2013 Inaugural Transamerica Rock 'n' Roll San Francisco Half Marathon

Race: Sunday April 7th, 2013

Expo: Friday & Saturday, April 5-6 - Moscone Center

Start / Finish: Van Ness Ave. Between Fort Mason and Aquatic Park

Time: 7:00 a.m.

Corral: 6

Saturday, April 6th 

I arrived in San Francisco at 8:30 a.m. after a pleasant 90 minutes flight from San Diego. This was my first flight with Virgin America. Vibrant colors, individual touch screens and nice music playing in the background. I love the lounge feel to it.

As soon as I landed, I spotted The Plant Cafe Organic.  I ordered a Healthy Sunrise (carrot, beet, orange, apple, lemon juice). YES! This is probably the healthiest and most delicious breakfast I've ever had at an airport.

From the airport, I took the SamTrans bus to San Francisco downtown. Grgrgr, I waited 40 minutes for the bus to arrive and another 60 minutes to get to the city. Why didn't I take the BART? Never again! The BART is the best transportation option for me. It was cold and rainy. Lucky me, the closest bus stop was just a few blocks away from my hotel. After meeting my friends at Le Meridien, we headed out to eat.  Let the pre-race carb-loading begin! First stop, my friends' Febr and Leo's restaurant, Kirimachi, for authentic Japanese miso ( vegetarian) ramen soup. Delicious!

Next, Stella Pastry & Cafe in Little Italy for some mouthwatering Napoleons and tiramisus.

From Little Italy, we walked at least 2 miles to the Moscone Center where the Health & Fitness Expo was held. We could have taken the bus but we needed the exercise after all the food indulgence. Picking up the running bibs and shirts at the expo was relatively easy. The expo was not too crowded.

From the expo, we went to Chinatown for massages and window shopping. We probably walked another 2 miles. Our hotel was located in the Financial District, very close to the Transamerica Building.

At around 8:30 pm, we headed back to Little Italy for more carb-loading. We had reservations at E' Tutto Qa. The food was amazing and the service very friendly. I ordered the Arancia e Finocchio (salad of oranges, fennel, black olives & arugula with a lemon and olive oil dressing) and Orecchiette pasta with artichokes and tomatoes.  The restaurant was packed. There was a lot of singing and Italian speaking or I should say screaming. There were at least 5 tables celebrating birthdays. We were also treated to a delicious free panna cotta, courtesy of the restaurant manager. This food tasted very authentic. I would definitely go back again.

Saturday, April 6th - Race Day

We woke up at 5:00 am and left the room an hour later.

After a couple of stops, we ran /walked 2 miles to drop our bags at the gear check next to the starting line, adjacent to Ghirardelli's.

The weather was perfect; not too cold. not too hot, not too sunny.

The Race

The first three miles we ran through Fort Mason, the Marina Boulevard and Crissy Field. I was happy to run side by side my friend May again. We both participated in the Nike Women's (Half) Marathon last October. We continued running together at lunch times until a month ago when she moved to San Jose. [insert sad face]. We were familiar with the course, at least those 3 miles, since we covered them at the Nike Women's Marathon. Perhaps I should mention that for the NWM, we started in Union Square going downhill. For the RnR San Francisco Half, we started in Fort Mason going uphill. I kept trying to convince myself that this was good, that we need to start slow.

The next 2 miles were rough. We ran UP and UP and UP. Not a lot of downhills. What to expect. We are in San Francisco after all! I also told myself I wasn't going to stop to take pictures but I couldn't help it.

Still smiling at mile 4

Miles 5 -7 were across the Golden Gate Bridge towards the Marin County. There were beautiful views of Sausalito from the bridge. Of course, I had to stop again for more pictures.  While running the Golden Gate, I thought of ultra-marathon runner Dean Karnazes. In his book  "Run!: 26.2 Stories of Blisters and Bliss", he wrote about this little game he played with his friend Toph to cross the Golden Gate bridge at night without getting arrested. The sidewalk is usually close to pedestrians in the late hours. He basically jumped the fence and ran as fast as he could. Did he get caught? Well, you have to read the book ;-) I smiled at this thought and secretly wished he was running amongst us.

After reaching the end of the bridge, we ran through some trails and looped back to the other side of the bridge.  This was probably my favorite part of the course.  The sun was coming up and you could see the San Francisco skyline on the horizon. It was really breathtaking! We were very lucky that it was not foggy at all!

We ran miles 7-9 on the Golden Gate Bridge towards San Francisco. I really liked that we ran both directions. It was a little cool and windy but I didn't mind it one little bit.

I was running  9:05 min/mile trying to make up for all the lost time taking pictures.  I could have ran faster but unfortunately the bridge's sidewalk was a little narrow making it difficult to pass the runners. Soon we reached the 10 mile marker. We were going downhill. I loved it! The next 3 miles around the Marina Boulevard were flat but not fast for me.

The terrain was sandy and it was hard to speed up. However, I knew we were very close to the finish line. There was one last hill around mile 12.  I was deep in my thoughts when I saw a runner wearing a shirt that said "Running on Natural Gas". This made me laugh.  The last half mile was all flat. I crossed the finish line in 2:16. Not bad considering that I stopped for at least 10 minutes to take pictures ( before the bridge, while crossing the bridge, while looping the bridge, after the bridge :)

2013 RnR SFO Half Finisher's Medal

After the race, I met my friend May who arrived few minutes earlier. We walked all over the place in search for our free beer. Aha, at last we found it, a few blocks from the finish line!

Few minutes later, we met the rest of the "gang" and went out to Greens Restaurant for delicious brunch.

I highly recommend Greens Restaurant to all healthy nuts out there. Lots of options for vegetarian and non-vegetarians. I ate Mesquite Grilled Brochettes - Mushrooms, Little Farm potatoes, peppers, yams, fennel, red onions and Hodo soy tofu with charmoula. Hamada Farm fruit and almond quinoa, Moroccan carrot slaw.

Summary

The Rock 'n' Roll San Francisco Half was simply AMAZING! This is probably one of the most scenic races in the US. The temperatures were perfect, the views were breathtaking. I loved the mixed terrain ( asphalt, gravel and sand) and the challenging hills & trails. If they keep the same course next year, I'll come back!

Race profile

My running outfit next year!

BIG congrats to all my running friends, especially Leo who completed his first half marathon wearing a green tutu. By the way, he says that this is his "first and last half marathon" but for some reason I have a hard time believing it!

Do you remember what you said when YOU finished your first big race? :)