Race Day!

After weeks and weeks of training, and a day of prep and rest in San Francisco, it was finally time for The Giant Race Half Marathon!

We left the hotel at 6 a.m. after a couple pics:

Mom walked the half but was afraid she wouldn't make the course cutoff. So she started 30 minutes early with the 5k runners and just kept going when she reached the turnaround. She's ready!

I loved the baseball-themed "corrals". Intentional Walk:

Time to go. See you in a couple hours, Mom:

Then it was time to send Brad toward the front of the half-marathon pack:

 It was all really unorganized, and Eryn just ended up lining up with me:

Waiting in front of AT&T Park:

Finally... the start line!

I decided to carry my camera with me and snap some pics on the course. SO glad I did!

Most people were sportin' orange and black. I did not mean to take this picture. I was aiming for the start line, but my shutter was slow. But I love it :)

Golden Gate Bridge - almost to the turnaround:

Alcatraz:

Hanging in, feeling good!

Almost back. Sun shining bright. Starting to fade.

I was holding strong around a 10-minute average but just couldn't hold on. I mustered all the strength I had and sprinted into the stadium and across the finish line. Then I nearly passed out!

I ended up finishing in 2:15:01 - a 10:18 average:

My official time was a little faster at 2:14:49 - a 10:17 average.

I am so proud of my race! I trained hard and set a faster goal. I didn't quite pull it off (I was hoping for a 10-minute average), but I ran well and still took 2 minutes off my PR.

Plus, I had fun!

My last race was tough, and while I knocked a lot of time off my PR, I was really disappointed with my performance. At the end of the race, I told Brad not to let me sign up for another one. Fortunately, he knew that I didn't really mean it and encouraged me to set a push goal for this half marathon.

My real goal for this race was to have fun and enjoy myself. A PR was just a bonus - and I was only going to try for it if I was feeling good.

Goals accomplished!

Brad also had a strong race, finishing in 1:44:18 - a 7:57 average (official time).

His goal was to run faster than 8-minute miles - nicely done!

My finish-line sprint left me really tired, and I cooled down while stretching out on the outfield grass. Not many people get to sit on that grass!

Here comes Eryn with an official time of 2:50:22!

She also PR'd!

DAD - official time of 3:00:37!

And Mom - official time of 3:23:05:

WOOHOO!

We all made it :)

Festive!

Real men wear toenail polish ;)

We drove back to the hotel and cycled through the showers (we were in a suite with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen and a living room)

Saturday, we pre-picked a post-race restaurant to avoid the arguments Sunday and expedite the eating process. We were thinking Sweet Tomatoes/Souplantation and found Fresh Choice nearby. Looked promising... but we were very wrong.

It was the same idea: a salad/soup/pasta/potato/bakery bar. But the food was horrible. None of us liked it.

The salad bar and soft-serve ice cream were OK, but everything else was really not good. It we hadn't been so hungry and in need of food, we would have left.

Should have gone back to Paul's Diner.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing and snoozing :)