Remember that time I put my name down for the Nike Women’s Marathon • San Francisco lottery and I actually got picked? Yah well, DID IT DONE IT – I conquered the hills!

Let me begin by saying WOW!

One thing I can say about the NWMSF is they know marketing and event planning. This was the second biggest run I’ve done (30,000 ladies and a few good men!) but by leaps and bounds, the most organized. Every detail of the event, from your first acceptance email to the post-race follow-up, was designed to make you feel proud to be a woman conquering the roads of San Francisco. For me personally, it was not my greatest running achievement, and to be completely honest, I was a little disappointed in myself that I wasn’t there to do the full marathon, but I still felt special as a participant. I will probably never be able to top the experience of finishing my first full marathon but it has inspired me to keep going and consider doing another full – and hopefully doing so in San Francisco.

The run itself started at 6:30am in Union Square. Mostly due to my cluelessness of distance conversion, I registered with a pace as a seven minute mile. Opps, that lined me up in the elite group but all was good in the end. The first three kilometres involved the usual weaving but I was able to get my pace quicker than usual. Despite the city’s reputation, the course was as flat as pancake for the first six kilometres, so much so that I felt like I truly belonged with the elite! However at kilometre seven, we started climbing and peaked at kilometre ten. After that, there were lots of ups and downs – the ups however were bearable because the speed on the downs made balanced it out. The race passed the ferry terminal, fishermen’s market, the Presidio, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Pacific Coast and ended on the shore line of Golden Gate Park.

Who needs a tour bus when you can see everything by foot – and all before breakfast!

Crossing the finish line of the Nike Women’s San Francisco Marathon is what makes it one of the biggest and most popular races… A Bay City fireman, wearing a tux, gives you the coveted Tiffany’s finisher’s necklace.  I was very fortunate to have my parents at the finish – they’ve been an on-going support in my love for running and I was thrilled to have them with me in the city.  xomeg

Psst… Speaking of San Francisco, more on California in an upcoming post!