I love San Francisco--what's not to love, after all? It even inspires me to post a RR this time. I've done this one twice before, but it never gets stale. The marathon (it was Sunday) is a fantastic tour of the City, starting at the Embarcadero, proceeding along Fisherman's Wharf (past the Boudin Bakery, where we breakfasted Sat. am), to the Presidio, then over and back on the Golden Gate, just as the sun rises--on the way back, you could see the City Skyline (in one year past, there was too much fog to see much of anything), then south to the Golden Gate Park, where I could see buffalo, in case I was homesick for 'em, and lots of beautiful flowers. The second half marathon starts in the park, the first one ends there, so we had lots of crowds there as well. After some loops there, we left the Park for the Haight/Ashbury section, then onwards to Candlestick (I hate those corporate names now on so many ballparks and "forget" them whenever possible) and the WIllie McCovey statute sending us home, with one brief loop by the Bay again and across the finish. Since the race starts at 5:30 am, I thought I'd go bright: screaming yellow Maniac singlet, red RaceReady shorts (and my signature styled and cinched garbage bag until safely back over the bridge--it was brisk for the first hour or so.) I had a lot of fun and felt really good at the end--ready for it to be over, but not at all beat up or fatigued. I had a plan and was able to follow it, harder than it seems to accomplish, as many of know! Stats: 334/4354 overall 28/1480 women 1/66 age group Chip: 1:03:14 at the 7.5 mark an 8:26 pace 1:48:39 at the half (13.1) an 8:18 pace 3:29:09 finish 7:59 pace grins, A

What an excellent race Amy, nice pacing throughout for a huge negative split! Congratulations on that 1st in AG award too, not too shabby.

Not only am I impressed once again with your AG win, and terrific negative split, but your generous use of parenthesis in your writing likely surpasses mine (which I am trying to cut down on). You Rock Woman!

Wow. Just wow.

Amy - 1/66 AG, amazing negative splits - wow! You rock!

Not only am I impressed once again with your AG win, and terrific negative split, but your generous use of parenthesis in your writing likely surpasses mine (which I am trying to cut down on). You Rock Woman!

Thanks--my family interrupts themselves to go off on tangents that do (in our collective opinion) circuit back to the topic, and I am no different, hence the use of the parenthesis (why cut down? I find it makes me clearer in writing, as one is alerted to --oh oh, there she goes again, and can choose to follow or just skip to the conclusion of the sentence.) The family also interrrupts one another, leading the less-than-charming trait we seem to develop of talking UNTIL interrupted, which is why many of us have ended up with quiet (and long-suffering?) spouses and partners. And Thanks you all for your kind words. Yes, they DO that alternative road thing, and I was in the lead for one, as they switched right in front of me, and as you know, given my ability to take the wrong turn and make a marathon an ultra, I was nervous until I got connected with the pack. Pshew, it would be scary to be an elite runner! Again, I got a kick out of being 28th female---those "what am I doing here?" thoughts were with me at the start, looking around at all the young women, talking about their training and Boston, and all looking good, and I'm there in my garbage bag, peering out of my bi-focals under a fringe of salt & pepper hair......y'know. --to end up in the top 2% of all women makes me feel it's ok to keep on doing this running thing. Truly, lamerunner, what you said--it is so fabulous to have the race over and the whole day ahead! grins, and thanks again, A

Congrats Amy, I love your race reports its almost like watching /reading a travel log, Where will Amy race next? You are also really fast! Love the description of the plastic bag at the start. The beauty of being mature is we can handle looks to be comfy. Great race and fast time with negative splits. Larry

Hi Amy, Another greta race and report! Congrats on your fabulous run and a terrific AG win! I think you were sandbagging while you were garbage bagging - not letting those young 'uns see who they were really competing against. Based on your splits, you were getting stronger and faster as the race went along - who knows how low your pace would have dropped if the race were an ultra! By the way - I also hate corporate-named ballparks, and also try to always refer to the using their pre-corporate (pre-sellout) name. Jay