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!