This past weekend I rock and rolled the San Francisco Rock N Roll half marathon. I ran with girlfriends with the goal of having fun for the love of running. We were successful. This was not my fastest half marathon… in fact this was the slowest half marathon I have ever run. But you know what… it was also the most fun I have ever had in a race! No kidding.
Fun is what you make of it… and we decided to enjoy the hills, the views, the running community, and have fun! We succeeded. We took loads of photos along the course (I took 189 photos over the course of 13.1 miles… no joke!).
We did handstands. We danced. We took a selfie with Elvis on the Golden Gate bridge. I even hula hooped!
Sometimes all you need is a break from competing (with yourself or others) and just enjoy life. This weekends race was that for me… running (and a lot of walking to be honest) while having fun!
When you stop doing things for fun you might as well be dead. Hemingway
The race start was lined with the usual porta potties and anxious runners. The vibe and energy was positive and filled with energy. We made it to our corral and even managed to meet up with a few other new-to-us running friends for a group photo before the start.
Thanks Brian for the group photo at the start. This group was ready to rock and roll and have a blast on the hills of San Francisco! They had their music ready, boom boxes blaring, and the energy was contagious. Running (and the community of runners) is so much fun!
Once the race started, we ran for a bit and turned to meet our first hill. We hear a constant loud thumping… only to turn and find out that Doctor Dribble was quickly busting up the hill with his balls. This guy is amazing. He runs the race while dribbling TWO basketballs the duration of the race… all for charity. He is a great guy and was game for an in motion while dribbling and running while tackling a monster hill selfie!
The views the first 4 miles of the course were amazing. Of course, you had to climb hills to enjoy and appreciate the sunrise and views… but it was worth it.
I loved this motivational sign as we were climbing yet another hill. Worried about this hill? Come on you’ll get over it. snicker We did.
Near the top of that hill we were able to enjoy the first views of the Golden Gate bridge. We took advantage of the photo opportunity to take loads of photos, while enjoying the opportunity to catch our breath too.
Oh yes. At this part of the race the real fun began. We started being goofy and doing handstands. Yes. Why not. Our goal for this race was to have fun… and doing a handstand is always fun.
When we turned the corner to start our adventure running across the golden gate bridge, my first time running across it, we met up with our running friends from the start.
The mobile running party… and joined them for an impromptu Do The Hustle dance. Yes, I do look like I have no idea what I am doing. I have done the electric slide before. I do know how to dance. But, for some reason I couldn’t figure out how to dance the hustle on a hill during a race.
I think I took like 85 photos while running across the bridge. Not kidding. Running and snapping photos was a first… but fun at the same time. I couldn’t get over what a beautiful day it was… and how I had never seen the bridge so clearly before. Usually it is overcast or foggy when I visit.
For this course, we did a u-turn just off the bridge. We pretty much ran miles 4-8 on the bridge. It was congested with lots of runners taking photo opportunities and those racing for their PR. Yet I think everyone can share that it was fun running on the bridge.
I think my favorite race day photo is above. It was taken just after the turn around to head back over the bridge to tackle the second half of the race.
Oh yes. This happened. A Rock N Roll staff member was dressed as Elvis. He was directing the runners to stay in their lane… and I just had to take a photo with him. A sweaty, salty, selfie on the Golden Gate bridge. Good times.
After the bridge, we goofed off some more to take a hundred more photos of the bridge. Oh yes, we did more handstands.
We also ran with these guys off and on throughout the course. We did the hustle with them around mile four right before the bridge. As we were running down the course I decided to do a running selfie with them… singing to the song blaring on his boom box. Did I mention that we had fun during this race!? Also… we weren’t the only ones enjoying ourselves. Fun was the theme of the day!
Yes. More handstands. Gorgeous day. Gorgeous view. Soft grass with honking geese. Why not venture off the course a bit to goof off and do handstands. It seemed like a great idea at the time!
The second part of the course had more bands, entertainers, and rock n roll. We even rocked on with this huge blow up dude. For some reason he totally reminded me of Jack Black from the School of Rock movie.
After rocking out to a few bands, an overstuffed balloon arch rocker… we continued on up and over more hills. Nearing the end we came to another band with hula-hoops. I figured, why not jam to their music while attempting to hula hoop. It has been years since I last tried it. You know what, I rocked it! Kidding… kind of. I did manage to hula for some time though!
Before we knew it, we had the finish line in sight. It was a downhill finish. We cruised right on in. I really enjoyed running the race with my friend, Yvonne. We crushed our only goal of having fun while running. Time was not an issue… and having fun for the love of running was met and exceeded.
Finishing time was 2:52.
This weekend’s race was all about having fun for the love of running. I enjoyed chatting with new running friends (strangers) who didn’t hear me because they were listening to music. I enjoyed giggling and just being out on the course taking it all in. It was a fun time.
My running self needed this fun run. It has been a long year of training runs and running for time. This was just the race I needed to refuel my love of running. Sometimes you just need to have fun and cast aside all other pressures to refuel your love and passion about something. For me, that was running for fun this weekend.
That is so awesome… fun runs are TOTALLY needed – & your time was still great for all the fun that was had! 🙂
I saw the video of the hustle on Pavement Runner’s blog – awesome!
I would want ALL my runs to be like this… & to have a selfie with an Elvis impersonator 🙂
Thank you! Yes. Super fun! 🙂 Maybe you should run a race in Vegas for the selfie with Elvis!? 🙂
I *love* all of your handstand photos! Running in SF is the best! I went out last fall for the Nike Women’s Marathon and even though it was foggy and overcast, it was still beautiful. I’ve run my last two halfs “for fun” and noticed a huge difference too. Congrats on your finish!
Thanks. I love busting out handstands in random places. This race was fun to do them… and on a hill most of the time was the added challenge. 🙂
I ran Nike two years ago and it was overcast/foggy too… but agreed a beautiful course.
looks like you had a great time! Hilly huh? I’m the DC Rock n Roll Race Ambassador and have had so much fun. I did The Las Vegas RnR last November. You should definitely add it to your list-it’s a blast!
Yes! I was going to run the RnRLV Strip at Night last year with girlfriends… but our schedules (family/husbands) didn’t work out. Maybe this year. That race is definitely on my bucket list. 🙂
That looks like SO much fun!!!
Yes. We had so much fun. We weren’t the only ones out on the course goofing off and having fun… which made the race all the MORE fun! 🙂
HA! I love everything about this 😀
Wow, 189 pictures! You got some great ones of the bridge! I love RnR races. They really are a lot of fun! I have read about that ball dribbler before. I can’t believe that he is not considered a hazard to other runners! What would happen if he should lose control of one of those balls? Glad you had a fun time!
Thanks. It was a lot of fun.
You know, amazingly enough he had AMAZING ball control during the course when I saw him. There was one hiccup on the bridge where there were bumpers in place (where the gaps on the bridge are) to keep the runners safe… and it looked like he was struggling a bit… but he didn’t flounder and kept right along. He has amazing hand-eye coordination! I was impressed. 🙂
This was the best race recap I’ve ever read! I am so jealous of this race, it sounds like you had a blast! I actually have been stuck in never ending training all year and today I finally had the chance to just run around Philly for fun instead of for time. So I ran past all the tourist attractions and took selfies in front of them! It was so much fun and it took me an hour to run 3.5 miles due to all the pictures and traffic lights. But it was just what I needed! I may need to do this during a race sometime too because yours sounds awesome!
Yay! How fun! I think sometimes we as runners need to take a step back and reflect upon WHY we started running in the first place. Oftentimes we (ME) get caught up in the whole training for speed/time/performance that we lose the LOVE of running. I know that taking these next few months ‘off’ to just enjoy running have been SO good for my running soul. 🙂
This race looks like SUCH a blast! The RnR races can be a lot of fun, and what an awesome course. Great recap! 🙂
Thank you! 🙂
I used to be completely focused on PRs and going as fast as I could. I just kept getting injured and burned out. Now I try to run as much as I can as HAPPY as I can. It has made all the difference in the world! 🙂
Way to go!!! What an amazing experience! I love all the pictures.
Wow, congrats!!! What a view while you run!
Great pix. Looks like lots of fun. My hubby and I want to run a local 5 mile next year. Hopefully we’ll be in good enough shape to finish it.
That’s so cool he dribbled and ran! It seems like you had a lot of fun!
Looks like you had a ball! Sent this to my sister so she knows what we can do when we run our first half together.
What fun! I love the sign the one guy had about the hill!
Wow, what a fun race! This is what it is all about. The idea of running a half marathon is much more appealing when there is this kind fun during the run.
The scenery looked pretty cool too 😉
Oh my goodness, what fun!! I got all giddy excited just reading your post!
I want to run with you some time, because OMG! You are SO MUCH FUN!! 😉
Totally loving the guy holding hte sign! And great job!!!!!
It looks like you had a blast! They do that same race here in Vegas every December & I have a lot of friends who run it- they always have fun, too!
I’m not a runner, but I could appreciate just how much freaking FUN this was for you. It sounds like something I would definitely do if I were a runner though – fun only, dance, sing, be silly.
You have such a zest for life about you! I love all these snapshots throughout the race. The whole thing was really so full of energy!
bridges scare me, i’m not sure I could’ve run across. Looks like so much fun though
You know what… bridges (in traffic) are one of my fears. Yet running across it I was okay. Granted, I couldn’t SEE the water or below me because it was so crowded. 🙂
Love how you took a MILLION pictures! I’d be the same way! my favorite is your handstand in front of the bridge!
Thanks! Yes, we had a blast… and I think that is one of my favorites too! 🙂
I love it. I am a “baby” runner – just did my first 10k two weeks ago (at a SNAILS pace!) but I FINISHED! lol I got bitten by the running bug though – I totally fell in love. Excited to keep getting faster and going longer! Love this post!