Holy moly — have I even posted that I’m running the Nike San Francisco Marathon (my fourth full marathon)? And it’s in FIVE days. It’s possible that I haven’t yet posted it on the blog (and just on Twitter and Instagram) because between marathon training and traveling and working, half the time I don’t even know what city I’m in, it’s just run, eat, work, run, get on a flight, repeat.
I ran the Nike Women’s San Fran half in 2011. Training for this marathon has gone pretty well, no pinkeye or long-lasting colds derailed my training too much as it has for other marathons I’ve trained for, so I am so READY.
To help me get prepped for the race, Josh, a Nike product expert, assessed my gait several weeks ago, and as I’m fairly neutral in my foot strike and I prefer more support in my shoes (I like my Nike Free, but for my shorter runs of 10k or so mostly), he recommended the Nike Vomero 8 (above). I’ve been training in them for weeks and they’re super comfortable on me, and there’s the added bonus of the fantastic colourway
Next, a full wardrobe of running gear — I might not win the race (well, not “might not”, I definitely will not win the race!) but I’ll surely be a top contender for best dressed.
Check out that wicked down-filled vest — what looks like stylish eyelet-like detailing is actually the Nike Aeroloft baffle and ventilation system — the laser perforations combined with the welded baffle construction makes the vest lightweight while also allowing your body to disperse excess heat. Plus, it packs neatly into itself in a pouch in the back of it. It’ll be perfect to put on after I cross the finish line so I don’t shiver once I stop running. Oh, and my two tops (the pink tank and the teal half-zip) are both Dryknit; totally in love with how lightweight and soft Dryknit is.
Oh, and while certainly not what I’ll be running in, but just right for a bit of sightseeing in San Francisco are these fly Nike Dunk Sky Hi Premium. Love.
Be sure to follow me on Twitter (@healthswellness) to stay up to date on my race progress and adventures in San Fran!
October 15, 2013
At the race start in Union Square
So I’m pretty smiley in this pre-race photo – especially considering I’m crazy anxious about the 21.1k I’m about to run in the Nike Women’s Half-marathon.
And I wish I could say the race went off without a hitch, but lots went wrong — setbacks that would normally frazzle me during a race:
- Bag check took a long time – meaning I started the race very late (18 minutes into the race), meaning I had to work through the crowds more than if I’d started in my proper corral
- One of my shoelaces untied, which has never happened to me before in a race, the precious seconds I lost retying, eek!
- I accidentally paused my interval timer on my watch without realizing it, which completely threw off my intervals for walk breaks (and even more important, I use the walk interval as a reminder to hydrate so my hydratio was off as well)
- The music on my iPhone would stop playing occasionally, ack!
- I only know kilometres, and the pace bunny signs were in miles, so I just felt confused overall.
And yet so many things were great about this race that they outweigh these things, such as:
- Hello? Tiffany & Co. medals??? Sweet.
- Firemen in tuxes presenting you these Tiffany medals? Even sweeter.
- Running my own race, essentially taking it easy and comfortably is much less stressful than my usual race experience.
- I finished in 2 hours and 8 minutes — which is much longer than my spring half-marathons, but not too shabby considering I didn’t really trained for the race. I can just decide to run a half now it seems and have a level of fitness that’ll get me through it. Wowzers.
- The incredible energy of being surrounded by 20,000+ fearless women running the race, the largest women’s race in the world
For more on how my race went, check out my post on thekit.ca!
October 24, 2011
I’m running the Nike Women’s Half-Marathon in San Francisco this Sunday (thanks, Nike!) and I’d be lying if I said I was not absolutely, positively TERRIFIED.
Why? It is, after all, my ninth half-marathon, so no biggie, right?
Wrong. Because San Fran is effing (pardon my French) HILLY. I had to take rest breaks while merely strolling the city the first time I visited a few years ago so plodding my only-semi-race-ready self through 21.1k with hills — gulp.
At least the Nike website gave me a good laugh, check this out from the race FAQs:
SHOULD I BE WORRIED ABOUT THE HILLS ON THIS COURSE?
There are no cable car hills on the Nike Women’s Marathon course. Many runners find the hills a welcome challenge that offers the reward of spectacular hilltop views of the bay. The course is extremely scenic, covering most of the San Francisco coastline.
A welcome challenge…Uh-huh. And those “spectacular hill top views”??? That is a nice roundabout way of saying:
YOU BETTER HAVE DONE YOUR HILL TRAINING, LADIES.
Major stressball over here. Wish me luck! I’m gonna need it.
October 11, 2011