The city by the bay ~ San Francisco!

Girls trip to have fun in the city and run the Nike Women’s Half Marathon perfect fit for my blog. Food, Drink and Fitness!

Here we are boarding a jet plane to the West coast!

We were luck to have our own personal travel agent with us. Tina she had us make a reservation on the Super Shuttle when we arrived in SFO to save time and money. I highly recommend this for traveling when arriving to a large city that you have never been to before. When we arrived at our hotel we were all tired and ready for sleep.

Good Friday Morning San Fran! This is the view from our hotel. Beautiful!

The concierge helped our personal travel director giving her directions to the Nike Expo and a popular breakfast restaurant.  We walked to Lefty O’Doul’s and Irish pub. It offered a variety of things. I would say it’s an average place to eat breakfast. Very convenient  for us because it was right across the street from packet pick up.

Packet pick up was very well-organized you checked in via computer and verified all your information. The person at the registration gave you your bib and a wrist band with your corral number. Then you move to the next line where you pick up your swag bag. Now on to the expo. Once inside the tent there is a huge marquis with names of girls checking in giving some motivation. We venture around the corner and it’s picture time!

Melissa is really running the Half not the Full!

Other things offered at the expo were Nike shoe strings, Verizon had a sign up for guessing your mile time from mile 9-10. Whole foods gave away a protein taster and chocolate macaroons. The NUN booth had tasters of their different drinks that were going to be offered on the race course. There were other booths but we didn’t’ feel the need to wait in the huge line.

Off to the Nike store we go. On the windows of the store all of the participates names are listed.  Now it’s time to decide what to purchase for souvenirs.  Many many items to choose from. Lucky we arrived on Friday because there were still smaller sizes available. I was going to buy a pair of the Nike socks made just for this race but when I tried them on they were HUGE on my small feet. So I decided on buying a nice warm up pull over.

Whole foods offered a free shuttle to the store for a swag bag. So we hopped the shuttle and made a few food and drink purchases. Then it was time to find Nordstrom’s. The girls wanted to do some shoe shopping. This is the place to find shoes for sure.

Yep these boots are calling my name. I just might have to order them!

After shopping it was time for showers and get dolled up for the theater. Unfortunately in San Fran it’s almost impossible to find a taxi especially for a party of 5.  Lucky for us Roger a limo driver was on break and took us to the sushi restaurant for a donation.

Our walk to the Orpheum Theater from the restaurant was cold and much father then the 5 blocks that we were told. Pretty scary too! We saw the Wizard of Oz a very good production. The theater was beautiful. It was freezing cold when we left the theater and once again we were challenged to find a cab. We split up in 2 different cabs for the ride home.

We are all early birds thank goodness because a night owl would not have liked sharing a room with us. Up early and out the door down to the Pier. The farmers market was amazing. Tons and tons of fresh fruit, vegetables, flowers, cheeses, meats a chef’s dream come true.

We found a cute little place to have breakfast. The porridge made out of Farro was delicious and a must have. I need to learn how to make this. AMAZING! I also found the best donut EVER a sweet bread filled with Nutella YUMMO!

Now it was time to work off some of the food we have been eating. We rented bikes for the day and headed from Pier 1 to Sausalito  over the Golden Gate bridge approximately 10 miles.  Not including the detour we took to visit Lombard street.

Walking up Hyde street to see the famous Lombard street.

Lombard

We made it!

Time for lunch!

What a fantastic day! Stopping in Sausalito for lunch and a bit of shopping then found the ferry for a ride back Pier 1.

Stay tuned for part 2!

It’s all about the shoes…………or not!

I am sure Missy Franklin’s shoes are not important to her for training unless of course it’s fins or flip flops! I love the fact that a Colorado “GIRL” swimmer is in the Olympics and winning a few gold medals! Isn’t her smile addicting?

What I really want to know is what’s in Michael Phelps head phones? Wonder if his playlist would inspire me. 

Shoe shopping!

Today was the day for a new pair of running shoes. My friend who talked me into running the Rock n Roll 1/2 marathon said to visit Browns Shoe Fit. They would help me find the right kind of shoes. The staff is very very friendly and extremely knowledgeable. So if you are in need of new running shoes I highly recommend Brown’s Shoe Fit! 

He had me stand on a computer-generated foot sensor that shows pressure points in your feet. After looking at 5-10 different images and angles. He shared with me that I have a muscle in my foot that needs to be strengthened. I can do this a couple of different ways. One by wearing the orthotic inserts they sell and the second doing some regular stretches. He showed me a few stretches to do and also recommended I get the orthotics.

 

Is the computer a ploy or is it for real?

 

After the computer images he had me run barefoot on the treadmill while video tapping me. We watched to determine what kind of running shoe I need based on my gate and pronation and I am sure other things but I was on information overload by this point. He shared there is 3 types of running shoes. Stability, Cushion and Motion control. Then we measured my feet. I need a cushion shoe based on my pressure points and running style. 

Motion control footwear emphasizes medial support by having dual density midsoles, roll bars or foot bridges. This medial (inside support) support slows the rate of over pronation. An example of a motion control shoe would be the Asics Evolution.

 Stability footwear combines cushioning features and support features into its design. An example would be the Asics GT 2170 running shoe. 

Cushioned footwear emphasizes enhanced shock dispersion in its midsole and/or outsole design. Many shoe companies add materials to the heel and forefoot areas to enhance the cushioning properties of the shoe i.e. air, gel, hydro flow etc. An example of a cushioned running shoe would be the Nike Pegasus.

Now it’s time measure my foot. He was interested in my foot size from the large part of my foot on the outside before the big toe to the heel. Let’s get to trying on shoes. We started with size 6.5 and the most ugly shoe. But I guess comfort beats cuteness.

 

After walking and feeling them we decided a size 7 would be better because athletic shoes run short. Once I moved to a size 7 he found the perfect cute and comfortable shoe!

 

Asics Gel-Cumulus Lightning/Hot Pink/Storm

 

SOLD!

 

Week 9 Warrior Dash Training! 

Day One: USAF State Swim meet cheering!

Day Two: Recovery from traveling all weekend.

Day Three & Day Four: Kickboxing – I totally love this class. I get to imagine that I am punching people in the face the gut, the back and best of all kicking them where it counts….LOL!

Day Five: Full Moon Run…work duty called early this morning so I strapped in a head lamp and headed out for a 30 min run/walk in the full moon. It was beautiful!

2.85 Miles 33:40 legs felt very heavy!

Day Six: ½ training Walk/Jog/Run/Walk

4.84 Miles 1:00:53

Day Seven: 1/2 training Walk/Jog/Walk

5.09 Miles 1:02:28

50 Min easy swim