The Pasta Party didn't start until about 5:30 but Rocky's team was meeting at the Moscone center to take some team pictures. We got over there around 4:30, took pictures, chatting with everyone, and then got in line so we could be first in when they opened the doors. The minute the doors opened, you could hear the manic cheering! I think it was even louder than last year!! TNT staff, coaches, mentors, cappies and other volunteers cheered us on as we walked through the entry, down the stairs and into the pasta party. Getting cheered for at the pasta parties is always both a little exciting, and a little embarrassing. I was just hoping that I didn't fall down the stairs in front of all these people!!
The pasta party was, as in years past, HUGE! The food was pretty good, and the speakers were also good. John "The Penguin" Bingham spoke again and was, as usual, very funny. I missed the honoree speaker because I had to make a trip to the bathroom, and then a side trip to the TNT booth to pick up some TNT gear :D
After the Pasta Party, Claudia, Rocky, Claudia's dad and I headed off to Rocky's parent's house in Daly City. They were nice enough to put us all up for the night so we wouldn't have a long drive to the race start on Sun. morning. We all got our food, clothes, etc. laid out for the next day and then basically went to bed. I slept pretty well but was not ready for the alarm to go off at 4:45 Sunday morning :( We all shuffled out of bed, put on all of our race gear, ate breakfast, and then all 6 of us piled into Rocky's parent's car to head down to the start line at Union Square.
Once down at Union Square, we met up with Coach, Mama Lisa and the rest of the team for shout outs and some last words of encouragement. It still hadn't really hit me that we were doing a half marathon... I was more nervous before my 8 mile run a month ago!! Right before the start we all went our separate ways to line up... Rocky, Claudia and I went to the same corral (even though Rocky's WAY faster than we are) and we were soon joined by Amy. Unlike last year, they didn't have anyone policing the corrals... you could really line up wherever you wanted to, and I was worried that this meant we'd have to slog our way through a bunch of walkers for the first few miles. We heard the announcer start the race and... nothing. We stood there for about 15 minutes before our corral started moving forward. We walked around Union Square and then started running at the start line. We were OFF!!!
While we were lined up at the start line, I thought I had to go to the bathroom. Since I had just been about a half hour earlier, and hadn't been drinking any water, I thought it was just the usual pre-race excitement. But after we started, I realized that I need to pee for real. Claudia did also so we waved to Amy and then headed over to the porta-potties around mile 1. I'm glad we did because 1) I did have to pee, 2) It was the only set of porta potties that had no line and 3) We ran into Raji!!! She was out there to walk/run part of the half course. It was SO nice to see her and it gave me a huge mental boost!
For the most part the race was pretty uneventful, which was good :D The first few miles on the flat part of the course through the Embarcadero went really well. Despite the pretty much open corral system, we didn't get stuck behind too many people (or at least any more than usual). Since Claudia and I have run this course for 4 years (the first year used a different route) we know what to expect, that's why it was such a surprise around mile 5 when we took an unexpected turn! Usually we go through Aquatic Park to the Marina, but due to some construction going in, we had to detour around Aquatic Park. Unfortunately this included the addition of two more hills :( But since they were (relatively) small ones, we decided to run up them. When we got to what is normally the first hill, we ran up that one too. Those were the only hills we ended up running :D
Since that small detour added on a little extra mileage, I wondered where they were going to take off mileage. The detoured us again around mile 6, bringing us up the first major hill a different way than we usually went. For the next 4 miles or so we walked up and ran down the hills through the Presidio and Sea Cliff areas. We got to see Claudia's dad and Rocky's parents a couple of times, our friend Phil and his family, and other friends cheering people along the course. Even though Claudia and I had only done an abbreviated training schedule for Nike, I think we were both feeling pretty good. Our joints weren't used to the hills and all the pounding though so we were both feeling some aches in our hips and knees. Nothing too painful to keep us from continuing though.
As we came down the last big hill near the Cliff House, I was happy that we only had 2-3 miles left :D Once we hit the park, I was drained. We were close to the finish, but not close enough. The road through the park has a slight incline and even though it was nothing compared to the hills we had already climbed, it was making me drag. I told Claudia I needed to walk for a bit and thankfully she didn't keep on running and leave me in her trail! We walked for a couple of minutes and then started running again. Once we veered off from the marathoners to head back through the park towards the finish I felt a little better. We got a slight downhill (when you're already pooped, any little down slope is a blessing!) and I knew the end was close. We ran into Mama Lisa and she ran with us for a little bit. Then we finally got to the end of the park, turned onto the Great Highway and saw the finish line. Every year I get this surge of energy when I get to the end of the park... you can hear all the cheering and you know the finish line is just around the corner. I it always gives me goosebumps and gives me a little extra power to sprint to the finish line. Claudia was right there next to me speeding up too and we crossed the finish line together! WOO HOO! And then I tripped. :( No joke, but thankfully I didn't fall down and hopefully it wasn't caught by the finish line photographers!
All I wanted to do after crossing the finish line was get my Tiffany's necklace and finisher t-shirt. I LOVE this years necklace and only semi-like the finisher shirt. It's a brown color (more gender neutral than last year's pink) and made out of the same material as last year. Technically it's a running shirt, but it feels more like a cotton t-shirt and it isn't anything I'd actually run in. Oh well, I have 3 other Nike Marathon shirts I can run in :)
After picking up our stuff and visiting the TNT tent to grab some food, Claudia and I headed off to find the parents, while Rocky went out to cheer on some of his mentees who were still on the course. We found Rocky's parents and Claudia's dad and spent a little time chatting with them and eating the food we had grabbed. The overcast, cool weather that had been so nice to run in was not so nice to just hang around in! We drove out towards Lake Merced to pick up Rocky and head back to Daly City. We showered, changed and packed up the car and went out to lunch at a Salvadorean place in the Mission. I think it was the best post-race meal ever! I was so beat and full I nodded off on the drive back to Oakland. By the time I got back to Walnut Creek it was about 4:00. I unpacked all my stinky running clothes and spent the rest of the evening stuck on the couch... My knees were so stiff and achy I didn't want to move for anything!
Today I'm feeling almost back to normal... just a little stiffness in my quads but that's getting better every day. My final time was 2:52. Not my best Nike time (2006: 2:45) but not my worst either (2004: 3:09). For not doing much training at all, I felt really good during the race and also pretty good after!
1 comment:
way to go O! you and Claudia looked great out there!
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