Nike 26.2 = Nike Women's Marathon

This race is well organized. I participated because of the Nike and Tiffany & Co. brand names. The hills were plentiful but congregated towards the beginning when energy is high, spectator support is there, and you're running in a crowd. A few are left over for marathoners but to be expected, IT'S SAN FRAN! My biggest problem with this race was the fact that almost everyone is running the half, so consequently support is drastically lacking mile 9 and onward. The spectators, water stations, and other runners are hard to find after the split in the course. My second biggest problem was the weather. I'm not sure if the timing of the race could be planned better- time of day vs time of year, but the 'views' were N/A for my entire race because of the intense and heavy fog. Literally every picture from this race is me against fog, me against more fog, and me with the flash bouncing back because of the fog! I saw no bridge, no Alcatraz, and one particularly grueling up and back portion of the course was TORTURE because it was in the last 10 miles and there was nothing but fog, but I could hear the ocean, so I'm sure at another time of day/year the scenery would have been awesome! This was my first marathon, I would not recommend someone run this race as their first. Run a race like the Marine Corps (my second race) that has spectators every mile, and you're never alone on the course. I would return to run this race after running a few more races with more marathon participants. I noticed when I ran the San Juan Marathon (2015) that I really don't like these races with majority half marathon runners. I was 23, I ran a 4:38. My PR is 4:24 from San Juan, PR in 2015.

I had a good time because I was with friends and who doesn't appreciate a Tiffany's necklace? But there are definite improvements that could be made. I ran the full which is no more. Hate that everything is on Facebook. It's very hard to find basic info. Expo was fun and girlie but not a typical expo where you can buy race necessities. Course was tough- it is San Francisco but there were stretches where it was super lonely. I understand that a lot of people do this race for charity but there are so many walkers who walk 4, 5 or 6 across and start in the faster corrals, jamming things up. I have never run a race with so many walkers who had no understanding of moving over. The volunteers were awesome and encouraging. Finish was pretty smooth and baggage pickup was easy. Took a very long time to get on a bus back to Union Square and the ride took over an hour.

I ran the half marathon after advise from someone who has done both. I had a blast and hope to get in again next year. I love the Tiffany necklace. The bag check was the MOST organized bag check I've ever dealt with. I thought Nike did the best they could given the huge crowd. It was as organized as can be. I don't like how everything is on Facebook though and the course profile was inaccurate. It really didn't depict the hills accurately.