Having arrived in San Francisco Friday night, I had a full Saturday to rest up for the race on Sunday. Naturally, I did nothing of the sort, and instead, walked around the city for 7 hours. It was my second time to visit San Francisco and I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to explore!
I arrived with plenty of time before my dinner plans on Friday night so I wandered to a coffee shop and people-watched!
Interesting observations:
* double date with all 4 wearing fake mustaches
* Asian guy with a box on his head (both his hands were full)
* a guy drove up to the intersection and got out of his car just to take a picture
I finally met up my friends from my hometown, Sarah and Daniel, at Piperade for dinner. I normally wouldn’t drink so soon before a race, but I figured a glass of wine wouldn’t hurt, right? Dinner was good but it wasn’t as good as I expected.
Starting from Alice’s lovely apartment in North Beach, I wandered over to La Boulange to do more people-watching while enjoying a smoked salmon egg sandwich (YUM!) and a cappuccino for breakfast. Alice recommended the place– it’s her regular coffee stop. Next was Chinatown for delicious 
egg custard. Golden Bakery was closed, so I pulled out my phone and yelped the next best thing. Seriously, I’m extremely thankful for my phone. I would have looked much more touristy with a map in one hand and BART/MUNI schedule in the other. It would probably take also take me MUCH longer to get anywhere. Luckily, AA Bakery was close by and after shelling out $1.00 for my egg custard, I was satisfied.
Next, I bused it to the San Francisco Marathon Expo! Picked up my race bag, tech shirt (love it!), bib, pace bracelet; bought official SF marathon arm-warmers for $25; and explored the many vendors. It was either a 2:00 pace or a 2:15 pace for the bracelet, so I grabbed the 2:00 pace bracelet. That was my ultimate goal, sub-2:00! Not likely, but doesn’t hurt to try, right? I purchased $30 polarized sunglasses too– I’ve been meaning to get some for at least a year! I tried on some Newtons as well, but I’m definitely not going to need any new shoes any time soon. I just love going to race expos. There’s just this exciting energy and even though there’s all these strangers, you feel connected to them because we’re all there for the same purpose: to run! Love it.
After walking back and forth between bus stops, I eventually caught the right bus and made my way to the Ferry Building for some food! By the way, CRAZY lady on the bus, saying inappropriate things to no one in particular. It made me very uncomfortable.
Any
how, ended up going to Boccalone for salumi, Miette for macaroons, and Pepples Donuts for a mini doughnut! I wanted to try more but I was pretty full from eating earlier. Also, phone battery was dying and my legs were starting to get tired from all the walking…uh oh, need to take it easy before the race!!
I rested up, watched the Olympics, and waited for Alice to get back so we could grab dinner together and load up on some carbs. I set out all my race stuff for Sunday and set my alarm for 4:00am. Unfortunately, I didn’t end up going to bed until close to midnight. Eeks!
TANGLED SHOESTRINGS 