The First Half of the SF Marathon

It's here, it's here! The long-awaited San Francisco Marathon - which actually consists of five events: the full marathon, the first and second half marathons, the 5k, and if you're a little (a lot) masochistic or something, the 52.4, which yes, is the marathon course twice over, starting at midnight the night before.

This year for me, it's the first half! As I've done in a couple other races, I knew the first half would give me the opportunity to run across the iconic Golden Gate Bridge once again, and consist of some pretty scenery along the water. Hopefully next year, I'll be running the second half through Golden Gate Park and the Haight, and will get that "Half It All" Challenge medal!

The weekend started out with my usual 20-minute shake out run around my neighborhood, after which I headed in to the city to hit up the race expo. Two of my high school besties came with me after we had brunch, which was awesome! The Expo was at Fort Mason, and as expected, incredibly crowded. The way it was set up, you had to make your way through the vendors in order to get to the bib pickup. I was not a huge fan of this (it was crowded!) but at least I got some good snack samples, and bib pickup was super easy.

Outside the expo at Fort Mason! I was too overwhelmed inside to take pictures!


My mom was nice enough to come up to the city to cheer me on - she and I got dinner, then scoped out a meeting point in Golden Gate Park, near the finish line for the First Half. She also helped me pick out an outfit - orange top and grey/black pants, Giants colors!

Getting up the following morning was not so much fun. Blerg. Since my wave started precisely at 6:02, and with traffic, it could take 20 minutes to get me within walking distance of the starting line, we were out of bed and in the car by 5. At least it was pretty when I got to the Ferry Building!

Unlike some other races I've done, the bag check and port-o-potty lines were pretty quick, and I got to the starting line 5-10 minutes before they called my wave up. It took a few minutes to walk to the start from where we were lined up, so I actually ended up crossing more around 6:05.

First runners leaving around 5:30

Pre-race selfie!



The way the course was designed, the first four miles were flat (with a little uphill around Fort Mason), then up and down the rest of the way. Since it is a half of the full marathon, where the hilly section is toward the middle, and the course flattens out in the end, OUR end of the course was a bit hilly.



I felt good going along the first few miles. I started out fast, checked my pace on my watch, then slowed down a bit to pace myself. My split at 2 miles was a comfortable 10:04/mile pace. It was nice and cool and foggy around the Marina and Crissy Field with awesome views of the GGB, and it even rained on us a little! Lowlight: a bird pooping directly between me and this other woman. Like white stuff plopping from the sky right between us. At least we had a good laugh! Highlight: running by Boudin in Fisherman's Wharf and smelling the sourdough baking. YUM.

Miles 5-10 were more or less getting to (then over and back) the Golden Gate Bridge. The first hill through the Presidio up to the GGB was pretty awful, but at the base of the bridge, some spectators were there giving high fives, which distracted me from my pain for awhile! The bridge is kind of a gradual slope (uphill then downhill), and we got to turn around at the Vista Point on the other end of the bridge. Sadly, it was a foggy morning, not the best for views of the city, but I was grateful it wasn't too sunny and warm. Lowlight: More people taking race selfies while crossing the GGB, and seeing a woman totally trip and eat it going back across the Golden Gate the opposite direction of me. Highlight: I found some "friends" (people going the same pace as me) that I ran behind the whole way across and back on the Golden Gate Bridge - following them distracted me from my pain! And it was nice to be almost at Mile 10 already when getting off the bridge!

Miles 10-13 were definitely the hardest. After getting off the bridge, there was a pretty steep climb with a water stop almost at the top, which was enough to break my momentum, so it was tough to get back going after that. Next was a steep downhill, and then a mix of gradual and not so gradual climbs up to Golden Gate Park. The constant uphills definitely took a lot out of me, and by the time I got to Golden Gate Park (uphill going into the park), my thighs were screaming and it took a lot out of me to push myself a little faster. I heard some people commenting around me that they were cramping up - and understandably so! The last quarter mile or so was - thankfully - downhill to the finish. My mom saw me and jumped on to the road to cheer me on, and I finally made it!

The finish line!

Beautiful Stow Lake at Golden Gate Park! The full marathon and second half runners go all the way around the lake.



Overall, I was able to set a half marathon PR, which is awesome! I realized I've been able to improve my time by over 10 minutes in a year!

Time: 2:13:26
Pace: 10:10/mile
Place: 2559/7250 (1009/4052 women, 383/1233 in my age group)

Done!!


I guess my Garmin watch thinks I went a little faster than I actually did today, but I got a bunch of PRs on Strava too, which is cool! Best 15k, 10 mile, 20k, and half marathon times!

Basically, I loved the course, and it was my favorite of the SF races that I've done so far. I know that I want to do the second half of the course next year, and I'm definitely still considering doing the full marathon in 2016. I would definitely need to train hard, do a lot of hill training, and try to pace myself, but I think it's possible!

Onwards and upwards - next comes the Nike Women's Half Marathon in October, and after that, no half marathons for a while. I want to avoid burnout and start fresh when the next one comes :)

Oh, the Places You'll Go (and the Food You'll Eat)...

The past 6 months have been full of travels... and the next few months will continue to be full of travels! I'm a lucky girl.

However, for some reason, these travels continue to throw me off my game in terms of my diet. And I know sort of why, but not completely.

I know one reason is that I'm not in control of my food. I don't always control when I eat, or where. I might get hungry and other people might not be!

Another reason is that when I go away, I make excuses to eat junk. At my 5 year college reunion, we had a brunch, and because it was unlimited food, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch is amazing, I had like, 3 bowls of it. I mean, a little would have been okay - I don't usually eat that... but I didn't just stop at a little. And I don't stop at a little when I start eating junk. It ends up being a multi-day free for all! And the last time, that free for all didn't stop when my vacation ended, it lasted almost the entire next week.

So, I am trying to figure out how to not let it happen this weekend.

I am SO excited to get away to Wyoming for the very first time! We're off to visit A's relatives and grandparents, who live there. I have no idea what else we're doing, but I've heard it's completely beautiful.

Now, since I don't know what is planned (since A is a boy and boys never tend to know these things...), I know I can't plan out every minute of my food. But, I've taken this head on in a few ways:

1. Writing this post
2. Telling A about my struggles with traveling - knowing all my flights are with him eases my mind a bit, since when left to my own devices, I always want some damn candy and chex mix on the airplane
3. Accepting the fact that although I will NOT have complete control over my food, I will still have the opportunity to make choices about what I want to eat wherever we go
4. Allowing myself to indulge a bit, but selectively. I know some foods are not worth it for me, and not every opportunity to eat out needs to be an indulgence.
5. Knowing that it's taken over two weeks to start to get back around my typical weight range after gaining a couple lbs during/after my LAST vacation is inspiring me to NOT do it again!


So, I'm hoping this little weekend getaway will not be a problem, or trigger me to eat foods that are not good to my body. A little bit of a treat is fine - but not the whole time, and not afterwards. We'll see how it goes - wish me luck!

xoxo

Consciousness

This is my new buzzword of the moment. Consciousness.

Not like, losing consciousness. Like, being conscious of what foods I'm putting in my mouth. Or lack of this aforementioned consciousness about foods.

I've never considered myself a mindless eater... like someone who will sit down in front of the TV with a bag of potato chips, and minutes later, find that bag empty. Nope, not me - I don't have those potato chips in my house, and when I do buy them, it's with intention of eating unhealthy snack foods rather than sticking to the foods that make me feel awesome and healthy. I never considered my eating particularly mindless... or un-conscious, if you will.

Then again, I think about when I'm totally off-track with my eating, and not taking care of my body. When I'm eating Cheetos, or bags full of candy, or a second bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, do I WANT to really think about what I'm doing? If this action was completely conscious, and I was paying complete attention to my eating crap that makes me feel terrible (mentally and physically), would I still do it?

Doubtful.

This is why having a therapist is good. You can think what you want on your own, and believe that you know everything about what sets you off, why you do the things you do, and what kinds of things you need. When you get that outsider's perspective, though, it's possible for that person to mention something so simple, something that you KNOW, somewhere, but it can still be incredibly helpful, and something you would not likely have come to on your own.

My therapist told me one of her hard and fast rules about food is to always have your butt on a chair when you eat. (And that chair can not be a seat in your car, for what it's worth.) It seems like something very simple, that may not be a drastic change, but what kinds of behaviors could it eliminate?


1. Standing in front of your boyfriend's fridge eating cheesecake out of the box because you are really hungry. (Ahem.)
2. Nibbling on everything you touch during dinner prep when you're hungry... then not actually being hungry when you sit down to eat dinner.
3. Shoveling that extra cookie or appetizer off a plate at a party into your mouth without considering whether you're hungry or not.

Et cetera, et cetera.


So I'm trying this whole "sit on my butt" to eat thing.

If I want that cheesecake from A's fridge, I can take a slice, put it on a plate, and sit down to eat it. In fact, this whole process might make me rethink this choice, and instead, save that slice until after I eat something more nutritious if I'm really hungry. And last night, even though I was starving post-run, I was able to savor my food so much more when I was sitting down with my full meal in front of me, not having eaten half of it while prepping in my kitchen.

Most importantly, for me, it's that "Would I eat that if I had to make a conscious decision about eating it, rather than just grabbing it and eating it without really thinking too hard?"

It's something to keep at, for sure. And maybe, at some point, I'll even turn off the TV while I eat. But first things first.

Consciousness.

Ommmmmm.

(.gif from Women's Health)