San Francisco Nike Women's Half

[MonkeyDishwasher]

Did anybody else do this race? It was so much fun!

I'll write a full report when I get back tomorrow evening but I was just curious to see who else got Tiffany bling!?

 

[wdwpluto]

I didn't but want to hear all about it! My friends and I are hoping to do their new DC event in the spring!

 

[Rupert B Puppenstein]

So jealous!! Can't wait to read your report! I am definitely doing the Marathon next year! I am also hoping to get into the DC Half next year. Those are the only necklaces that I find acceptable for running those distances.

 

[JCH]

I'll be looking for it! I am (hopefully) doing Team in Training for the one in DC. We'll see how fundraising goes between now and December before I know for sure!

 

[kim3339]

I ran it, well the 1/2 anyways. Weather was perfect, heavy fog and now hotter than 60. Little sore today, mostly calves from the downhills. And loved the necklace, thought I loved the simplicity of last year's, but love the bridge in the corner. Liked how they did the corral areas this year, I think it really helped. But I couldn't get over the lines after for both the finisher merch and the shuttles. The shuttles reminded me of DL! It was about 35 min and kept moving, but they had the nice buses, so that was good.

 

[pigletliz]

I ran it, well the 1/2 anyways. Weather was perfect, heavy fog and now hotter than 60. Little sore today, mostly calves from the downhills. And loved the necklace, thought I loved the simplicity of last year's, but love the bridge in the corner. Liked how they did the corral areas this year, I think it really helped. But I couldn't get over the lines after for both the finisher merch and the shuttles. The shuttles reminded me of DL! It was about 35 min and kept moving, but they had the nice buses, so that was good.

I ran the half. Having the corrals was a huge improvement over last year. I headed straight over to the finisher's boutique after getting my necklace. The line to pay was insanely long, but it did move pretty quickly. I went back out to the 25 mile mark to watch some friends finish the full before I picked up my checked bag. (Good thing the volunteer had verbally told me which bus had my gear because the sticker came off my bib.) I had no wait for the buses because I hung out until the last "official" finisher made it across the line. Really looking forward to DC.

 

[pigletliz]

Did anybody else do this race? It was so much fun!

I'll write a full report when I get back tomorrow evening but I was just curious to see who else got Tiffany bling!?

I'm looking forward to reading your report. Did you get to see any of the speakers at the expo?

 

[MonkeyDishwasher]

OK, I finally made it home to an actual computer. So, here's my full experience with the Half and the Expotique (since as much as I looked around online, there is so little information about this race!)

EXPOTIQUE:
My friend and I arrive to San Francisco on Thursday morning. So we got to our friend's house, dropped off our luggage, and headed to Union Square where the Expotique was being held. When we first walked by at about noon (when it opened), there was a massive line of people waiting for packet pickup. We left to have lunch, and returned about an hour later to no line whatsoever. Packet pickup was extremely easy, got our bibs and our Nike+ bags, and were sent on our way. (Supposedly there was different swag in the Nike+ bags as compared to the regular bags)

Inside the Eqpotique, there were several areas, but nothing on sale (What?! This is so not a Disney race! LOL). Verizon had a small booth to promote themselves. Kaiser had massage chairs and iPods so you could relax while listening to some tunes and then get a card so you could download three songs later. Yuurbuds had a prize wheel (car magnets, slap bracelets, etc.). Nike was sponsoring four different areas: A sportsbra fitting area, shoe fitting, Nike+/Nikefuel area, and a small area to push their cold weather gear.

Neutrogena was sponsoring five minute makeovers where you could have your lips or eyes or lips done, and afterward you could go to their wall and purchase merchandise to be shipped to your home. Safeway was giving out samples of their trail/nut mixes in adorable purple containers. And finally, Paul Mitchell had hairstylists curling peoples' hair to advertise for their curl products.

Niketown had about two floors' worth of Marathon and Half Marathon merchandise, and the annual display of Runners' names in the window. All 25,000 of them. I was extremely pleased to see that my name was at a kneeling (aka easily photographable) height.

THE RUN:
Near each of the corrals were several yellow school buses. These acted as the Bag check for the runners. As you passed your bag to the volunteers, they gave you a sticker to get your bag back at the finish line. Then the corral lineup started, tons of women everywhere, but everything seemed to be going smoothly.

Finally crossed the start line at about 7:27 (I was in the 12:00+ corral, aka the last one). Followed an easy and mostly downhill path to Pier 1, and ran all the way up the Embarcadero, passing Pier 39, Fisherman's Wharf, and Ghiradelli Square, and eventually passing the Palace of the Fine Arts. After that, it felt like a solid 3-4 miles uphill along the coast, but the downhill was absolutely fantastic. Around mile 6 there was a bra exchange tent (get a new Nike bra and trade in the one you were already wearing), but by the time I got there, they only had XLs left.

After some more coastline running, which would have been a stunning view of the Golden Gate Bridge had there not been so much fog, and a bit of running through Golden State Park, the Finish line finally came into view.

After crossing the finish, everyone was herded through to get their Finisher's tee (neon green/yellow, yes!), bananas, coconut water, strawberries, bagels (plain or blueberry), Ghiradelli chocolate, and of course, the coveted Tiffany and Co. finisher's necklace!

There were several tents in the finisher's area, including a Nike tent for more merchandise purchase opportunities, a Paul Mitchell mini salon ($15 haircuts to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society), a Neutrogena booth, and a photo op with a few of the tuxedo-ed firemen.

In all, a very good race. My legs are definitely not happy with me today, but they'll get over it. And I love having a medal that I can wear daily, and not only did I earn it, it's Tiffany too!

 

[MonkeyDishwasher]

Other things I learned at this race:

-put an extra jacket and towel in checked bag. My running jacket was soaked by the time I crossed the finish line, so trying on merch at the Nike tent was a little more difficult than expected.

-MEMORIZE which bus your bag is in! I was so glad I did, the sticker came off of my bib too!

-stretch first thing after finishing, there's so much to distract you when you finish, and the bus line is not a good time to try.

-Be ready for a long wait at the buses.

-Do it again. That trip was totally worth it!

 

[hungrygreenhippo]

I ran the half. Having the corrals was a huge improvement over last year. I headed straight over to the finisher's boutique after getting my necklace. The line to pay was insanely long, but it did move pretty quickly. I went back out to the 25 mile mark to watch some friends finish the full before I picked up my checked bag. (Good thing the volunteer had verbally told me which bus had my gear because the sticker came off my bib.) I had no wait for the buses because I hung out until the last "official" finisher made it across the line. Really looking forward to DC.

LOL, the first time I read this I was thinking... you have to pay for your necklace? But I'm guessing that by finisher's boutique you mean the merchandise area that MonkeyDishwasher talks about.

OK, I finally made it home to an actual computer. So, here's my full experience with the Half and the Expotique (since as much as I looked around online, there is so little information about this race!)

EXPOTIQUE:
My friend and I arrive to San Francisco on Thursday morning. So we got to our friend's house, dropped off our luggage, and headed to Union Square where the Expotique was being held. When we first walked by at about noon (when it opened), there was a massive line of people waiting for packet pickup. We left to have lunch, and returned about an hour later to no line whatsoever. Packet pickup was extremely easy, got our bibs and our Nike+ bags, and were sent on our way. (Supposedly there was different swag in the Nike+ bags as compared to the regular bags)

Inside the Eqpotique, there were several areas, but nothing on sale (What?! This is so not a Disney race! LOL). Verizon had a small booth to promote themselves. Kaiser had massage chairs and iPods so you could relax while listening to some tunes and then get a card so you could download three songs later. Yuurbuds had a prize wheel (car magnets, slap bracelets, etc.). Nike was sponsoring four different areas: A sportsbra fitting area, shoe fitting, Nike+/Nikefuel area, and a small area to push their cold weather gear.

Neutrogena was sponsoring five minute makeovers where you could have your lips or eyes or lips done, and afterward you could go to their wall and purchase merchandise to be shipped to your home. Safeway was giving out samples of their trail/nut mixes in adorable purple containers. And finally, Paul Mitchell had hairstylists curling peoples' hair to advertise for their curl products.

Niketown had about two floors' worth of Marathon and Half Marathon merchandise, and the annual display of Runners' names in the window. All 25,000 of them. I was extremely pleased to see that my name was at a kneeling (aka easily photographable) height.

THE RUN:
Near each of the corrals were several yellow school buses. These acted as the Bag check for the runners. As you passed your bag to the volunteers, they gave you a sticker to get your bag back at the finish line. Then the corral lineup started, tons of women everywhere, but everything seemed to be going smoothly.

Finally crossed the start line at about 7:27 (I was in the 12:00+ corral, aka the last one). Followed an easy and mostly downhill path to Pier 1, and ran all the way up the Embarcadero, passing Pier 39, Fisherman's Wharf, and Ghiradelli Square, and eventually passing the Palace of the Fine Arts. After that, it felt like a solid 3-4 miles uphill along the coast, but the downhill was absolutely fantastic. Around mile 6 there was a bra exchange tent (get a new Nike bra and trade in the one you were already wearing), but by the time I got there, they only had XLs left.

After some more coastline running, which would have been a stunning view of the Golden Gate Bridge had there not been so much fog, and a bit of running through Golden State Park, the Finish line finally came into view.

After crossing the finish, everyone was herded through to get their Finisher's tee (neon green/yellow, yes!), bananas, coconut water, strawberries, bagels (plain or blueberry), Ghiradelli chocolate, and of course, the coveted Tiffany and Co. finisher's necklace!

There were several tents in the finisher's area, including a Nike tent for more merchandise purchase opportunities, a Paul Mitchell mini salon ($15 haircuts to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society), a Neutrogena booth, and a photo op with a few of the tuxedo-ed firemen.

In all, a very good race. My legs are definitely not happy with me today, but they'll get over it. And I love having a medal that I can wear daily, and not only did I earn it, it's Tiffany too!

Thanks for the great recap! The bra exchange tent sounds so weird but at the same time is kind of cool because I'm a sucker for free stuff. So was the idea that you actually switched bras there at mile 6, it wasn't just like a voucher to redeem later?

---

Have any of you done both the Nike Women's event and the San Francisco Marathon/Half Marathon? How do they compare and which would you recommend more?

 

[Rupert B Puppenstein]

That sounds like such a great race! Thanks for sharing your experiences! Did anyone see the Tiffany & Company Lunarglides? I don't think they were practical, but such a neat idea.

 

[kim3339]

The line to pay was insanely long, but it did move pretty quickly. I went back out to the 25 mile mark to watch some friends finish the full before I picked up my checked bag. (Good thing the volunteer had verbally told me which bus had my gear because the sticker came off my bib.) I had no wait for the buses because I hung out until the last "official" finisher made it across the line. Really looking forward to DC.

Wish I knew that the line moved fast, I might have picked something up. Oh well, I'll check out the outlets in the next couple of weeks. Did they do anything special for the last runner? Thanks again for the heads up about spots opening up last month!

That sounds like such a great race! Thanks for sharing your experiences! Did anyone see the Tiffany & Company Lunarglides? I don't think they were practical, but such a neat idea.

I did. They were just the shoes in the Tiffany blue color. The logo was inside on the shoe insert. The shoe looked like ribbon to me and like you said that part didn't seem too practical. I just kept imagining it continually coming undo. My dad runs in those shoes, the men's version , and says they're great really light too. The 1 thing I didn't like was that to reserve them, you had to buy them and w/o trying them on 1st how do you know your feet work w/ those shoes? But I saw some on the race course and people didn't seem to be having a problem w/ them.

Got my finisher's email today and at the bottom they mentioned that they are doing a 10k on Feb 9th or 10th. It's $40 and you do get something, but they didn't mention what yet. They said more details will be on their FB page. It'll probably be like the 1/2 marathon this past Jan where you use your Nike+ and synch it showing that you ran the distance.

 

[MonkeyDishwasher]

I actually bought the shoes, preordered them through Nordstrom. They're supposed to ship to me this week, but a friend did get hers there. They come with both the Tiffany ribbon style laces and a regular pair of laces.

And yes, the bra tent was there for immediate changing, no vouchers.

And I forgot to answer an earlier question, no I didn't hear any of the speakers. I'm relatively new to running so the talks and q&a's are always lost on me. Maybe someday ill be more invested to make an effort to go catch them though.

 

[Rupert B Puppenstein]

I love my Lunarglides...just hate that a new version comes out so frequently. I don't know if I would wear a $150 pair of them in a race.

 

[Rupert B Puppenstein]

I actually bought the shoes, preordered them through Nordstrom. They're supposed to ship to me this week, but a friend did get hers there. They come with both the Tiffany ribbon style laces and a regular pair of laces.

And yes, the bra tent was there for immediate changing, no vouchers.

And I forgot to answer an earlier question, no I didn't hear any of the speakers. I'm relatively new to running so the talks and q&a's are always lost on me. Maybe someday ill be more invested to make an effort to go catch them though.

I thought you could only get the ones with the Tiffany ribbon and sterling silver tips for the laces and nike plate through the NWM. They didn't even offer shipping, you had to pick them up in person. Are you talking about just the Tiffany Blue color?