San Francisco Half Marathon Recap ...

Location: San Francisco, CA
Date: 7/31/11
Temperature: 54 degrees
Official Time: 2:04:09 for 13.1 (9:29 per mile)
Garmin Time: 2:04:09 for 13.26 (9:21 per mile)
Place in Age Group: 208/1067
Place in Gender: 569/3547
Overall Place: 1565/6255

The Good:

Lululemon Pre-Race Shake-Out Run: On Saturday morning, G and I met up with our buddy Bart Yasso (and 40 or so other runners) for an easy 3 miles hosted by Lululemon.

It was a super way to see some of San Francisco by foot and to spend some time with our West Coast blogging buddies, including Aron, Katie A., Rad Runner and Alyssa (They are all wicked cool. Be jealous).Afterward, we headed to the Ferry Building (basically my favorite place on the planet) for coffee and some delicious vegan donuts.Yum!

The Location/Views: San Francisco is an awesome city and the race course offers some amazing views. This is a shot from Vista Point, mile 7.5 of the race.

Plus, how many people can say they have run across the Golden Gate Bridge? Not many. And that experience makes running this race an experience not to be missed.

Race Logistics: The San Francisco Half Marathon is hands down the best run race I have ever encountered. From expo to finish line to post-race shuttle, everything went off without a hitch. Plus, the race tees and medals were sweet. I know of quite a few races that could benefit from adopting some of the procedures used by this race.

International Running Flag of Friendship: I got the chance to add to the International Running Flag of Friendship during this race. Here I am with my flag ...

If you don't know how the IRFoF works, each participant runs with a small flag of their choice and then it is sewn onto a larger collective flag. Then after you're done, it gets passed along to another person. I think it's a cool concept to unite runners from across the globe.

Miles 1-10: G and I had been told by more than one person that after mile 10, the course was "fairly flat." We took that to mean that the major climbs were before mile 10 and then after that there would be "rolling" hills. Um, no.

We crushed the first 10 miles. We were on pace to get G her sub-2. We flew over the bridge. Even the monster hill at mile 10 didn't break us. Then the downhill at mile 11 helped us gain back whatever we had lost on the last climb. If it had been "fairly flat," we would have been fine. But we were spent. We executed our race strategy perfectly. Unfortunately, our race strategy didn't match the course ...

Running with Kim: G and I were fortunate enough to meet up with Kim and her hubby, S, before the race.
It was awesome to see her again and to log the first few miles of the race together (we ran You Go Girl! last September on Team Will Run for Ice Cream). We had a blast spending time with them and I think we are uber-close to getting them to visit us for an East Coast race ...

The Weather: 54 degrees. Overcast. Light Winds. Can you really beat that?

Our Outfits: G and I wore the Team Sparkle Traveling Skirts for the race.

And like usual, we were wicked cute and got about a zillion shout-outs along the course ...

The Bad:

No Sub-2: After crushing the race through mile 10, our legs died. And so did a sub-2 half. But G did walk away with a PR, so it wasn't a total fail ...

The Ugly:

Miles 11.5 - 13.1: After a mile long down hill from 10.5-11.5 (which trashed my quads), we thought it was supposed to be "fairly flat." Instead, we were faced with a mile long climb up to Golden Gate Park. My legs had NOTHING left. It was soul crushing. We should have known though. This was a sign at the expo ...


Our Post-Race Attire: G and I planned to spend the day in San Francisco after the race (we stayed in Berkeley). So, we packed our bags with clothes to change into. Except that we kind of didn't bring pants or new bras, which left us walking around in wet clothing. Fortunately, we hadn't gotten rid of our pre-race "throw-aways," giving us something to wear. Unfortunately, we looked like two homeless people walking the streets ...

July Rewind ...

Seven months down, five to go. Here's my recap of July 2011 ...

Run Miles Planned/Miles Ran: 169.1/171.71

Bike Miles Planned/Mile Rode: 0 (I should probably start planning these)/93

Rest Days Planned/Rest Days Taken: 4/5

Highest Run Mileage Week: 7/25-7/31: 42.46 miles

Highest Bike Mileage Week: 7/4-7/10: 50 miles

Long Runs Planned/Long Runs Completed: 5/5 (with a post-surgery distance PR of 13.26 miles)

Current Book: Amazingly, I read one and a half books this month. On my way to San Francisco, I read The Runner's Rule Book (a quick fun read, FYI) by Mark Remy and on the way back, I started Running on Empty by Marshall Ulrich.

Current Shame-Inducing Guilty Pleasure: The shear amount of food I consumed in San Francisco. Oops!

Current Colors: Pink and Turquoise

Current Drink: Dunkin Donuts Coffee. The hot variety. (Yes, I realize it's summer. But I am ALWAYS cold.)

Current Song: Determinate - Lemonade Mouth

Current Triumph: I hit 1,000 running miles last week. And I've raised 65% of my fundraising goal for NYC (click HERE to donate). Things are total awesomesauce ...

Current Goal: Stick to the training plan and crush NYC ...

Current Blessing: I feel like my whole life is one big blessing and I am entirely grateful.

Current Excitement: Hood to Coast. Only 23 days until I leave!

2011 Goals - Status Update:

Personal:

• Clean up my diet - I am tracking my food religiously at SparkPeople, survived my sugar detox and have been able to add a small amount of sweets back in without causing a total binge.
  
• Eat no more than 25 cupcakes - As of August 2nd - 18 cupcakes eaten
  

Financial:

• Pay off our consumer debt by the end of the year - We have paid off over half of our consumer debt and are on track to be credit card debt free in 11 months. Plus, we are on track to have our student loans eliminated by February 2013, five month ahead of our schedule. And 10 years faster than if we let it go to term.
  
• Spend $0 on clothing - As of August 2nd - $173 spent - I caved and bought some stuff from Lululemon.
  

Running:

• Run 2,000 miles - As of August 2nd - 1031.71 miles run.
• Run a sub 1:55 half marathon - Next race - 10/16, Newport Half Marathon
  
• Take 30+ minutes off my marathon - Completed - 3/26, National Marathon, 4:15:48, 33:50 PR.

Three Things Thursday, crazy edition ...

Crazy Funny - Do you know what happens when my kids get a hold of J's iPad and go rogue? It looks a little something like this ...



Or this ...



Yes, that is what I have to deal with on a daily basis. My house is always that loud. I think this just goes to prove that my children are insane (Note: We found 30-40 other little gems like this on the iPad when these were discovered.)

Crazy Far - Three miles into yesterday morning's run, I ran my 1000th mile this year. Not bad, considering I only logged 16 miles in May, thanks to the crash. 2000, I'm coming for you ...


Crazy Awesome - G and I are headed to San Francisco today! I'm pretty sure it's going to be EPIC. If you want to "run" into us and don't think you'll be able to find us in the sea of runners at the start of the race, we will be HERE. I'm sure it will still be crowded, but it might be slightly easier to spot my red hair. (Note: We are in Wave 3 on race day.)

As for the race, our goals are pretty basic.

1. Have Fun
2. Get G her sub-2 half.
3. Get G her sub-2 half and a PR for me (1:57:05 would do that).

Piece of cake, right?

Three Things Thursday ...

"Shock me, shock me, shock me with that deviant behavior" - Unless you happen to be friends with me on Facebook, you probably don't know about my latest, um, styling choice. Remember how I shaved my head two weeks ago? Well, now I dyed it RED. Like RED RED. Not "I was born with red hair" red. See?

Yeah, I told you I like to experiment with my hair ...

San Francisco - One week from today, G and I head to San Francisco for our annual "Girls' Race Weekend." I CAN.NOT.WAIT. We are running the San Francisco Half Marathon (first half). My bib number is 15526 (feel free to stalk) and we are in wave 3. If you are running it, look for us. I'm easy to spot. I'll be the one in the pink sparkle skirt with mismatched socks and freakishly amazing red hair ...

Fundraising - I am running with Team Grassroot Soccer and have committed to raising $3000 and I need your help to reach my goal.

Right now, I am hosting an AWESOME fundraising raffle HERE. There are 6 fabulous prizes left and I will be selecting the NEXT 3 WINNERS TOMORROW. You know you want to enter. All you have to do is make a donation HERE and then leave a comment on the raffle post. Easy peasy.

And you might just want to donate sooner rather than later. It will earn you a chance for bonus entries in my next raffle starting on August 1st - A virtual gift basket from RunningSkirts.com. We're talking a new outfit from head to toe (plus some other goodies). You're not going to want to miss this ...

long(ish) run ...

In case you failed to notice, I'm running the San Francisco Half Marathon in 41 days. It's a race I have been looking forward to for almost a year, ever since G and I decided it would be our "Girls' Weekend" for 2011 (In 2010, we ran the Bermuda Half Marathon). Anyway, the goal for this race was always "to have fun", but when I was training for National, G and I realized that I should be able to pace her to a sub-2.

But then, I crashed. And my base basically went back to zero.

Oops.

Now with just about 6 weeks left before the race, I am starting to feel like we can get G that sub-2. I'm feeling stronger. I'm running more. And I am ignoring the fact that the last time I ran a double digit run was a 10 miler on April 21. Who cares? That's such a minor detail.

As of Saturday, my longest run since my surgery was 6 miles and about 58 minutes. And every time I had run that distance, it kicked my butt. So, you can probably understand why I was apprehensive about my Sunday long run this week.

8 miles - I was going to have to run for over an hour.

Thankfully, I was with about 300 other MTT runners and had S (who always keeps me entertained) by my side, every step of the way.

Was it the best run?

Well, no.
It was brutally hot.
Miles 4-5.25 was straight uphill.
Auto-pause on my Garmin was a total fail.

BUT ...

We finished the 8 miles, my longest run in two months, in 1:15.
We looked wicked cute while doing it.
I wasn't totally wiped afterward. In fact, I am confident that I could have held that pace for a few more miles.
I finished the week with 28.1 miles - almost twice as many miles as I ran in May.

All in all, I'm calling it a success ...

Three Things Thursday ...

1. Revenge of the Pinkeye - Remember last week when I posted that Doodle had been hit with pinkeye? Well, it seems that the eye of pink has taken permanent residence in our home. Dizzle was diagnosed with it on Monday and Doodle (after finishing both an oral and topical antibiotic) woke up all crusty again today. Seriously? Isn't one round enough? Dude, if this doesn't clear up soon, our Disney photos are going to be scary ...

2. Post Thanksgiving Immune Deficiency - Did you know that such a thing existed? Well, it does. For the past three years, I have gotten sick in the week following Thanksgiving. I'm not sure why, but it hits me pretty much immediately after Thanksgiving dinner and it hits me hard.

And because I am a runner first, logical thinker second, I have been running this week despite not feeling great. Yesterday was rough. I didn't know if I just lacked motivation or if my body was trying to tell me I needed a rest day. I hoped I was running low on motivation and headed out in 40+ mph winds with G, J, K and two strollers. Needless to say, sometimes I question our sanity.

3. San Francisco Stalking - Last January, G and I traveled to Bermuda for the Bermuda Half Marathon. It was a FANTASTIC girls' weekend and we decided that we wanted to make it an annual tradition. After much talk (of where we could stay for free), we decided to run the 2011 San Francisco Half Marathon. (Feel free to join us!)

Registration was supposed to open yesterday. So, like any sane person I stalked the website ALL DAY waiting for it to go live. But, it NEVER did. Apparently, there is some sort of technical glitch holding everything up. And although, I know the race probably isn't going to sell out on day one, I REALLY want to register. It makes it all official. And then, J can't change his mind about me going ...