The San Francisco Wipro Marathon Race Recap

Well friends…….

We’re home, we’re tired, we’re recovering from our trip, we’re out of money, the boys have been cranky, Judah was up at 5:30 am this morning, I can’t stop eating and Kitty is being a pill.

It’s good to be home.

Life is funny, isn’t it?

Today is also our official wedding anniversary (8 years) although we’re not planning on doing anything since we lived it up enough in good old San Francisco this past weekend. Holy cow that is one fun and exciting city (not to mention expensive). I’ll fill you in on all the fun and eats later, but for now I’ll just recap the race. It’s a long one friends.

Ready?

This was my first time ever traveling to a race. I really didn’t plan well and didn’t bring a lot of my pre race materials, but things seemed to work out. Life does that though, right? You just do what you can with what you have.

The night before after eating an entire pizza at Patxi’s (yes, an entire cheese less whole wheat veggie pizza- more on that in a different post) I got my race outfit ready. I didn’t realize it was going to be that chilly up there and people were talking about how cold and windy it was going over the Golden Gate Bridge, so I made a last minute decision to race in my new Pro Compression socks.

The outfit:

Handful Sports Bra

Aspire Tank

Lululemon run shorts

Halo sports hat

Pro Compression socks

Mizuno Elixirs

I also made some frantic calls to the front desk at 10:30 pm to ask what time Starbucks opened. Unfortunately, no matter how many times I asked, the guy kept telling me that Starbucks didn’t open until 6 am on Sundays. I told him it was a special occasion with the marathon and all, but he just didn’t seem to care. It was then that I realized I should’ve brought instant espresso, my favorite cocoa powder and some almond milk. I’m sure that would’ve traveled well, yes?

I was up at 4:45 am. STUFT Daddy slept through my commotion. I made two cups of cheap hotel coffee in the room and used a little hot water from the coffee maker to make a cup of Coach’s Oats. Thank goodness I put that in my bag. I at least got something right.

Like my “kitchen”?

Oh yes, look at the black coffee friends. I was desperate. It actually wasn’t too bad. Maybe it was the early morning hours though.

I headed to the starting line with my trash bag coat and my make shift breakfast of Coach’s Oats, a banana, chia seeds, a little PB2 and some peanut butter in a cup.

I got there just in time to watch some of the earlier waves start,

stuff my Handful sports bra with GU, stand in the long port a potty line so I could ditch my diaper (yeah, that’s right I wore one again),

take an unflattering picture of myself with my T. rex arm already in action

and jump over a barrier to barely make it to the tail end of my wave start.

Oh yeah, and I asked one nice lady to take one last picture of me. I’m sure she loved being bothered seconds before starting her marathon. I’m nice like that.

We were off.

I ran the first half of a mile in that darn trash bag. I think it was giving me some wind resistance so I ditched it pretty early.

My main goals for this race were to stop less than three times to use the port a potty (check out my San Diego Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon recap if you really want more details), not hurt myself so I would be a drag for the rest of the “racecation” and hopefully finish under 3:30.

The first mile or so was pretty crowded so I had to do a bit of weaving around some fine people. That comes with the territory though when you are at the back of your wave and when you’re in a wave with a pace slower than you usually run.

We ran by Fisherman’s Wharf, along the water, through a little park and then made our way towards the Golden Gate Bridge.

How cool was this? I just had to take a picture for you. It was so awesome seeing all the American flags lined up.

Then around mile 6 or so we were here.

Running over the Golden Gate Bridge was amazing (and cold).

From a racing stand point I did not particularly like this part. It was really crowded and narrow and I definitely didn’t make any friends trying to pass people, but the view and experience itself to run across the bridge were worth it. Plus I took advantage of the slower pace to take some action shots. Ha ha.

The rest of the race went by relatively quickly. We were in Golden Gate Park for quite some time looping around and such. On more than one occasion I had to ask someone if I was going the right way. The course was well marked, but there was a lot of looping and some half marathoners finishing and some starting so there was a lot going on. I guess it would’ve been helpful if I checked out the race course ahead of time. I really need to start doing that.

I also had to stop and ask a stranger to open my GU gels chomps for me because my hands were too cold. Well, the nice man was of no help as his hands were too wet. Luckily, I found a security guard not too far off with gloves that saved the day and opened it for me.

Oh, and I saw another runner wearing the same Pro Compression socks as myself so I had to compliment him on his attire. Ha ha.

Some other random thoughts along the last 10 miles while my mind wandered:

Does Joaquin have a hearing problem or is he just a selective listener already at the young age of 2 1/2?

I can’t wait to find a Starbucks to get my favorite Starbucks drink immediately after the race.

Hey, my stomach is totally feeling fine. Coach’s Oats were a good call.

I wonder if Andrew has gotten up yet? Maybe he’s eating breakfast, drinking coffee and reading the paper? Must be rough.

I am so honored to be a FitFluential Ambassador and can’t wait to see what might be in store for the future. I have high hopes that I’m doing the right thing in life by writing this blog, racing and doing the whole fitness career thing although right now it’s a bit scary.

I am loving my Pro Compression socks and my legs are still feeling fine at mile 20. Woo hoo!

Hey, I haven’t had to stop at all yet to use the bathroom.

Is “Sexy Back” really playing for the third time on my playlist right now?

This Nike+ iPhone application that tells me my distance and pace is freaking awesome.

How the heck did I get so lucky to have this gift of running? And how did I get so lucky and blessed to have an amazing family and husband that support me in my craziness? God is good.

Before I knew it, I saw that beloved mile 24 marker. Oh man is it so much more fun to see that one rather than mile 1. Ha ha.

We ran around the ball park and finished at the same place we started in Embarcadero Plaza.

Wouldn’t you know I made it the whole race without a bathroom stop and finished under 3:30. Yay!

Hey look, I got 49th place out of 0 women. That’s sure something to brag about. Ha. I actually got 49th out of 2034 women overall. I’ll take it. I’ll also take a 7:51 pace. Yippee!!!!

First thing I do after finishing a race?

Ask some more strangers to take my picture of course.

Check out the cool little warmer things they were handing out. Definitely worth another picture.

I quickly found the freebies and took as many as I could hold. They had Panera scones

Zico coconut water and Jamba Juice samples.

I may or may not have asked for an extra bag so I could hoard as many goodies as possible.

Then my friends I found the most magnificent table.

Oh my chia goodness. This is the exact chia I use every single day that I got from GNC. Seriously I’m pretty sure I did a little chia dance when I saw this.

Of course I ran and introduced myself to my new best friend Tom who works with The Chia Company

and forced him to take a picture with me.

I had to chat him up as long as I could about my obsession with The Chia Company’s chia and how I use it all the time, how we use it as “sprinkles” at our house, how I made a cool pre race chia cocktail the previous night (click here to see that beauty), etc.

I really could’ve stayed and hung out with my new best friend and the cool chia shots all day, but supposedly STUFT Daddy was somewhere “in the area” so I decided to find my man. I did stock up though on as many of the little chia shot packs that I could. These are going to be in my bag at all times from now on for sure.

I made my way to find STUFT Daddy who was one smart cookie and brought a backpack. It was a good thing because I needed something to put all my goodies in.

Ha ha.

Love this guy.

We saw this cool boat

and I thought it was the perfect background to really capture my Mezamashii Moment.

Thank you Mizuno Elixir shoes for another #brilliantrun.

Each marathon finisher got a free beer at the finish line provided by Sierra Nevada.

I wasn’t quite ready for a beer (all I wanted was my favorite Starbucks drink) so I decided to give mine away to a fellow race finisher.

You’re welcome Brandon.

We did stock up though on a few Sierra Nevada bottle openers, carabineers and chap sticks.

Yeah, we scored.

Since I’m always freezing after a race, the only thing Andrew was in charge of (besides eating breakfast and meeting me at the finish line) was to bring my favorite Lorna Jane shirt. He pulled through for me.

I wanted to not only be sweaty and gross, but fashionable after the race also.

Hey, it even matched the medal. Nice touch.

And then my friends, I got what I had been dreaming about since mile 10 or so.

I got my Starbucks. My drink of all drinks.

It was the perfect ending to the perfect race.

Thank you to Safeway Select Refreshe for the entry to The San Francisco Wipro Marathon. It was an amazing race. I had a blast and I will be back for sure.