Happy Fit Runner Girl

San Francisco Half Marathon 1^st Half Race Weekend Recap Day 1

I was super excited to be heading up to San Francisco. I just love the city and it had been about 5 years since we last passed through the city during a road trip hubby and I took with Matilda up to the coast to Washington, Oregon and back into California.

To spare most of you I’m posting Day one first and to read more and you should as I always have some nice pictures to look at.

My back had been bothering pretty much all week so I was apprehensive about the drive first and then wondering if I would be able to run the half. The drive proved not to be so bad at all, thank goodness. Once we arrived and dropped our car off at our hotel we took off on foot to head to the expo. Perhaps it was the sitting but walking proved to be painful enough for me to stop and buy some Aleve. I was determined not to let it get to me but I have to say it was difficult to be in the best of moods, but I tried. We continued to make our way to the Expo and boy was the place packed and warm. We picked up our race bibs, bag and tech shirts. It was nice to get a long sleeve tech shirt and one that fit so I wouldn’t have to worry about exchanging on race morning. Kudos there!! We then headed out to see the vendors. My first stop was Yurbuds. I had tried these headphones while at the Adventure run last week and I really liked them. They are on the expensive side but I thought with a lifetime warranty I’d get them. We continued to walk the expo grabbing a few samples and goodies along the way. Before long we were starving and decided to head to Fisherman’s wharf to get our chowder in a sourdough bowl!!

(Ferry Building)

 We took the old rail cars along the Pier starting at the Ferry Building and made our way down to Pier 39. It was nice to see the city renovating the Piers into a new Exploratorium, Cruise Line Area and the future home of the America’s Cup waterfront venue. 

(Robb in the Rail Car heading to Fisherman’s Wharf)

(Robb at the Ferry Building)

We finally made it to Boudin’s…it was more crowded than I like but it was yummy!

(Blurry pic of the Clam Chowder soup in a bread bowl)

We walked around a bit more and then decided to head back to our hotel to get ready for our dinner at the Tonga Room.

It was nice to get to our hotel room and it gave me a chance to do some stretching after an afternoon on our feet. I felt like a new person after doing some foam rolling and some stretches. It was the first time all day that I felt like I would actually be able to run this half marathon. After watching some of the Olympics, resting and partaking of a glass of wine we were off to the Tonga Room. We headed out and we inevitably had to walk up some steep hills and boy are there some to the top of Nob Hill.

We arrived at the Tonga room and it was everything we had seen on TV and heard about. We were lucky enough to get a table by the Lagoon (formerly the Fairmont Hotel’s swimming pool) and arrived just in time for a “rainstorm” with lightning too. It was super cool.

We decided to share our meals, a salmon dish and a roasted chicken dish. My salmon dish included some wasabi mashed potatoes…super yummy. We also ordered some cocktails. I had a Chi Chi (basically a Pina Colada with Vodka) and hubby got a Blue Hawaii.

The meals were delicious and the cocktails were decent but it’s a little on the pricey side but something one has to experience at least once in your life. The walk back to the hotel was a little easier since it was all downhill.

(The walk back to the hotel)

Once back to the hotel we decided to prep for race morning and watch some more Olympics. Hubby made a cup of hot chocolate for me and then I was off to slumber land. That pretty much sums up Day 1 in San Francisco. Stay tuned for Day 2- Race Day!!