#RNRSanFran: Race Recap

I promise to get caught up on blogs. I just needed to sometime for myself this week. If you missed my first three San Francisco recaps here they are:

Recap #1
Recap #2
Recap #3 written by Mr. Healthy Diva!

The night before I laid my clothes out and got really excited to wear my new Nuun singlet. Isn't it pretty?!

I also wore my favorite Brooks shorts (black glycerins) and my Brooks Pure Connect Running shoes.

I was really paranoid about over sleeping on Sunday. Set my alarm for 5:00, 5:15 & 5:30 am just to cover my bases. Drug myself out of bed just before 5:30, but luckily it only takes me about 15 minutes to be ready and out the door. Had some problems getting a cab to the race start so that made me a little nervous. It appeared that the cab drivers were fighting, but Mr. Healthy Diva was wearing his Red Sox jacket so he thinks that they didn’t want to give us a ride because of that.

Got to the race start about an hour before and then took close to 15 minutes to find the hospitality lounge. I was looking for a tent, but it was located in a building. Finally found it so I could drop off my stuff to get in a quick warm up. The temperature outside was perfect!!!!! Got in a very short warm up, not even a mile before I needed to get in some stretching. My calves have been really tight so I knew that with the hilly course I needed to get them as stretched out as possible.

Ready to tackle the hills of San Francisco!

After stretching and almost forgetting my honey stinger chews in my bag I was off to the corrals. With 5 minutes to spare I was in my corral and ready to run. Perfect timing.

Once you crossed the starting line you faced the first hill. This was the slowest start to any race of my entire life. Normally I am telling myself to slow down, but instead I was running an 8:30-9:00 min pace. HA! At the top there was a nice little downhill and then a flat stretch so I was able to get my pace in check. I honestly felt that my marathon pace (7:30) felt good. My main goal for this race was to just maintain that 7:30 average and have a fun race and enjoy the beautiful scenery.

I passed the first aid station without stopping. Going into the 5K mark we had another short, but steep uphill. I slowed down, but ran all the way to the top to see a sharp downhill on the other side. After the downhill there was another uphill, do you see the common theme here?! I got almost to the top and saw that my pace was nearing the 9:30-10:00 min pace and my legs felt like they weren’t moving so I stopped and I walked. YES, I walked (insert I have NOT been running hills AT ALL!!!!). It was only about 20 seconds of walking and then I started running again to get to the top of that stinker of a hill.

Almost to the 5K mark of the course

There were more ups and downs and then pretty soon we were getting ready to run over the Golden Gate Bridge. It was beautiful!!!!!! Definitely an experience of a lifetime!

Photo I took just before running over the Golden Gate Bridge

 (my first time EVER taking photos during a race)

Running on the bridge really wasn’t so bad, but it was pretty windy. I felt like the wind was hitting me at all directions, but it wasn’t head on so it was manageable. In a way the wind felt good because I needed to be cooled down, those hills made me HOT! I made the mistake of peering over the edge as I was running. Looking down made me so dizzy! From then I just kept looking forward so that I didn’t get sick to my stomach.

Running over the bridge. This is pretty close to the 1/2 way mark.

At the end of the bridge we were about half way through and came across the first band of the race. Due to course restrictions, etc. there were only two bands on course. One at the half way mark and one at the very end.  I kind of knew at the 5K mark that I wasn’t going to be able to maintain my marathon pace, but I hadn’t entirely given up on that goal until I was coming into the 7 mile mark. At this point I knew that I just needed to smile and have FUN with it. I called Mr. Healthy Diva, YES, I called him while I was running and told him the course was tough, but I was okay and just having FUN. I would be finished later than I thought, but not to get worried.

View of downtown San Francisco from the Golden Gate Bridge

Cruising along with a couple of miles left to go...

Once I got back over the bridge I felt like it was smooth sailing. I knew that my time wasn't going to be good, but it also wouldn't be a PW. I just kept trucking along, slowly passing other runners. About mile 11.5 I came up on a runner wearing a pink shirt and purple sparkle headband. As I passed her I heard, "Hey, Tasha!!!!!" It was Alyssa from Diary of an Average Runner. I was excited to finally meet her IRL!!!! There was a photographer right there too so we hoped that we had gotten a race picture together. Sadly we didn't, but I pieced one together to commorate the occassion.

Alyssa?!

#Proof!

The last mile has a slight uphill, followed by fairly steep downhill. My shins were screaming, but I could see the finish line and Mr. Healthy Diva's Red Sox jacket in the distance (he was standing on the balcony of the hospitality lounge). :-)

Roadkill down the finish stretch!

So thankful to be done!

Feed me :-)

I was so glad to be finished and thankful that I was able to run this beautiful course. If you take the hills out of the equation, it was a great course. The most scenic race I have run to date. I know that a lot of people knock the Rock n Roll races because they are expensive, etc. However, I really like them. I think that they put on a great race!

Obviously my race plan was totally thrown out the window by the 5K mark, but I am fine what that. I still had a lot of fun! Having FUN running really is the MOST IMPORTANT thing!!!!

Special thanks to Brooks Running for allowing me to participate!!!!!

Thank you Brooks Running!!!!!

The bling!

Love Rock n Roll races or hate 'em?

--Tasha