Let’s begin two days before the race on Friday. My friends took me down to the race expo where I spent a couple hours enjoying all that they had to offer. It was probably the best expo – free photos, snacks, interviews with Olympians, and much more. I ran on a human hamster wheel! I found my name out of thousands on a wall! We purchased Brent a “spectator ticket” that would give him a bus ride to a few spots to cheer me on and a ride to the finish. It was great to see all of the signs around downtown San Francisco promoting the race. It made a person feel special. I know that it made me feel special. On Saturday, we drove part of the race course just because it happened to be along the tourist route that we took. It was great to see all the sights and take in the view. It was a good thing we did this too because it ended up being foggy on race day and I couldn’t see a thing. It was a fun touristy day taking in the city and getting me all amped up for the race that was now just hours away. At the end of the day, we were waiting to meet up with some other friends so I headed over to Niketown to see if there was anything I wanted to treat myself too. I found a fun sweater with the San Francisco city skyline and a fun running chick on it. I treated myself to commemorate the race. I normally do not buy myself anything at races, but for some reason, this one felt different.
After sometime with our friends, we headed back to our hotel room that was about a 3/4 mile walk away. We decided to get a room for that night because we didn’t want to make our friends take us into the city early in the morning. Also, it meant we got to sleep in a little bit more. I took a shower and calmed myself down. Friday and Saturday were some of the first days that I was actually feeling pumped up for this race. It was a long summer and my energy levels were running low. I was glad to be excited again. I set the alarm and I slept until the alarmed sounded at 4:00 in the morning. I sat up and grabbed for the food that I had purchased. Unfortunately since we didn’t have a refrigerator, I did not get my normal pre-race yogurt. I managed with some granola, an apple and a Luna bar and then went back to sleep. My alarm sounded again at 6:00 a.m. We gave ourselves just enough time for Brent to shower and to pack up before we took our 15-20 minute walk to where I needed to be. Brent and I said goodbye and then I was completely on my own.
As I hung out on the streets of downtown San Francisco, I found myself chatting it up with a few people next to me. I was mostly surrounded by half marathoners but I did manage to find a few marathoners. I chatted with one that was running her first full. It was great to see the excitement on her face. I was also amazed at the number of men that were running the race as well. Most of them seemed to be with a female whether it be their wife, sister or daughter. They were running it to support them. It was nearing 7:00 a.m. and we heard the national anthem ring about the streets. It was about to start.
It was a nice 50 degrees and foggy which I was kind of excited about since it would help keep it cool. The gun went off and our corral slowly moved towards the start line. I found myself on Powell Street slowly starting to jog as they let our corral at the start line. I took off surrounded by thousands of women trying to make it through the crowd. There were tons of spectators along the first couple streets at the start and I tried to find Brent. I was unsure if he would be there or already on the bus. I spotted him and was so excited as he waved and cheered me on! I continued on my way through the first few miles trying to get into my pace which I could not accomplish. I ran some of the slowest miles I have ran for a while. I was warned that it would be difficult, but I did not realize that it would be this bad.
I knew that the “cheer zone” was coming up soon around mile 4 so I decided to take off my arm warmers to hand off to Brent. There were tons of people and I had no clue how I was going to find him. I looked and looked for the next mile, but never saw him. I was disappointed that I had missed him, but I went on my way still enjoying the race. The next spot to see him wasn’t until near mile 11. The sky still was not clearing up, but it did begin to mist which felt great! In my opinion, it was perfect race conditions at least for the weather. There we tons of great signs along the road cheering us on towards those Tiffany’s necklaces that were waiting at the finish. I chatted with a few ladies along the way about how packed the race was. It was so packed everyone was accidentally hitting each other a few times. I know I did it and kept finding my self apologizing and other women were as well. This sparked some conversation with a couple ladies from New York. They were telling me that the New York Marathon was not even this bad. We all laughed about hitting each other.
We finally got to the next “cheer zone” and I searched and searched for Brent again. There was no sign of him anywhere. Disappointed again, I moved along wondering if I would be able to find him at the last “cheer zone” before the finish line. I ran through Golden Gate Park which was silent except for occasional cheer from a spectator. The race finally split between the full and half marathoners. I was nice to finally have some breathing room. I tried to push it up a notch, but found myself stuck in the slow pace. There was no breaking out of it.
I continued to run through the park trying to get myself to increase my pace. I was nearing mile 16 when I saw Brent in the distance. I got so excited I ran over to him, gave him a couple hugs and some kisses before I took off again. I was overwhelmed with excitement. I do not know why seeing him cheered me up so much, but it was just what I need to finish the race. I kept plugging away getting more and more tired. I still never hit the wall, but I was exhausted. I kept running along the coast counting down the miles I still had left. Each mile got harder and harder, but I kept running. I finally saw the mile marker 25! I was so glad that I was almost done. This mile felt the longest though. I started to wonder how I would find Brent in the crowd again. Luckily, I somehow spotted him and was filled with excitement all over. I all of a sudden had energy to finish the race and with the biggest smile on my face. I crossed the finish line with my arms raised as they called out my name. I never have ran across a finish line like that, but for some reason I felt the urge.
I grabbed my water and went to stop my Nike+ app to find out that my phone had died. I was bummed as there were something I wanted to take pictures of in the finishers shoot, but I managed. I grabbed my Tiffany’s finishers necklace from the nice San Francisco fireman and my finishers shirt. I was not interested in a lot of the food that they had. I also am normally very hungry, but I just did not really want anything to do with food, but I knew I needed to eat something. I grabbed a banana and left the finishers shoot wondering how I was going to find Brent among the thousands of people with a dead phone. I started walking the direction I had seen him near the finish. After a couple of minutes, I saw him! We found a place to sit down for a minute and I switched into my flip flops, Brent took pictures of me and my necklace, and then we wondered around to enjoy the little extras they had to offer.
We got our free yoga mat, I took pictures with some of the fireman, got what seemed like the longest massage!, found the booth with chocolate milk!, warmed up inside a tent, and finally changed into some warmer clothes. We then started walking towards where my friends were going to meet up with us. We had spent almost 2 hours down at the finish line. As we were walking, we watched all the ladies trying to make their way across the finish line with only minutes before the race was over. I felt so sorry for them as they were so close and the seconds ticked away. If they didn’t crossed in the allowed time, they would not get their finisher’s necklace. It was almost heart breaking watching the women try to come in as the announcer was counting down from 30 seconds.
Brent and I walked three miles up to the top of the park to meet our friends. It was a nice long cool down walk. I enjoyed the race even though it took me longer than expected. I did not have high hopes for this race, but I also did not think I would do as bad as I did. I do not know what marathon or longer race is in store for me next, but I am sure I will come up with something.
Results:
Time: 4:22:59
Pace: 10:03 min/mi
Age Group: 220 out of 1063
Overall: 995 out of 4537
There were about 25,000 women that ran and less than 5,000 were in the full marathon. That is ton of half marathoners. I am actually kinda of surprised about my place as I ran over 20 minutes slower than Nashville. I someone still get about the same place. (Top 25% give or take a few).
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