Nike Women's Half Marathon

We did it!  A couple of weekends ago, my sister Rebekah and I finished the Nike Women's Half Marathon.  The trip to San Francisco was most definitely a fun one.  The parents came along and Deborah was working the race for Team in Training, so it was really a full family affair.  We had a great couple of days in the city before the race.  It was fun to shop, do a little sight seeing, eat great food and take in a new city. 

Family pic after dinner Friday night.

Deborah and her friend Natalie in the giant chair in our hotel lobby.

Saturday morning at the Embarcadero.

Foggy view of the Golden Gate bridge.

The run itself was awesome.  Hard, but awesome.  You can read Rebekah's race recap here.  She totally rocked it.  A great time and I know she felt good about it.  My time wasn't anything to be impressed with (never is, I'm slow and proud of it), but I finished, and that's what I set out to do.  I felt great for the first 6 miles (from Union Square, down to the water, through Fishermans Wharf and toward the Golden Gate bridge).  There were a few small hills, but it was mostly flat.  When you hit mile 6, it was like a whole different race course.  A solid mile of steep up hill, then a significant downhill (which was awesome), and it pretty much went on in the same up and down fashion until close to mile 10, where it levelled out for the most part.  I saw Deborah at mile 10.5.  I was feeling rough (some lovely stomach cramps), and I'm quite sure I looked it as well.  Apparently the sister has a picture from this time, but I haven't seen it yet.  Another mile and I started feeling a little better and finished the race strong after passing through the Ghirardelli mile at the 12 mile marker.  It really was a great race.  It was super scenic and there was always something going on all through the course.  I would definitely do it again if given the chance.

Rough morning before the race pictures.

The massive amount of people lined up that morning.  It took me 30 minutes to actually get to cross the starting line after the race started.

Me & Dad at the finish.

Me & Rebekah at the finish...I was cold...it was raining.

After the race I wasn't feeling so hot, but once I got some food in me I was MUCH better.  We walked around a good bit in the afternoon, and then had a wonderful dinner at a Greek restaurant.  It was a wonderful celebratory dinner!  We spent a couple of hours at the top of the Marriott soaking up our last views of San Francisco. (Deborah has pictures of that night as well, I believe.)  After a great breakfast, we headed back to the airport. (By the way...all the restaurants we went to while we were there...awesome...I highly recommend them all!)

I am so thankful for a fun family to travel with and parents who cheered us on. (Although, I think my dad will be running next time...he wasn't as much of a fan of the cheering as he is the running).Thanks Beks for wanting to do a half marathon...so glad to have number two under my belt.  Here comes White Rock in about a month for the third.  Yikes...I better get to running!