Yelp Elite - Oh Yeah!

What is Yelp?

For those of you who don't know, Yelp is a website with reviews of businesses, places and events. Their official description according to their website is:

Yelp is an online urban city guide that helps people find cool places to eat, shop, drink, relax and play, based on the informed opinions of a vibrant and active community of locals in the know. Yelp is the fun and easy way to find, review and talk about what's great — and not so great — in your world.

I had heard of Yelp over the years and often when I googled businesses a Yelp review would come up. I'd initially ignore them because seriously, who wants to read hundreds of people blabber on with their opinion of a place? Who has time for that? After a while though I noticed that the overall star rating for a place pretty closely matched what I ended up thinking of the place myself. Hmm ... could there be something to this crowdsourcing of reviews?

"My Name Is Cooler Than Yours" - Love It

To Yelp or Not to Yelp

After giving Yelp the credibility that it deserved, Yelp became my go-to place for reviews of restaurants and businesses. I was a reader though, not a reviewer. I was talking to my friend and former petsitter Jodie one day (boo hoo .. who left us to move to Minnesota) about Yelp and she said that the majority of her business came from people who had read her yelp reviews. Because I loved (well still love) Jodie and wanted to help her business, I decided to create a Yelp account and give her a great review as well. 

So I Yelped! And then you know what happened? My review was hidden and factored out of her overall star rating. WTH? I was so mad. Apparently if you only have a couple of reviews and an incomplete profile, Yelp thinks that the business owner just got a friend to fluff up the ratings with a fake review. What?? Nobody puts baby in the corner! And nobody is going to hide MY yelp review! I was so mad that I started reviewing places like crazy to build up my profile, AND wrote a follow-up review for Jodie ranting about my initial review being hidden. Guess what? It was unhidden! Hooray!

 I Made the Ice Cream Newsletter!

(View the newsletter here)

Yelp Elite Squad

One day I noticed that some other Yelpers had an "Elite" badge next to their name. Jodie had one of these as well and told me what the Elite Squad was all about. Basically you're VIP and privy to super cool Elite only parties. As soon as I heard about the Elite squad I wanted in. If you know me and the way I travel, you know I'm obsessed with Elite status. I've been US Airways Gold Elite for about 7 years now, and I can't imagine flying any other way. By staying loyal to one chain of airlines I get free First Class upgrades, priority check-in, priority security lines, priority boarding, priority standby, standby fees waived, 2 or 3 free checked bags .. and oh yeah, on top of that I earn 1.5x the miles flown each time I fly. Its amazing. Seriously. How can you not want that once you've had it? Anyways, back to Yelp.

What is the "Yelp Elite Squad"?
The Yelp Elite Squad is our way of recognizing and rewarding Yelpers who are active evangelists and role models, both on and off the site. Elite-worthiness is based on a number of things, including well-written reviews, a fleshed-out personal profile, an active voting and complimenting record, and playing nice with others. Members of the Elite Squad are designated by a shiny Elite badge on their account profile.

Now that I'd heard of the Yelp Elite Squad, the big question was how do I get in?? I found a link on their website with information about applying, sent my pleading email in, and waited. I waited a day, two days, a week, several weeks .... and then I thought wow, I've been rejected! Without even a reply? Boo. But this girl doesn't give up easily! I continued to diligently review places on Yelp, in hopes that one day I'd qualify. Guess what? Months and months later, I was finally in! Whoo hoo!!

Yelp Elite Baby

Yelp Elite Events

Soon after I was accepted into the squad, Yelp had their first event ...  but ... I was going to be out of town. Their next two events came up and I was available, but not interested. Finally a month ago I saw an event that I was interested in, a prohibition themed party downtown! My Glam Runner partner Tara obliged to being my date and last week we headed to the party in our best attempt at 20s gear. This included black dresses, feather boas, and strands of pearls. Not our best effort, but we tried.

Prohibition Party at Bootlegger

Prohibition Party

I wasn't sure what to expect of the party, but figured it had to be fun. The party was sponsored by Skyy Vodka and Miller and both types of drinks were free all night. We passed. There was also a photo booth, and some chotchkis they were giving away, but the most notable thing about the party by far was that the place was full of the friendliest people I've ever met in my life! I mean seriously, I've never been around so many friendly and outgoing people. Almost everyone we encountered struck up a conversation with us with a big smile. I guess that's the type of person that becomes Yelp Elite?

 

Gotta Love People with Personality

Creating a  Monster

The party was a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to the next event. On other news, my boss is the next person  in line with Yelp Elite Obsession. As soon as I told her about it she's wanted in. She is now furiously writing reviews in hopes of catching the local ambassador's attention. She lives downtown and goes out to eat a lot, so I'm sure she'll make it pretty soon!

Did you run SFM?

By the way, did you know that you can also Yelp about events? If you ran the San Francisco Marathon and have a Yelp account, take a minute to give the race a review. I gave it 5 stars of course, and not just because I was running elite for the race ;o), I really do love the event. Yelp it HERE.

See you on Yelp!

AFC 5K - A New PR

This past weekend I ran my 2nd 5K this year, and only my 3rd 5K in several years! After "moving up" from shorter races like 5Ks and 10Ks to half and full marathons, it became hard to justify paying for and fitting in short races. I run 5K (3.1 mile) distances only daily, don't try to run fast very often, and usually have longer runs scheduled on the weekends which conflict with these shorter races.

I started the year out wanting to complete the San Diego Triple Crown race series which consisted of the Carlsbad Half/Full Marathon, the La Jolla Half Marathon, and the AFC Half Marathon. After having a bad race in Carlsbad and procrastinating and missing the registration cutoff for La Jolla, I had little motivation to register for the AFC half marathon in time. I had run the race in 2005 and 2006 and really didn't like the event (early wake-up, bus to the start, big hill in the last 1/4 mile), but would totally do the race again. After missing the cutoff for registration (it was full) I was going to write off the race, but at the last minute signed up for the 5K. I've done very few 5Ks in the past few years, but figured what the heck, its in my backyard!

AFC Expo

The AFC race happens to be the biggest local event which occurs soon before the start of the Fall Girls on the Run season, which makes it a prime event for attracting new coaches (most of whom are runners themselves). GOTR was planning on having a booth at the race expo on Friday and Saturday, and I committed my Saturday to hustling at the booth. Hey, I do it for a living, why not for my favorite non-profit? :)

I had recruited a number of volunteers to help with the both on Friday and Saturday, and was planning on being at the booth for most of Saturday after completing my long run with David.Working the booth was a lot of fun. I work tradeshow booths for my day job and while I love my job, that in comparison is totally different experience. Working a race expo is a lot of fun for me because everyone attending has something in common with you and most people have some interest in what you are exhibiting. (Stark contrast to the medical tradeshows I exhibit at.)

I met a lot of fun runners who were interested in GOTR for their kids, for volunteer coach opportunities, or who were interested in buying a Glam Runner tutu to race in. I also met two other bloggers, one of whom I was twitter friends with. Its funny how small this digital world is! (Their blogs here and here.)

Race Day

On race day I woke up around 5am and as I lay in bed I scrolled through my facebook and twitter feed on my blackberry. I was horrified to see tweets and updates from HOURS prior from my friends running the half marathon. I was so SO glad that I was only running the 5K! I got up and made breakfast and around 6:15am David and I headed over to the start line. We found parking right away near the start (One of the things I rate races on) and walked over to the starting area. I was excited to see a few other Glam Runners in their tutus and wished I had worn a tutu as well. 

As we walked over I took out my inhaler to get a few quick puffs in and instantly freaked out when nothing came out. OMG it was empty! I hate the design of inhalers.. there is so little warning when they are about to run out! :( I have exercise induced asthma and always use my inhaler before I run. If I don't use it I dont' have a full on asthma attack (I haven't had one of those in six years), but I can feel my breathing becoming restricted which makes me panic which makes it even harder to breath. Sometimes if I jog around and warm-up my lungs I seem to be okay. I tried this out before the race and crossed my fingers that i would be okay.

Race Start

Before the race started I looked around to see if I could spot any of the other Team Sony women I knew would be racing. I didn't see them and thought maybe I'd see them along the course since there were a couple out and backs. Suddenly it was time for the race to start ... and we were off! I had positioned myself towards the front of the pack a few rows deep. I was pleased to see that as we started running that I had picked a good location for myself since no one was passing me and I wasn't passing anyone either. 

My goal was to stick close to a 7:00pace throughout the whole race. My goal finish time was 22 minutes, which comes out to a 7:05 pace. I kept and eye on my Garmin to make sure I didn't get going too quickly, and whenever I saw 6:30 I would ease up a bit. The first mile whizzed by and soon I approached the first out and back. 

I was pretty close to the front of the pack of runners and started counting women that I saw coming towards me to see how many were in front of me. I counted 12 before I made the first turn and thought OMG, I'm the 13th woman! I head that place for another mile but towards the end one woman slipped by me. Darn! Oh well, that meant that I was probably still at least 10th in my age group. Of the 13 women in front of me some had to be older or younger. 

The race went by so quickly and before I knew it I was approaching the finish line. I looked down at my watch as I came down the final stretch and saw that my watch had stopped. ACK!! Crap, I had set my virtual trainer to 3.1 miles and 22 minutes. I had run a bit further than 3.1 miles by then and my watch had stopped short of the finish line. I started my watch again and glanced at the clock right as I crossed. My watch said 22:37 and the clock said 22:55 so I figured I was somewhere in between the two. 

Team Sony Walkman

After the race David and I walked around in the finish area to look at the different booths and I bumped into two of my fellow teammates from Team Sony. They were both really friendly and we chatted for a while about this race, other races, being on Team Sony, etc. One of the ladies is doing the She Rox Triathlon which I'm doing in October and the other is doing the Santa Barbara Marathon (I'm doing the half) in November.

After the race David and I headed off for breakfast (number two for me - oink), ran some errands, and then at lunch time we met up with Tara and Ben (who had run the half marathon) at the Blind Lady Ale House.  

I was looking forward to that afternoon when the official race results would be posted and when they finally came online I was excited beyond belief when I saw how well I had placed. This was my best ranking road race ever!! EVER!

Official Finish Time:   22:55

Age Group Ranking:   4/130

Gender Ranking:   15/746

Overall Ranking:   80/1209

Maybe I should run shorter races more often! I usually finish in the top 10-20% in half and full marathons, to finish in the top 2-6% was a huge ego boost! Wow!

Next Up

My main focus over the next two months now is to train for the Marine Corps Marathon October 30th, but in between I have a few shorter races.

Sept 10th - Heartbreak Ride Half Marathon

Sept 25th - Los Angeles Triathlon (Doing the relay with my cousin & her husband)

Oct 16th - She Rox Triathlon

Oct 30th - Marine Corps Marathon

Nov 12th - Santa Barbara Half Marathon

Its been a busy race year! Fifteen races down, five more to go!

Team Sony Walkman

When one door closes another opens ... 

I recently wrapped up an incredibly fun nine months as a San Francisco Marathon Ambassador. About a month before the San Francisco Marathon though I had received exciting news ... I had been selected to become a Team Sony Walkman Active Ambassador! Yay! 

First Run w/my Walkman in my Sony Gear

You may be asking yourself, wait, they still make Walkmans? Why, yes, they do! But instead of a tape player, the Walkman brand is now used on a line of MP3 players. I remember reading an article last year about Sony retiring the Walkman cassette player. It made me think back fondly to the Walkmans I'd owned over the years. The last Walkman I remember having was purchased at some point in college, but I didn't used  it much after I upgraded to my Sony Discman, and I never even thought about it after I got my first MP3 player. 

As I trained for my first half marathon (Rock N Roll Phoenix) back in 2005 I was going on my runs with my (non-iPod) MP3 player, and planned on running the race with it as well. As luck would have it though, I forgot my MP3 player in my apartment gym one day and someone stole it!  Darnit! There was no way I was going to run 13.1 miles without music, so in total desperation I ran the race with my Walkman in my hand. If you look close enough, you can see it in my finish line picture!

RNR Phoenix January 2005

I've had several friends ask me how I've come about these different Ambassadorships. Um duh, my booking agent! No, just kidding. Several months ago I saw a conversation between two friends on dailymile reference being on Team Jamba. I wondered what that was ... so I took to the Google Machine! I found out that Team Jamba was one of many Active Ambassador teams. I went on their website where you could create an Active Ambassador profile and apply for a team. I was a bit disappointed at first when I saw that there weren't any upcoming Ambassador teams that they were recruiting for, but hoped that something that appealed to me might come up. 

A few weeks after I signed up I saw them recruiting for Team MGD (which didn't interest me since I don't like beer), and then not too long after that I saw a message about them recruiting for Team Sony Walkman. How perfect! I LOVE working out to music, almost always listen to music when I'm running, and the Sony Walkman has a special place in my running heart for accompanying me during the beginning of my running career in college, and for keeping me motivated during my first half marathon.

"Team Sony Walkman is a closely-knit band of athletes who value both music and fitness and the power in combining them both. These 120 unique runners and triathletes possess a strong passion for their sport and are dedicated to not only representing the Sony W Series Walkman MP3 Player in their races, but as brand ambassadors of the product in their local communities and as they lead their daily lives."

The Sony Gear Matches My Dogs!

As I filled out my application for the team I wasn't too confident that they'd pick me since they seemed really focused on performances in races in the past year. I'm an above average runner but don't consider myself to be a "fast" runner (since I've never qualified for Boston), but luckily I had placed 1st overall female in a triathlon last October and had just come in 2nd in my age group in a 5K a few weeks prior. Fingers crossed this was enough to make me look like "real" runner. Holding breathe in 3, 2, 1 ...

Team Sony Walkman Welcome Package

About a month after I submitted my application I received the good news .. I had made the team! They had selected runners and triathletes in ten major markets across the United States: Atlanta, Baltimore/DC, Boston, Chicago, Dallas/Ft.Worth, Denver/Boulder, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, and Seattle. Whoo hoo! I was in!  As part of the team we'd receive Sony branded running/tri gear, a Sony Walkman MP3 player, and in return we needed to submit race recaps for five races between July 2011 and January 2012 that we'd complete in our Sony gear. We also were expected to engage our friends in our social networks with information about the Sony Walkman brand, and connect with other athletes in an online Sony group where we could talk about training, racing, etc. 

Team Sony Racing Gear

The five races that I will be competing in as part of Team Sony Walkman are:

• AFC 5K
• Heartbreak Ridge Half Marathon
• SheRox Triathlon
• Marine Corps Marathon
• Santa Barbara International Half Marathon

I was also just talked into joining my cousin's relay team for the LA Triathlon next month, so I might swap out that race for one of the above to complete my five race requirement. My first race is up this weekend! - The America's Finest City 5K! I originally intended to do the Half Marathon but didn't register in time, so I'll be running the 5K for the first time. Now the big question for this weekend is to tutu or not to tutu? Ha ha.

California Fun

Wow, I can't believe its been 2 1/2 weeks since the San Francisco Marathon! You'd think that my feet would look normal again by now .. but anyways. David's brother Ken flew out to San Francisco for the weekend of the race and then came down to San Diego with us to spend a week escaping the East Coast heat. This was reminiscent of two years ago when he came out for a week starting with me running the Rock N Roll Marathon as a member of the Foot Locker Challenge Team, ending with us heading up to San Francisco for the weekend. It was like the same trip in reverse! (More on my blog A Week of KA in CA)

RNRSD 2009 Foot Locker Challenge Team

Ken flew in late Saturday night and David and I picked him up at the airport after having our carbo loading dinner with Christina at Unicorn. He was pretty hungry from traveling all day so where did we go? Where out of towners who love burgers always want to go - In N Out! (I totally don't get the obsession with In N Out ... but whatever.) We had dinner, came back to Christina's to prep for the race, and before you know it alarms were going off at 4am and it was time to get ready for the San Francisco Marathon. 

Doesn't this sound like a great way to start off a vacation? Fly cross country, go straight to bed, wake up at 4am, and then stand around and traipse all over the city watching two people run a marathon? THANKS KENNY for your support! :) Anyways, fast forward through the race, my BBQ, the drive back down to San Diego .. and it was finally time for the more fun part of his vacation to start. (More details on the SF Marathon race weekend here on my blog San Francisco Marathon - The Big #14)

My Dad & The Allen Boys 2011

My Dad & The Allen Boys 2009

After a long day of driving we didn't have much energy to do anything too big, so on Monday night we went to go see the movie Captain America. I was hoping to go see the Smurfs in 3D while the boys watched Captain America, but David talked me into joining them at the last minute. *yawn* The movie was okay. I still wish I saw the Smurfs. :(

The next day I had to head back to work and David and Ken went to Sea World to hang out with Shamu. We were also planning on going to Universal Studios later in the week and the guys scored by buying a package deal on the tickets for the two parks. When I got home from work we all went out to eat a Buca di Beppo. I hadn't been here in YEARS and just remember the place having horrifyingly large dishes. Buca seemed to be *the* place to have a birthday dinner when I was in college since everything is served family style. We ordered a salad, two pasta dishes ... and then a brownie sundae. Oink. We didn't finish either pasta dish but mowed down the sundae. Yuck, good thing I just ran a marathon. 

David's Scared of the Brownie Sundae

Not sure if it was because the guys were in a food coma from the Buca dinner, but the next day they took it easy and hung out at home for most of the day. When I got off work they picked me up and we headed north to K1 Kart Racing in Carlsbad. When we got there we were disappointed to find out that there was a 2 hour wait before we could race. ARGH!!! So ... we headed off in search of food to kill some time. We ended up at a place I had driven by many times but had never tried - Joey's Smokin' BBQ. It wasn't great, I should have driven by once again. 

The BBQ was okay and it felt like the food took FOREVER. The onion rings that we ordered to share were also startlingly huge. Perfect example of why America is fat. Why would a restaurant create such a monstrous dish? Gross.

Monster Onion Halves Rings

We finally got to race and ended up in the same circuit as a bunch of pretty serious looking racers who came with their own helmets. Uh oh. Right before our group went we also saw a bunch of people crash and two women walk off the course. Errr... this made me pretty nervous and toned down my driving a bit. The race went pretty fast and my main goal was to not finish last. Thankfully, David came in last! haha. ;o) xoxo David.

Getting Ready to Race!

1st, 2nd, and 3rd Place

Since I had worked two days that week so far it was obviously time for another day off. ;o) I took Thursday off and we all drove up to LA to spend the day at Universal Studios. We left mid-morning and I didn't expect to hit much traffic, but of course we did! Ugh. It took over 3 hours to get there. By the time we got there it was lunch time so we had lunch in Universal City at Karl Strauss (on IPA Day!) before heading into the park. 

$15 Off Universal Studios w/a Coke Can!

David and I had come to Universal Studios a few years ago and had instantly thought that this was a place his brother (a movie buff) would totally enjoy. It was smoking hot this day in the valley (mid 90s) but we had a good time at Universal Studios. My favorite ride by far (and not just because I'm a Simpsons fan) was the Simpsons 4D experience. 3D movie with a 4th dimension of movement and feeling. (Stuff blowing at you, spraying at you, and smells.)

Just Chillin' at the Kwik-E-Mart

After a full day at Universal Studios, another meal in Universal City (yeah, we eat a lot), and we headed back to San Diego. Thankfully we didn't hit traffic on the way home. 

Universal Studios Hollywood

David Shunning my Kiss at Dinner - haha

The week went by way too quickly, and soon it was Friday. Ken was heading home on a redeye that night so the guys had the day to hang out before picking me up and work and us all heading north for my friend Devika's birthday happy hour. Thanks to traffic (I am so sick of California traffic) we pretty much did a pop-in at her happy hour before heading down to Del Mar for our "fancy" send-off dinner at Poseidon. 

Happy Birthday Devika!!

Poseidon is one of the nicer restaurants I've been to in San Diego and is a great place to take out-of-towners since you get to eat almost on the beach and get the feeling of really being in Southern California. The food and service at this restaurant are top notch, and watching the sun set over the beach is amazing! If you haven't been here, go check it out.

Another meal complete .. and it was time to take Ken to the airport. Hopefully he had a fun time and will come back in a few years!

San Francisco Marathon - The Big #14

This past weekend was incredible fun and special. The Cliff Notes version:

• I got to go home to San Francisco for a long weekend
• I got to run the San Francisco Marathon as an Ambassador (aka running royalty)
• This race marked my 14 full marathon (whoo hoo!)
  
• I got to complete another race with David and Christina
• I beat my 2006 time by the skin of my teeth (43 seconds)
• I ran the *entire* marathon for the first time ever! 
• Even though I only did one run longer than 12 miles (18 miles) I felt better than I ever have before
• I beat my SoleMates fundraising goal and ended at 106%
• I had a really fun post-race BBQ and REAL running royalty came! (Bart Yasso)

The Weekend Begins

On Friday morning David and I packed up the car, loaded in the dogs, and hit the road for San Francisco. I was hoping we'd leave around 8am but go figure, I was running late. I squeezed in one more final run that morning before we left just to get some energy out before we sat in  car for 9 hours. The goal was to get to SF by 6pm, drop off the dogs, and then head to the Ambassador meet and greet dinner at the Mars Bar across the street from the marathon expo. 

Safeway Has its own Wind Turbines!

We made pretty good time and would have arrived in town just in time to make the dinner in time ... but as soon as we got to my dad's I realized I'd grabbed the wrong set of spare keys. D'oh! I took my Arizona keys, not my San Francisco keys. (Why do I even have Arizona keys anymore?! I need to throw those out.) Luckily I was able to track my Dad down at a friends house where he was having dinner, so we drove across the Sunset, got the keys, and came back to drop off the dogs and change.

Mika Checking out the Traffic

We finally got to the Ambassador meet-up a bit late, but it was a pretty casual affair so it wasn't a big deal. It was a lot of fun to meet all of the other Ambassadors that I'd emailed, facebooked, and tweeted with over the past several months. (Ambassador profiles here)

San Francisco Marathon Ambassadors

The Marathon Expo

All of the Ambassadors were splitting up shifts at the race expo which ran Friday afternoon and all day Saturday. I had signed up for the Saturday AM shift so we'd have Saturday afternoon free to hang out. Working the expo was a ton of fun! I've worked a million tradeshows over the past seven years for my day job, and those expos are never as much fun as running expos! (Not surprising, I mean how fun is it to talk about periodontal disease, oral cancer, and wrinkles? haha)

Ambassadors Working the Tech Center

At the expo I bumped into several friends I knew who were running, I got to meet three of the winners of my Gu Giveaway (more info here), and I also met one of my fellow Glam Runners who was going to be running the race in the same style tutu as me!

Glam Runner Elisabeth

Fellow GOTRSD Coach Karin

Long-Time Friend Tamara & her Mini-Me

The four hours at the expo came and went pretty quickly (well, probably not for poor David who had to wait around for me), and after the expo we had a quick lunch and then went to go see the movie Crazy, Stupid, Love. That movie is hilarious! Go see it!

David & the Original Glam Runner Girls

Marathon Eve

David and the dogs and I were moving from my Dad's place Friday night to Christina's Saturday night since she lived closer to the start and would also be running the race. We met up with Christina at her favorite carbo-loading location Unicorn. She and I had eaten there last year before the SF Marathon and I loved it.

After dinner we went to pick up David's brother Ken at the airport who would be flying in to watch us run, and would then head down to San Diego with us for a week's vacation to escape the heat of DC. We got Ken, hit the grocery store for some breakfast items, went back to Christina's where we all laid out our gear .. and crap before you know it we looked at the clock and it was already 11pm! Um, we were all getting up at 4am.

Race Outfit With/Without Tutu

Race Day

Unfortunately 4am came way too quickly, and it was soon time to get up and get ready to head to the start line. We left the house a bit later than we had planned, but with Ken dropping us off and us not hitting any traffic, we got to the start line only 15 minutes later than we had wanted. David and I wished Christina good luck and parted ways and headed to the VIP area at Perry's. The VIP Party BTW was AWESOME! Luckily we got in for free since I was an Ambassador, but we both agreed that it would have been worth it even if we'd each had to pay $100. No line for the restrooms, a private bag check, a pre and post race breakfast spread. Awesome.

Ready to Run!

Ken Looks Nervous for David

Because of my nervous bladder and dawdling a bit, I missed my start wave and we ended up starting about 30 minutes late. I wasn't really concerned since we had timing chips, and I was really amused when a girl I met in the bathroom's eyes almost popped out of her skull in shock when I said I didn't really care that my wave had left. I mean it really wasn't that big a deal. Sure we'd have to dodge slower runners, but I was planning on taking the race easy and when it comes down to priorities, my bladder comes first! 

Me & My Running BFF Christina

The First Half

When it was finally time for us to start the race David and I started off together but I thought we'd part pretty quickly. He was running the first half and I was running the full, but we had never planned on staying together since I was going to be running a slightly faster pace then him. After the first mile or two I noticed that he was sticking to me so I realized we could probably run the fist whole half together. Yay! We managed to stick together mile after mile, and even though we were going about 30-45 seconds slower than I would have gone on my own, it was totally worth it to have him by my side. 

This is How Excited I Am!

This is How NOT Excited David Is - Ha ha!

We ran along the Embarcadero, Fisherman's Wharf, the Marina, and finally got to the Golden Gate Bridge. If you have never run across the Golden Gate Bridge - you're missing out. Its incredible! Granted its super crowded and we were packed tight like sardines and it was near impossible to pass slower runners, but hey, it was worth it. 

Pushing Up the Hills

Does the Tutu Make my Butt Look Fat or Fast?

I had calculated that several people I knew would probably be a few miles ahead of me, and figured we'd most likely see them on the out and back on the bridge. I stayed on the inner side the whole time we were running the race and was so excited when I saw several of our fellow Glam Runners, a few other Ambassadors, my friend Karin, and my Glam Runner partner Tara. When I saw Tara I screamed and put out my hand in a high five and she did the same. (Her husband who was running next to her was zoned out running when he suddenly heard his wife screaming and for a second thought she was hurt. haha)

 Glam Runners!

 

After the bridge we ran through the Presidio and into Golden  Gate Park. David and I were sticking to a pretty steady pace and I got sad when I realized we'd soon be splitting ways and he'd be finishing and I'd have to continue on by myself. 

The Second Half

Thirteen miles came and went, and there went David towards the finish line.  Boo hoo. Thirteen more miles by myself, oh well, I felt good and knew I could do it. In all of my previous marathons I've felt great until mile 18, I've slowed down a bit after that, and by 22 I'm usually hurting and need to start walking and running. I anticipated this happening but planned on running as much as I could. 

Eying the Hills in the Park

As the miles ticked by I started to worry about my poor preparation. For several reasons I hadn't trained as hard as I had wanted to. I missed long runs right and left because of work travel, vacation, triathlon training, triathlon races, and a short-term injury to my hamstring. For a while I had thought about switching to the half, but in the end I decided to go for the full. Go big or go home!

Passing the Conservatory of Flowers

As mile 18 got closer I checked in with my body and was surprised by how good I felt. Soon after mile 20 approached where I thought I'd see David. Unfortunately he just missed coming to mile 20 by a couple minutes (I was running faster than we'd thought) so I didn't get to see him. :o(  I love whoever decided to put mile 20 at the bottom of a hill. Flying by the mystical "wall" feels GREAT! After 20 passed I got to 21, 22, 23 .... Hey wait, I was still running! I have NEVER run an entire marathon before. Ever! I couldn't believe it and decided to just listen to my body and keep going. I was afraid if I stopped I'd instantly succumb to run/walking, so I just ran and ran.

Excited to be on the Home Stretch

There were several spots on the course where they routed runners one way or another to manage traffic. I got to one road block where they had just opened the direction I was running in, so I was the first running to enter the street. Err... I was the ONLY runner for several blocks before I caught up with the group ahead of me. Yes, I was running alone down the middle of the street in a tutu. At least we were in San Francisco and even on a normal day that might not look too weird. haha. Somewhere around mile 23 I bumped into Elisabeth, my tutu twin! We ran together for a bit and chatted. Its the little things on a course that keep you going and getting to talk to Elisabeth for a while totally perked me up. :)

As I approached the final couple miles of the race I thought to myself OMG .. I'm about to run the whole race!

I had been good about not paying too much attention to my finish time since I wanted to just run and enjoy the race, but I realized around mile 24 that there was a good chance I could beat my 2006 time. I didn't want to speed up and burn out, so I just kept running steadily and hoped that my math meant what I thought it did. 

OMG I DID IT!!

For some reason the last two miles of a marathon feel like 10, and every time I get to mile 26 I think UGH... point two?!?! I saw my friend Tamara right around mile 26 who screamed out and cheered for me. That gave me a last boost of energy and a big smile as I approached the finish line. Coming into the finish chute I scanned the crowd for  David but didn't see him. Over to the right I did see fellow Ambassador Joe standing with Bart Yasso who was MC-ing the race. As Bart saw me he put his hand out in a high five and announced "Here comes Ambassador Monika from San Diego". WHO HOO!!! Yes, I felt like a celebrity for a minute. haha. Video here.

High Five with Bart Yasso

 

I came across the finish line at 4:23:43, a 34 second improvement over my 2006 time! This works out to a 10:04 pace but if you count the distance I actually ran per my Garmin (26.63) I averaged a 9:50 pace. The running splits for my running nerd friends are below.   

Course Elevation (click on the image for a bigger view)

 Proud Finisher

 

Post Race

After the race I met up with David, we found Ken, and then we hung out at the VIP party and waited for Christina to finish. Did I mention already that the VIP party rocked? Sitting in a comfortable restaurant eating real food and relaxing was the best thing ever after a hard race. 

With Ambassadors Nick & Sarah

With Ambassador Libby & Bart Yasso

Christina Completing her 2nd SF Marathon
(Joe & Bart off to the side)

After Christina crossed the finish line (in her blue tutu!) we headed back to shower and change and prepare for my post-race BBQ. I normally would have headed back to San Diego on Sunday, but because of the busyness of the marathon festivities I hadn't had a chance to really hang out with my Dad or SF friends, so I wanted to get together after the race when it was stress free.

Garley my Bestie, Logan, My dad

SF Friends Jared, Tom, Christina

Philly Phriends Justin & Joe

It was so nice to just kick back and relax after the race! I was able to hang out with my Dad, my SF friends, my SD friends who were in town for the race, and my new marathon friends Ambassador Joe, his friend Justin, and omg Bart Yasso! Joe and Bart are friends from Philly and Bart came by later on to join the BBQ. Bart is super cool and easy to talk to and it was fun to hear about races he's been to and the crazy schedule of races he attends each year.

Once a Cheerleader, Always a Cheerleader

Chillin' with Bart

My Dad & the Allen Boys

Heading Home

The plan was to head back to San Diego early Monday morning. I had aspirations of 4am but that turned into 6am. We made pretty good time heading back and got back in SD in about 9 hours. I wasn't as sore as usual after the race but I think sitting in a car for so long made things worse. Each time we stopped for gas or food my legs felt stiff. My wonderful boss let me stay home on Monday and luckily by Tuesday I felt pretty normal again. And ... I felt good enough to run by Wednesday!

Its now Friday and I can't believe all of this happened just a few days ago! I loved the whole Ambassador experience leading up to the race, the weekend was a ton of fun, I love the SF Marathon course, and I had a great time meeting a lot of new people. I also think I've learned a key lesson to finishing a marathon strong .. start out slower than you want!!

San Francisco Marathon Medals

(2006 full, 2010 half, 2011 full)

Next Up

I'm giving myself this week to relax and recover, but next week I will start training for my next marathon, the Marine Corps Marathon on October 30th. David's running with me again! Yay! We ran this race in 2009 as his first marathon, and I'm excited to be returning not only with David, but my friend Christina as well. 

Between now and then I also have a number of shorter races:

• Aug 21 - America's Finest City 5K
• Sep 10 - Heartbreak Ridge Half Marathon
• Oct 16 - She Rox Triathlon

In case you are interested in running the San Francisco Marathon, you can sign up now with early bird pricing! I'm totally tempted to run the race again but am planning on passing next year since its the same weekend as Barb's Race which is a Half-Ironman. Can I swim, bike, and run 70.3 miles? I guess we'll see!