Nike Women’s Half Marathon Race Report

After the awesomeness that was pacing the Portland Marathon last weekend, I was pretty excited about running. I had last Monday (aka the day after the marathon) off and needed to pick up my allergy meds at the pharmacy. I didn’t want to drive or take the streetcar, and I figured, “I’m just gonna run. It’s pretty close!” I got there, no problem, picked up my meds, and started making my way home. That’s when both my Achilles started to hurt. ARGH!! And they proceeded to hurt the rest of the week. I decided to hold off all running until Sunday (aka the day of the next race) and hope for the best. So, I was pretty nervous going into the race.

J and I drove down to the Bay Area on Friday. There, we met up with Alisa, and spent the night at her Father’s house. Saturday morning, we made our way to a BART station, and rode on into the city. Our hotel was just outside the station, and right near Union Square (aka the site of the Expo and Race Start). We checked into the hotel, and made our way down to the Expo.

The “Expotique”:
We managed to make it to the Expo before the crowds got too out of control. (An hour later, the line went around the block. We made our way through each station, got our bibs, corral bands, and then split up. While the girls went shopping, I took J out to see the sights, since he’d never really been to SF before. But first, we meandered over to Nike Town, and I found my name on the “wall”.

Sightseeing:
First, I took J down to the Embarcadaro. This is where my dad used to take my brother and I to get sticky buns on the weekends when I was younger. The sticky bun place was no longer there, but the fountain we used to hop around in was. There was also a Boudin Bakery there, so we enjoyed ourselves with some lunch!! Mmm.

My brother and I used to hop around in this fountain. P.S. I’m pretty sure they were doing construction on it the last time we were there….

Next up, we walked along the Embarcadero, and past Pier 39. We spotted the sea lions, and also Alcatraz, then made our way to Fisherman’s Wharf, and finally, to the Ghirardelli Factory! Double Mmmm!!

Alcatraz in the background

 

After we scarfed down our dessert, it was time to make our way back to the hotel. On they way, we passed by Lombard St (the crookedest street) and up some steep hills! (Probably not too great for the Achilles.)

                      Hills

Next, we ordered some takeout from the California Pizza Kitchen. That place was very convenient to our hotel, and therefore the race/expo area, and it was nearly empty when we went to pick up our food! Score! We finished the evening by lounging around in our pj’s, eating some pizza, and watching TV. With our race stuff laid out and ready to go, we hit they hay.

Race Time:
At 5:30am it was time to get ready. We got our gear on, scarfed down some bagels and cookies (mmm!) then made our way to the starting area. Holy moly that place was packed! I’d never been to a race this large before. (Alisa later told us it’s the 3rd largest half marathon in the WORLD! and I’m not surprised!) The race was a point-to-point race, and we wanted to have some warm gear at the finish line, so we maneuvered our way to the bag check area.

Alisa and I pre-race.

With our bags checked, we made our way to our starting corral. We lined up in the 10-11:30 min/mi corral for our leisurely journey! Eventually, we heard the gun go off, and we patiently awaited our turn to cross the mat. Soon enough, it was our turn, and we were off!

 

The first mile or so wove through the Financial District. Although the entire race, from our perspective (aka the slow, take your time and enjoy sightseeing area of the pack) was a cluster for pretty much the entirety of the race, it didn’t seem like we had to weave too much around runners just out of the chute. Although, I’m sure that could also be due to our leisurely pace…

Miles 2 and 3 ran along the Embarcadero and Fisherman’s Wharf and by the many piers lining the water, including the touristy Pier 39. From here, we could see the Bay Bridge and Alcatraz, and I made sure to snap a few pics. It was an average cloudy morning for San Francisco, at least from my memory as a youngster growing up in the area, but you could still see the sights pretty well. Mile 5 brought us by Fort Mason, and our first potty stop.

Now, I don’t know if anyone has ever told you this before, but San Francisco has a few hills, and after passing Fort Mason, we got a nice view of our first big one. I have to say, the hills on this course (at least the first half) are definite walking hills. I probably wouldn’t suggest this half as a “PR” course… Pretty much everyone around us, at this point, was walking. But we got some great views along this “280ft over a mile” climb, and we savored every moment of it (and took some nice pics of the Golden Gate Bridge.) There were even race signs pointing out the best scenic views for pictures!

The next few miles included some “rolling” hills, at least by San Francisco’s standard. But remember, hills = good views! Mile 9 took us through a neighborhood with a lot of really nice looking houses, and oranges from Kaiser. Yeah, I grabbed some. Another great part of this stretch was the encouraging signs along the route, saying things like, “Reason [to run] #8: Because I Can”.

 
With every hill, comes a downhill, and Mile 11 was a quad scorcher! We rounded a corner, and got a great view of some beaches, and what appeared to be a finish shoot…but that couldn’t be right… It wasn’t. There were two portions near the end of the course with blown up arches with encouraging words. Not sure I would appreciate those if I were racing. I usually associate those arches with the finish line, but it was a nice gesture!

All we had left was a short jaunt through Golden Gate Park. This is where we split from the full marathoners (Good luck, ladies!) and made our turn down the “Chocolate Mile”, because, really, what would a women’s race be without Chocolate?! I grabbed some Ghirardelli from the volunteers and stashed it for later (I’d already eaten some Clif Shot Bloks and Luna Bars from a previous aid station, so I was no longer hungry at this point.) Finally, we wove our way through the final stretch, and through the finish line!

    Post Race:
What a hoard of people at the end! I managed to spot the tuxedo-clad fireman and got my necklace. Race officially complete. The finish line was a great use of the assembly line system. After making my way through the necklaces, and acquiring my space blanket, I was led into the “food area”. I was given a great re-usable shopping bag in which to stuff my goodies (including bananas, bagels, Kashi cereal, Luna bars, raisins, and Gatorade). I grabbed everything that was offered to me and stuffed it in my bag. Soon enough I was at the shirt station, grabbed my Pink Nike Tech Tee, and finally filtered out of the system. I collected my bag, and bundled up a bit to protect myself from the rain that had started just as we were finishing up.

Now, my absolute least favorite part of the race: Getting back to the hotel. Everyone in our group had purchased shuttle tickets for a ride back the start. Well, everyone but me…Oops! They ended up waiting in line for 45 minutes, but that was still better than what J and I ended up doing… We had the brilliant idea to take public transit. We ended up walking about 3.5 miles and getting passed up by 3 buses before finally getting picked up. We made it back to our hotel in just enough time for late check out. No shower for me. Bummer!

Luckily, I was able to get myself the largest Pumpkin Spice Latte I could, so that I could warm up a bit (rain+SF=cold). We made our way to the BART station, and rode back to our car. After a pit stop at Alisa’s in-laws (with very yummy dinner and breakfast! and a good night’s sleep) J and I made the long trek back up north on Monday.

It was a busy, but super fun weekend. And I got new bling! Both Achilles made it through the race ok; no pain really while we were running, a little achiness as we walked up those hills, but I made it through ok. My right heel gets sore when driving (from the pressure on the heel), and I’m definitely cutting back this week! I ran a bit today (Tuesday), but only about 2.5 miles. When it started hurting, I stopped. I’m gonna run just a bit again tomorrow, then take a few days off. Friday is my birthday, and, although I wish I could run on my Birthday, I think a massage is in order!

Here’s to a happy, restful, injury repairing birthday week!

Portland Marathon Pacer Recap

This past Sunday, I took part in the Portland Marathon, as an official 4:45 pacer. Let me just say, I had an absolutely amazing time! Here’s the recap of the weekend:

Expo: I worked the Red Lizard Pacer Booth on Saturday afternoon, and actually had a really fun time answering questions from nervous/excited expectant Marathoners. We handed out pace bands, and answered many questions about corrals. Unfortunately, the Portland Marathon had decided to use the entrants “projected finish time” from their registration to assign them to a corral, without actually letting the runners know… So a lot of runners were upset that they were placed in separate corrals from their pacers, based upon a time they input 6-12 months ago…This probably wouldn’t be much of a problem if they would allow people to change corrals, or update their information a few months ago, but we hoped it would all work out the next day anyhow.

Race: We set our alarms for 5:45am, so that would could be dressed (in our “pacer uniforms”: see below picture) and make our way to the Pacer’s Meeting point at our assigned time of 6:15am. When I had looked outside while getting dressed, I didn’t see any rain, but dressed for the elements, anyway. When we finally made our way out the door, it was pouring, so we quickly headed back inside to grab some trash bags, as we knew we would be standing in the rain for awhile before the race actually started. When we stepped out the door for the second time, we noticed that it was 6:15, and we were late, so we ran the few blocks to our meeting site. We collected our “Lizard Pace Sign” and made sure we were ready to go. Soon enough, it was time to head to our assigned corral.

We both decided that we needed to use the portas, but the line was already a block long. We started by lining up in the line, but after the 5th person approached us and asked about being paced, we decided it would be best to try and cut the line, then line up appropriately for our pace group to meet us. Some nice girls understood, and let us sneak ahead, and soon enough we found our waiting place. Several runners approached us and said they wanted to run with us, but that they wanted to wait under cover, to avoid the large amount of moisture that was falling upon us. “No problem!”, we said. Eventually, we distantly heard the national anthem, and knew it would be time to take off soon.

Did I mention that it was absolutely pouring?! Because it was, and we were already soaked before we even started…

Eventually, we were directed toward the starting line. Garbage bags were strewn all across the road, and you had to be careful not to trip over them. (It doesn’t hurt to walk them over to the side, people!) One thing I didn’t like about the march to the starting line, was when we passed by the “fat lady” sign that said, “It’s almost over!” It later leads you to the finish line, but, really, we hadn’t even started yet!
That’s just mean… :(

Finally, we reached the starting line, I clicked “start” on my watch, and off we went! There is always great energy at the start of the race, and even though I wasn’t racing myself, I was still very excited. One of my favorite early moments was as we passed a Large Drum band (Portland Taiko). The sound they created was very dramatic, and definitely added to excitement of the first mile!

Even though we started in “waves” the first few miles were a definite challenge from a “pacer” standpoint. There were a lot of people in front of us, and we just hoped they were on pace. The first few miles we were actually a bit fast, and we continued to add a little bit to our “bank”  until about Mile 5. This is when we started on the most scenic, the most awesomest, and just plain spectacular (sense any sarcasm, because these sentiments are layered with it…) out and back of all time. OMG. It definitely does not shine a great light upon Portland…

Anyway. These miles dragged on a bit. There were some nice bands, but it was pretty darn boring. One cool thing was that we were able to see a bunch of people going the opposite direction, including a lot of the other pace groups. Something I noticed was that this section became very overcrowded, especially during the aid stations. Not sure if this was because of the half-marathoners mixed in with the marathoners, or what? But it could become a bit of a mad house, what with people cutting across you trying to get to the water or other aid. Oh, and another awesome thing about this section: PUDDLES!!!! As if the pouring rain wasn’t enough, this road has pretty poor upkeep, and collected a lot of water in spots. We had no hope of keeping our tootsies even remotely dry…

 

Soon enough, we were done with this section, and we definitely cheered verbosely! And then before we knew it, we were at Mile 11. Only 3 to go before pacing buddy and I could put on some warm clothes and head over to the Mile 24 aid station! At Mile 12, the two pacers taking over for the second half joined in. We introduced them to our group, went over timing logistics, and settled in to the pace. They were happy that we had banked a little extra time, as the dreaded “Hill” (St. John’s Bridge) was still up ahead.

Mile 14 came and we hopped out and yelled some final support to our pacees, and told them we would see them again at Mile 24!

Wearing dry clothes never felt so good!! And warmI  Ahhhhh…..Soon enough, we made our way to the Aid Station, and passed out Gummy Bears and Pretzels. And shivered. Brrr…it was cold. We kept our eyes out for all the pace groups coming through: 3:50, 4:00, 4:15, 4:30. Time to make sure we were run ready. A few more minutes, and we spotted our Lizard. (He was the one with flair!) We jumped in and looked around at a few familiar faces, although I guess a few had been lost after the bridge. Before we knew it, it was one last climb up onto the Broadway Bridge. This was a tough climb for all these marathoners. At this point, their legs were toast, so we gave as much encouragement as we could, and grabbed any stragglers we passed.

The Mile 25 marker passed, finally, and you could see everyone struggling, but you knew they were going to make it! They were going to be able to call themselves “Marathoners”! The final chute involved a right turn, followed by a left turn (which I think threw a few people off mentally). When we made the first turn, we told our group to take off and finish strong, and boy did they. We were all alone at this point, but there were some people a few yards behind us, so we yelled for them to pass us! When we finally crossed over the finish line (at 4:45:00 on the dot!) pacer buddy and I turned around to cheer in a few people behind us.

Eventually, we went back to the finish and got our space blankets, although the rain had finally stopped! This was apparently the wettest Portland Marathon in history (probably). It was a little emotional at the start line, and why not, a lot of these people finished their first marathon, and finally finished what they had been training so long for!

So, to sum it up, I can’t wait to do this again! It was a very rewarding experience, and it was so much fun to be a part of something so big for all these runners!

Now I didn’t bring my camera, because, in case you didn’t catch it, it was pouring!! So I borrowed some pictures from my friend! :)

Preparation

This week really felt like preparation for next week’s Portland Marathon Extravaganza! I increased my mileage (to the most weekly mileage I’ve ever run!) and practiced pacing with my pacing buddy!.

Monday:
4.1 miles (9:51 avg pace)
My friend, who had gotten married over the weekend, had a lot of leftover cupcakes, so we made our way over to the weekly WAMR group run. We don’t usually head over to these runs, because they’re a bit of a drive from our house, but it was worth it for the cupcakes. I have every other Monday off from work, so I’m sure I could make my way out there again in the future.

The run takes place mostly on the Fanno Creek Trail. It was a nice little run through a “park”-like area. I’m really glad this run was with a group, though, because I’m sure I would have gotten lost without them! And, yes, the cupcakes were delicious!

Tuesday:
Rest Day

Wednesday:
5.6 miles (10:04 avg pace)
This was the week for group runs! I was supposed to meet up with Alisa for a hill workout, but work issues prevented her from coming out. :( (Don’t worry, we’ll make it work sometime!) Instead, we made our way over to the Fulton Pub Run, for one of their last weeks of the “summer route”, which includes 1-2 miles of (what seems to me) moderate-difficult trail. My pacing buddy and I used the last few miles to practice our 10:52 pace for our Portland Marathon pacing duties. Nice and easy.

Thursday:
Last Thursday
3.6 miles (9:36 avg pace, with stop and go)
The last “First” Thursday of the year. This one seemed to be shorter than the other “routes”, and we were able to hit up each and every stop. There also seemed to be less people, which upped our chances of winning. Neither J or I were successful, but our friend won twice! Plus, we got delicious Jubelale for our recovery drink!

Friday:
Rest Day

Saturday:
Fall Finale 5k Pacer Report
My pacing buddy for the Portland Marathon had decided awhile ago to pace this race for any participants who would like to break 30 minutes for the 5k. So we pulled out the best part of our pacing outfits (the tutus) and got to work. We tried to hold about a 9:35 min/mi pace, and I think we did this quite well, until the last mile, but at this point, I think we had already lost a few folks. As we neared the end, I continued on with the pace, to lead those still with us to the finish line. Then I told them to finish strong, then hung back to cheer on those just behind me. There were quite a few people that appeared to finish PRs, even if they didn’t quite surpass the 30-minute mark! It was a lot of fun to help people reach their goals, and we’re totally going to do it again. We’ve already picked our next race to pace: The Give N' Gobble 5k, in Sherwood. If you know anyone looking to break 30 minutes, send them out our way, and we’d be happy to cheer them on!

5k: 29:17
0.4 miles of warm-up/practice = 3.5 miles total for the day

There was also a raffle after the race, and I am happy to report: I won new shoes!!!

Sunday:
Long Run
13.1 miles (9:36 avg pace)
I started this run with J, but he left after about 2.5 miles, so I was mostly on my own. I headed up Terwilliger, because for some reason, I love doing that?! Then I made my way down those hundreds of stairs down to the Willamette, up and over the Sellwood bridge, then back up the Springwater to the Steel Bridge, and then home. It was a pretty nice run. It was a little misty to start out with, and the leaves had begun to fall. Yeah, I love fall!! The first few miles were about 10:00 pace, and I ended up (on the flatter sections) running a few 9:00 miles. Whoops! Oh well. I was a little sore afterward, but not too bad. And I definitely enjoyed my pizza lunch afterward! Yum!

Total miles for the week: 30!! Yay!!

Next weekend (10/10/10) is the Portland Marathon. I will be co-pacer for the first half of the 4:45 group! I’m really looking forward to helping people try to reach their goals. At this point, we’re planning on running a little past halfway, then going to help at the Mile 24 aid station. Then, we hope to join the 4:45 group when they come through the aid station, and run with them through the finish!

Good luck to all those who are running the Marathon! Hope to see you out there!!

And just as an aside: After a year and a half of unemployment, J has finally received a job offer. He starts work tomorrow, and will finally contribute to society once again! Good luck J! I love you!