Marathon #12: Pre-race

So happy to be here in San Francisco for the Nike Women's Marathon! After a long morning of travel, I arrived yesterday afternoon and took BART into the city. After meeting up with friends, we headed over to check out the expotique in hopes of avoiding the long Saturday crowds.

Since I am a firm believer in honesty, I will share a story from the expo. Nike Women's Marathon seeds runners on race morning according to predicted finish time, as do most marathons. However, being a women's marathon, men are not allowed in the front three corrals. We were instructed to choose a wristband which was color coordinated with our appropriate corral on race morning. In an attempt to seed myself in front of the main pack, I chose a 3:30 finish time. Not a big stretch, but a bit of an exaggeration... though we all know everyone overestimates and jumps into the wrong corral on race morning only to slow the pack down. Anyway, I digress.

As I make my way through the line I grab a blue wristband, corresponding to the blue corral. When I do this, a volunteer grabs my arm and says, "No, men are only in the black corral." I respond, "This is blue." Our eyes are locked on each other in uncomfortable silence as it dawns on me that she thinks I'm a guy. After a seeming eternity, she realizes her mistake and apologizes, and I continue on my way with my self esteem mostly intact. Truth be told, I have rock solid self esteem (seriously, no woman in her right mind would attempt to rock this haircut unless she knew exactly who she was), and her comment, though insulting, didn't bother me... until later.


As I was wandering though Niketown looking at some of the race swag, I saw at least a half dozen other women with my haircut, though likely not by choice. You see, the Nike Women's Marathon is a bit supporter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. There are a large number of racers on Sunday morning who have spent months training and raising money for cancer research. The race also attracts a lot of cancer survivors, many of whom run (or walk) the half or full marathon. It made me really sad to think that at an event where cancer is a part of its very foundation, a woman with a shaved or bald head would be mistaken for a man. I am easily reminded of how lucky I am to have my health and my joy for running and to be able to race on Sunday as an expression of that passion. For all the cancer survivors out there on Sunday, racing or spectating or volunteering, you have my admiration and respect.

After resting for a bit in the afternoon, we hit up a local bistro, Annabelle's, for fabulous dinner. Everything was organic and sourced from 3 local farms. My friend MITriGirl ordered an asparagus salad which bordered on orgasmic. The bread basket was filled with little bits of brioche heaven. My entree was an herb-roasted chicken which was melt in your mouth good. And for dessert we shared carrot cake that was divine. I love food and it was wonderful to share an evening of good food with great friends.

This morning we awoke without an alarm at 6 am. After laying around for a bit, I took my friend ItTakesTwo for a run down Market Street, Embarcadero, and around Giant's Stadium. I know it's totally dorky, but I think Giant's Stadium is so cool. It's in a huge city, on a really busy street and it just stands there dominantly, overlooking the bay. I think it's beautiful.

On our way back to the hotel we hit up the Farmer's Market and got some strawberries, peppers and beans to snack on. We looked at each other and instantly knew why people live in California. It's for the produce. You just can't get it like this anywhere else, and trust me, I've lived everywhere else. I know.

We've had a pretty lazy day today. Early dinner reservations tonight should guarantee that we are in bed early though actual sleep might be a hot comodity. The excitement is starting to build, though I'm not nervous. I just hope for enough adrenaline in the morning to get me to mile 20. From there it's a 10k race to the finish. Looking forward to sharing my race report in a few days!