Nike Womens Marathon - RunMarathon

Goal for the race was:
Plan of 8 min run / 1 min walk, TAKE lots of pictures, ENJOY my first standalone marathon...cause you really can't compare and IM Marathon to SF Marathon! Both are so totally cool on their own.
I made my 'homemade' shirt and wore my CRAZY FANCY PANTS...and was ready for the day.

Course was Most EXCELLENT... We started in Union Square, ran past Fisherman's Wharf down to Crissy Field, past the Golden Gate Bridge (unfortunately fogged in), right by the Cliff House, through Golden Gate Park, and finished on The Great Highway by Ocean Beach.

ACTUAL RUN:
CROWDED and lots of TNT folks. Took us over 15 minutes to get to the start line. No biggie, just not used to crowded races. It was fun running with Lisa. Not sure if it was over-stimulation or what but Lisa would say stuff and I didn't seem to process it. BUT I was able to process taking pictures and posting them to FACEBOOK during the run.

I actually was flexible and ran through a few walk breaks since we were walking through aid stations. The hills were pretty 'easy' from my perspective from all the prior training. Lisa and I would get single file and zig zag through the crowds. The views were just AMAZING!!

The marathoners and 1/2 ers run the same course until about mile 10 or so...BOY, can I tell you it was soooo peaceful after we split off in Golden Gate Park. There was more room to move...and the noice lowered a substantial amount. Several other runners commented on that...too.

This is when I took an opportunity to take a pit stop - no lines. :)
on the course were some pretty cool signs to motivate us like...'You went through 3 pairs of Shoes', '26.2 Miles no big deal', 'You endured sore muscles'. They also had a photo opt at little signs that said...inspire like a girl, teach like a girl, endure like a girl....yeah, you get the idea. pretty cool. Lisa and I spent probably 5 minutes there trying to get pictures. LOL.

Lisa and I kept cruising along..my gosh the Cliff House was AMAZING...Great Highway...just all the sights! On the highway, I did put my ipod on in one ear...and started singing to Lisa - Rich Girl...and some other song. I was trying to make our own cheering since we weren't TNTers....
I think this is when she decided she'd think about running on without walk breaks..but she still hung with me a bit longer.
About mile 21, Lisa did opt to just 'finish'...so I was on my own. Interesting kept waiting for that 'wall' that you hit...and thankfully I didn't hit it. Typical Ann style, I seemed to stay consistent. Not saying it was easy, but I continued to smile, thankful for being out there especially reading all the TNT inspires! About mile 23 I dicided..I was ready to be done...and drum roll here - I decided to just RUN. Yep, no walking in the last 3 miles. It was amazing....I did get a bit emotional a couple of times - especailly when I passed a woman with a shirt that said she missed her dad and she was thanking her mom for being strong. TRULY touching....lots of stories espcially on this race! Of course they also played Journey's Don't Stop Believing....yeah how can you not get choked up?!?
As I made it to the finish AREA, the announcer pretty much stopped me to announce my SHIRT..he thought it was pretty cool....at that point so did I...
Got across the finish line and was thrilled! Got my finisher shirt which does say marathon finisher and got the Tiffany necklace. Which is very nice! Like it better than a medal...but wish is said 26.2...next one. :)
A guy handing out the bags, said, hey I heard about you....he was actually payting attention to the announcer.

Went straight to the stretching tent..that was AWESOME! They gave out tennis balls and ran a short stretching session...including a FOAM ROLLER portion...OWIE OWIE OWIE...rolled the calfs - owie...rolled the hammyis...owie..and then the almighty QUADS...HOLY CRAP...new meaning to the name - screwface!! HURTS so GOOD.

then it was off to meet Lisa, Tory, Jenny for the bus - poor things were freezing since I was a good 45 minutes behind Jenny/Tory and Lisa had gained about 20 minutes on me after going on her own....Took awile to get to the bus..was VERY thankful I had packed my sweatshirt...wished I had a beanie hat. The bus line was like disney..just kept moving a little bit. Actually it looked worse that it turned out to be..PLUS it kept us moving a bit longer before sitting. once on the bus it was back to the hotel and then dinner...ahhhhhh

OK - so I WAS SORE!!! man o mally...I used the tennis ball to roll out my quads a ton. Monday, I could move VERY SLOWLY. WOW...I wasn't this sore after IM in Aug. hummmm...oh well...by Thursday I was back to normal.

It was a fun girls weekend. Enjoyed spending time my roomate - LISA as usual and getting to know Jenny and Tory better AND meeting some maniacs. FUN.

http://www.brightroom.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=47662&BIB=556...

The shirt said.....

· RUNNING FOR WINE....

· RUNNING FOR FOOD.......

· RUNNING AT MY HAPPY PACE...

· WHY YES I AM HAVING FUN, ARE YOU?

· RUNNING FOR MY NEXT WALK BREAK!!!




GROW out of my fuel belt. I at least grew out of my camel back for TRI races this year, next year's goal will be for supported races, maybe only carry ONE bottle....my 3 bottles were totally fun never touched them.

TAKING PICTURES...but hey that was my goal.




**Since this was a NIKE sponsored race no other vendors were there. So if you do the race be prepared for that - NIKE TOWN is right there, but it is very crowded - long lines. there was NO GU/gels on the course. thankfully I had my own. they did have luna moons which were very good.
The aid stations were VERY well organized and on top of it...Water first, then Gatorade.


Beautiful course and it is pretty well run....Not sure I'd do it again...rather check out some other race venues.....but well worth the training, trip and memories.