weekend wonderments [2]: I left my heart in...

Stills highlighting my lovely weekend in the city by the bay:

[photo for one life in stills]

[eliza's initials artistically painted on a rock, kaia the doggie, 

sweet little bebe blowing a dandalion, kale-hummus-cucumber-onion-tomato sammy, 

love art (made by miss eliza goodman and yours truly. "LOVE" design at the top trademarked by Carly Roberts as seen here), and alta plaza park in pacific heights]

[after sushi at Naked Fish]

[post dinner pleasures, aka alcohol, lead to pre-race fatigue. whoops. it was fun at the time though!]

[inside the nwm expo at union square, outside nwm tent, henry the curious, making pre-race carb load dinner with the girls, my pledge to choose skin health, anti wall street protest rally through union square]

[eliza, me, emily, alec, and morrigan]

[after crossing the finish line with pride in our hearts and custom designed tiffany's necklaces around our necks! left to right: katie, nicole, me, alec, megan, christina, and justine. proud of you all!]

[after we ran the half marathon, eliza, emily and I drove down the coast to half moon bay
 for the 41st annual art and pumpkin festival] 

[love the "puss n boots" carved one!] 

 

[PUMPKINS GALORE!! check out the humongous pumpkins on the left!] 

[we drank/ate: mimosas in a decorative champagne flute (through red vines of course), grilled artechoke hearts, garlic fries...before and after, and eliza and emily had pumpkin ice cream]

[radiant sunset as we were leaving half moon bay. beautiful end to a beautiful weekend!] 

Until next time, San Francisco, I bid you adieu.

I run to be...

[tristan, alec, me, and nicole after crossing the sf half marathon finish line this past april]

[images via Run Infinity]

Thursday I'm flying to San Francisco to run the Nike Women's Half Marathon! (Last year I ran the full marathon version of this race and it was amazing, but this year I'm sticking to the half to save my legs for a marathon somewhere else.) This specific race is very special to me for a multitude of reasons:

1. It's an excuse to spend four days in my favorite city with my best girl friends from college. 
2. I get to run through the normally busy streets of San Francisco and glamor at all the pretty buildings and breathtaking views of the harbor. 
3. The race-day on-course entertainment and support is off the chain and unlike any other race! There will be the Oakland Interfaith Choir at mile 1.5 singing their heart out for every runner and each runner affected some way by Leukemia and Lymphoma; Parkour acrobats defying gravity at mile 2.2; Rock Force Dance Crew rocking out at mile 5.5; and the Blue Devils drum line and DJ Zita dropping beats at mile 10.5. 
4. NWM is the largest women's marathon in the world. Girl Power!
5. The race helps raise awareness for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
6. San Francisco firemen, dressed in tuxes, greet each runner at the finish line with little blue Tiffany & Co. boxes. Damn straight!
7. My best friends wait for me at the finish line! Couldn't ask for better support!

I've been training pretty hard for this race within the last couple months, but I could always use some positive energy waves sent my way come Sunday! I'll be sure to post how I do in the race along with the fun things I do in San Fran because I'm sure there's going to be a lot...there always is :)