Enter to Win a Race Entry to the San Francisco Nike Women’s Half Marathon on October 19th, 2014!
Once again this year, I am partnering with Whole Foods Market Northern California, and I will be running for them in the San Francisco Nike Women’s Half Marathon. I am really excited to have been asked again (by Whole Foods), and I am even more excited that I WILL BE GIVING AWAY TWO ENTRIES to this SOLD OUT race right here on this website (SCROLL DOWN FOR INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO ENTER)!
You might be familiar with this race because of it’s scenic course through San Francisco and the only half marathon series to give it’s finishers a Tiffany necklace instead of a finisher’s medal!! Not only that, but the necklace is given to you by a firefighter dressed in a tuxedo! 🙂
Here I am following last year’s race wearing my finisher’s necklace (and shirt from the race!):
I’ll be sharing some recipes with food provided to me by Whole Foods Market, and providing my training reports from now leading up to October 19th.
It’s been a while since I have run a half marathon (last November), so I will be putting in some hard work from now until race day. Here’s a favorite post of mine sponsored by Whole Foods from last year’s training.
Here’s this year’s course map:
This giveaway is for a race entry only. Once you win, you will be responsible for the $180 entry fee.–The entry does not include transportation, hotel, or parking the day of the race. Keep in mind there is NO race packet pick up the day of the race, so you will need to make arrangements to attend the expo on Thursday, October 16, 12:00PM – 8:00PM, Friday, October 17, 10:00AM – 8:00PM, or Saturday, October 18, 8:00AM – 6:00PM to collect your bib number.
TO ENTER TO WIN A RACE ENTRY FOR THE NIKE WOMEN’S HALF MARATHON ON OCTOBER 19th, 2014 at 6:30am, PLEASE DO ALL OF THE FOLLOWING:
1. Like cavegrrl.com on Facebook here.
2. Leave a comment in the comment section below and tell me why you want to run the race!
3. Like Whole Foods Sacramento on Facebook here or Whole Foods Roseville here.
4. Follow Whole Foods Northern California on twitter here.
4. Share this post on Facebook.
I will be choosing TWO winners on September 1st!
Good luck! 🙂
You can find Whole Foods on Facebook here and on twitter here. My local store is in Roseville on Facebook here.
You can find the Run Nike Women’s Series and more information on the race on Facebook here.
Post-Race Wrap Up: Nike Women’s Half Marathon Series
It’s been exactly one week since I crossed the finish line in San Francisco at the Nike Women’s Half Marathon. I was so honored to have run with the Whole Foods Market team and promote their stores. It makes me so happy to have a fitness/healthy living themed website and that I can inspire others to take care of themselves just a little bit better/more.
This website keeps me motivated, too. It keeps me in such a good place mentally with food and exercise. I would never expect someone else to live a lifestyle that I had not already adopted for myself. It makes me happy to be nearly 100% gluten free and about 90% sugar free. I feel so grateful that Whole Foods Market reached out to me and offered a place for me in a sold out race, paid for my race entry, and funded nearly all groceries I brought home in the last two months. It was such an advantage to have the best food available to me (local, organic, grass-fed, you name it) to nourish my body and help train for the race.
So here are some photos I took and some reflections I had on the race:
I was unable to pick up my bib prior to the Expo, so I attended on Saturday. Props to the staff at the Expo for being so efficient. I walked right up to an open computer kiosk and was helped immediately. I also received my pace bracelet so I knew where to line up for the start of the race the next day.
Then I met with some of the staff at the Whole Foods booth inside the Expo. I was given my team shirt that I was supposed to wear during the race (if I wanted to wear it) and I was all set! Let the nerves kick in…
But first, it was dinner at a great restaurant (walking distance from the hotel in which I stayed) called Le Charm. I posted this picture because I was wearing the Nike Women’s Finisher’s necklace from last year that my friend Maria gave me. By the way, if you are ever in San Francisco check out Le Charm (SOMA district). They have a great $35 pre fixe dinner and a very sensible wine list.
A little bit about the race. It’s crowded. Like, really crowded. This race had a record 30,000 participants. And the pace bracelets we were given didn’t mean much because somehow despite being corralled in the second wave of runners, there was a huge bottleneck from people who were walkers/joggers and must have taken off during the first start time. It was bob and weave for nearly the entire race. But, it was the biggest race I have ever run in, so there was really no way around it. And the course was challenging. If you have ever run the Flying Pig Half Marathon in Cincinnati, it was similar to that, only a little higher in total elevation gain.
So, those were the little caveats of the race. And here’s me running in it! 🙂
The positives? Quite a lot. The weather was perfect. It was pretty chilly before the start of the race, but I stayed about a half mile from the starting line, so I jogged to it as a warm up.
The same course I described earlier as challenging, is also quite amazing and scenic. You get to see a lot of touristy San Francisco, as well park areas and some very nice residential areas. I loved running past the Argonaut Hotel, Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum, and the Buena Vista Café (Fisherman’s Wharf). And one good thing about the hills that start just after that, if you must run uphill, you then get to run back down! Thanks to a few long runs in Incline Village, I am more able to handle/control my downhill running, so I was able to take advantage of the downhills to make up some of the time I lost to the crowds earlier in the race. And I know I was smiling in the photo below because I was feeling strong and there was a great song channeling into my ears. The air felt so good on my head and in my lungs.
The spectators were pretty thick along the course and it makes me happy to think that some of them are just locals who got out of bed and wanted to watch all the runners go by.
My official chip time was 1:55:14, which was an 8:48 min/mile pace. Not a PR, but I am happy with my time considering the circumstances. I finished 139th out of 3065 people. And yes, the part about receiving a Tiffany necklace from a San Francisco firefighter when you finish the race is true!! So, I get to wear my “medal” for this half marathon every single day.
When I got home from San Francisco that afternoon, I ran 3.1 more miles because I knew I would be pretty trashed the next day anyway. I also thought about all the women who had just run the full marathon. And my total for the day 16.7-ish still didn’t even come close to the majestic 26.2. That day got my mileage for the next week off to a great start, and by yesterday I had put in 55.7 miles… which is the most I have ever run in a week. Am I considering a marathon? You bet I am. But I still don’t feel like I am ready. I would like to run at least 3 or for more 1/2 marathons and a 20 mile race before I attempt to run a full marathon. The reason why is because I would like to run the entire marathon as opposed to walking any of it. To me, that’s the point of a race of any distance. To run it as fast as you can on that given day–although nine times out of ten the race will not be perfect, so you suck it up and just try and do your best.
I took this shot of me wearing my finisher’s shirt and my 2013 finisher’s necklace. You can tell I was tired, but felt so satisfied. Thank you SO MUCH Whole Foods Northern California for asking me to partner with you for this event and I hope we can do it again next year!! 🙂
You can find Whole Foods on Facebook here and on twitter here. My local store is in Roseville on Facebook here. The Nike Women’s Series is on Facebook here.
Grocery Trip and Dinner from Whole Foods Market (Nike Women’s Half Marathon Series)
Sorry for the delay on this post! I have been pretty behind on writing. 😉 It’s race week! Here’s another healthy recipe brought to you by Whole Foods! -cg 🙂
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First of all, I’d like to again thank Whole Foods Market of Northern California for sponsoring me for the Nike Women’s Half Marathon Series, and giving me a gift card to spend on food during training.
This week, my grocery trip/list was light. I had already stocked up (hoarded food, LOL) from a grocery trip a few days ago. So the above was really all I needed to make it through to the weekend.
1 pound of Brussels sprouts
1/2 pound of pork sausage
2 pears
1 cantaloupe
1 butternut squash
1 acorn squash
1 onion
1 avocado
1-6 pack of Zevia Ginger Ale
1 bottle of Roger d’ Anoia Cava (fueled by the grape!)
For dinner that evening, I made a stuffed acorn squash with onions, sausage, kale, and basil, with a side of roasted Brussels sprouts.
For the Brussels Sprouts:
1 Pound Brussels sprouts
1/4 cup olive oil
Slice the Brussels Sprouts and drizzle them with olive oil, then bake at 385°F until they are golden brown and crispy.
Now for the squash! You’ll need:
1/2 pound of pork sausage
1 acorn squash
1 onion (sliced)
1 bunch of fresh basil leaves
4 cups kale (shredded)
1 egg
1/4 cup grated parmigiano reggiano cheese (or parmesan cheese)
Split, de-seed and place your acorn squash on a cookie sheet and drizzle with a little olive oil. Prebake the squash at 400° for 30 minutes then remove from oven. Set aside to cool.
Cook the pork sausage in a medium skillet until it is about halfway done. Remove from the pan. Then sauté the onion in the fat from the sausage. When the onion is browned/translucent, add the sausage back in with the kale, and wilt the kale in the mixture over low heat. Then add the basil last, and wilt it a little as well. Remove the mixture from the heat, and add the egg and the cheese. Mix until completely incorporated. Then divide the mixture into two parts, and stuff each half of the acorn squash. Then return the squash to the oven (385°) and bake the squash until the stuffing is set and the acorn squash is fully baked.
You can find Whole Foods on Facebook here and on twitter here. My local store is in Roseville on Facebook here. The Nike Women’s Series is on Facebook here.
Whole Foods: What’s in My Grocery Bag? (Nike Women’s Half Marathon Series)
As you can see in the photo above, Whole Foods hooked me up BIG TIME with a goodie bag full of nutritious foods to fuel my training for the San Francisco Nike Women’s Half Marathon.
There were six Larabars, a bag of kale, two tangelos, two bags of Peeled Snacks dried fruits, a tetrapack of Almond Milk (365 brand), a bag of walnuts (also 365 brand), a jar of Cucina Antica pasta sauce, a bag of Rhythm Kale Chips (my absolute favorite brand), a jar of Maranatha Almond Butter, and a bag of Go Raw Spirulina Chips.
This weekend, I made a soup with some of the ingredients Whole Foods provided for me (along with some of the foods I bought with a gift card they provided), as well as a post-race kale and egg dish! The soup I made was a butternut squash soup topped with a slice of gluten-free toast and blue cheese walnuts. I cut the toast in the shape of a heart because Andy and I met 2 years ago and we are pretty much celebrating every day over the next couple months.
Butternut Squash Soup with Blue Cheese Walnuts:
Soup:
(makes 3-4 servings)
Ingredients:
2 Tbs bacon fat
1 medium onion, chopped
1 shallot chopped
1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cubed
4 oz red wine
16oz chicken stock
6 ozs So Delicious Coconut Milk (Unsweetened)
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Topping:
1 1/2 cups walnuts, toasted
2 Tbs blue cheese
1 slice (per each serving) gluten-free bread, toasted
Directions:
1. Oven roast the butternut squash at until it is tender. Approximately 45 minutes at 375°. Set aside to cool.
2. Cook the onion and shallot in the bacon fat in a medium-sized pot until they are browned. Add the red wine and allow the onion and shallot to cook further and to caramelize.
3. Pour in half of the chicken stock and bring to a boil.
4. Reduce heat to low and add the cooked butternut squash. Cook together for about 5 minutes, then transfer the soup to a blender, and blend until smooth. Add the coconut milk to aid this process. When the mixture is smooth, return it to the pot, and mix in any remaining stock to attain desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper.
5. To make the topping, place the toasted walnuts in a food processor along with the blue cheese and lightly pulse 5 or 6 times to incorporate. Do not overmix, or you will end up with blue cheese and pecan spread. You want the nuts to still have a texture to them. Once you make the blue cheese walnuts, you can top the soup with them and serve with the toast.
Here’s a pretty common scene when Andy and I have dinner together. Our carbs mostly come from wine and fruit. My joke is that I am “fueled by the grape”!
We ate the soup with a salad and sausages, and had fruit for dessert.
On Sunday, I ran a the Urban Cow 5K here in Sacramento and I broke my personal record for the distance by 8 seconds. After the race, I ran another 5K as a cooldown (from the race location back to Andy’s then a loop around the local park), and then I came back to Andy’s house to take a big ol’ bubble bath and prepare my post-race meal: A kale, chicken, egg, onion, and bacon sauté. I can describe it as sort of a fried rice thing without the rice, but with bacon and kale instead. OK, I know that doesn’t make sense, so here’s a picture, and what I did to make it below that:
Kale Post Run POWER Breakfast:
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp crushed garlic
1/2 cup shredded chicken
3 cups kale
2 eggs, 2 egg whites
2 pieces cooked and chopped bacon
salt and pepper to taste
Sauté the onion in a little olive oil until browned, and add the garlic, then the kale and sauté until wilted. Add the eggs and stir the ingredients in the pan until the eggs are cooked through. Then add the chicken and the bacon and leave on heat long enough to warm the ingredients through. Salt and pepper to taste and serve. Just what I needed after a run!
So that’s a little bit on what I have been eating! Another recipe to come in a few days and more on the training as well!!
You can find Whole Foods on Facebook here and on twitter here. My local store is in Roseville on Facebook here. The Nike Women’s Series is on Facebook here.
cavegrrl.com 