Well, I can honestly say I did it! I finished the Nike Women's Half Marathon! If you are a runner, you should absolutely get into the lottery for this race. Its pretty outstanding. The course is beautiful, the city is amazing. I had one of the best weekends I can remember. In this post, I am going to try to give you some tips about the weekend to make yours run smoothly. In the weeks building up to the 2012, I scoured the internet trying to figure out some things, and I hope if you are here doing the same thing I can answer a few of those questions.
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| Andrea, please don't kill me for using this picture. |
First and foremost, take the BART! I am not sure if the same procedure works from Oakland, but from SFO you should absolutely take the BART. You take it from terminal three at SFO so its incredibly convenient. The best station to get to Union Square and all the hotels is Powell, and it is an $8.65 ride each way. SUPER CHEAP AND QUICK. The trains are fast and very clean. The only complaint I have is that the speaker system is pretty muffled, so you should keep your ears perked up. The Powell station is quite a few in, so you have time. You have to pay for your ride ahead of time, and we had really lovely people who were making their way back into the airport give us their old passes with money left on them. If you have money left over on your pass when you leave, do it! It made us feel so welcome in a new city!!
The second most important thing, GO EARLY. I sadly flew in on Saturday morning. By the time we got where we were staying, and got to the Expo, there was literally a line to get in that stretched ALL THE WAY AROUND UNION SQUARE!!! It was a fiasco. I was very lucky that I had had a feeling about this. My friend Tanis was going a day early and checked in for me. WHICH YOU CAN DO. You need to get your friend a copy of your ID and your check in barcode. So luckily, we didn't have to wait in that crazy check in line. That being said, there are quite a few really fun photo booth, hair styling, etc booths in the expo that we really didn't get to enjoy because of the volume of people inside. Also, as you know, the race starts super early on Sunday AM. Because of that you will probably be going to bed on the earlier side, which cuts down on your sightseeing time. Next year, I will absolutely be flying in at least a day early.
Next, use Airbnb. Airbnb is a great site that I have used twice now for travel and both times it has gotten me goldmines. This is a site where people can rent out their rental property or own apartment or home for the weekend or a longer stay. We ended up with a great great apartment in Nob Hill, which was a super short (uphill) walk from Union Square.
This was the view from our GIANT picture window. These photos really do it no justice. Now comes the best part of this deal: our room was $100 a night!!! All the hotels near us were charging $225 or higher for the same neighborhood. And I booked this in late April. I can only imagine if I had waited until the month before.
Ok, Cable cars!! Cable cars are just as awesome as you imagine them to be!!! You can take one right out to Fisherman's Warf for $6!
This ride was so much fun! Don't feel overwhelmed by the super long line at Powell to get on... there is a trick!! Walk a few blocks up, maybe just past Union Square, and they will stop for you just like a cab! No line, no fuss, only fun!!! Also, talk to the drivers! They are jovial and interesting and have a ton of good stories!!
ON THE DAY!
Dress warm!! All the gear you leave on the road gets donated to a women's shelter, which is awesome. I actually didn't ditch anything because it was so chilly.
Just like any race, you are probably going to walk through the starting line. It took us 35 minutes to get through. Make sure you clock how long it took you to go through, as there were issues with our times at the end and when they posted them.
They run out of all the goodies. They post that there will be free bras and all sorts of things like that. I was about the end of the middle of the pack and EVERYTHING was gone by the time I got there. Don't get discouraged! This race is awesome. The Kaiser Permanente people and Safeway people out cheering are amazing! There are all the hydration and fuel stations that you need, which is way more important.
The hills are insane! They aren't cable car hills, but they aren't kiddy hills either. I basically sped walked all the hills and still felt confident about my finish time.
There are firemen with Tiffany's boxes wearing tuxedos waiting for you at the finish. And it is Glorious.
Absolutely wait in the line to take pictures with them! My guy was so funny and sweet, and when my friend yelled pick her up, he laughed and easily lifted me as if I was a feather. It was such a funny moment; I am so happy to have it on film.
The rides back are a chaotic mess. Its just a lot of people to wrangle. Just go into it with a positive attitude and know the line is moving faster than you think.
One last tip. Have a good cheering section. My best friend met me in San Fran and cheered me the whole way. It was the best part of the weekend. I came around a corner and she was waiting with a big sign and a cowbell. I couldn't have laughed harder if I had tried. BEST. EVER.
xo
