The San Francisco Marathon July 26, 2009
Once again, another 26 miles - started out like staring up a mountain, literally up from Chrissy Field to the Golden Gate Bridge.
several firsts for the day,

• first timers [any distance] - Raju Mama[Manju's Dad], Thatte Uncle[Sachin's Dad], Kalpana, Piyush
• repeating and loving it - Sachin, Ganesh, Rohini, yours-truly

The Run

Once again started the race a little too fast, got carried away and started feeling the follies of the move around mile 17. Crossing the Golden Gate continues to be a fascinating moment. Only place on this race where there is a turning to meet the people ahead and behind me. On the bridge, as I was approaching the vista point (turnaround), Piyush was already headed back and looking strong. Saw several more acquaintances at the turn -  must be a combination of being at such a popular race and having been at this running thing for a few years, i was feeling good. On the climb up after the bridge, came across JayashreeM, sweating out the climb. Reminder to self - got to go all the 26 miles and point 2 miles after; slow down. During the phase when there's energy in the limbs and the crowds exist, i have a tough time not to get carried away and give it all i got. On one of the climbs saw
The run through the park was quite exhilerating, and somewhere in there the 2nd half runners started trickling in.


The Finish

First finish with Sachin, and a good one at that.
drove around san francisco's 1-way streets to get back to golden gate park; that's where Kalpana's car was parked. dropped of Uncle, Sachin and Kalpana there after what seemed to take about as long by auto that it took us on our legs.

The celebration...
Walked into the house to a yummy chocolate cake, thanks to Prajakta and Sujata. This was a day where the icing came before the cake and both tasted like awesome!