Nike Women’s Half-Marathon 2012

When we left off last, we were piling out of Linda’s van like a bunch of clowns. I had grand plans of running with Angelica for the entirety of the race. She’s much faster than me, even at her “Let’s just have fun!” pace, so I thought, dreamt, that maaaaaaaaybe I could finally get a PR, knowing full well that I may choke in the final miles due to my training being less than stellar.

And then I had to use the porto-potties. Don’t you hate those friends who you get into running, and not do they end up only faster than you but never seem to have the issues you do? I religiously stretch, do yoga, foam roll, etc etc and some people get away with nothing! Ugh.

Anyhoozles, the long porto line and the impending start meant that I lost Angelica in the crowd, so I was on my own.

Honestly, there’s not much to report, in the way of my performance. I thought I ran has hard as a could and I was a bit disappointed with my time…2:32. Granted, there were a ton of hills and even more women to dodge around. Even so, I thought I had ran a smart race…I started conservatively, picked it up during the middle miles, and booked it (for me) for the last 2-3. Regardless, it was fun! Nike totally knows how to put on an event.

Positives:

*The course. I love running in San Francisco!

*There were two Team in Training dudes dressed up like Tiffany Boxes

*The course support was great.

*Some of the greatest spectator signs I’ve ever seen. “You go Glen Coco!” and of course the Ryan Gosling meme “Hey Girl, that fuel belt makes your butt look great!”

*My training in Palos Verdes really conditioned me to tackle those hills (and the weaving in and out of women was a bonus calorie burner)

Negatives:

*While I love the “girl-power” feel of the race, I feel like most of these women don’t regularly run races. While that’s completely fine, it seems like most of them don’t know proper race etiquette, i.e. moving to the right when you need to walk. I actually heard one woman, walking in the middle of the lane, saying “Go around me!” Does she not realize it’s dangerous to stop suddenly in front of 10,000 women? I know Nike made a post on their facebook page about etiquette such as this, but maybe they can make these issues a little more prevalent.

/end rant.

Neutrals:

*The winner of the FULL MARATHON crossed the finish right after me. It’s a little demoralizing (hey, at least she started before me…), but it was really cool to be able to see the winner so close.

So this happened:

What am I doing? Pooping in mid-air? Is that why the rest of the pack is behind me?

And this:

My second little blue box of the week! (Jen had given her bridesmaids a super cute Tiffany bracelet).

While looking for Angelica I was searching through the crowds and my eyes fell upon a familiar face…it was freakin’ Joan Benoit Samuelson! Literally a foot away from me! Joan, Kara Goucher and Shalane Flannagan. I was too in-shock and also focused on finding Angelica that it didn’t occur to me to ask for a picture until it was too late. Eh, I didn’t want to bother them anyway. I figured that if I stopped them for a picture then so would 10.000 other women.

Bling bling!

It was my first time racing in a skirt. I felt it was appropriate for a “women’s marathon”…I actually quite liked it!

After Angelica and I found each other we met up with Linda and her friends, and walked to her mom’s house which was only a few blocks away from the finish. We had our own little finish line party on the sidewalk outside her mom’s house.

Apple juice?

My college friend Terra picked me up and took me to the Haight for brunch! After visiting San Francisco several times throughout my life, I had never been to the Haight, so this was definitely a treat.

Plus I got to see this face!

   

I love San Francisco.

And then there are these. I was tempted to keep them in a glass case for all eternity…but I have been wearing them

And there you have it! My super belated craptastic recap of the Nike Women’s Marathon!