My Trip to the Bay Area

"Run like a girl" was a big theme of this marathon, along wtih "Feel like a girl" since there was plenty of pre, during and post-race pampering to go around.  The phase was on shirts, signs, etc.  Including a sign in an expo tent that said "Most men start out too fast in a race – run like a girl and pace yourself".  Yes I was planning on pacing myself.  My first marathon I didn’t too as good of a job running sub 11′s the first half and just over 13′s the second half.  That was some bad pacing but I was determined to make this race different.  It was an amazing event how everything was put together, etc.  I’m going to skip some of those details and save them for a Complete Running article/review of the marathon in it’s 3rd year.  I’ll focus more on my performance, the overall weekend, etc.  Don’t want to bore you with a post that is too long anyway

I flew in to San Jose around 10AM on Saturday  morning.  Miki and her boyfriend Chris picked me up.  We headed over to their house and just hung around a bit after I got the 5 cent tour.  Miki was need to get some studying done for a mid-term so she talked to her friend Todd and he was willing to take me into the city to get my packet, bib and all that jazz.  We were off and parked near Union Square around 1PM.  Our first stop was the expo.  The process of getting my stuff was amazingly smooth.  They were all so friendly and all the little details were worked out.  The expo tents were pretty busy so we didn’t do much in there but did look around to see them doing gait analysis, pacing bands, etc. in the "run like a girl tent" and massages, manicures and the like in the "feel like a girl" tent.

After our brief trip to the expo we crossed the street and went into Nike Town.  Wow!  Good thing I still get my discount   I got some special marathon clothing – a dri fit shirt and a cozy hooded sweatshirt, along with a shoe wallet.  Next stop: Tiffany’s.  Yes I spent money there.  That’s all I will say.    We went over to one of my favorite bath and body stores next: Lush.  I bought a bunch of bath and skin stuff there and I always have a lot of fun shopping in this unique store.  Todd was great through the whole shopping experience, seemed to enjoy watching me spend money and was even willing to hold stuff while I looked around.  What a guy!

We had lunch at a greek place and got back to Miki & Chris’s around 5ish.  We hung out for a bit before Todd had to go and then Miki, Chris and I went out to Thai food.  Mmmm!!  I got the Pad Thai since I was getting my carbs in for the big day that was nearly there!

I decided to break up this post.  Next up: Race Report!