Marathon #18: San Francisco

On July 29th I ran the San Francisco Marathon as my 2nd marathon this year and 18th marathon total. This is the 4th time I've run this event, and 3rd time running the full. Can you tell this race is one of my favorites? This race ties for my favorite marathon with Chicago and Marine Corps. I love the city of San Francisco the best (Sunset native - hollaaa!), but its a rough course known to be "Worth the Hurt" and Chicago and Marine Corps get extra points for being flat and easy.

San Francisco Marathon Course Map

2012 San Francisco Marathon Ambassadors

I was lucky enough to be selected again this year as a Marathon Ambassador which was a ton of fun. Along with getting to know other runners in the community, I also had a chance to get to know my fellow ambassadors over the past eight months thanks to a private Facebook group we were in where we could share running stories, life stories, and various other things. (The current hot topic was who could get the best time on yesterday's Google Doodle. I came in with a pathetic 19.8 seconds, but several of my fellow Ambassadors were down to 13 seconds!)

Thursday Night with the Cousins

Heading up to San Francisco

To break up the drive to San Francisco a bit, David and I decided to leave Thursday night to drive up to LA to hang out with my cousins Giselle and Donna before finishing the rest of the drive the next morning. My cousins have five kids between the two of them and I'm usually a quite popular visitor thanks to my dogs. David and I woke up the next morning to the kids whispering outside the door "I think the dogs are in there!!!" Too cute.

Sophia Giving Kona Some Love

Kona Photobomb!

Mika the Couch Potato

We left LA around 9am and hit the road. Only 380 miles to go! Yay! Ugh. I had officially taken the day off from work but needed to launch a newsletter that morning. I was very proud of myself and my company's technology when I was able to get online via my Mifi while on the road, log into Salesforce.com, and deploy the newsletter. Fancy!

My Mobile Office

First Happy Meal in 10 Years
(Not many choices along the 5)

Ambassador Dinner

Friday night Jojo had put together a nice dinner at Osha in the Embarcadero for the Ambassadors. We had the evening to socialize, mingle, and get to know each other in person. It was fun to finally meet a lot of the Ambassadors in person, although I felt like I knew a lot of them from chit chatting online over the months. 

Me & Jojo - Our Ambassador Queen

Ambassador Group Photo

To my utter delight I had nine other Ambassadors (male and female!) who were joining me in the race on Sunday in the Miss SF Marathon style Glam Runner tutu. I passed out the tutus at dinner and several people couldn't resist trying them on. I can't blame them, they're pretty darn cute!

Modeling the Miss American Pie Tutu

Tons of Miss SF Marathon Tutus!

Glam Runner Hello Kitty
Compliments of my Dad - so cute!

Marathon Expo

The next morning I worked the Tech Center at the expo with my fellow Ambassadors. We were available to help people with the official race app, monitor the live Twitter feed, and answer various questions people had about the race. I was also able to meet a few new Glam Runner friends who would be running in a Glam Runner tutu for the first time the next day. (Meg and Stephanie it was great to meet you!)

Another Beautiful Sunny Morning in the Sunset...

My Dad Had our Alumni Mugs Out for Breakfast

At the Expo with David

Working the Tech Center

Marathon Expo Tweet-Up

After we left the expo we met my Dad for a late Korean BBQ lunch and did some used book shopping at Green Apple Books where David finally found a book he'd been scouring used bookstores for. (Absalom, Absalom!)

 Korean BBQ with My Dad
David was not a fan...

 

Love this Green Apple Book Bag

We headed home to pick up the dogs to take them to the beach for a walk, and stopped by the house I grew up in along the way. 

Ocean Beach with the Dogs

Visiting My Childhood House in the Sunset

My name is still in the cement!

Later that evening we met up with Christina for our pre-SF Marathon dinner ritual at Unicorn downtown, and then before I knew it I had to go to bed. Nothing like a 5:50am start time to ruin your morning!

Dinner with Christina - More Asian Food! Yay!

Gear Laid out for the Race

My Sign Is Ready for Christina!

Fellow Ambassador Peter Ready for the 52 mile "Worth the Hurt Challenge"
As I was going to bed the ultra-runners started running at midnight!

Marathon Day

I'm not exactly a "let's get there early" kind of person and I would normally have arrived at 5:30am for my 5:50am start. All of the tutu'd Ambassadors wanted to meet before the race though at 5:15am for a picture. Rats, I couldn't miss that! I was picking up fellow Ambassadors Courtney and Susan on the way to the start line though and they were thinking we should aim to get there at 5:00am. Double rats! That meant a 4:35am departure time and 3:30am wake-up time. Do you hear a tiny violin playing?

Group Photo Race Morning

 

Against all odds I was essentially on time to pick them up! Hey, 5:03am is pretty darn good for me. We headed downtown and David dropped us off at the start line VIP party before heading back to the Sunset to get Christina to take her downtown for her later start wave. Aww, isn't he the sweetest?

Starting the Race in the Dark

Getting to the start area, meeting the rest of the Ambassadors at the start area, dropping off my stuff, and getting ready to start all seemed to go by in a blur. Soon it was time for me to start. Ack! I was a bit nervous about running the race since my training had fallen way off track, but figured I could just take it easy and put no time pressure on myself. 

Bumped into Marathon Maniac Louie on the Course

Running a Marathon at 6am Causes Stupid Faces

Running Along the Marina towards the Golden Gate Bridge

I started out pretty slow and basically continued and finished pretty slow as well. I ran for the first 18 miles or so before succumbing to a few walk breaks here and there. I didn't look at my Garmin that often and just ran by how I felt.

2011 & 2012 Photos on the Golden Gate Bridge

2011 & 2012 Photos by the Conservatory of Flowers

I was amazed by how many people I saw who I knew on the course. On the bridge there is a  nice 5 mile out and back where I got to see a lot of the Ambassadors and some other friends I knew running the race. As we looped around in the park I saw more friends as well, and at various points in the course I saw familiar faces too. I loved that! Nothing like getting to see someone you know and exchanging a smile or high five, or even a few words.

David Spotting at Mile 11!
David took this picture of what looks like me running right into him

David Spotting at Mile 18

Endorphin Dude! (In the cape)
I had a chance to chat with him in the park. He's great!

As I approached the finish line I looked down at my Garmin and thought OMG.. this is going to be my slowest marathon ever! Um, and it was. But oddly enough, I didn't care. I was having a great time and enjoying the race just for the experience. Granted I was a little bummed once I finished and people were asking how I did, but that passed by the next day.

Finishing the Last Few Miles

Approaching the Finish Line

Love this Photo of Ambassador Charlie's Mom & Sis Smiling at Me

Marathon #18 - Check!

I got to spend a short amount of time in the VIP area post-race talking to some of the Ambassadors but since David couldn't come inside I ended up leaving as soon as he got there. We didn't have much time to socialize anyways since Christina was having a post-race BBQ in Golden Gate park that we needed to get to.

Jojo & Nellie at the Finish Line
Jojo just ran the marathon course TWICE!

Ambassadors Peter, Lauren, & Libby Having TUTU Much Fun

Ambassador Susan at the Finish Line

We stayed at the BBQ for an hour or so before I realized we needed to get back on the road. I would normally have taken Monday off but I had two meetings that I couldn't miss. Darnit. David (the best boyfriend in the WORLD) drove us back to San Diego (he drove most of the way up too) while I napped of and on and complained about my legs being uncomfortable. Aren't I great?

Post-Race with Christina & Brianna

Post Marathon Blues

Now that its almost two weeks post-marathon, I think I'm finally recovering from the post marathon blues. I love being home in San Francisco and I love the San Francisco Marathon. I also really love the whole Ambassador group and wish we had even more time to hang out. There are a lot of us running the California International Marathon (CIM) in December, so hopefully we'll have a little reunion there. 

2012 San Francisco Marathon Medal

2012 San Francisco Marathon Tech Tee

For now, my focus is set on October. My next marathon is the Marine Corps Marathon on October 28th in Washington DC. I'm running San Francisco (July), Marine Corps (October), and CIM (December) again this year as I did last year. I've got a lot of miles to cover in the next few months. Wish me luck!

San Francisco Marathon Medal Collection

You can also read my race review on Running Trip here.