2014 WiPro San Francisco Half Marathon

Aha, I am quite famous! I made it to the official page of the San Francisco Marathon! I am the crazy one, on top of the tree, wearing a Boston inspired tutu. Yeahh, that's what you do after a half marathon in the hilliest city, you bike a little bit to loosen up your legs!

Photo Credit: The San Francisco Marathon

So now you know, I survived the San Francisco Half Marathon. But let me start from the beginning. Last year, I ran the San Francisco (Full) Marathon. It was an amazing experience, both painful and beautiful. San Francisco and New York are my favorite cities to run in the world. This year, I signed up for the half marathon. Why did I sign up for the half instead of a full? It has nothing to do with my current hip bursitis ( although I probably wouldn't have been able to run 26.2) but the fact that I wanted to complete the Halfing it All Challenge. What is this challenge all about? You basically run the first half and 2nd half marathon in 2 consecutive years and you get a beautiful spinning medal.

Saturday, June 27th

After a nice and short flight from San Diego, my friend Tessa and I arrived in San Francisco at 8:35 am.   I paid $50 for the round trip ticket as I had credits with Virgin America. Scored!

I love Virgin America flights. Excellent customer service at affordable prices and pretty cool atmosphere, reminiscence of a lounging bar. Why do I always feel that a DJ is going to show up any moment when flying Virgin? Well, he didn't but a pretty cool safety video was shown just as we were ready to take off.



After a pleasant flight, we arrived at San Francisco's Terminal 2. This is where The Plant Cafe Organic is located. It has become a tradition of mine to stop at this place and have a healthy sunrise juice ( carrot, beet, orange, apple and lemons) before heading to the city. I really like the San Francisco airport for all its healthy options including organic cafes and restaurants, massages and yoga rooms. I haven't tried the last two but I always see the signs as I walk by.

From the airport, we took the BART to my friend's house, dropped our luggage and headed out to meet the rest of the group, the Medal Whores. We decided to eat at Greens Restaurants  in Fort Mason since it's conveniently located next to the Expo.

Views from Greens Restaurant

I ordered some amazing (vegan) Mesquite Grilled Brochettes with mushrooms, Mariquita Farm potatoes, peppers, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, corn, red onions, Hodo Soy tofu with grilled serrano salsa verde and Mexican Cabbage slaw. It tasted like a delicious Argentinian chimichurri!

After lunch, we walked to the running expo. At the entrance, they were displaying the SF logo made with donated running shoes for those in need.  It's kind of cool!

We quickly picked up our bibs, tech shirts and purchased an official sweater.  The rest of the afternoon, we spent it drinking Coffee Mojitos from Philz and checking out ice cream shops. I say "checking" cause, Mr. and Mrs. Miscellaneous ( the latest and greatest ice cream shop in town) ran out of (vegan) sorbet options. No problem. I will be back!

For dinner, we went to a E' Tutto Qua in Little Italy. My friend May met us at the restaurant just like last year. I don't usually eat grains but I made an exception and ordered some vegan pasta with eggplants and mushrooms. I was running the next day after all.  It was good but not to die for. I can do better!

Sunday, June 28th

I shared rooms with three friends. We woke up at 4:30 and left our room around 5:00 am. My friend Tessa had already left since she was running the full marathon which started earlier. In this picture I am smiling but I can guarantee you that I was sleep walking and talking. Zzzzzz

We walked for fifteen minutes to our friend's house. She lives just few blocks from the race's starting line.  We took some pictures and wished each other good luck.

May and I in front of the Bay Bridge

Miles 1-5- We ran through Fisherman's Wharf, Fort Mason and the Marina Blvd, a very familiar course. Surprisingly, I was feeling really good. No hip pain up until mile 5 when we started the climb to the Golden Gate Bridge. I stopped once for a few seconds but kept going. No time to stop for pictures this year.

Mile 6-9 - We ran the Golden Gate bridge. This is the most beautiful place to run in the world. There is something magical about this red bridge, the cold breeze and seeing San Francisco waking up in front of your eyes. I was so tuned to the moment that I completely forgot that my hip was hurting. After crossing the Golden Gate, there was a steep downhill which my body really welcomed.  The problems are going up not going down.

Mile 10-11- It's almost a blur except I remember hills, hills and more hills.  We ran almost one mile going up followed by another mile going down. I usually fly those downhills but my hips were killing me.

Mile 12 -13 - We finally reached the Golden Gate Park. I can't remember at what mile exactly we entered the Golden Gate Park. All I could think was,  "wow, how did I run an additional 13.1 last year?". Soon after, I crossed the finish line with a BIG smile on my face, as usual. As for my time, it's very slow and forgettable (2:22) . Last year, I ran this course in 2:20 including 10 minutes for stops to take pictures. Still, I was happy to be able to finish in one piece considering the conditions.

After crossing the finish line, I picked up some bananas and reunited with my friend May who arrived a few minutes before me. We ran almost the whole race side-by-side, just like last year. Thanks May for being there for me!  While we were waiting for the other friends to finish, we decided to give "Rock The Bike" a try.

Basically by pedaling, we were powering a sound system that was blasting awesome funky Brazilian music. Only in San Francisco! And this is how we became famous ( see photo at the beginning of the post) ! :)

We waited for at least 1 hour to take the bus back to the Embarcadero where we met Tessa. She just finished the full marathon in roughly 4 hours.

BIG congrats to everyone that participated in this race last weekend!

Berlin, here I come!

 It's about time to dust off my blog. Since the Princess Half Marathon Weekend back in February, I have ran a couple of races including the San Diego Half Marathon on March 9th, the Foxy Trail Half Marathon on April 6th, the Cinco de Mayo 5k and the Costume Party Run 5K on July 13th with my 8-year old.




 I initially signed up for the LA Marathon on March 9th but decided to run a local half marathon instead due to running injuries, more specifically IT band issues. I was able to complete these races but not at my regular speed, just a tad slower. The pain became more and more prominent over the following months. After visiting my general doctor, an orthopedic doctor, a chiropractor and even an acupuncturist they all agree that I have chronic hip bursitis. The prescription was "simply":  Take Epson salt baths, massage the hip area with Tiger Balm, roll on a tennis ball, take NSAID and rest. While I have followed these instructions, I have not seeing any differences until I started taking glucosamine on a regular basis.  I really hope this works!

I have the San Francisco Half Marathon on July 27th followed by the Disney's Dumbo Double Dare Challenge at the end of August and then my BIG race: the Berlin Marathon.

You are crazy my child, you must go to Berlin

Don't worry, I am taking it easy! I am not running 40-60 miles a week anymore. My initial plan was to follow the Hansons Marathon Method but since the hip bursitis is still here I will go with Hal Higdon's beginners program which requires less miles.  This is what I used to trained for the RnR Madrid Marathon a couple of years ago. I have also hired a personal trainer for core strengthening.
 
I will do my best to follow this program. For cross-training, I am swimming and doing hot yoga.  My motto: "Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up" ~ Dean Karnazes.

I have visited Germany many times. I have great childhood memories of my family trips to Munich and Bremen.  I also lived in Hamburg but I never visited Berlin. I can't wait to taste this city. This happens to be one of the World Marathon's Major, my second after New York City.

"Der moderne Buchdruck" (Modern Book Printing) 

Berlin's Bradenburg Gate

Berlin - street art

Wish me good luck!

2014 Inaugural Glass Slipper Challenge

What is the Glass Slipper Challenge?

It's a 19.3 mile new adventure held in Walt Disney World. You run the Disney Princess Enchanted 10k on Saturday followed by the Disney Princess Half Marathon on Sunday and earn three medals.

In addition to these 2 races, I added a third one to my challenge: the Royal Family 5k on Friday with my family.

Thursday, February 20th - Expo

At 10 am, we headed to the expo located at the ESPN World Wide of Sports Complex to pick up our bibs and the ones for 4 other friends that were arriving late that day and couldn't make it to the expo on-time. It was a little bit hectic but we survived.

This is a big and dangerous expo for all Disney fanatics out there. You can find everything from runDisney tutus to New Balance Disney themed running shoes.  My advice is to leave the wallet at the hotel :-)

Friday, February 21st - Cinderella Royal Family 5k

I signed up my mom, husband and kids ( 8 & 5 year old) for this race. The start time was 6:15 am at Epcot. We took the bus around 5:00 am and walked to the staging area. My son was very sleepy and tired. My daughter, on the other hand, was excited and ready to go.

My mom and husband walked the 5K with my son. My daughter and I ran it all the way with several stops to greet the characters. First, we visited Mulan and Mushu in China.

Then, we swung by Morocco and said hi to Jasmine and the Genie.

We travelled to France and met the Beast.

We finished the race with big smiles on our faces!!

After the race, I met with my friends:  Belle, Ariel, Cinderella. My Sleeping Beauty crashed almost immediately.

After the race, we went back to the hotel, took a long shower and headed to the parks for about 10 hours. Next day, we'd repeat it all over again.

Saturday, February 22nd - (Inaugural) Disney Princess Enchanted 10k

I woke up earlier today, at 3:00 am, after a few 4 hours of sleep. My running costume: Pretty Pink Minnie.

I took the same bus as the day before and headed to the staging area to meet my friends. We did some warm up exercises as you can see in this video :-)

The course was a big loop around Epcot with many miles on the highway and few on the park. I would have preferred it the other way around. My favorite was seeing Elsa throwing artificial snow to the runners. I remember wishing she could freeze the park for us. It was pretty hot and humid.

I also enjoyed seeing the characters from The Princess and the Frog, Goofy, Pocahontas and finally Donald Duck.

I love the finisher's medal for this race. After the race, I asked Rapunzel for advice on how to keep my hair straight with such humidity. She said "you need to comb it all the time or it will tangle". Big laughs!

After the race, we went back to the hotel, took a long shower and headed to the parks for about 10 hours. Next day, we'd repeat it all over again.  Deja vu'

Sunday, February 23rd - Disney Princess Half Marathon


For the third day in a row, I woke up at 3:00 to get ready for the race. Now I was tired! Zzzzzz. My running costume: Maleficent.

This race, however, was different. This was my husband's first runDisney event. We planned on running it together from beginning to end.

My plan worked for the first few miles until we reached Cinderella's castle.  

Around the corner, there was Tomorroland. I stopped to take a picture with Buzzlight. My husband continued running. "I'll catch you later", I yelled.

Little I knew that Mickey and Minnie were around the corner. Of course, I had to stop again to take a picture with them. The waiting line was 10 minutes now.  

At mile 6 or so, I spotted a group of spectators dressed up as the Sleeping Beauty's good fairies. They were holding a poster stating "You are running Maleficent". I am pretty sure they were talking about me. I had to stop to take a picture.

There was also a very long line to greet Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip so I didn't stop but they both looked at me at shouted "Stay away Maleficient!". hahaha this was awesome. I love that they are totally into their characters!!  

At mile 11, I was passed by my husband as we were crossing a bridge and heading back to Epcot for the last mile. "Aha we are going to cross the finish line together after all", I thought. Of course, this didn't happen as I spotted Sofia The First. Ok one more picture. 

After meeting her, I couldn't get her song our of my head. 

I was a girl in the village doing alright

Then I became a princess over night. 

Now I gotta figure out how to do it right

Thank goodness there were only 1.5 miles left. I saw my husband at mile 12 and thought "cool! this is it! together forever!". Naaa, the moment he saw me he took off. "Heeeey, wait for me!". Now who is competitive in this family? Just in case you are wondering, we are still married. We even took a picture together after the race. See our happy smiling faces? :-) I am just kidding. I am very proud of my husband as he decided to run this race in the last minute with absolutely no training. 

For finishing the Tinker Bell Half marathon earlier this year and the Princess Half Marathon, I received a special limited edition pink Coast to Coast medal. It's adorable. These are all the medals I received over the Disney Princess Marathon Weekend:

Royal Family 5k, Princess 10k, Princess Half, Glass Slipper Challenge and C2C special edition.

Have you enjoyed my recap! I have included lots of pictures not to bore you with three recaps and an long mile-to-mile report. However, if you are interested in more details about each one of these races, you can visit The Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend official site. They are all pretty flat, easy courses and what's most important lots of fun!