Kaiser Permanante Half Marathon

I realize that I am late posting this race recap, but not to worry, I remember it like it happened just yesterday!

Ah, the Kaiser Permanente Half Marathon. San Francisco, California. Sunday, February 7th - Superbowl Sunday!!! (I'm not a huge football fan, so I didn't feel as if I were going to miss out on much.) As an employee of KP, I felt slightly obligated to run this half. I would have much rather have ran in sunny So. Cal at the Surf City Marathon!

The family and I headed out to San Fran on Saturday afternoon. We had debated on whether or not to go up the night before, or to leave early in the morning. It was decided that we would leave Saturday afternoon after I had gotten some sleep after my 12 hour shift worked. Sounded like a good plan. Hotel reservations were made, arrangements were made to have our daughter taken care of, and our bags were packed. Chris, the boys and I left at around four in the afternoon. It was slightly overcast, but rainbows were abound. I believe that this was a sign of good things to come!
The sun was setting, and Nathan remarked that when he thinks of God, he believe that this is where he believed that God would live.

After much deliberation, we settled on having dinner at Strings in Tracy. Carbo-loading on pasta! It was a nice family dinner, despite the endless chatter of the boy behind us!

We arrived at our hotel before seven, checked in and settled in for the night. As I was still tired, I almost immediately went to sleep. So boring, I know, but what can I say? I had no race jitters or anxiety, I just went to sleep.

The morning was a different story! I had awakened without incident and readied myself before I woke up the troops. It was already nearing 0630 as we headed out the door. I know it seems early when you think that the race starts at 0800, but when you don't really know your way around SF, it's a bit of a problem. We were low on gas, and we were hungry. My husband thought that we could easily find a gas station and a McDonalds along the way ... NOT! We drove around for awhile, but finally decided that we should bail on plan as his frustration level waned and the time got closer to 0730uckily for me, I had brought a preworkout shake and took that in for my "breakfast." Unfortunately, I only had enough for myself, and I was running the Half while they were "only" running the 5K. I had to put myself first in this case. Sorry guys!

By this time, my friend and virtual running partner, Machelle "Mac" Donahoo, had already parked and was waiting for us to arrive. She had called several times to find out where the heck we were?!? We saw her as we went to park and she waited for us so that we could all board the shuttle to the start together.

When we got to the start, we made a pit-stop to the porta-potties (gags) then my friend Suzanne found us. It was late, and I felt bad that I could not catch up with my other friends to say hi and wish them luck, but it was just not meant to be. There were so many people there! I bid my hubby and boys good luck and we headed off to the start line.

At 0800 the gun went off. I turned my iPod on, as did my partners, and we were off! It took us seven minutes to get to the official starting line. My nerves started to act up, and I had to remind myself that it was just running. That happens to me at every race in the beginning. After a couple of miles, I settled in and just ran. I stayed with Mac for a good six miles until I thought that she would make a bathroom break. She *always* takes a potty break, so I took one ... but she did NOT! I had lost Suzanne shortly after we started running, so I really had no idea where she was. I was alone for the next half of the run.

What goes through my mind while I'm running a race is simple. I always think that I'm crazy to be doing this, that I should know *better*, and that this is just too much. One reason why I run with an iPod is to drown out the voices in my head. The voices that attempt to drag me down. Hello? I just want to run. This time, I told the voices to just shut up. I remember last year I had to stop and walk for a minute. This year, I told myself that I would not walk. I would not give in to the temptation to walk. I would not believe that I was tired. Instead I tried to enjoy the views of the beach as I got to the Great Highway. I just remember thinking that it was torture to see the other runners running to the finish in the other direction! But I kept running ... all the way to the very end! My time 2:20 ... Roughly 15 minutes faster than my time from the previous year, and 7 minutes faster than my fastest half! A PR!!! I was proud of myself that day. I'm proud of myself everyday, but I was happy that I didn't walk, and that I was able to PR!