Long Beach meets San Francisco!
This weekend, the marketing guru from the Long Beach International City Bank Marathon came up to visit for some fun! Since we both have pretty similar jobs at our respective races, and we’re both races in The California Dreamin Racing Series, we figured we’d have a ton to talk about.
I picked Danica up at the airport on Thursday morning, and we got to chatting immediately. We had so much to talk about- Social Media, Print Marketing, Expo Visits, T-Shirts, oh, and running. We’re both 20-somethings and have each finished a handful of marathons and half marathons. After meeting to talk about all-things-marathon, I figured I should take her out for what we do best around here- Lunch at Whole Foods, followed by a run!
We decided to run the course of The SF Marathon, so we stopped into The Hyatt (our host hotel) to drop off our extra gear, and headed to the start line. We ran along the waterfront, iPhones in hand, and dodging tourists along our way. We stopped at our fave hot-spots along the way- Fisherman’s Wharf, Ghirardelli Square, Fort Mason, Crissy Field, Sports Basement, and The Golden Gate Bridge! After leaving the bridge we ran down along Lincoln (still staying true to the course) until we left the Presidio at 25th. We ran down to Golden Gate Park and took a series of buses along GGP, Haight Street, and into the Mission to see the whole course. As we hopped on and off buses, we ran in between taking pictures and tweeting/facebooking the whole way.
Our GU Picnic after a few hilly miles in the 1st Half!
On our way back, we picked up Dublin from his puppy playday at Wag Hotel. He was excited to meet his new friend (Danica) and we ran our last few blocks back to the office.
The next day we were up to some similar trouble. Abe (The Director of our Training Program) was beginning his 24-hour run for ACS. We helped get him set up and watched him take off at 10AM with some other runners. We all took shifts running with him throughout the day to keep him motivated. At around 1, we went to meet him and ran a leg of the run with him before pooping out and heading to lunch at Perry’s.
After all the running (maybe 12 miles on Thursday and 6ish on Friday) we needed some food- I had the Homemade Veggie Burger and Fries. Perry’s makes their Veggie Burgers with a hint of magic or something because they are a-maze-ing. (Sidenote: I made SURE these are on the menu for our VIP Party/Hospitality Race Weekend).
After a late lunch, my new friend took off to spend the weekend gallivanting around the East Bay. I promised to visit her in Long Beach soon (well, after July that is) and run the Long Beach Marathon course with her! Once she left, I did a little more digging on their website- the LB ICB Marathon runs right along the beach, past the Queen Mary, staying along the waterfront for the majority of the course- it looks like SO much fun! It’s supposed to be a really easy, flat course. Also, it is the day before the Boston Marathon opens registration in October, so perfect for a qualifier!
Really excited to have met my California Dreamin’ Partner-in-Crime, next we’ll have to pay a visit to our friends at the Surf City Marathon (yes, the ones with the rad Surf Board medals!). And for those of you who just can’t get enough California Sun- run all 3 Races in the series and you get this awesome jacket and medal!
Ok, back to race planning, just a little over 60 days until race day!
