It’s T minus 2 days until the half marathon and I’m feeling excited to be running my one and only event this year. With that excitement also comes a sense of skepticism. When I first registered for this race two years ago, I was one of the first among my circle of friends to know about it and thought it would be an interesting race to sign up for. Now in it’s 4th year, the race has gotten a lot of hoopla and has lost a bit of its athleticism (at least in my mind). Sure, it’s for a good cause and you still have to train (sorta) but there’s something about this race that some purists would scoff at. Nowadays, it seems more like a fun excuse to buy really cute workout clothes and pay 80 bucks (registration) for a Tiffany necklace that you receive after “running” 13.1 or 26.2 miles with hundreds of other women. Yes, I am guilty for using the finisher’s necklace as a part of my motivation but running is running and that’s what I’m really here for.

On Wednesday night, ClubRunSF held their last training run of the season with a 3-miler and then big carboload party, which was quite a spectacle. Just imagine 500+ women in a 5-story NikeTown fueled with excitement, money to burn, and a little alcohol and you’ve got one of the best marketing schemes ever.

This year’s race colors are pink, white, and plum, which make for a very cute line of running shirts, shorts, caps, jackets, and anything else running-related. To make matters worse they give us a 20% discount off of all purchases made that evening and a chance to win a pair of $900 Tiffany diamond earrings. Let me give you a little perspective on the “devotion” these ladies have to the event and their Nike “madness”. In the middle of the party, the fire alarm went off. As a result, the entire store needed to be evacuated. Everyone was asked to put down their merchandise and go downstairs and hang out on the sidewalk. You’d think that this would lower their overall sales but think again. I’d have to say there were at least 475 of the 500 women still outside and waiting in the cold for a good 30 minutes for the chance to file back into the store to continue shopping. That’s devotion for ya.

At the end of the night, I too bought something. I got myself a hoodie to make up for the one I did not get the first year I ran this race. The race was still in its infancy two years ago and sold out of almost every item by the time I had arrived in SF for the weekend. You may think I’m being silly but most girls who have entered this race once before will continue to register (regardless of whether they plan to train or not) and purchase a new race outfit each year. As I’ve said time and time again. Whoever came up with this race for Nike is a genius.

Oh yeah…and let me share with you the additional marketing twist to this crazy race this year. They’ve decided to incorporate Apple into this marketing scheme by introducing their faker Nike+ challenge. Basically, if you didn’t get a spot in the actual race, you can register with Nike+ and use your iPod sensor to log 13.1 miles on the actual race day for a piece of the excitement. I am one of those suckers and will be running (unofficially) alongside Susie and Vyl on Sunday for a Tiffany keychain (not necklace) and a loser-time t-shirt that both get mailed to me 4-6 weeks after the race. Fortunately for me, registration costed half the price and I may actually walk home with a finisher’s necklace too if I’m sneaky enough. Yes, I admit it. I’m a sucker for great marketing too. Now if only I could figure out a way to get a piece of all this…