You are on a cliff and overlooking the ocean and Ocean Beach. You can see the finish line. And this point during long runs is always huge for me mentally. Just a personal thing.

MILE 11: TIRED!!! This mile enters you into Golden Gate park. Being that it's as close to the finish line as it is, there's tons of spectators cheering runners on. By then, all I could think of was that I had the get through 2 more miles. Surprisingly, my feet and hips didn't hurt like I expected they would. My quads were tired though. I rested a lot during this mile.

MILE 12: The last one. And that's probably the only thing that got me through. After running what I just had and seeing the rest of the course, this part of the run wasn't much to write home about. I was just excited that I was going to finish!!

MILE 13/FINISH: AWESOME! I crossed the finish line at 2:51. I was tired. I knew I would be sore. But it was worth it. An accomplishment that gives me a feeling and sense of pride nothing else ever has.

And I can't wait to do it all again next year. Possibly even a little faster too : )