Took me 4:25:16. I am not particularly impressed with the time, but hey...its a marathon...definately one of those situations where all you can do is all you can do. I remember being in pain...I remember talking to myself in my head to just keep going...haha.
Woke up at about 4:50 to down a bagel that I brought with me and some GU Brew. Sat in bed awhile and then proceeded to get dressed in my gear and do a final checklist to make sure I had everything. Went downstairs to meet the other girls and we took some pictures before heading down to the race start...All I can say about this is wow...get a bunch of med girls together and it is apparently guarenteed that we will be talking about how awesome or unawesome our gastrocolic reflex was...mine awesome...some other girls...not so awesome. Haha. Yay for gastrocolic reflex non-fail!!! Haha.
Once we had checked our bags we headed to our selected race pace spots. I decided on 9-9:59min/mile. I was with one of the other girls and we did the group stretch and chilled out together until the race start went. It was CRAZY! 25000 runners! They started both the full and half marathons at the same time! AHH!! Haha. The first few km's were as they normally are with the walkers seeding themselves at the front and then having everyone behind them trying to deek them out to get into a solid position on the road. I was feeling pretty good. Ran down by Fisherman's Wharf and Ghiredelli Square then towards Golden Gate Bridge. It was definately an awesome way to see some of the main touristy spots in San Fran. Then the hills started...sure enough like the race elevation map said...hello 6miles...hello hills...I didn't find them too bad and was still moving along at a decent pace...about 9:30/mile. There was this one hill that was never ending...up-plateau-up-plateau-up-plateau-up...on and on. Haha. We hit a long downhill at around 15km and I tweaked my glut injury and proceeded to run a little bit run-hop style for the remaining 27km of the race...ya...haha.
It was also around that point that I really started to become a tad unaware of my surroundings..apparently we ran through Golden Gate Park? Haha. The full and half separated from one another in the park and we did a loop of the park and then came back together just before the finish line when the full turned off and went down and back the New Highway for 10miles. It was so desolate almost when the full and half separated from one another. It was really weird. It went from a huge packed group of people to almost being staggered. Lots of room to run I guess, but it kind of felt lonely. I was starting to feel it a bit by 17miles...then I heard EYE OF THE TIGER!! They had these Nike Powersongs along the route. I was so psyched...I almost started crying..just ridiculous. So that got me through a good .5mile before a new song distracted me from my Eye of the Tiger awesomeness. 18miles...19miles...20miles...Wow it got quiet...people were sort of having side conversations up until that point and then just nothing...no more talking...silence. It was a bit erie to tell you the truth. It was raining by that point and the wind was up a bit. Cold and silence...and the pain. Every step was murder to my feet, knees, hips, glut and low back. I walked 3 aide stations to take in enough water because I was feeling a bit woozy and decided I needed to stop doing that because it hurt far too much to stop and start. I couldn't even focus long enough to calculate what pace I was on per/km from miles anymore....I somehow totally missed the chocolate mile because I was concentrating so hard on moving forward. 22miles...4miles to go...seriously doubting myself at this point but I just forced myself to not think about it...to move one foot after the other in some semblance of a hop-run because my glut was done and my left hamstring was cramping. 23miles--OMG that means there is only 5km left...move it...max a half hr left. 24miles...40km...25miles...1 more mile to go...I just put my angry, pain face on and tried to pick it up to get to the finish line faster. Saw the finish line and guess what? Started crying...the medic came over and told me to sit down in the wheelchair he had and I sat there until I could cohesively put a sentence together to say I was fine and could get up and move. Made it through the assembly line of hawt firemen to get my necklace (which is awesome), finish t-shirt (also awesome), food (gone now...but at the time was awesome)...etc. (I must say it was extemely well organised) Then I heard some of the girls who stayed behind in the rain to meet everyone who finished. And started crying again...I need to get a handle on this. haha.
Race Number and Thermal Plastic wrap thing:
Tiffany Blue Box and Finisher's "medal":
I'm really happy I finished and at least I have a marathon under my belt in prep for IMLP next summer! Need some more miles on the legs, but first I am taking a solid 6 weeks off running to heal and strengthen my glut.
Woke up this morning fairly sore but able to move at least. Wore the compression pants all night and day. Got some new tri gear (why don't we have stores like Sports Basement in Canada?? Honestly...). So all in all a good day! Last night in San Fran! Going to see Alcatraz tomorrow and then hopping on the plane back to Edmonton!
Thanks to everyone who helps and supports me on the marathon/IMLP crazy train! :) You guys are all awesome!
Great race!
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