See Jane Run SF Half Marathon

I finally got a new PR!!!

I'm not sure why it's taken me so long to write about this race. I was busy with life for awhile, making new friends in California, and somehow never sat down to write about my best race ever!

To be honest, I'm not sure how I got a PR! I didn't train for this race any better than some other races. I did my long weekend runs, but not a whole lot during the week. I had been doing a lot more hiking, so maybe that helped?

Either way, I had a great race and got my PR without feeling sick or getting sore afterwards. Win-win!

Cat and I drove to SF on Saturday and picked up our race packets in Alameda. It was a small expo, but they had some good stuff. We got free Ocho chocolate bars, free granola bars, and we bought some Asics socks that I love! The reusable tote bag was a nice bonus as well.

After that we decided to head across to the SF area. We had a wonderful dinner in Mission. We wandered around afterward and saw Delores Park and hung out in the Mission area for a bit. Then we drove back across the bridge to our hotel in Alameda.

Race morning was uneventful. We had a short drive to the start since we were staying in the area. Originally I thought we could walk, but it ended up being a bit farther than expected, and anyway we had no trouble finding parking as they have a big lot to park in (it does cost $5 though). It was a smaller race (about 1000), so it wasn't too crowded at the start. They had a fun set-up in the park with blow-up markers and tents everywhere.

I started near the 2:00:00 pacer, but I wasn't expecting to stay there. My plan was to run this race for fun and not push myself too hard (to the point of feeling sick like I did in Key West). Early on in the race, I got ahead of the 2 hour pacer, but I figured I started out a little too fast and they'd catch up to me later (spoiler alert: they never did!)

From the very beginning, I felt good. The weather was the perfect breezy cool weather that San Francisco is known for. There were a few times during the race when I got a little hot, but then that breeze would blow through again and cool me off again.

The race was along the shoreline of the Bay and it was beautiful. I honestly don't remember a lot of it now (I'm writing this almost 3 months later!) but I remember loving it! It was flat, either along the water or through pretty parts of town, and the weather remained cool for the most part. It's the perfect race to try for a PR!

Even though I wasn't planning on it, I quickly realized I could get a PR on this course! I've had that thought before though, so I didn't get too excited. I just continued to run at a fairly comfortable pace and hoped I'd continue to feel this good during the second half of the race.

I amazed myself by running a sub-9 min pace mile after mile! I'm not saying it was easy, but it was a breeze compared to other races where I've really tried to push myself, and still couldn't run a 9 minute mile. I kept running at a steady pace and didn't really push myself until the last mile or two. I lost all my data from my Garmin, which is really frustrating, but I know I never ran a mile over 9 minutes which is a big deal for me!

Official Time: 1:53:34     Pace: 8:40     Place: 81/1030     Age Group: 18/125

We celebrated with champagne and snacks at the finish area! What a great day and fun race!