Nike Women's Marathon

I know it has been awhile since my last post...but w/summer in MN, 2 boys in school, an obsession with facebook, and training for another marathon - time has just gotten away from me.

I did the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco this past weekend w/fellow teammate Shelli. Here is the low down on the race....

Friday - we took an early flight headed to the West coast - it is always better to do the expo on friday rather then saturday. However, in my opinion, this was a very lame expo. I did get my ipod engraved for free...but standing in line for a free mani, pedi, or massage just didn't really appeal to me. Also, you had to go to NikeTown or Macy's to BUY anything...weird. They did have free Jamba juice...so all was not lost.

Saturday - Shelli and I made the most of the city and took a 3.5 hour city tour. I had never been to San Francisco and really enjoyed the tour. We zipped through it all. We were even stopped for close to 15 minutes so that Joe Biden himself could fly down the street with his caravan. We ended up at a little restaurant near Pier 1 for dinner. We sat right by the window looking out onto the bay and the beautiful bay bridge.

Sunday - We were up at 4:30 - so we could be downstairs walking to the bus stop by 5:15. We got ourselves together and headed to the bust stop. Please keep in mind that we come from a city with OUT public transporatation and we watched the bus cruise right on past us because we were sitting in the covered bus stop...rather then standing in the right place around the corner...we had time on our side...so we started walking. We made it to the start by 5:45. We found a nice little place to sit and rest our legs while we waiting to make our way to the start. At 7 we were off. We headed out of downtown and straight for the water. The miles in the beginning just seem to fly by. We ran along a similar route that the bus took us the day before so it was cool seeing the city again...from a different perspective. Mile 6-7 was straight up a huge hill - I think we were down the hill in less then 1/2 a mile. My knee then started screaming. By mile 10 I was convinced I was done and would be walking the rest of the race. Then all of a sudden we were at mile 12 and the pain was gone. We continued cooking until mile 18...then Shelli hit the wall and I crashed with her. We realized that we were tired, our legs hurt, and we were going to finish...just not in the time we wanted. We were both completely OK with this! I announced my retirement from running marathons at about mile 21. The last part of the race was run on a road that was in major need of repair. With each step your foot seemed to be pulled and pushed in several different directions. The only flat part of the road was a narrow shoulder that would come and go. And then, just as quickly as the miles pasted in the beginning...we were done. We got our little blue boxes, some food, then collapsed on the ground. We were tired and hurt...but we had done it....again.

There is a huge amount of hype surrounding this race. Most of the money goes to charity and you can tell where their priorities are...with that being said...in my opinion there are better fall races...I guess it all depends what you are after. The course was very tough...not a lot of city support and spectators and kinda a lame after party. If you didn't belong to TNT or RunSF...you had granola, a banana, and a jamba juice...you couldn't even BUY a BEER!!! What kind of horrible crap is that????? You also had to take a bus back to the start (for $10) I will say that I really like the finishers t-shirt AND the Tiffany Necklace is pretty cool (kinda nice having a medal you can wear all of the time)

To sum it up - it was a good one time race if you want to see San Francisco...but NOT my favorite.