Nike Women’s Half Marathon SF

aka a casual half marathon around San Francisco…

Nike Women’s Half, I love you so. Nike puts on a GOOD race weekend. I had a blast in 2014 at the Nike Women’s Half in DC and was gutted when they didn’t do a race there this year. What makes their races so special? The insane energy from both the fellow runners and the crowd, the organization throughout race weekend, the feeling of running with 25,000 other passionate people. Oh and the Tiffany’s bling at the finish line is pretty sweet too…

After flying into San Francisco Thursday morning, my parents and I headed over to packet pickup in Union Square to beat the crowds. I’m not sure what it was like on Friday and Saturday, but I didn’t have to wait in any lines to pick up my bib and was able to take a million and one pictures at the Nike booth they had set up.

In addition to packet pickup which was going on at the Westin Hotel, there was also a mini scavenger hunt for exclusive Tiffany’s earrings, gear that was specifically designed for race weekend at the Nike store and a small stand in Union Square that was selling random things you might need for race weekend like foam rollers and fuel.

My parents and I stayed at a hotel walking distance to the start line. Around 6AM on race day we walked over to the corals.

For this particular race they had people corralling on different streets based on their bib and pace before moving us over to the start line. This meant there was a ton of room to walk around and hangout before the race. I didn’t end up going to the bathroom or checking a bag, but it seemed like both had short manageable lines since they were only for my coral.

The first wave started right on time at 6:30AM, and wave 3 which I was in was off about 25 minutes later.

Earlier in the week I had spoken with my run coach Jess about my approach for this race. I knew I couldn’t attack it like I usually do with a half marathon—my legs need to run a marathon in 2 weeks! She said to treat the race like a practice run for the marathon—eat the same breakfast and fuel the same way. Well I forgot to eat half my breakfast and didn’t realize it until mile 3… but besides that it was a success.

I started off the race next to the 10:41 min/mile pacers but kept reminding myself I shouldn’t be trying to run with them. This is where I admit that I’m a slow runner. A really slow runner. Marathon training secretly rocks because it allows me to be the slow runner that I truly am, and no one can judge me because running 20 miles is always going to be hard. In previous half marathons I’ve aimed for a 10:41 pace or less… but I knew that was not realistic this time around with the hills and not wanting to destroy my legs.

This race wasn’t about racing for me. Any other time I’ve run a half marathon it signified the end of a training season. I could go balls to the wall and run my little heart out. This wasn’t that race. I kept reminding myself during the run that this wasn’t my half marathon to win. This half marathon was just another piece of marathon training. Once I acknowledged that fact, I slowed the eff down, enjoyed the race and gave myself permission to take all the selfies.

Everyone told me this race would be insanely hilly. I decided to only glance at a course description and elevation map. This was probably good because I would’ve cried knowing the hills I had to conquer. I’m a New Yorker, I don’t do hills.

As a tourist in San Francisco it was fun to get to explore different neighborhood throughout the course and run through Golden Gate Park. The scent of pine trees was amazing.

The hardest part of the course was this insane hill leading up to mile 10. It just kept going, and going and going. A ton of people around me took walking breaks and seemed a bit defeated by the hill. At the top though was a sign that said this hill is why you ran all those miles and suddenly you could see the Golden Gate Bridge. I hear that last year the fog was so thick you couldn’t see anything—I guess we lucked out this year with some insanely blue skies and a killer view. Reaching the top was also a sigh of relief because I knew there was only a 5k left. The final 5K is always the best part of a race because the end is so close you can taste it.

I felt good during the entire race, minus a few pains in my left knee. I’m starting to get a little bit nervous about my knee situation this close to the marathon, but am hoping taper + a massage will help the situation.

I thought I wouldn’t feel weepy or emotional because this was just another half marathon (my 4^th one, actually) and I’ve been running more than 13 miles every Saturday for the last 6 weeks. Something about racing still made me extremely emotional. I savored every mile, thinking about what it will feel like in two weeks when I’m running the marathon. My marathon.

The race photos accurately captured my sentiments for the day, I was all smiles and filled with pure happiness for all 13.1 miles. I’ve worked so freaken hard to get to this point in marathon training and running an effortless half marathon felt like a celebration of all that hard work. I’ve come along way since my last half marathon in June and my first half marathon in October 2013.

Having my parents with me on race day was amazing and I got to see them right before the finish line. They got to see how happy I was. Even though I’ve run more 13.1 miles a ton of times now, I still threw my hands up in celebration at the finish line. After the finish line I collected my sweet goodie bag filled with a banana and other fun snacks, a cold water bottle and of course the coveted Tiffany’s Necklace.

My parents and I took the shuttle back to Union Square afterwards. It was a little bit far to walk to but I was honestly grateful to shake out my legs and walk.

During the race I didn’t pay attention to my time and pace, truly treating it like another training run. When I looked at the results after the fact, I was a little disappointed with my finish time—I was running a lot slower than I thought. But whatever. Much like the number on a scale, it doesn’t matter or change the sense I pride I felt at the end of the race.

I wasn’t trying to PR this race. I didn’t speed up during the final 5K like I usually do. I didn’t sprint to the finish line like I usually do. I didn’t pay attention to my time and pace like I usually do. I decided to take a million pictures because I was in San Francisco running a half marathon. I decided to treat this race like the training run it was. I’ve got a bigger goal to chase now—26.2 miles around my hometown. I told everyone this was just the warm up for my marathon 🙂

Nike Women’s Half Marahton, I had the most fun. Hope to do it all again next year.