Rockin' and Rollin' Redux

So, it may not have been the most ideal week to get sick. A was sick last weekend when I was away, and we thought he was better by the time we saw each other... but it turns out he was still apparently able to share germs. No earlier than Thursday afternoon, I started to feel a little sniffly, then by Thursday night, I was waking up with a raging sore throat.

Uh Oh.

Of course, the minute I got on the phone with my mom on Saturday, she asked, "Are you SICK?" and wondered aloud if I should run. I questioned it myself in some of the less fun coughing fits on Saturday, but I'm cheap, and I paid a bunch of $$ for this race, plus I had trained for it, so onwards and upwards.

Luckily, things (somewhat) improved by Saturday afternoon, and were definitely improved by this morning. I was still a bit sniffly and have a bit of a cough, but all in all, I was better.

Whew.

We got to SF Saturday afternoon, and hit the Expo to pick up my number. I also managed to eat at least 7 samples of energy bars of sorts.

So I stayed over in San Francisco last night, and woke A at an ungodly hour to drive to the Great Highway where the starting line was situated.

Showin' off my number before leaving for the day.



I forgot (as it was similar at the Rock n' Roll San Jose last year) just how many people did these races, especially considering the 1,500 participant cap (in 5k, 10k and half marathon combined) in my previous little local race. Getting to the street by the ocean, I faced a wall of port-o-potties, UPS trucks (for gear check), and TONS of school buses shuttling people in from Fisherman's Wharf and Civic Center.

I got there at around 6, with a start time of about 6:30, so I prioritized my time and stood in the gear check line (5 minutes) and then the port-o-potty line (20 minutes... ugh!) and then had only minimal time to warm up. I jogged around the street for 3-4 minutes, then found my corral.

My plan for this race was to try and stick with the 2:15 pacer. Since I did my previous race in 2:16 and some change, and it felt hard but definitely not the fastest I could have done, I figured I could do 2:15, and to make it easier, I could stick with the pacer, and not have to think about timing. I immediately found the man holding the 2:15 sign in one corral ahead of the one I was supposed to be in, and waited impatiently for my corral to hit the starting line!



(Note: Roger Craig was apparently in corral 1, running with his son!! So cool! I didn't see him, but they interviewed him at the starting line, and I heard the interview over the loudspeakers. Not only a former running back, but a runner as well!)

So my plan to stick with the pacer lasted all of 5 minutes. We took off, and I could see several frantic men and women weaving through the sea of thousands of runners, following Mr. 2:15. I didn't want to chase him down, so I decided to keep an eye out to make sure I was on the same pace, generally, as he was. At first.

My plan was foiled when we went around the first turn - an immediate huge hill. Rude. As Mr. 2:15 seemingly effortlessly jogged up, my legs killed. I figured I'd pick up a little time on the downhills or flats, which I did, seeing him a little further behind me when I went by.

However, we then went up the most giant hill ever prior to going out on the Golden Gate Bridge, and ohmygosh. I felt good at the bottom of the hill - and actually saw a woman who I know from work who was walking the race and said hi! On that happy note, I jogged up the hill. Then up further. Then more up. GAH. So at that point, Mr. 2:15 was way ahead of me, and I just focused on getting up the hills, albeit slowly, while still running, and hauling ass when I got back on flatter ground!

Once we hit the Golden Gate Bridge, it was like a traffic jam. They closed off two lanes of traffic for us to run in, but funneling thousands of runners into the width of one lane (it was one lane going across and one lane coming back) was not fun. I found myself doing a lot of weaving and bobbing, getting accidentally hit with others' moving limbs, and doing the same to others.



Now, I risk sounding like a judgey b with the next statement, but people taking selfies and cell phone snaps all across the bridge (and in many other locations) just annoyed me. This was super annoying on the bridge, since we were already in such tight quarters, and people dashing off to the side to take pictures, and not paying attention to what they were doing to take a running selfie was not only annoying, but also kinda dangerous. But even on parts of the course that were more spread out or easy enough to dash to the sides, it bugged me. I understand why you'd want to take so many pictures on a scenic course like this one, and a lot of people do a big race like this one specifically for the scenery. It's a touristy race. So I get why. But personally, the experience is the most important part for me. I know in the future, I'd love to do some destination races, but I doubt selfies will be part of that. I mean, it's a race. You're timed. Maybe I'm just too competitive to just race and take scenery pics along the way because of how it would affect my time. But mostly, taking it all in is so amazing in and of itself! There are things that should be Instagrammed, and others that I think could be left to just be part of an awesome experience.

*Drops Mic*



Anyway, so I was vaguely angry the entire time I was on the GGB, but it wasn't so bad. I got off the bridge (finally!) and we were on flat ground again - commence hauling ass!

When we got to Fort Mason and turned for Civic Center, around mile 10, I was... erm... unhappy to see more uphills. Basically, we wound around the area, and at every turn, it was a surprise! Do you get an uphill block, a flat, or a downhill? Miles 10-12 were all like this, the up and down, and it was HARD. SO HARD. When there were multiple blocks of uphill in a row, I was realllllly tempted to walk, which I have never done in a race before. Eesh! So I powered through - slowly - but I did!

The last 3/4 of a mile was awesome. Slight downhill, and straight shot to the finish line! I didn't feel as awful as I thought I would when I finished - I was a little out of it when I saw A and my dad calling my name after I finished, but as I walked around and stretched a bit, I felt much better.



I made it in - amazingly - another PR! And ALMOST in 2:15, despite the fact that I didn't see Mr. 2:15 until way after finishing!

Official time: 2:15:30
Pace: 10:21/mile (although this GREATLY varied throughout the race!)
Place: 3539/8532
Gender Place: 1519/495
Age Group Place: 379/1015

I'm really proud that I did my fastest half to date, and I also was well within the top half of racers in the race, as well as my gender and age group!




After the race, we didn't stick around too much longer, as I had the fam, bro, and A with me, but I did get a quick pic of the festivities going down in Civic Center:

We took a few pics afterwards as well! I love the medal, it's really awesome.

We got brunch at Fog City Diner afterwards, and although service was a bit slow, we had some pretty good food!

These fresh donuts were definitely a highlight:

And I got this baked turkey sandwich creation, which was heaven:

After driving back south and hanging around for a bit, I made this Orange Chicken with Asparagus (another Pinterest find!) and whole wheat couscous for dinner. Decent!

Hope everyone has a good night and great start to this next week. It's my LAST week of work before SPRING BREAK! I can't wait! I'll be starting Spring Break right with seeing some friends, attending my first Giants game of the year, and finally getting that damn pedicure I've been needing... my poor feet! I'll be ending the week with a trip to Seattle, and be relaxing in between! I'm also excited to see Gabby of Marathons and Macarons as she'll be in SF for part of her Spring Break, and we'll be able to run together and catch up!

xoxo