Nike Women's Marathon San Franciscio 2013

The 10's annual Nike's Women's San Francisco Marathon is a tough marathon. There was over 26,417 half marathoners and 4,364 full marathoners. The marathon and the half marathons all started at the same time.

 Around 0625, the race began. It took about 15 minutes to get to the start line. In the first 5 miles, the course is mostly flat, with a slight hill at mile 2. The course winds through the Financial District and Marina District. We ran past Piers 1 through 45. Honestly, it was not a congested at the Rock & Roll San Diego race. The city of San Francisco gave us the entire street at times!

I snagged this from the Nike on Facebook.

At mile 5.29, begin the hills. To say there are hills is NOT an exaggeration. Here's the meat & potatoes on the hills:
Hill # 1 at mile 2.5 - 3.3
Hill #2 at mile  5.3 - 7
Hill #3 at mile 8-9.5
Hill #4 at mile 10.50 - 13
Hill #5 at mile 17.5- 20
Hill #6 at mile 21 - 22
Hill #7 at mile 23-24.5

The full marathon runners parts from the half marathons around mile 10 and run around Golden Gate park. Here someone yelled, "only 3.1 to go!" I responded "yeee haaaa, only 16.2 to go!"

This marathon is beautiful and challenging. As we turn around to head out of the park, there is a jumbotron posting inspirations along with your name! Nice! Mine said "Stay Focus and Strong Patricia!" The sun did come out for a little bit here.
At mile 15 we join the half marathoners again through mile 16 where they turn to finish the half marathon. The course changed this year. Instead of running around Lake Merced, we ran out a little past San Francisco State University then back the way we came.

 Here at mile 21 there's another jumbotron videoing you as your run towards the turn. Pretty cool!  It's over cast the rest of the run with temperature in high 50's. Lot of people cheered us along the way. Some of the water stations, I had to wait for a cup of water, but there was water. Nuun was the choice for electrolytes and it is just nasty. Mile 23, my running pal & walked. My abdomen was hurting.

Time tracks are at 5k, 10k, 15, 21k, 25k, 30k, 35, and 40k.
At mile 26, Ann's son & his girlfriend shocked us but showing up and cheering us to the finish line! It was soooooo cool!
I had a health complication encountered 2 weeks before this race, but made the choice to run it anyway. Hopefully, by the end of the this year, I'll be able to begin training again for races. My goal was to finish and have fun. Even with the pain, having a friend like Ann, made this marathon amazing! By the way, who ever the runner was at mile 24 that almost knocked us over, we hope you finished strong! Thanks Ann! You rock!

My course times played out as:
Over Place: 3745
Chips Time: 5:56:16
Pace 13.36
Women 45-49 place: 271/313
5k: 36:36
10k: 1:15:30
15k: 1:55:55
21k: 2:46:33
25k: 3:17:25
30k: 3:59:10
35k: 4:47:50
40k: 5:37:57