Monday, February 05, 2007

San Francisco Half Marathon Report

As we entered the Panhandle I noticed lots of runners walking towards the park. I had T and M let me out a few blocks along and I walked up to a guy wearing a bib who later I learned was from New England...and asked him if I could walk to the start with him as I wasn't quite sure where it was. The chill in the air and the orange sunrise made me glad I layered clothing appropriately. We walked briskly towards the starting line.


Once we were in the registration area we bid our farewells and I headed towards the sweat check area and then to the porta-john line. I was still in line at the start of the race. 5 or so mins after the official start i jockeyed for position among the masses.


The race started at stowe lake and looped around the Panhandle then back through golden gate park. mile 9 is where we left golden gate park and where the great highway began. the surf on my right was visible through spaced out partitions but i was more aware of the wave of bodies in front of me. this section was rather tedious and seemed to just go and go and go.....every once in awhile a surfer would scoot across our path to get to the beach.

i stopped to pull off my long sleeved shirt ...instead of wearing 2 sports bras i wore one plus a tank top with a bra built in. this turned out to be just the right amount of layering. because of my change of clothing T didn't see me right away...he was looking for a long blue sleeved shirt...not a white tank top, but M saw me and T says he got pictures of me crossing the finish line. if i ever get around to removing the jammed cd in the tray i might start posting pictures again.

miles 10 to the finish are a bit of a blur. i knew i had reserves still just wasn't sure how long they would last.

the finish shoot was a first for me and i was startled when the runner in front of me stopped abruptly while the race volunteers collected the bottom half of his bib number. even as i watched this taking place it didn't occur to me to stop and they had to call out to me...i was concentrating more on not puking...having pushed running faster than i was fit for..one too many times this race... i left it all out there.

2:27:00 official
2:22:00 garmin

13 miles is a good stretch for me still. this is a good distance to continue to train for. i like the idea of a marathon in the fall...but this race was a reminder to respect the distance and train properly.

I'm ready for spring and cross training.

3 comments:

Mia Goddess said...

Hey, we had practically the exact same time! That's cute.

I like what you said about respecting the distance...it's one of the reflections I had on my last 5k, that it's a distance I can do without training anymore, that it's easy to bust out 3 or 4 miles. I love the half distance because it's long enough to know you did something significant, but not so long as a marathon that takes so much to recover.

It sounds like the weather couldn't have been much better...a tank top, in February? Hello, lovely.

Also, is there anything really better than M and T cheering you in???

ps ~ thought of you and M at the build a bear workshop in downtown disney! I managed to convince Tommy that a second acquisition, so soon to the last, would be disrespectful to the monkey.

susie said...

Leaving it all out there is a good thing, Chris. Great job...and yes, that is a distance. You should be proud, quite proud, of yourself.

Anne said...

Sounds like all in all you had a lovely time. Yeah, you gotta watch out for those finish chutes. People tend to fall apart right in front of you.