This one was my furthest race, San Francisco!!  I booked tickets on my favorite airline (Yay, miles!!) and a hotel room kinda close to Union Square, where the race would start.  About a week before the race, I remembered that my friend Robbie lived out in San Fran.  I hadn't talked to him in years and decided this would be a great time to catch up.  Called him up and he was soooo amazing.  He offered to pick us up from the airport, and to let use crash at his place.  He has a studio apartment just a few blocks away from the race start and he has his "bed" setup on the floor of his huge walk-in closet to make it more like a one bedroom.  He mentioned we would have to sleep on sleeping bags on his living room floor, but that was definitely worth saving the $500ish it would have cost to stay in the hotel, so we took him up on the offer.

Mike and I flew out on Friday evening after work.  There were some delays through ORD (they were even starting to setup all the cots as we walked by) but we managed to make it through and get into SFO around 11 PM.  Robbie was there waiting for us, and drove us back to his place where he'd already setup a bed on the floor for us. 

The next morning we woke up pretty early (3 hour time difference will do that to ya) and headed out to get some Northern style Vietnamese Pho.  (Yelp review is here)  Ok, so yet another thing Robbie does for us...hooks us up with the great places to eat.  This place was AWESOME!!  I'm still craving it now, two weeks later.  We walked around San Fran a bit more, and were trying to figure out what we'd do that day when we overlooked Union Square and saw HUGE crowds.  Oooops!! I had forgotten that packet pickup was Saturday only...good thing we walked that way.  We headed down, I picked up my number and chip and then wanted to check out a bit of merchandise.  They didn't have an expo, but the tents were right next door to a NikeTown...so we popped in there to see what I could find.

The place was MOBBED with women!!!  I couldn't believe how many people they could legally fit in there.  And all the shirts were gone, except for the extra large.  No biggie, I bought a skirt and a pair shorts.  Robbie waited in the super long line while I was picking them out, so I got to check out right away (seriously, how amazing is this guy?!!?).  Then the girl right in front of him tells me she's decided not to buy the burgundy shirt she has and it's a size M....SCORE!! 

We walked around a bit more, exploring Chinatown and stopping at the Chinese playground to meet Rob's friends and sue their restroom.   Mike's foot starting hurting, and we managed to make it back to the apartment before it was too terrible  Decided to go to make dinner reservations at a Burmese fusion place in the Castro district (woohoo!!).  Then in the time remaining, Robbie drove us around to see the sights.  He drove us up to Coit tower, and then to Fisherman's wharf where we passed these boats taking their last tour of the bay.  $10 to go all the way out under the Golden Gate bridge, around Alcatraz and back.  Sweet deal!  By the time we got back, we were already running late for dinner, so we hoofed it to the car and took off.  We found parking right away, which surprised Robbie, since he had assumed it would take at least 30 minutes to find something.  Dinner was awesome!!  It was mostly noodle bowls where you got to choose your protein and sauce and even noodle type.  You can find the menu here.

So, the next morning was the race.  I had thought it would start at 8, with it being a late October race...but we looked at the packet when we got back and found it it started at 7!!   UGH!!  Sooo happy I still had jet lag.  

Hmmm...this is turning into a trip/food report.  I might just put the race report in the next post.  For now, let's just say the race went VERY well (for me).

Mike and Robbie went to breakfast as I was running and planned on getting to the finish before I got there.  But they got a bit lost and then stuck in crazy traffic, and I ended up finishing first.  Good thing, too...because there was NOOO parking around the finish area, and the only way to bus there was to be a runner.  I have no idea how other racer's friends were able to get out there.  They ended up parking at a Safeway, that had a roaming tow truck...so Robbie went in to shop while Mike came and got me out of the finishers area. 

The plan for that day was to take the BART out to Oakland and have lunch my Aunt Kim (no actual relation, but she is my mom's best friend) and her daughter Kim Anh.  Aunt Kim actually lives in McLean, only a few minutes away from me...but she was in Cali because Kim Anh was VERY pregnant and due any day.   Well, any day ended up being that day, and she was taken to the hospital around the time  I was reaching mile 6 :)  Since Aunt Kim didn't have a car to pick us up from the BART station, we were going to call it off until Robbie suggested he could drive us out there.  (again, I'm gonna have to stop bragging about how great he is, but he's gonna have to help out by not being so great)  We made great time and got to Oakland in less than 30 minutes.  Aunt Kim fed us some pizza, and we took her granddaughter (Kim Anh's almost 2 year old daughter, Kate) for a walk around the neighborhood.  Holy crap was that a nice area!!  Even Robbie who had been disparaging Oakland a bit was in awe.  Once Aunt Kim got Kate down for a nap, we took off...she had been up since 4:30 when Kim Anh's contractions started and it looked like she could use a nap herself!   Truth be told, I really really needed a nap too!

Got back to the apartment and I just crashed on the floor while Rob and Mike got some work done on their computers. I woke up just in time to watch a movie with Mike before dinner. 

Ahhhh, dinner!!   My first night in San Fran, I mentioned that I wanted to go to either the Stinkin' Rose or House of Prime Rib.  Robbie's eyes lit up a bit when I mentioned House of Prime Rib, so the decision was made...and daaaaammmmnnnnn was that a good decision.  For about $38 a person we got salad, steak, creamed corn or spinach, a potato, bread, cornbread and Yorkshire pudding (pricey, but really not especially comparing it to other nice steakhouses, and considering how much food we got).  The prime rib was ridiculously good...never had anything like it.  The Yorkshire pudding and cornbread were brought out straight from the oven, and the cornbread was shaped like little corn on the cob! :)  Robbie's friend, the Colonel, came along with us...and was great company...regaling us with stories of his ex-girlfriends and his dog. (hmmm...that makes him sound boring, but I promise, he was hilarious)  This dinner was the perfect end to a perfect trip.

This trip was sooo wonderful, we had the best luck ever.  We had beautiful weather, no fog, easy parking, amazing food, great company and the best host we could ever ask for!  We even managed to pay him back a tiny bit by fixing his wireless router :)