That's the advice my 5 1/2 year old gave me when I asked her if she thought I could run a 1/2 Marathon. Thank goodness for her advice because I am VERY proud to say that yesterday, I attempted and completed my first 1/2 Marathon in 11 years!!! The Nike Women's Half Marathon in San Francisco. I found out 6 weeks ago that my company had some golden tickets to run in the half because our Morningstar Farms brand was sponsoring so a group of 5 of us ventured out and ran it with very minimal training. I signed up about 6 months ago for a Disney Half but it's not until mid-November so I had accelerate my training. My goal was to NOT get picked up by the pace wagon AND to finish under 3 hours, especially since I didn't do any hill training (which I am paying for today).
We decided to make a weekend of it and got a hotel room off of Union Square where the half marathon started from. We headed to the Expo Saturday which was very crowded. The city was also abuzz because of the Giants' being in the World Series so we sought out family World Series shirts. We had a nice day walking around and had a dinner and then early bed for the kids and I while Marc enjoyed the bar the Marriott Marquis where we were staying. I did not sleep well at all. I was so nervous about the race, not waking up in time, etc that I tossed and turned all night long. Alas at 5:15, I was up, dressed and off to Union Square to meet up with my teammates. Our brand manager and the agency put us up in the VIP start, which meant we were steps away from the start line with the sub-6:00 min mile runners. I texted Marc that I really hoped that I didn't get run over...like seriously. But the vibe was awesome. I ran with my friend Aimee, who continues to amaze me in every way, her husband passed away in early March and she's a single mom of an almost 4 year old and a 15 month old. She was an awesome running buddy and I'm not sure I could have made it the entire 13 miles running without stopping. We chatted the whole run until about 11 miles when we needed a boost from our music to make it the rest of the way. The weather was perfect, the course I felt went fairly quickly. The first few miles were tough, but they always are for me, and the last 2 were also tough because I could see the finish line but couldn't quite get there fast enough. Mile 10-11 was AWFUL! It was a pretty much vertical hill which we ended up walking about a quarter mile or so of (I think we walked faster than we were running it!). It was so intense that they actually had medics about every 10 yards on the hill. Overall, we finished in 2 hours and 27 minutes and 07 seconds which way exceeded my expectations. It also put me in the top half of finishers which I was pretty proud of!
Marc was tracking me through Nike's app, I guess Riley was SUPER upset that I didn't win (note that the winner ran just over a 6 minute mile to win the run, I ran like an 11 min 14 sec mile so as she was finishing the race, I was on mile 7). Riley couldn't comprehend this and for the life of her understand why I wasn't upset that I didn't win. So here came the lesson of the day...
Riley: "Why didn't you win?"
Me: "Remember when I first told you I was doing this and it was 13 miles which is really far and did you think I could do it?"
Riley: "Yes."
Me: "What did you tell me?"
Riley: "Try your best and never give up."
Me: "Right, and last night I didn't sleep well and I was really nervous, and tired and there were times when I just wanted the run to be over because my legs were tired but I knew I wanted to finish, that you and Jacob and Daddy were waiting for me at the finish line, so I tried my best and I didn't give up. I didn't win the race but I finished it and that's because I never gave up. Remember when you told me reading was too hard the other night and you were no good at it?"
Riley: "Yes."
Me: "What do you think you should do next time?"
Riley: "Try my best and never give up."
Me: "Right."
Riley: "I still think you should have won."
At least she has faith in me!
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| Checking into our hotel! The kids were so excited they slept with their suitcases next to their beds |
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| Little dude ate his way through the Expo and the city munching on fries and sliders |
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| He REALLY likes ice cream |
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| Excuse the bathroom selfie but everyone was sleeping and I wanted a pre-race photo |
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| Meeting up with the team the streets were electric with runners |
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| The start line |
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| Team Morningstar Farms! |
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| So many runners |
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| Runners for blocks! |
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| Crazy close to the start line! |
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| Finished and enjoying the VIP tent |
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| Tiffany's necklace |
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| My official results, overall rank was 10,374 out of 25,000 and 1071/2924 in my Division |
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| Coming into the finish and hearing the kids cheering for me was awesome! |
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| My running buddy, Aimee! |
Would I do it again...absolutely! Can't beat that runner's high...even though I am pretty sore today (mostly my hips from the hills!)
