Nike Womens San Francisco Marathon Expo and Pacer Duties

This weekend was quite an adventure! I managed to make it to the airport on time Friday night despite taking a nasty spill up my stairs at home. (side note: I just now figured out where the bruise on my shin came from writing that sentence, blogging is a great way for me to remember such minute details!) Thank goodness I am used to my clumsy ways and just came away with a bruise. Breaking your shin two days before pacing would be considered bad.

I arrived to the airport got through security and to my gate to see that our plane was delayed two hours. Bummer! I found a phone booth with a plug for my cell and called Su to chat. We seem to always talk when one or the other is traveling. I wanted to wish her luck with her Kona Challenge. She did great there so go tell her great job!

Finally was able to board the plane. I managed to sleep a few hours and didn't freak out when I arrived in San Fran at 1 AM (4 AM Ohio time) instead of 11 and had to get myself to my airport sans BART. I shared a door to door van for a reasonable rate and got to the hotel a little before 2 AM and got to bed after chatting with my roommate who thankfully had not been asleep when I arrived.

Woke up bright and early to have breakfast with the pacer crowd before heading to the expo to work my first shift. Got to the expo and received our Nike bag of goodies. Everything I got fit except for the gloves and socks which thankfully I didn't need this weekend. This was to be an all Nike outfitted weekend for us pacers. I was missing the pink booth Tee but was able to get one in my size for my second shift. I proceeded to chat with every woman who came by our table for the next 3 hours. It was a lot of talking even for this chatter bug.

My standard was "Are you running the half or full tomorrow? What's your goal time?" Then I filled out a bib for them and gave them directions to the appropriate pacer and starting corral in the morning. Most women were happy to sign up for a pace group, but a few gave me the eye roll and hurried along. There was a lot of confusion about the pace bands. They didn't have pace bands with mile splits available at the expo, but there was a course adjusted pace band creator on the website. We had colored bands that corresponded to the morning corrals. We quickly ran out of all the faster paced bands and I told people to just go to their appropriate corral in the morning and explain they were out of their band color and to be patient with any volunteers as there might be confusion.

I got a few requesting a 3:30 pacer which we didn't have but I recommended they fill out a pace bib with 3:30 on it and try to find other 3:30ers in the morning to create an unofficial pace group. I've done that before when I wanted to run a time that did not have an official pacer. Worst case scenario you miss your goal, best case you find a buddy to bring it home with you.

By the end of 3 hours I was pretty beat. I went and got my chip and bib number then decided to wait in line for the free manicure. My nerves were pretty strung as my hands were shaky during the manicure. It was pretty overwhelming seeing all these women runners and knowing that the next morning I would be pacing many of them.

After the manicure I went back to the hotel to drop my stuff off and grabbed what I thought would be a quick lunch with my new pacer friends. Lunch took a little longer than expected and I was running late for my blogger meet up. But I finally arrived to chat with Michelle, Dori, and Irene. It's funny how you can feel so at ease with a group of people you have never officially met. Unfortunately I had to rush back to the expo for my second shift. I hope to meet up with these girls again in the future. I would definitely have loved to do some sightseeing or shopping and chat away all day with them but duty called.

The expo was packed pretty much to the end of the day. Our booth finally slowed down around 5:30. I knew pacer Jim wanted us to sit down as much as possible but with all my adrenaline I worked outside the table walking about to people and giving them my pacer spiel. I could tell my throat was getting sore and I tried to make sure to drink as much water as possible.

After the expo it was straight off to dinner and carbo loading. We had a fantastic pace group dinner at Puccini and Pinetti. I probably ate too much but for once I was actually craving pasta the night before a marathon! And it was delicious!

After dinner it was back to the hotel and time for final instructions. We received our speakers to use with our Nike+ Ipods and some Luna treats. (If anyone local likes Luna gummy things let me know! I'll probably bring them to "Scissors" this Sunday to hand out!) My roomie and I tried on our outfits and got everything set for the next morning then we hit the hay.

Restless sleep followed despite being dog tired. I awoke the next morning feeling not quite right and managed to spill water all over the floor twice in my attempts to make tea, but I was ready to go with all my gear and my sign as we met up in the lobby, took a group pic, and headed to the start.

More to come when I get a moment! Pics will be added soon too!