19 Miles

My motivation (a.k.a., my friend Julie) was out of town this weekend when the marathon schedule called for 19 miles. I procrastinated all of Saturday and Sunday and was left with no choice but to run on Monday. About three minutes in I had a great idea. I had my phone with me for music, why not document my run? I decided on a few rules (because I'm Type A and that's just how we do it): I would take one picture every ten minutes (plus or minus thirty seconds) and it could be of anything within a 360 degree view of where I was running at that point.

Not only did I finish my run and actually really enjoy it, as much as one can enjoy 3 hours and 22 minutes of running, I also unexpectedly found myself in the middle of two lessons. The first was patience. There were a few really neat pictures I wanted to capture, but the point was not to take cool pictures, it was to motivate myself ten minutes, or one mile, at a time. Secondly, I learned to let go of some insecurity. I started out looking like a runner - water belt, hand held gatorade bottle, dry fit clothing, etc. But there I was every ten minutes looking like a tourist, jumping up on park benches or crouching down to get the best angle. People looked at me funny, but after the first few miles I learned to smile and be on my way.

Below are 20 pictures (a 10:30 pace allowed for one extra shot!). They are not very good, but a nice way to capture all the training I've been doing for the past three months.

One: Me

Two: Waters of Aquatic Park

Three: Was supposed to be Pier 39/Aquarium of the Bay

Four: Downtown, Transamerica Pyramid

Five: Bay Bridge

Six: AT&T Park

Seven: Ferry Building Clock Tower

Eight: Hmm...something on Fisherman's Wharf?

Nine: Alioto's - Yet another 'SF-Must Do' I have yet to do

Ten: Fort Mason

Eleven: Yacht Club

Twelve: Golden Gate Bridge

Thirteen: The ground (running up a Presidio hill, didn't much care about the quality of the picture)

Fourteen: On the bridge!

Fifteen: Crossing into Marin

Sixteen: Trying, and failing, to be artsy on the bridge.

Seventeen: Crissy Field, from the Presidio

Eighteen: The GGB again, but this time running away from it!

Nineteen: Kind of funny, this was supposed to be my car that I happened to run past. Completely missed it in the shot.

Twenty: HOME!