Kaiser Permanente Half Marathon Race Report

I look back at yesterday's Kaiser Permanente Half Marathon and I get the warm and fuzzies. (No, not the kind you get when you get a charlie horse! The kind you get in your heart. :-) As a team, it was ROHOs' first race together and personally, a very stress-less kind of a race. We talked about the race logistics all week between the 5 of us and it was something we were all looking forward to. We had our team shirts ready, goals in mind and lots of expectations! And I'm happy to report that all of us achieved or exceed our goals for the race!!

Duane and I woke up early to make sure we got to the start to meet the rest of the girls. For the first time ever, we got to the race site early to find good parking, run to the start, use the bathroom *and* still have enough time to take pictures and loiter around before the race. (I hate that sinking feeling when you're in the porta-potties and the start gun goes off! Like it did at the Nike Women's Marathon, yikes!) So here are some of the before photos...

My friend Pam and me, she's training for the Way too Cool 50k

Duane and me, so sexy in front of the porta-potties!

Go Team ROHO! Aron, Tara, Maritza, Kristin and meGo Team ROHO!

I really wasn't that nervous about this race. It was part of my training for the Napa Valley Marathon in 4 weeks and I wasn't looking to PR. Of course, a sub 2 hour finish time would have been nice but I was really looking for consistent pacing and strong finish. The first couple of the miles were easy. As a matter of fact, I think I started out faster than I normally do. Up until mile 4, I was running sub 8:50 pace and felt pretty good. Duane was running with me most of the time and I could tell he was having a lot of fun. Due to the great weather, we didn't freeze our buns off and was able to warm up quickly. The next couple of miles seemed even easier due to a few easy downhills. I think I lost Duane around mile 7 but I knew he was behind me for the most part...

The KP half starts around the De Young Museum in the Golden Gate Park, loops around a few times, spits you out onto the Great Highway (shouldering the Pacific Ocean) and then back to the Golden Gate Park. There is a point around mile 8 or 9 where you go down the Great Highway and turn back the way you came. So you can usually see the runners who turn ahead of you. I got to see Tara and Maritza at some point and it was really great to see them run so strong! A little after I made my turn to head back around mile 9, I saw Duane. He looked like he was struggling. He was probably about a 1 minute behind me. Poor guy, he looked like he could use some encouragement! Duane had a goal of finishing sub 2 hours again. When he ran the RnR San Jose Half, he finish 1:59:XX. Made is just under 2 hours, which he was very proud of. He wanted to do it again at the KP Half. So I stopped and waited for him. I figured, I wasn't going to PR anyway and it's so much more fun to run with him... and I wanted him to do well.

Map of the race route...

When he saw me, he waved me away as if to say, go on! I told him I was going to run with him and finish together. We did that once before, when we finished our first marathon together (The SFM 2007) hand in hand! He struggled again around mile 11 but once he got some Cytomax, he perked up and finished strong the rest of the way. The warm weather and the last mile uphill weren't easy but we both finished strong. Our exact finish time was 2:00:14! It wasn't quite sub 2 hours, but close enough!

Our race stats!

	Julianne	Duane
Bib	1356	1357
Chip Time	2:00:14	2:00:14
Overall	2650	2648
Sex	996	1654
Division	218	185

We were SO close to a sub 2 hour finish! But overall, we were both happy to finish strong. I felt like I could go for another several miles! Ok, maybe not several...

Like I said, all the other girls did GREAT. Tara even PR'd by 7 minutes! How fabulous is that???

Here's some of our celebratory photos after the race! Don't we look pretty good for having just run 13.1 miles??

The Shoe Photo

Looking back, I am really glad I stopped and waited for my husband. I could have run on and met him at the end but something really special about crossing the finish line together. And I finally got to see the famous buffaloes in the Golden Gate Park! I've run around the park like dozens of times but for some reason, I never noticed them before!

Duane with the Gold Gate Park buffalo.

So after the race... Tara, Maritza, Duane and I went to one of my favorite hamburger joints in the city called Grubstake and totally chowed down. It was SO good. Totally hit the spot. :-)

And then Duane and I got home and totally passed out. And no, we didn't watch one minute of the Super Bowl!