I left my PR in San Francisco...

I still remember Shannon in my office saying:

"I want to be a Half-Fanatic...we could do the San Francisco Half-Marathon the weekend before the Tacoma Narrows Half-Marathon..."

I can't for sure say what my reaction was but I think it involved silence and repeated blinking of the eyes. Oh but she was serious folks...

And a few weeks later here we were at the start of the San Francisco Half-Marathon. Shannon hooked me up, like a good SugarMama, with some plane tickets and hotel and we were off! It was a quick weekend trip to San Fran and I've never been. It was a whirlwind trip with a run smack dab in the middle.

So this was literally the first picture I took in San Francisco. I know I'm not as well-versed in the bible as others but I really don't recall learning this in Sunday School...

So we knew we were close to the hotel - here's Shannon trying to figure out our San Fran map.

Hello I'm a tourist! Hello San Francisco girl - what's your name?

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So finding our hotel was an adventure. This nice retired man named Hank took us under his wing at the Information counter and walked us to our hotel. Granted he walked us through one of the REALLY bad streets in San Fran...it scared the bejesus out of me! Seriously. It was like walking in the movie 28 DAYS. One person was passed out on a hood of a Jeep Cherokee...I may of seen a needle in the arm too! Or not, it's better for my story. Anyway - And the bus stop was even worse. It went like this:

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Angry Homeless Man with Cart: Ma'am! I need a paper dollar - I'll give you four quarters and fifteen cents for a paper dollar.

Me: I don't have a paper dollar, I'm sorry. (and I truly didn't. SugarMamaShannon was gonna pay my bus fare).

Angry Homeless Man with Cart: You're LYING!!! How you gonna ride the bus with no paper dollars?

Me: Sir, I honestly don't have a paper dollar.

Angry Homeless Man with Cart: You are a LIAR!!!

SugarMamaShannon: *with sneer on face* Why do you need a paper dollar? You already have a dollar in change.

Angry Homeless Man with Cart: Because I can't carry all this change!

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*At this point I space out and start staring straight ahead during the confrontation until...*

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Angry Homeless Man with Cart: Well f*ck you! You C*nt A$$ B*tch Wh*res!!

OK. That was a violent confrontation I'm on edge. We hide around the corner from the Angry Homeless Man with Cart until our bus comes to take us to the Race Expo. Once were on the stuffy hot bus, and I'm on edge still, it gets more and more crowded. Soon some man starts running around the bus closing all the windows. When someone tells him they'd like the windows open he tells them to ride the next bus.

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We got off the bus.

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Another shady neighborhood. At this point I have to ask - where is Full House? Where is The Rock even? I want Stanley Goodspeed right now! I'm full of tension, walking fast with eyes straight ahead while SugarMamaShannon is calm and focused.

We run into a runner and he confirms were close to the Expo. On the way this wonderful marcher led the way. Swinging his POA MIA flag and singing about all the different military bases in the USA. I start to lose tension...thanks Patriotic Man.

Finally at the Expo. I have fear of crowds but I welcomed this one. No one was angry, homeless or had carts. We pick up our race packets, race gel, snag free items and were off!

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Thankfully there were free shuttles that took us to the waterfront so we didn't have to ride the crazy city bus again.

Here's SugarMamaShannon being happy and carefree. It was so nice to be near the water again. This is what I envisioned San Fran to be...*sigh*

Having a moment with San Francisco....

Where in the world is Carmen San Francisco?

So all I know from San Francisco is what I saw on Full House and The Rock. And wasn't this building in The Rock? They showed it before he got a room in The Fairmont...was that the name of the hotel? Anyway, I was excited to see it.

I just liked this angle.

So we walked our way to North Beach (Italian District) for some good carbo load. Thank you Mona Lisa and all the men who called us "Bella". And really, you may not believe me but SugarMamaShannon was a witness: Dakota Fanning was a couple tables down. Loves it.

Oh, here's one thing I noticed - San Fran really isn't that friendly of a town. But ChinaTown - WAY friendly. Thanks for the tea ChinaTown!

And before we got to bed for the evening we see some San Fran Trannies - why Hello ladies!

What time did we get up in the morning? 5:30am? I dunno. But we had to catch the shuttle to take us to Golden Gate Park and then wait for an hour for the race to start.

Look at the lovely coastal trees guarded by the runners in waiting. I was tired but I was still enjoying this new city.

This pretty lake was next to our start. We still had the coastal fog keeping us cool. As we walked around the lake I still couldn't grasp that I was running a half-marathon very soon. I was still getting used to this new city that I'd only been in for 12 hours.

Our running feet are ready - and soon we were off! The cool thing about starting in Golden Gate Park is that I was totally disoriented. It felt like we were running in circles - up roads and around lakes all over the park.

Being so distracted by figuring out my surroundings soon we were at Mile 6 and it felt like a breeze.

That's us runners, finally leaving the park to make our way back down to the waterfront.

This is mile 7 I think. Haight Neighborhood? I dunno. It looked interesting as I was running by.

Yay for downhill!!

And then some uphill...I think this was our last one. Mile 9 or 10 I believe. Almost done! This race is flying by!

So I tried to run by one Officer singing "Ya'll can't run from Tha Poh-leece..." but got no reaction. I thought I was funny. But this Officer smiled and posed for me as I ran by - thanks lady in blue!

We have another mile at this point. And I swear this is when the miles get long. Feelings check: I haven't walked once except to drink water. I can't start walking now - not sure if I can do it!!

Is this the AT&T Field? I'm just trying to distract myself. At this point I'm telling myself "I didn't walk for 12 miles, I can't let that go to waste and walk now." Shannon is slightly ahead of me pulling me with her with an imaginary rope - just what I needed.

Now this is a pretty view. But not pretty enough to distract me. Another half-mile? At this point I tell Shannon

"I don't think I can make it." And she replies

"Just 5 more minutes of pain..."

So true. But it's a long 5 minutes.

And here's my view of almost being at the finish line. It feels so far away. At the end my Garmin Forerunner read 13.3 miles. That's .2 miles longer than it should of been dangit! But I was soooo stinking happy because I received a Personal Record (PR). I was so happy I wanted to cry...but not before I stretched. My legs hurt!!

SugarMamaShannon getting her medal - Yay Shannon!!

Thanks CNN....

Thanks Larry King....

So after our stretching, bathroom emergencies, limping and showers, Shannon and I decided to continue the quick tourism and take a Trolley to Fisherman's Wharf. Something I decided looks and sounds better than it feels. This is a picture inside of the trolley after Shannon had some words with the girl who shoved her over on the seat. People still aren't friendly here but I found a nice family to speak with.

We decided to go to Fisherman's Wharf for our hard-earned post-race Burger and Beer(s). Freaking crowded. This is one of the only pictures I took.

Well, except for this one. I was wearing my Colorado Prisons shirt, I couldn't resist taking a picture of Alcatrez with it on. Another The Rock moment. Stanley went home and f*cked the prom queen.

Not to intentionally cuss but to accurately quote the movie - you understand.....

We decided to walk from Fisherman's Wharf back to the hotel. It's far but I don't know how far. We were zombies at this point. But it really did finally give us our exercise of the day since running 13.1 miles wasn't enough.

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Like my impression of Sue Lombard Street? Mirror images!!!

Shannon's knees hurt so she kept walking down stairs backwards. I took a picture and she is saying here

"They're not going to know I'm walking backyards in a picture."

Good point. But now you know because I told you.

This is Grace Church that we passed on the way home. It was grand, creepy and beautiful. None of our pictures were turning out and then our batteries were drained (oh yeah, it's haunted I'm sure of it...). Anyway, I decided to play around with colors on this one to creep it up.

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7 days later Shannon and I ran another half-marathon to qualifiy for the Half-Fanatics. Oh, and Shannon recently found out she had already qualified - she's such a running maniac that she can't even remember how many races she does in one week.

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But anyway - Shannon did awesome at the 2nd half-marathon - she improved our San Fran time by 6 minutes. Our miss lovely TBagBrown improved her Rock 'N Roll time by 2 minutes. And me? Krista? Not so much. I hit the wall. I bottomed out. I was done for. But I finished, and I officially qualify for a Half-Fanatic title. Yay!!!

To my SugarMamaShannon - thank you soooo much for pushing me, encouraging me, inspiring me and introducing me to San Fran. It was one of the best weekend quickies I've ever had!
Experiencing a new city by running - priceless!!

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Honorable mention to Big Bro and Andrea for not once, twice, three times but four times being there for me in my 2nd race. Your commitment and encouragement means the world to me!

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And Hulster: Of course Thank you. But we've already gone over this...

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So...when is the next race Shannon???