tomorrow a new point of view…

this is long overdue…but better late than never.

which was fitting since i was really slow with my time this race. more on that later.

it is always a great time to head to san fran…we love it so. but first things first.

cupcakes. and teacake bake shop is one of our favorites. just look at that yumminess.

and the cupcake is not bad either.

when we arrived, we headed over to the nike women’s expo for some freebies and such. i was able to meet my hero, kara goucher and american hero, joan benoit samuelson. they were so kind to let a crazed fan take a picture with them.

we also met coach jay who is the voice in your ear for most of nike+ activities. if you use nike+ you have most likely heard him before.

at the expo i was able to see my nike+ mini on the big screen! when i showed that i used nike+ on my run the next day… i was awarded with an itunes gift card. which jasen immediately swiped from me.

after the estrogen and expo we headed over to niketown in union square and took a picture of the runners wall. my name is on there. trust me.

i picked out my final outfit for the big day:

cute, right?

after some pasta and a good nights sleep, we were up and out the door by 6:15. union square was all a blaze of crazy people. i refer “crazy people” to the goo guzzling pre run runners who are mostly there to make you second guess if you are doing what you are supposed to.

here i am at the starting line.

i lined up somewhere in the middle with the other 10s of thousands anxious runners. at the starting gun they blared “single ladies” and it was fun to feed off the momentum. but then it slowly wore off after i waited 10 minutes to actually start herding moving.

the first 5 miles were awesome through downtown and the embarcadero. then came the hills. since it was such a shock to my system…i should have stopped and taken pictures of the beautiful scenery…but instead i forced myself up these mountains with my lungs and legs screaming the whole way.

by mile 11…i was ready to punch someone in the face.

but you keep going and finish…

and sometimes you get a tiffanys necklace handed to you by a fireman in a tux.

it was a fun experience but the hardest race i have ever faced. i was trained physically but i really let the hills get to me mentally. Which is never good since i believe running is at least 75% mental training.

it was my last 1/2 of the year. what is next? CIM december 6th. i AM crazy.

this is what your legs look like after running 18 miles on the river trail.

this is what i assume your legs look like after 26.2 miles:

wish me luck. i will need it.