San Francisco Day Two {Part One}

On the morning of the race we woke up at around 5:30 to get ready and head downtown to Union Square. The race started at 7am. We got dropped off downtown and started making our way to our "Pace Corral". Since there were so many runners they placed you in a "corral" according to your pace. We walked to our corral and my Aunt Cathy decides to take a short cut down an alley. I was a little sketched out and told her that's where the scary people were. She said, "All the bad guys are gone and asleep somewhere." To which I replied, "No, this is where they LIVE!" Literally two seconds later she almost stepped on some homeless guys that were sleeping in the alley we were walking in. Needless to say we started walking quite a bit faster to our pace corral! As soon as we got there we couldn't believe how many runners there are. I can't even describe what 25,000 runners looks like all in one place. Just imagine it...so many people! We got in line for the porta-potties and waited for the race to start.

 

We didn't actually cross the starting line until about 13 minutes after the gun went off. There were so many runners it was almost impossible for me to run as fast as I really wanted. I was dodging in and out of runners. I had alot of energy and was amazed at how much of a difference being at sea level made. I wasn't gasping for air at all. I don't think I got out of breath once the entire run. We ran downtown t and ran along the coast. There were a few streets that were very steep and narrow. This was nuts because imagine thousands of runners trying to run up a hill all at once on a really narrow street. At one point they even put us on a path that was even narrower than the street. I just ran on the grass at that point, trying to dodge runners. You would be running up a hill and all of a sudden a few runners would decide they wanted to walk up the hill. I just about plowed through them! At mile 6 there was a pretty good sized hill for about a mile. I run hills at home so it wasn't really anything that I am not used to. Tip: Always train with hills. It prepares you for everything. We ran past the Golden Gate Bridge but I never saw it because the fog was so thick. It literally felt like I was running through at cloud at some points and I was sopping wet from the mist.

My mom was waiting at mile 11 and snapped this photo of me:

She hurried and went to mile 13 and got this super blurry pic of me. I thought it was a hilarious picture.

At the finish line they had firefighters dressed in tuxedos handing us our Tiffany&Co boxes. Inside the box was a pretty silver finishers necklace.

Me & My Tiffany&Co box

I went and got my runner's goodies and waited for my sis in law & aunt to come across the finish line. We were pretty excited about our Tiffany's boxes, can you tell??

Just an idea of how many people were at the race. This isn't even ALL 25,000 runners.

We finished! We were supposed to be flexing our muscles but Lindsay and I ended up being the only ones who posed for the picture.

My Cousin Brooke & her mom Aunt Cathy

My Support Team- Love you MOM!

After the race we had to walk back to our car which was about 3 miles away from where the finish line was. I was freezing because I was so wet from the mist. I am the only person I know that gets goosebumps on their face. So weird. Once we got back to the car I finally opened my Tiffany&Co box.

We headed back to the hotel to shower and get ready to spend the rest of the day at the Wharf & Ghiradelli square. Overall the race was a really fun one and I would definitely do that one again. The only downside was that I wasn't able to run as fast as I wanted but I enjoyed myself so isn't that what really matters? I finished in 2 hours which is pretty average for me. At some point I would like to beat my PR (1hr 52 min)....someday.

More about our day at the wharf next....