1/2 marathons are the new awesome

Back in March, Kat convinced Julia and me to sign up for the Nike Women's 1/2 Marathon. March was a long time ago. And back in March, October seemed really far away. So it seemed harmless enough...sure I'll sign up for a half marathon known for free manicures, pedicures, massages, the "chocolate mile," and the Tiffany's necklace you get when you cross the finish line that is handed to you by a hot firefighter dressed in a tuxedo holding a silver platter.

(see...not joking)


If you know me, you know I'm not kidding when I say that originally I signed up for the free schwag. But as the race drew closer, I got really excited about it...started training even...and today ended up being an amazing experience. One that was so exciting, so challenging, so emotional and pretty much one of the most awesome things I've done in a long time. I didn't realize until I was out on the course, passing by the thousands of surviving family members of people who have died from leukemia and lymphoma who were cheering us on, that this race was for something really important. And it felt really good to be a part of it.

Friday afternoon we went and picked up our race packets in Union Square. Boys are allowed to run this race...but it's mostly for girls.


Niketown had turned the outside of their Union Square store into a huge list of race participants!


Officially famous.


This morning Rebecca was nice enough to let me wake her up at 6am so she could drive me to the corner of Market and Powell where I was meeting my friends. This is how I look at 6am in my cool race sweatshirt that I didn't wear in the race because I didn't want it to get gross and sweaty.


There was about 300 billion (give or take) runners in Union Square. This made me feel a little bit nervous and excited and maybe I wanted to throw up for a couple of minutes.



Here's Jules and I in the sea of people a few minutes before the start.


Like the true best friend roommate she is, Rebecca met us at the finish line. They gave us these huge pieces of totally future tin foil to keep us warm after the race. Also, this is how I look after I run 13 miles. No big deal.


Quite possibly the only piece of Tiffany's jewelry I'll ever own.


Also, let me leave you with this thought, at the 12 mile mark when the 1/2 marathon course split off from the marathon course all I could think as I watched those insane marathoners turn left was "have fun doing that all over again suckers!" It's official that people who run marathons are crazy. Literally crazy. If you're one of these crazy marathoners, you know you can't argue with me because I'm totally right.