Nike Women’s Marathon San Francisco

I participated in the Nike Women’s Marathon today. I walked the half marathon (13 miles) and crossed the finish line in 4 hours 49 minutes 38 seconds. My legs are paying for it now as I didn’t participate in the training after July since I knew I couldn’t easily run with my growing belly. But I didn’t want to give up on the whole event so thought I’d try walking and if I got too tired then I would stop.

Me and baby all ready to go at 6am!

47 minutes and 47 seconds before the start of the race. It was dark in Union Square but surprisingly loud. I don’t envy the people staying in the hotels or living near by as these were a bunch of enthusiastic women.

I joined the 15+ minute pace group so our start was behind Mason St and it was a bit chilly, like a huge wind tunnel with the tall buildings.

The sun started to come up as our pace group crossed the start line, about 7:24am.

Mile 1!

The Embarcadero with the streets closed down. Since it was my first marathon, I was amazed at all the clothes strewn on the ground. Apparently as the runners warm up, they strip and throw their long sleeved tops & jackets and mittens on the ground which eventually go to charity. Some people were even wearing garbage bags which are also eventually discarded. Seems a bit like littering but at least the clothes get donated.

Mile 2!

Alcatraz

I missed the Mile 3 marker but here’s Mile 4!

Mile 5!

Mile 6!

Some encouraging words on the hill:

Mile 7!

Mile 8! By now I was thinking “Are we there yet?”

Mile 9!

Mile 10! The Cliff House.. almost there! Only part left is to go into the park and back to the Great Highway to the finish line…

Mile 11! Free bananas here from Safeway.

Mile 12! Around the soccer field and only a mile to go!

The finish line!! As I was approaching, there were a whole bunch of full marathon runners approaching as well. I was relieved to finally see the finish line and thinking if I get in again next year that I might try running…

More pictures to come at the finish line, waiting for pictures from Kat who was waiting there at the finish line for me. She finished more than 2 hours before me!

After the race, we went to eat as I was starving. We had late lunch at Pho Garden, the place famous for the Pho Challenge (2 lbs meat, 2 lbs noodles, to be eaten in under 1 hr or else you pay the $22 for the bowl, if finished, your picture on the wall with the empty bowl). We didn’t do the challenge but had their pho which was pretty good, loved the noodles as they didn’t get soggy as it sat in the broth.

I ordered #8, extra-large bowl of pho with everything.

Pho Garden
2109 Clement St

City View Restaurant

Finally a Saturday where we could enjoy the morning together (no work!) so we went for dim sum at City View Restaurant.

A selection of what we ate: ha gow, siu mai, and cha siu bao. We also had chive dumplings, fried rice, zha liang, and a few other things. Dim sum for two people usually isn’t much variety and can be expensive (a little over $30 for both of us) but it’s a good treat once in a while.

After dim sum, we walked to Grant Ave to Golden Gate Bakery for the best egg tarts around! Their sponge cake roll isn’t half bad either, I had their chocolate = yummy!


City View Restaurant

662 Commercial Street

Golden Gate Bakery
1029 Grant Ave

Introducing Baby Chung

Just wanted to announce our exciting news, we are expecting a baby boy in 2010! Here are his first pictures:

At 9 wks, 2 days:

At 13 weeks (his feet):

At 13 weeks (profile):

At 13 weeks (face & body):

At 19 weeks (waving hi):

At 19 weeks (face, looking a bit alien-like):

At 19 weeks (profile):

At 19 weeks (profile with legs stretched out):

At 19 weeks (It’s a boy!):

More news to come 🙂

Sai Jai Thai Delivery

One of the best things about our new apartment is all the great food nearby and lots of them deliver. We’ve had some bad food too but one of our favorites is Sai Jai Thai. We’ve eaten in the restaurant before, you can read about it here.

You can find their menu here and delivery is free and usually delivered within 30 minutes.


From 12 o’clock and clockwise: green beans and tofu, red curry with duck, pork shoulder, and pad see ew with chicken. We’re convinced that when you order pork shoulder for home, the portion is bigger than in the restaurant.

Sai Jai Thai
415-673-5774

Farmer Brown & Jeremys Department Store

Had a day out with V today so we went to try brunch at Farmer Brown. Not the best neighborhood but an all-you-can-eat brunch for $15 on Sat & Sun. Drinks extra though (which we didn’t know). Brunch food includes scrambled eggs, bacon, fried chicken, pancakes, roasted potatoes, biscuits & gravy, grits, and fresh fruits.

They also serve bloody marys and an Obama cocktail of some sort.

We were a bit early for the live jazz which I think starts after 11:30am. We had a reservation for 10:15am so left by 11:30am but saw the band setting up.

After brunch, we went to Jeremys Department Store in South Park on the recommendation of V’s office mate. Apparently they have discounted designer clothes and shoes so we thought we’d check it out. From what we could tell, the items in the store look like they could have been floor samples or previous season items. Some of the shoes had scuffing on the bottom and the clothing could be a bit damaged. They also have salvage clothing which are deeply discounted because they are damaged: missing buttons, broken zippers, stains, tears, etc. They had some cute stuff but it takes digging and patience. The good quality items were still on the more expensive side so we didn’t really get anything. Although they do have additional sales so if you sign up for their mailing list, they will email you with the specials. I may go back, they do have cute shoes!

Overall, a good day to spend a Sunday. The Blue Angels were flying overhead as we were leaving the shopping mall but we missed any tricks that they were supposed to do, probably the show was cut short again because of the fog.


Farmer Brown

25 Mason Street (@ Market)

Jeremys Department Store
2 South Park