Easily one of the very best (of the 67) half marathons I’ve done.
This race was phenomenal, exceptional, just all around lovely!
I was a little nervous going in. As has been established on this blog, I’m a slow half marathoner! The time limit for this half is 3 hours (as opposed to the super safe 3 1/2 of the other half). Also, I’ve done the San Fran 2nd half twice now and each time I’ve commented how tough it is (with the hills), and some stranger always says, “If you think that’s tough, try the first half!”
So, I’d been scared of the first half… And that was silly. Because the first half was gorgeous, empowering, doable, fabulous – just a whole bunch of great adjectives!
All the little before-race details were also making me nervous… My sleep schedule was off. (I didn’t sleep at all Friday night, ’cause I went straight from my night job to the airport to seeing my friend and picking up my packet.)
Then I also wasn’t even sure what time to eat or how much to eat. Usually, I have that part pretty under control. Not this time.
I went to bed pretty freaking early Saturday (after not sleeping Friday). And then I woke up in the middle of the night… And ate more. I thought I overdid it with the calories (and I still think I did by a little), but it didn’t hinder me too much.
I also worried too much about what to wear! I brought a couple of options with me because I wasn’t sure what to expect from San Francisco. I knew that in the past years that I’ve done the second half, people are always huddling by heaters in the park – 3 hours after the 1st half started (by the waterfront!). So, I was worried about it being cold.
When I woke up, I felt the windows and checked my phone for the weather and I still wasn’t sure if I’d rather wear my light breeze shirt (which I wore with a jacket) or my warmer Under Armor shirt. The only thing I sort of regret was bringing a jacket, because it came off pretty quickly in the race (within the first mile or two) and was just something extra I didn’t need to be carrying around.
(However, had I not brought a jacket and been freezing, I would’ve regretted that more, I think.)
So, that covers all the nervous energy stuff – even though it was all silly because this was the best race, which I’ll get into next time.