Brother and Joy came up for the weekend to run the Nike Women’s Half Marathon on Sunday.  Joy was the only one that actually got an official registration (it was a lottery) but Brother and I planned to “run” the race with her anyways.

It was a cold and early 5 am rise for us and I made sure to eat my usual peanut butter sandwich and banana.  Fortunately for us (and Jes), the shuttle from AT&T Park was free so we got a ride to the start in a fancy tour bus.  The race started at 7am but there were so many people in front of us that we didn’t actually cross the start line until 7:20 am.

The sun was starting to come out by then but the run through the financial district and along Embarcadero was still pretty cold.

The scenery, of course, was awesome and we got quite a few photos taken along the way.  I think they changed the course on us a little this year because I could have sworn the first big hill was easier this time around.  But the middle 6 miles of the course was pretty brutal.  It was hill after hill after hill.

Surprisingly, my legs were going strong and our pace was pretty steady.  I managed to stick by Joy the entire time and supposedly pushed her to keep going on the hills.  I guess there’s something to be said for teamwork.

Near the end of the race, Vyl called to warn me that she got pulled off the race for not having a number.  So, I stayed right behind Joy on our way in, we crossed the finish line together at 2 hours, 37 mins, and we both scored a necklace and t-shirt.  Awesome.

Joy and I felt pretty good afterwards but Brother was hurtin’ all over the place.  Unfortunately, my body decided to punish me this morning as I rolled out of bed.  My legs are achey and squatting down to play with the kids at work is not easy today.  Luckily, this is a good soreness and not the I-totally-injured-myself soreness.  I should be fine in another day or so.  I guess I was more trained that I had thought.  It’s nice to know that I’ve still got it in me.

Here are the photos!!