the San Fran trip

So.. I just don't even know how to sum up the weekend, so I've been putting it off!
It was a really good weekend in San Francisco! Of course everything revolved around us running the 1/2 marathon on Sunday, so we tried to be careful about how much we walked and what we ate - okay I lied not so much what we ate.. haha. I did stay away from dairy, because I was afraid that helped in my stomach issues I have after I run. We chowed down on pizza, Ghirardelli chocolate and whatever else we felt like eating.. The run was a fantastic excuse to eat as much carbs as possible and being in San Francisco, I was all about the sourdough bread.

So Friday morning we all drowsily made our way to Allison's at 5:30 to meet and leave for the airport. The flight took off at 7:15 am. Luckily, we got a ride to the airport from Sarah's new man, so that cut out some time that we would have had to spend on parking and taking the shuttle to the terminal and all that jazz.

We landed in San Fran at like 8:45, but I think it was like 10:00 by the time we got to our hotel. We couldn't check in yet, so we dropped our bags off with the dude at the front and meandered around town, made our way to the Marathon Expo and picked up our race numbers, free shirts (that were really cool - dry fit material) and much more free samples of stuff. That area was out a little ways on a pier that's not so touristy and we found a nice place where we had a CHEAP lunch, so that was good. We headed back to the hotel to check-in, we all collapsed on the bed, the tired from getting up so early hitting us, then we headed back out. This time we asked the dude at the front where a good place to go would be. He told us an area, Fillmore St., that would really give us the character of the city. So we headed there by bus, hoping the guy wasn't delusional and that it really was a cool area. It was a pretty cool street - we later found out the 'Painted Ladies' weren't too far from there, but we didn't know it at the time and never saw them. We found a place to eat there - very cool place - where you could chill forever. Luckily, the three of us are similar travelers and didn't mind sitting back and relaxing and talking.. not too hurried to move on. We had two drinks that night.. in celebration of my birthday on Saturday - let me tell ya, we got wild.

Not so much.. we were exhausted from the early morning still.

Saturday, we headed out to the Wharf, took a duck tour (so touristy - love it), went to Ghirardelli Square.. basically hung out with the millions of tourists that take over the city. We also did some shopping, as we were staying in Union Square and there are stores all around! So we did some shopping - H&M! and then we headed over to one of our favorite Brits' hotel! She kinda spurred the whole San Francisco trip in the first place since we knew she'd be visiting from England. So after some time we met up with her and headed to dinner. We found the first Italian place we could find and headed in. We didn't really look at the menu.. or the prices first.. woops. It was a little on the fancy side, but we got our carbs and since it was fancy, the meal was smaller, which means it was the right size portion you actually need! so we weren't stuffed, but just right, afterwards. We had to get some sleep, so we couldn't party it up with the Brits, so we said our goodbyes, took a pic and parted ways.


RACE DAY!!!! We got up bright and early again.. about 5:30... were on our way about 6:15 to the Ferry Building... got on a shuttle bus to take us to our starting point (since we did the second 1/2 marathon). Our starting point was in Golden Gate Park - we got quite a tour on the bus.. the ride was quite long.. probably had to do with the streets blocked off for the marathon. We made it to the park and it was SO COLD.. we were pretty close to the water and the breeze was COLD. The sky was overcast, which turned out to be quite nice for the run, but cold for the waiting.

San Francisco does not get hot - so weird that the highs were in the 60's in August... I didn't know this until I started checking out the temp for our trip.

So we had to wait around for over an hour before starting the race. The line for the porta-potties was great. There were about 20 porta-potties and, obviously, everyone wants to go to the bathroom before running for hours, so the line was LONG. A guy that was helping organize the race was walking around yelling for people to use the bushes if they could.. and he had to keep saying 'seriously' because people would just start laughing...

So, now, to the race. We were waiting in the crowd and everyone just started cheering and clapping and before we knew it we were starting. So, you start off pretty freakin' slow since there are so many people around. Then it thins out and you have to weave your way through. The good part is it's pretty distracting and the first few miles go really fast.

Sarah and I ran the whole way together, which was awesome. I think I would have slowed down quite a bit at one point if I wasn't trying to keep up with Miss Speedy..haha..

We ran through golden gate park for 6 miles, then we were out on the streets of San Francisco. There were hills, but they were pretty short, so it wasn't too killer, although I could feel the quads getting tight by the time we were out of the park. While we were in Golden Gate Park, we got to run past the de Young Museum.... which is neat to an Architect :) so that was kind of exciting, and again, distracting.

Then we ran down Haight, which also gives you plenty to look at. There were some big downhills on this street, one being really steep. It was weird to run down, not knowing how fast I should let myself go.

One of the funny things we noticed was at the cross streets that were blocked off, they had motorcycle guys/ladies that were the 'guards'. It was funny - not police officers (there were some), but most cross streets were leather clad folks and they were cheering us all on..

The stations for water, electrolytes and gel were pretty awesome and I think ended up helping me a lot. The first water stop after we started, had all these things, but then had a guy dressed as the devil and holding a sign for beer and they had a table set up with little dixie cups of beer. Pretty humorous.

I found this pic on flickr... from the race

So, we made it through the race, the last mile definitely being the longest/worst. We finished in 2:07:24... which is like 9:44 minute miles.. Not too shabby.

Our legs felt so weird afterwards! We collected our free food, headed to get our sweats bags, found the free massage tent and met up with Allison! We all made it!!

It was pretty fun! I think we all said we'd do it again, too.
Also, I think it was pretty huge that we trained in Denver at 5,280 ft and went down to sea level for the run. It's so much easier on the lungs, it's amazing. I'm not sure I'd want to run one in Denver, I think I'll just keep traveling around to new cities, with fun, new stuff to look at!

pheeeeeeewww. that was long!

me.. running...



Duck Tours!

looking oh so good after 13.1 miles



And after the race.. we had time to shower but that was all.. we had to check out, so we spent a good amount of time chilling at this park..