I ran like a girl!

Wow!

The Nike 1/2 marathon was an experience of a lifetime. I ran like a girl with 19,999 women and men (yep, there were some men who ran like a girl).

Some amazing highlights:
-my name in Union square among all the other 19,999 participates.





-Waiting in the cold (starting at 5:30am) with 19,999 others. Emotional. Excited. Excellent. Many goose bump moments (literally and figuratively).

-Crossing the start line at 7:23.
-A woman with prosthesis leg who fell while going downhill. She jumped up and continued running, never uttered a word.
_A woman racing with her 9 month old on her back in a backpack.
_First hill at mile 6,was a piece. of cake. Snickered to myself until mile seven. Second hill F! I wasn't snickering anymore:)
-Amazing views of the Golden gate bridge, the city, the bay and the ocean.
-All the volunteers who handed out water, gatorade and snacks and cheered us on.
_ Mile 11. My hardest mile. I thought of what they told us: if you think the marathon is hard, try chemo. I thought of Jenny and I kept running.
_Mile 12. Adrenaline kicked in and I. Ran.Fast. (think, run Forest, run!)
_Then I saw this:

What a rush! Finish time 2hours 37minutes.

Here I am after the race with my goodies:)


I didn't prepare for after the race. It was so damn cold and I was so sweaty. I could have checked a jacket before the race to wear after but, being the rocket scientist I am, I thought I wouldn't need a jacket. It was a big mistake. Huge!

They gave us these to wrap around us:



Wasn't enough. By the time I got back to the hotel, I was frozen. I couldn't wait to take a shower.

As I striped my wet clothes off, I got a glimpse of my boobs. OMG. They were purple! And my hot shower made my boobs tingle like no man ever has:)

What a fabulous weekend.

I'll blog a little tomorrow about some great eats, fabulous sites and cool apartments.

Leavin' on a Jet plane.

I'm leaving early AM to San Francisco.
I run on Sunday morning. I feel strong and so excited to do this!

Wish me luck.

Have a great weekend.

Training for the Nike 1/2 and missing my girl!

I woke up early today to run. I'm so not a morning runner. I would much rather run in the evening. But, since I will have to run in the morning when I run the Nike 1/2, I thought I should train some in the AM. I felt pretty good. I will see how I feel tomorrow when I run 10 miles with my group.

Before I began training for the Nike 1/2, I couldn't run without my i pod.

I signed up with Team in Training to run the Nike 1/2. They prefer you don't run with an i pod. The philospy is if you train with an i pod and something happens to that i pod when you get to the race, well you're screwed!

The first 2 weeks without my i pod were torture but now I really love it. Lots of time to think and soul search.

I am really missing Shayann. She married last year

and has now moved to Henderson to teach. I can't believe my "little" girl is almost 25 , married,owns a home and is teaching 4th graders! I'm so very proud!