San Francisco Half Marathon

This summer has turned out to be busier than I expected. I have neglected to update my blog as often as I'd like to. Family and kid activities take up a lot of time. Another reason is I haven't made as much progress on my personal animation projects. I have a long list of things I'd like to do if only I had more time. Life is really full right now.

However, I do have one exciting event in the last week, which is that I ran the San Francisco Half Marathon! I chose the first half of the full marathon which included a 5:30am start (my wave started a little after 6am), running past Fisherman's Wharf and across the Golden Gate Bridge. It's a lot hillier than my first Half Marathon in February (the Kaiser Permanente Half) so I went into it a little nervous. Not to mention that I was still recovering from a flu, a pink eye and 2.5 weeks of missed training. I set my sight low - finish within a reasonable time. I ended up finishing it 4 minutes longer than my first Half Marathon. I also finished much stronger and recovered within just a couple of days, as opposite to the previous race where I was practically falling over at the finish line and then crippled for a week. So overall I was very happy.

I also received my first race medal which is a big thrill! The Kaiser Permanente race did not include medals, which kind of sucks. I think anyone who's ran 13.1 miles deserves to have a medal to show for!

While I enjoyed running the race, I've decided that I will not enter this race again. Logistically it's a pain. The early start time meant getting up at 4am, the registration fee is pretty hefty, and navigating the city with such a large crowd is stressful. I think I prefer to stick to smaller and more local races from now on. The next one, which I'm really looking forward to, is the San Jose Rock 'n' Roll Half in October. For next year I'd like to run the Santa Cruz Half in April, then the Los Gatos Jungle Run in July, then the San Jose Rock 'n Roll again in October. I'm sure there will be other races available which I will consider as I find out about them.

I like planning Half Marathons 3-4 times a year. It helps motivate me to have a regular running schedule, even when life gets too busy for it. I plan to run a marathon some day when life allows me the time to commit to such an endeavor. But, as long as I'm having fun, that's all that really matters.