And the run is over!

Photo of today's race on Golden Gate bridge from SF Gate

Well I did my half marathon today, and I have to say it is amazing what training can do. Two years ago I messed up my knees (my IT bands to be precise) while training and could only swim to train. Race day was the first time I had run in months, and while I finished, I couldn't walk for a few days afterwards.

This time, I managed to keep my IT bands happy and trained pretty well, so I was hopeful this would be a much smoother day, and indeed it was. The route was beautiful, starting at the ferry building, running along the Embarcadero, through the (hilly) Presidio, across the Golden Gate bridge and back, and then through (hilly) neighboorhoods down to Golden Gate Park for the finish. And even though today's race was waaaay hillier than the one I ran 2 years ago, I felt much better the whole time and though I'm sore for sure, I'm walking without a limp already!

Wave 7 with the Bay Bridge in the background

I always thought I ran at a 12-minute mile pace, so I signed up for that wave, but somehow I ended up running at a 10-minute mile pace today, so I spent most of the time weaving in and around people to pass them. And there were a LOT of people running, so it was actually kind of a challenge, but kept things interesting I suppose. It is always fun to run with so many people at once, and see people of all different ages and paces and running styles. Quite a few people struck up conversations with me about my crazy 'toe shoes' that I run in, which is always fun.

At the finish line!

I ended up finishing in 2 hours 12 minutes, which is a 10:07 minute mile pace. I feel pretty proud, although I was barely in the top half of runners, haha, and I didn't do a whole marathon. Maybe someday!

And the real success is the over $3,400 we raised for Clinica Martin Baro!!! Thank you so much to everyone who contributed, I really appreciate it. If anyone still wants to donate, its not too late, you can use this webform.