Nike Marathon 2012

 This morning, we got up at 5am to get ready for the race. We did not sleep that well in anticipation of getting up early. We got up and were able to get ready easily since we had laid everything out.We called a cab to bring us down to Union Square for the start of the race.

Here we are pre-race around 6:30am. We separated at this point and headed into our corrals.

 Our Training Buddies. We have spent four months carpooling and brunching post run - it has been a lot of fun!!

 The start of the race. We started downtown and were corralled by block which was a pretty good method.

 Erik didn't start until about 10 mins after the gun and I started 20 mins after the gun - that is how long it took to move the corrals through.

Here is the course:

Please note the elevation on this course!

 We started in Union Sq, thru the Financial District, out to the Embarcadero to the Wharf. This is where we hit our first baby hill (because I knew what was ahead) to bring us up into the Marina. The next hill leading into the Marina was jam packed with people.

 This woman was inspiring - she had to have been in her 70's out there running!

 You cannot read this at all but this girls shirt said, "If I collapse, please pause my Garmin." Garmin is the same watch I have that tracks your time/pace/mileage.

 Mile 4-6 were in the Marina - nice & flat. I saw my friend Bailey who made a sign and was cheering for me!! She ran Nike a few years ago and went to cheer her on so it was great to see her on the course!

 Mile 6-10 were hills. And they were steep. This started the climb into the Presidio...

 Still going. It flattened out for a little bit and then continued up hill. This was an area where I definitely walked, which I knew I was going to do.

 Running up in Seacliff, past all of the huge homes...

 There were these great signs on the course to keep us going!

 There were a lot of bathrooms, water stops, free Clif Shot Blcks and Luna bars on the course. My favorite stop was where there were orange slices- yum!

 The weather was foggy and cool - typical! I felt bad for people who traveled to this race because they could not see the GG Bridge AT ALL and I heard some people saying they were looking forward to a picture near the bridge.

 When we saw the beach, it meant we only had 3 miles to go. When I saw the 10 mile mark, I thought, "Wow, I can't believe we are already at 10 miles!" This is very different from how I felt in my first half marathon. I remember hitting the 10 mile mark and thinking, how am I going to get to the end!?

 We came down the beach, into GG Park, turned around and came out back to the beach to finish. I finished around 2:50. I was hoping for a better time but at the same time, this course is HARD. Maybe if I was on a flatter course, my time might be different. All in all, this was so excited to be a part of this race and the time does not really matter to me.

 After I finished, I went to the TNT tent where they had a free lunch for runners and more importantly, places to SIT. I stopped in for a little bit but went back out to the finish chute to look for Erik.

Here he is coming into the finish!! He finished in 4:15. That is an AWESOME time for a first time marathon!!!

We were pretty sore after our race. My hips and hamstrings were killing me. Erik was really sore & had a stomachache. After eating Gu, Blocks, Gatorade, etc, your stomach can really feel funny. He said the race course was great until he had to go out and run around Lake Merced. There were not a lot of spectators or cheering out there and he was ready for the race to be over. He said Mile 22 was like the breakdown zone - people were walking, stretching, and crying. This has to be the point where you feel like, how am I going to finish?? He powered through to finish though. So proud of him!!

 Here we are after the race!!! We did it! We are so proud of ourselves for training together, fundraising together, and completing this race.

 

At the finish line, men in tuxedos were there with Tiffany boxes!! We got these great necklaces to commemorate the run. 

This was a great race. Running with TNT can be very emotional and I definitely felt that during this race. You realize that this is not a race but something bigger that so many of us have contributed to. People are on the course cheering for you and encouraging you - it is really moving. Even Erik felt that this would have been a lot harder had all those TNT people not been on the course encouraging him.

We are also so overwhelmed by the outpouring of support we received from our friends & family. The time that people took to come to our fundraisers, donate to us, and encourage us was really astonishing. We received so many texts on Sat night and Sunday Am just wishing us well and people telling us how proud they were of us. It really makes us feel blessed to have such great people in our lives. 

After the race, I went over to get a big salad from the store across the street. I had my TNT jersey on and a woman asked me if I ran the race today. When I said yes, she thanked me. She just said, "Thank you so much for running this in honor of beating cancer." A nice way to end our race day. 

#RunNWM