Oakland Half Marathon Weekend

Two weeks ago I ran the Oakland Half Marathon as my first half marathon of the year. By this time last year I had run four half marathons, so I'm pretty proud of myself to have made it all the way through the first quarter of the year without having run any! My New Year's resolution to train more and race less is still on track! 

Back in August of last year a deal came through Active Schwaggle for  a $35 entry to the Oakland Half Marathon. What an amazing deal! I instantly thought about running it and figured it could be an excuse to go home. I like trying new races and this one was close to San Francisco and had a really flat course. 

Love This Quote on the Pace Bracelet

I hesitated for a bit before signing up when I remembered some less than glowing race reviews I had read last year, but brushed those thoughts off since those reviews were for the full course and as I learned running the OC Marathon, the full and half experience can be very different.

Driving up to San Francisco

Mika Was Looking Bored

The Friday before the race David and I packed up the car, loaded in the dogs, and hit the road. We took the 5 the whole way instead of my usual detour on the 101 through Santa Barbara and made it up to San Francisco in 8 hours. Not too bad in my book! We were staying at my dad's for the weekend and soon after getting into San Francisco we met up with my dad at one of my favorite restaurants - Fresca!

Almost There!

One incredible Peruvian dinner later, and we were stuffed and ready for bed. Yep, party crew, rolling in! I had plans to get up early and meet up with the Run 365 San Francisco Marathon training program to do a 6-9 mile run. When I checked the weather I was saddened to see that not only would it be raining that Saturday, but it would be raining on Sunday aka race day as well. Big sigh.

Boo! Bad Weather!

Under normal circumstances I never run in the rain. I have a low tolerance for non-pleasant weather. Why do you think I love San Diego so much? Anyways, I decided that going out in the rain for the training run would break me in for the race the next day. I went down to Sports Basement in the Presidio to meet everyone, and ended up running 9 miles with Jojo and some of the other runners in the program. While I was running with the group I met a fellow Lowellite and friend of a friend. Its such a small world!

Gloomy Morning in the Presidio

Jojo Threatened my Life if I Posted This Picture
So I Cornified Her :)

After the cold and wet training run David and I headed straight across the bridge to Oakland.  Hey, might as well right? We were a lot closer coming from the Presidio than my neighborhood. The expo was being held at a Marriott downtown which meant guess what? Easy parking! My favorite! We were in and out of the expo pretty quickly, and soon were heading back across the bridge to go home so I could finally change out of my sweaty and wet running clothes. Running in the rain and then not showering for hours is not fun. I felt sticky and cold and uncomfortable. Yuck! I hate the rain!

Oakland Half & Full Marathon Elevation

The Geico Gecko!

We met up with my friend Jenny for lunch at The Tipsy Pig in the Marina where I devoured an ahi burger and sweet potato fries. I don't usually order fries much less finish them. Um, what sweet potato fries? Where did they go?  I had just run 9 miles and had 13 lined up for the next morning. That's my excuse. 

My New "Got Milk?" Zipper Pull

After lunch we went to my old home away from home Stonestown. Aww 'the mall'. I miss my mall rat days in high school and college when Garley and I seemed to end up there almost daily. Such mall rats. Speaking of Garley we were meeting up with her that night to see the Hunger Games! I read the series over the holidays (3 books in 4 days) and absolutely the books! Garley was a huge fan as well and in proper best friend form bought herself and I matching mockingjay pins which we of course wore during the movie!

Proudly Sporting our Mockingjay Pins

I hate to say it but I think the movie was just so so. There is so much that you get in the books that you miss in the movie. I suppose that is always the case though.

Marathon Maniac Shirt Debut

After the movie it was time for another early bedtime. Luckily the race didn't start until 9:15am (unheard of!) so I got to sleep in until 7am and I still had time to get coffee and bagels before driving back over to Oakland. 

My Favorite Breakfast Place - Noah's

It was sprinkling a bit in the morning when I went out to get bagels but I was elated to see that the rain had eased up as we headed east across the bridge. I had my fingers and toes crossed while praying that the rain would stay away. I wasn't too optimistic but in the end guess what? It didn't rain!

Forecast Wasn't Very Positive

Gloomy Day in the Sunset

I haven't been doing any speed workouts lately but of course I was hoping to PR in this race. Come on, I'm always hoping to PR! I don't understand people who aren't. Don't you always want to do your best and then better than your best? I do!

Poor David - Another Early Morning Watching Me Race

Ready to Race! I think...

I started out the race a bit too fast and instead of holding on and continuing to push I started to slow down a bit. Right around mile 6 tragedy struck ... my Walkman died! Ahh! Rookie mistake, I forgot to charge it the night before. Sigh. I never run without music and running in silence is pure torture for me. I'm sure my Walkman dying was the excuse I was looking for to give up on my pace ... and I took it. I slowed down a bit right after mile 6, and my hopes of a PR were instantly dashed. Oh well, not every race is meant to be!

Feeling Strong to Start

Made it Through "The Wall" (Of Fire!)

I'm Sexy and I Know It
(j/k - wow this picture is horrible)

I ended up putting out some nice positive splits in this race which I'm not proud of, and ended up finishing in 1:53:45. I started with a 7:58 first mile which slipped into the high 8:00's for an overall pace of 8:32. Not my best, but not my worst.  I've also learned that I need to A - start doing training runs without music, B - always charge my electronics, and C - start getting back to my speed workouts if I expect to improve on my speed!

Oakland Half Marathon Finisher

After the race we had plans to meet up with a bunch of other San Francisco Marathon Ambassadors who would also be running. I was excited to see old friends again and meet new ones. We all met at the Lake Chalet restaurant for brunch which was about half a mile from the start and finish line for the race. The restaurant was right on the edge of Lake Merrit and had a beautiful view! 

SF Ambassador Brunch

The fun for the weekend pretty much ended after brunch. From there we went straight to the Oakland airport where I dropped David off before heading back to my dad's house in San Francisco. Once I got home I showered, packed up the car, reclaimed my dogs and hit the freeway for another 500 miles on the road. Driving alone was a LOT less fun than driving with David. Those dogs really need to work on their conversation skills! Luckily I managed to get home in 8 hours, although I got home so late that I decided to take the next day off from work to catch up on things. Its funny how a little mini-vacation can be so exhausting! 

The Nestle Quick Bunny Admiring .. My Medal?

My next race after Oakland was the Carlsbad 5000 which I ran this past weekend (recap coming soon), this weekend I'm running the Hollywood Half Marathon, and then next weekend I'm doing my first distance ride on the bike. On Sunday April 15th I'll be doing the Gran Fondo 60 mile bike tour! I'm excited for the new challenge but not excited about the timing. I've been asked to go to a tradeshow in Vegas at the last minute and don't get back from the show until late Saturday the night before. Hmm, standing in heels and walking all over Vegas for three days. Sounds like great race prep! Oh well, what can you do! Let's hope my training keeps me riding strong!

Oakland Half Marathon Medal & Tech Tee

To read my race review of the Oakland Running Festival over on Running Trip, click here.