Ladies First
October 19, 2010
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I have to admit, heading to Cali to hang out with 20,000 women who all love to run sounded pretty good to me from the start. Toss in a couple of Nike's brightest young track stars, a marathon legend, and a killer course, and you had enough to make this RunReporter's head spin.
2010 marked the seventh annual Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco. I was a first-timer, and the incredible energy around this event made my first trip to the City by the Bay one I will never forget.
In the days leading up to the race, Nike set up shop in Union Square in the heart of downtown San Francisco. The Expotique was unlike anything I had ever seen: ladies gearing up for both the full marathon and the half were treated to free smoothies, foot massages, and PowerSongs to get them ready for race day.
Aside from meeting tons of incredible women, I also had the chance to meet and talk with U.S. track elites Nick Symmonds and Shannon Rowbury. Nick and Shannon are both mid-distance pros who represented the U.S. team in Beijing, and both are coming off huge years on the track. They helped prep the runners all weekend with advice and tips, and even joined me for a couple laps around Union Square to show off the new Nike+ GPS app for the iPhone. Luckily, they went easy on me.
I teamed up with the Nike Field Reporter, Gevrina Seferaj, for all the weekend's festivities. Gevrina is interviewing inspiring athletes and blogging about her experiences for Nike Women all year long. We served as honorary emcees for a special college dinner, where Nike and Hurley celebrated all the California college girls that were tackling the course. Gevrina was an athlete at UCLA, so she was super excited to give some love to all the Bruins running.
Race day was absolutely crazy. This might have been the only time in my life I was excited to hear my alarm go off at 4:30 AM. The start line was already buzzing when we arrived, and it's safe to say that nobody living above Union Square was getting much sleep. Droves of women, some running the distance for the first time, descended upon the square to get loose for their big run, and when 7 o'clock hit the party was on. Seeing the excitement on the faces of thousands amazing women, all running for a great cause, made it hard to stop smiling.
I got to catch all the runners again at the 11.5 mile mark, where Nick and Shannon joined me for some mid-race motivational cheers. I suspect that not too many women can say they were cheered on by two Olympic athletes during a race. Despite some blustery winds and rain, the racers were in great spirits, giving us waves, big smiles, and urging on their friends. The race finished right along the Pacific, and the view made for a picturesque end to an incredible run through the hills of San Francisco. Finishers who braved the elements were not given your run-of-the-mill medals, since this is the Nike Women's Marathon after all! So naturally, they eschewed mundane hardware in favor of custom race day Tiffany & Co. necklaces handed to them by Bay Area firefighters in tuxedos.
Despite all the fanfare, the star of the show was still the inspiration for the race, Joan Benoit-Samuelson. The legendary marathoner was everywhere in the days leading up to the race, talking about what drives and inspires her. Joanie just set another marathon record in Chicago last week and jumped in the U.S. 10k championships the following day! But that didn't stop the ageless wonder from joining in on the fun on Sunday; she ran with her daughter Abby, and the mother-daughter duo took the challenging course in stride. Joan is the complete embodiment of Nike's "There is no finish line" mantra, and in the last few weeks she has single-handedly altered my concept of "peak years."
Her spirit is truly at the heart of the event, which has now helped raise over $105 million for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. There were only a handful of men who hopped in the race, but I was pretty jealous of the few who did. Tiffany necklaces and chocolate aid stops aside, there is no race quite like this one anywhere in the world!
2010 marked the seventh annual Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco. I was a first-timer, and the incredible energy around this event made my first trip to the City by the Bay one I will never forget.
In the days leading up to the race, Nike set up shop in Union Square in the heart of downtown San Francisco. The Expotique was unlike anything I had ever seen: ladies gearing up for both the full marathon and the half were treated to free smoothies, foot massages, and PowerSongs to get them ready for race day.
Aside from meeting tons of incredible women, I also had the chance to meet and talk with U.S. track elites Nick Symmonds and Shannon Rowbury. Nick and Shannon are both mid-distance pros who represented the U.S. team in Beijing, and both are coming off huge years on the track. They helped prep the runners all weekend with advice and tips, and even joined me for a couple laps around Union Square to show off the new Nike+ GPS app for the iPhone. Luckily, they went easy on me.
I teamed up with the Nike Field Reporter, Gevrina Seferaj, for all the weekend's festivities. Gevrina is interviewing inspiring athletes and blogging about her experiences for Nike Women all year long. We served as honorary emcees for a special college dinner, where Nike and Hurley celebrated all the California college girls that were tackling the course. Gevrina was an athlete at UCLA, so she was super excited to give some love to all the Bruins running.
Race day was absolutely crazy. This might have been the only time in my life I was excited to hear my alarm go off at 4:30 AM. The start line was already buzzing when we arrived, and it's safe to say that nobody living above Union Square was getting much sleep. Droves of women, some running the distance for the first time, descended upon the square to get loose for their big run, and when 7 o'clock hit the party was on. Seeing the excitement on the faces of thousands amazing women, all running for a great cause, made it hard to stop smiling.
I got to catch all the runners again at the 11.5 mile mark, where Nick and Shannon joined me for some mid-race motivational cheers. I suspect that not too many women can say they were cheered on by two Olympic athletes during a race. Despite some blustery winds and rain, the racers were in great spirits, giving us waves, big smiles, and urging on their friends. The race finished right along the Pacific, and the view made for a picturesque end to an incredible run through the hills of San Francisco. Finishers who braved the elements were not given your run-of-the-mill medals, since this is the Nike Women's Marathon after all! So naturally, they eschewed mundane hardware in favor of custom race day Tiffany & Co. necklaces handed to them by Bay Area firefighters in tuxedos.
Despite all the fanfare, the star of the show was still the inspiration for the race, Joan Benoit-Samuelson. The legendary marathoner was everywhere in the days leading up to the race, talking about what drives and inspires her. Joanie just set another marathon record in Chicago last week and jumped in the U.S. 10k championships the following day! But that didn't stop the ageless wonder from joining in on the fun on Sunday; she ran with her daughter Abby, and the mother-daughter duo took the challenging course in stride. Joan is the complete embodiment of Nike's "There is no finish line" mantra, and in the last few weeks she has single-handedly altered my concept of "peak years."
Her spirit is truly at the heart of the event, which has now helped raise over $105 million for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. There were only a handful of men who hopped in the race, but I was pretty jealous of the few who did. Tiffany necklaces and chocolate aid stops aside, there is no race quite like this one anywhere in the world!
1 year, 3 months ago