NIKE Women's Marathon 2011

I was lucky enough this year to win the lottery to enter the San Francisco Nike's Women Marathon. This was my first year entering and I am so glad that I did. It was nice to train for such a well-known half marathon. I trained pretty hard for this race because I set a very ambitious goal of running it in under two hours... which is five minutes better than my personal best. I had heard this half marathon was very difficult because of those famous San Francisco hills... the night before the race I was starting to get nervous on whether I could actually run the hills without walking.

Race day quickly approached and as I was walking to the starting line the streets were crammed with people, you could barely move... finding the bag drop and appropriate corel was nearly impossible. And if you wanted to use the bathroom it was about a 30 minute wait. :( I decided to hold it and spend my time finding the correct corel which I never found.

The starting gun finally went off and Beyonce's "Who Runs the World (Girls)" song was playing blasting. The energy was electric, I have never seen this many women (and a few men) come together to run! Over 22,000 people were at the starting line and it was pure insanity!
As I finally passed the starting line I was a bit frustrated because it was obvious that people didn't stick to the corel assignments, because people were walking and jamming up the streets. I just wanted to start with a decent pace but I was unable to until mile 4 or so. As I was running I was taking in the beautiful wharf area, Alcatrez and as we approached the Golden Gate Bridge the views were breathtaking and the weather was fabulous.

But as the views got better the race got more challenging... starting at mile 6 it was all about the hills. I don't know which mile was the hardest but miles 6 -11 definitely blended together for me because a hill of some sort was involved in every mile. I was did pretty well on the hills and controlled my breathing so it was mainly a mental battle. :) I chose not to run with headphones so controlling my breathing was easier and my run was more peaceful!

I actually smiled through this race but as I neared mile 11 I didn't know if I could keep my pace... but somehow the crowd support got me through it. And as I neared the finish line I saw men in tuxedos and that was enough motivations. :) The half marathon had everything a great goodie, a bra exchange station, Giradelli chocalate station, photographer at the Golden Gate bridge, hot firemen in tuxedos at the finish line presenting all finishers with Tiffany's necklaces. I mean I think the last line is a big enough perk to enter this half marathon. :) 

I ran into some girlfriends at the finishline... what a small world.

Check out the loot from the race... okay I bought two of the shirts but oh well! :) Best part of the race was doing my personal best 2:00:24. Most challenging part pushing myself to do my best at miles 9, 10 and 11.

 I recommend this half marathon to everyone who loves to smile through a challenging race and get pampered at the end! My tips train hard, hit up the expo and NikeTown, buy finisher gear and wear your Tiffany's necklace with pride. I Run to Be... Stonger and Better. :) I am definitely entering the lottery next year because this was one of the most amazing events I have ever been a part of.

Half Marathon Update and Stella & Dot

This afternoon was checking my email and.....I got into the Nike Women's Marathon in San Fran this year. I am super excited because at the finish line fireman are dressed in tuxedos presenting each finisher with a Tiffany's necklace. :) AMAZING. I can't wait to start training for this half marathon and setting a personal best time...plus I love the idea of making this a long weekend. :)

As soon as Lily woke up my brother came home and we decided to hit the sprinkler...okay they decided to hit the sprinkler. :)

Her reaction to the water was priceless.

Another great thing happened today....my Stella & Dot jewelry came in the mail today. :) The packaging and jewelry were so cute. I can't wait to buy more Stella & Dot stuff when I start working again. 

How freaking cute are these bracelets?

For dinner Kelly cooked an awesome pasta dish with broccoli & sweet chicken sausage. She said this dish had no sauce which was surprising but it tasted awesome. This is a super easy recipe:

1) Cook the pasta

2) Cook chicken sausage (take off the casing)

3) Cook broccoli

4) Mix all ingredients together with a little pasta water 

5) Serve with parma 

So delicious!

For dessert my brother saw a recipe for a easy banana ice cream with only 3 ingredients on the food network. Check it out: Peanut Butter & Nanna Ice Cream. The texture was a little different but the flavor was really tasty, definitely worth trying. 

3 ingredient ice cream....who knew.

Sunny in Seattle

I woke up today and decided that I wanted to get lost in my book "The American Wife." This book is loosely based on one of our first ladies and is really a good read. I love the characters because they are so real. They each have flaws and challenges that everyone can sympathize with.

After reading for a bit I decided to enjoy a my breakfast that I prepped last night. I have heard from many bloggers that Overnight Oats are amazing. So I decided to try a recipe from one of my favorite bloggers Julie of Peanut Butter Fingers: Chocolate Peanut Butter Overnight Oats. As I opened the fridge I noticed that my oats didn't look anything like Julie's. I am guessing that I need to use a different kind of oats because I really want to love this recipe but mine just didn't turn out. :(

Here all the ingredients. Maybe my oats are the problem with this recipe. :(

Why don't my overnight oats look like Julie's? :(

I don't think my overnight oats taste right either. I am determined to make these correctly...eventually.



After failing at my breakfast I decided to go for a nice 3 mile run. The weather in Seattle is beautiful today and I love running outside when the sun is shining brightly. My run felt so great and really made me want to enter a race. I truly believe that when Seattle in sunny it's one of the most beautiful places in the US. Last night I recieved an email about entering the random drawing for the 2011 Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco so I decided to take my chances and enter the random drawing because you never know what will happen. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I win because this is an amazing event for women! :) PS I love San Fran!

I ate a quick lunch of curried tuna salad that I prepared last night, I found a great recipe on All You.com that I changed the recipe a little by substituting greek yogurt for the mayo and craisens instead of currants. The best part of this recipe is that it is under $2.00 per serving. :) It was pretty tasty and I served it with edamame, grapes and carrots.

Next time I will add more craisens!

Now I am off to meet my beautiful friend Eleana for our weekly coffee date at Starbucks. I am so excited to catch up with her and hear all about her pregnancy. I ended up staying at Starbucks for a couple of hours because I was researching all the different certifications for personal training. That maybe my new side career along with blogging. :)

I met up with Mary for our quarterly Costco date. I know this may sound weird but we love meeting at Costco and eating at their food court. You can't beat a $1.50 hot dog and drink!! This may not be the healthiest option for the week but its become somewhat of a date night for us. We love our Costco Weins. FYI Costco now serves Gelato, for $1.49 you can get 3 scoops of gelato. They have mixed berry, pistachio and a stracciatella (vanilla w/ chocolate chunks).

Total dinner cost $1.64! AMAZING

Yummy wein!

Mary eating like a champ...wein & churro! Super impressive.

We had a great dinner and it was so beautiful we decided to go on a 3 mile walk around Issaquah. I am so glad spring is finally here. It was a little chilly but it was so nice to get outside today!

When I got home I decided that I would reheat one of the crepes from Lindsay's Creperie! I topped it with a little butter, cinnamon and sugar and put it in the microwave for 45 seconds and BAM I had a delicious sweet crepe for dessert. Perfect ending to a great relaxing day....off to read my book.

A healthier take on an Elephant Ear!! Delish