Last weekend I ran the 10k at San Francisco's Giant Race, a fun road race that traverses the Embarcadero, past the Bay Bridge and Fisherman's Wharf to finish on the field at AT&T Park. Although the race ended up being more of a workout than a true race effort, it was a really fun day.
I'd hoped to get in a solid 10k race effort, but unfortunately the field wasn't quite as competitive as we'd hoped; in the early miles of the race, my teammate Catha and I realized we were pretty much running solo. Although the two of us ran most of the race alone, it wasn't for lack of participants - over 10,000 Giants fans braved the SF fog to run a 5k, 10k, or half-marathon in support of Project Open Hand, raising over $100,000 (wow!). Thousands of runners dressed up in black and orange, sporting Brian Wilson beards and panda hats - it was quite a sight to see! - and all for a good cause.
My favorite part of the whole event was everyone's enthusiasm - all the runners were clearly having a really good time :) When Catha and I reached the turn-around point on the 10k course and headed back toward AT&T Park, we ran upstream of all the 10k-ers still approaching the halfway mark. As we ran past the hordes of runners, we got smiles, words of encouragement, and a lot of "You go, girl!" cheers on our way to the finish - definitely the highlight of the day for me :) Catha, myself, and teammate Chantelle finished 1-2-3 in the 10k field, proudly repping New Balance Silicon Valley. Here are the race results.
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| Entering the stadium |
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| Approaching the finish |
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| 1-2-3 finish for New Balance Silicon Valley! |
Post race, Catha, Chantelle and I indulged in the race freebies and watched the rest of the runners finish. My parents made the trip to SF to watch the race (thanks Mom and Dad!) and we spent a nice afternoon in the Mission. I capped off my Saturday with a NBSV team BBQ in Palo Alto - good food, good company :)
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| Sweet Giants t-shirt I got at the race :-) Can't wait to wear it to a game! Now if only the Giants could win one... |
This week I'm back at it, hitting the roads and logging miles in preparation for the US 5K Road Championships in Providence, RI in just 3 short weeks. In between my 80 mile week I'm attending the Dreamforce conference for work, helping at the USF XC season opener on Saturday, and spending some quality time with the love of my life, who comes to visit on Wednesday :) Busy busy!
