In typical pre-race fashion I spent the night before creating a playlist, painting my nails and KT-taping for my anterior shin splints. On race day, I woke up bright and early (5:45am) and enjoyed a scrambled egg breakfast and was surprised by a poster that Katy left for us outside our apartment (she's so great!!!). Tab, Scott and I loaded the car and Rockstar-ed it up to the city. 
After a pre-race pep talk from Casey "Why don't you just get better? If you run faster and you'll be done sooner." we met up and our whole crew assembled. Our costume required us to run in a line, which we maintained, more or less, for the first two miles of the race. At that point, I broke off from the group (I don't deal well with the tight-pack running that is common around 10-11 minute pace). Once I was alone, I settled into a comfortable 9 minute pace and enjoyed the scenic run from AT&T Park, to the Embarcadero and back. The 10k finished inside AT&T Park and the feeling of crossing the finish line is indescribable. Accomplishment, relief, exhaustion, and euphoria. First water, then delicious Chobani Honey with San Fran Granola (nom nom nom) to enjoy after crossing the finish line. According to my Nike ID app, I finished the 10k in about 58 minutes :) Broke 1 hr, a definite PR for me! (still pending official times from Giant Race Website). 
After reuniting with the rest of the family and attempting to snap some pics on the field we entered what is potentially my favorite part of the race (only behind that "finish line feeling"). SWAG!!! Swag Bags full of bagels, fruit, clif bars, Timmy bobble heads, tshirts, medals, coconut water, chocolate milk, Pop Chips, pretzels, Chobani, and a slice of birthday cake (I still don't understand it, nor can I explain what compelled me to devour hundreds of calories worth of it) 
We paused for several more photos before leaving the city (I found an amatuer photographer by accident who took like dozens to make sure we would have one we liked). What a fun family-fitness day! So, while I don't necessarily love the act of running, there isn't much that can compete with the distractions that a race provides, the energy that is shared among runners, the sense of accomplishment, that "finish line feeling", and of course - the swag! Onto the Nike Women's Half...
Vickie what a fun blog to read and I know what you mean about running. I love races but not so much running and the training for them :) Tell me more about the kt tape -like it, does it work? I have either a bad case of shin splints on my right or stress issues on the foot from wearing the Vibrams too long on a training run
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