SF Half Marathon......awesome

Run was totally awesome.....seriously, I was fearful that a week off would make for the most hideous running experience....it didn't.  I drove through to SF on Saturday and stayed at the Hyatt......gorgeous and lesson in staying as close to the start as possible - 10min walk (at 530am).....if I ambled.  Okay, helped I had a lovely room, king size bed, TV is always a novelty and valet parking.
The day before the race I went to the expo.  I am walking among the thousands there and someone taps my shoulder "I know you"....turn around look this dude in the eye and say "indeed you do"(so very British/colonial).  12 months ago when I arrived at 24hr Fitness and was working out with Case this guy was doing the same thing.  Often we'd find ourselves in the "trainer space" at the same time.....him having not worked out hard at all, me looking like a wreck....but having done the job.  Him, like me, showing the effects of corporate life, stressed, carrying more weight than is good, a little lost and looking for something.  Four months ago I'd seen him at the gym after several months of not bumping into him.....he was startled at how much weight I had lost,  he hadn't lost any. I'd done the work and everything about me physically had changed.  He quizzed me about exercise and diet.....then on Saturday I saw him.  Wow, he looked totally transformed, lost the weight, sparkling, it was a great thing to see.  He wanted me to notice too.....there's something about all this stuff that creates the oddest relationships.  I am very happy for him, made my day to see him looking so good.

I spotted this shirt.....thought I might need it for NY!  If you can't read it says "If found on the ground please drag across finish line".
Sunday I woke at 5am for a 6ish start to the run.  It was cool so I ran in my running vest....glad I did because it was quite chilly in places along the course.  It was a wave start as the bridge gets congested with runners (they block off two car lanes but still, it did get very crowded).  I ended up in quite a late wave i.e. with slower runners...I'd enrolled a while back before I knew what pace I could run.  I'd made the decision not to pay $10 the day before and change waves....hmmm not well thought through.  Starting off was fine as we jogged around the Embarcadero and past Fisherman's wharf, a couple of short sharp hills before we hit the bridge, which is also a hill.....this is when I realized I should have changed waves as it was at this point that I had to start dodging around people who were running far more slowly than I wanted to.  Because the course had narrowed it was actually quite a challenge to find a faster way through....on the turn around it was easier coming back as there were a couple of us who just pushed out the barrier tape and slide down the side of everyone.  I didn't feel mad or annoyed, just a lesson learned and everyone should be able to run at their own pace (it's not like I was the fastest person out there!).  After the bridge we headed through the rolling hills of San Fran.....yep more hills.  I managed to do a mega sprint at the end though and got a nice pat on the back for it from some guy who was running behind me (that was kind of cute too).  Thankfully they had foil blankets for everyone so I didn't freeze as I was cooling down.  Caught the shuttle back to the hotel and felt very full of myself......great run.  The stats:
Overall: 1841 of 8335  Female:  672 of 4944 Age F40-49:119 of 1057 Time: 2hrs 02 seconds
I always feel like the measure of success is coming in the top third for my age group.  Just seems to me I should be able to put in a credible time relative to my peers!
Great day, very inspired by the marathoners too, time ticks on and NY moves closer.
Official pics in the next few days.....if they aren't too ugly that is!