Nike Women’s Half Marathon + Jawbone UP24 Update

Here’s my race report from running the Nike Women’s Half Marathon San Francisco this weekend! I just couldn’t wait to get it up on the blog because it was definitely one of my favorite races I’ve ever done. As promised, I’m also going to share my thoughts on wearing the UP24 (thanks to my collaboration with Jawbone) and how it helped me get into marathon shape! I hope you enjoy this race report!

Yesterday I did the Nike Women’s Half Marathon with one of my best friends from residency, Melissa, and over 25,000 other amazing ladies (plus a couple hundred dudes!). I was definitely reluctant to sign up at first, because my last half marathon was a few years ago and it was not a pleasant experience due to insane weather (high 80’s and humid!). I just remember hitting mile 8 and wondering why it wasn’t over yet. So miserable!

Despite my reluctance, we rolled out of bed in the wee hours of morning to get to Union Square by the start time of 6:30am!

The Nike Women’s Half Marathon was an incredible experience and I am so glad I did it! The energy along the entire course was amazing! At the end of the first hill, there was a gospel choir singing hymns and it just made me feel so strong! Along the way there was a calypso band, numerous cheer squads, a drumline, DJs, and so many cheering people! I never thought I would say this, but one of my favorite moments was climbing to the top of Land’s End – it’s a huge hill but at the top was an absolute mob of people cheering us on! There was literally just a narrow path left on the road with everyone leaning in and surrounded the runners. Such an adrenaline rush!

The course looped through Golden Gate park, where I run almost every day. I think it really helped to know the course and this portion was mainly a gentle downhill – yay!

The last two miles were completely flat around the Marina. After conquering Land’s End I honestly felt like I was floating for the last two miles! It was the craziest experience to have miles 12 and 13 feel so good. They were my fastest two miles by far.

I ended up finishing 160/5,210 in my division (F25-29). It wasn’t a PR (by a long stretch!), but these was an incredibly hilly course so I’m very happy with my finish.

The finish was even sweeter because we got blue Tiffany & Co. boxes at the finish line! Couldn’t wait to get those finishers’ pendants unwrapped!

If you Google the Nike Women’s Half Marathon, chances are a bunch of photos of dudes in suits will come up in your search. One of the finish line traditions is getting your photo with a bunch of hot firefighters! I mean, how could we say no to that?

I wish I remember what was going on in this photo!

That’s better!I couldn’t have done with without this amazing guy. He’s been so supportive of my training and even sometimes rides his bike along for my long runs. He biked all over the course and kept popping up just when I needed some encouragement. He also took all of the amazing photos you see in this post. Thanks so much babe!

As promised, I’m also going to talk a little bit about my experience training for the half marathon with the Jawbone UP24. I feel like I really had a good training plan in place and was more consistent with my long runs than I have been with previous races. I did weekly 10 mile runs for 6 weeks before tapering and was averaging 30-35 miles per week during my peak mileage. I really think wearing the Jawbone UP24 for the last 6 weeks allowed me to train harder and train smarter. It also kept me accountable, which is huge. There are many days where I would have scrapped my workout plans due to being busy or stressed or tired, but I’d check in on my step goal and know I needed to hit the pavement.

One of my favorite features is that it tracks my sleep and reminds me to go to bed at a consistent time. Quality sleep is so important and I see patients all the time with a host of other issues that can be traced back to not getting enough sleep or not having good sleep quality. It also has a smart alarm that gently vibrates to wake me up when I am at the right part of my sleep cycle – so much better to wake up to than my cell phone alarm!

I also have the band synced with my MapMyFitness app so I can log all of my runs and see calories burned, split times  and distance right on my phone.

One of the most valuable things for me from wearing the Jawbone UP24 was getting more steps in on my non workout days. Thanks to running, I log an average of 13,000 steps per day. However, on days that I don’t go for a run, it is more like 5-6,000. I tried to work on increasing my activity on those days, with things like walks with Pat, taking the stairs and getting off the train before my stop and walking the rest of the way. It felt really good to be more consistently active.

I wore my Jawbone UP24 everywhere, even to San Francisco Fashion Week! It was more like a cool bracelet than something I felt like I needed to take off when I dress up, which I really appreciate.

I truly can’t say enough things about the UP24 and will definitely keep wearing it even though this “experiment” has ended. I feel like my fitness and sleep are definitely in an excellent place right now and I want to keep it up! You can find my first post on the Jawbone UP24 plus tips on fitting running into a busy schedule here.

This is a sponsored post in partnership with Jawbone UP24 and Collectively, Inc. All opinions and experiences are my own! Thanks for supporting the sponsors that keep me running!