Square Peg Running- SF marathon!

Can you successfully complete a half marathon if you've missed some of your

training? That is the question I asked myself over and over the last few

weeks. I've heard your body develops a certain level of fitness and that

as long as you maintain it at a certain level you can accomplish more than

you realize. Fortunately, for me that was this case in this weekend's San

Francisco marathon (first half).

Although I was looking forward to a weekend in San Francisco and all the

things a big race has to offer, (the Expo, carbo loading, free goodies) I

was very anxious about the actual race. I've successfully completed six

half marathons in the last two years but have always felt well prepared

going into the race. This time, I did not! I've struggled with a minor

hip injury the last month or so and between that and the heat did not get

in the mileage that I wanted to or needed to prepare for the big day. I

came up with about 82 different contingency plans if I didn't or couldn't

finish. Fortunately for me, the race gods were watching over me!

We started Saturday off with a trip to "The Expo." Although the Expo was

crowded the swag was great!! Perhaps the highlight was being about three

feet away from Dean Karnazes, Ultramarathon Man, as he gave away samples of

his joint juice. A close second was getting samples from "The Erin" of

Erin Baker's breakfast cookies. The race shirts have a great design and

are a beautiful turquoise blue. This year, they also gave away fabric

drawstring drop bags that can be re-used instead of the usual plastic bags

that get tossed! The finishers medals are equally nice with the half

marathon medal doubling as a key chain and the full marathon medal as a

coaster. I think I ate my way through the Expo again. Who doesn't love

free samples of Lara Bars and Bare Naked granola! We all finished the day

with a great carbo loading dinner in North Beach!

The weather for Sunday's race was perfect. It was cool and overcast...

ideal running/walking weather. In fact, I wore my jacket to mile 10 and

only took it off because between the mist and sweat it was actually making

me cold. The race started in front of the San Francisco ferry building

with a view of the Bay and the Bay Bridge. The course went several miles

along the wharf and the famous Pier 39 with the first big hill at Ft.

Mason. I've learned from hiking that the key to those big hills is do not

stop. After crossing the Fort Mason hill, the course continued along the

water front through Crissy Field. The view at Crissy field is beautiful

but unfortunately it allowed us to be able to see the steep climb up to the

Golden Gate bridge from at least a mile away. I could see these tiny

little people running, walking or in some cases crawling (maybe a little

exaggerated) up the hills! But, once you got to the top the view from the

bridge and accomplishing the climb made it all worth while. While almost

25,000 people ran and walked across the bridge it was amazing how personal

and individual the experience was. After the bridge, we faced one more

climb before a nice one mile downhill jaunt on the highway/cliff

overlooking Baker Beach and the ocean. You could actually hear the waves

despite the distance and the volume of people. A quick dart by the Sea

Cliffe (amazing neighborhood) and two more miles to the first half finish

at Golden Gate Park. At least for those continuing on to pursue, the

marathon the second half of the course was hill free "relatively speaking." I finished the first half with a time of about four minutes longer than the Parkway half, which to me was success, considering all the hills and that when I woke up that morning I wasn't even sure I could finish. After the finish it was off to the post race festivities with more food sampling and swag. You gotta love a sport where "nutrition" includes

chocolate milk after your workout!

As I look ahead to the next few months, I will treasure what an amazing

race this was. I've never felt better mentally or physically during or

after a race, which is amazing considering my pre-race state of mind. I

think it is because for the first time I truly ran my own race and enjoyed

every moment whatever the outcome. Although I already have the SF

marathon on my calendar for next year, I look forward to taking the rest of

the summer and really enjoying my workouts without stressing over how fast

and how far!