Gluten Free 13.1: The SF Half Marathon

My gluten free bib 🙂

Last weekend I ran the San Francisco Half Marathon. There were more hills than I was expecting (Yes, I know we’re in SF but a runner can hope can’t she) but it was a great race and I didn’t stop for a second. The 13.1 mile course covered some amazing views and I got to run over the Golden Gate Bridge which was amazing!

As usual, the night before the race I filled up on lots of gluten free carbs. Dinner was a large plate of rice, egg and black beans. Simple and delicious. The race was to begin at 5.30am which meant getting up insanely early to nibble a large bowl of gluten free breakfast before making my way down to the start line. What did I eat? CHEX of course! They say not to change things up on game day. 🙂

As it was the half this time rather than the full, I wasn’t concerned about  my salt levels. At the Buenos Aires marathon I ate pure salt on two or three occasions to ensure I didn’t over hydrate myself but this wouldn’t be an issue for a 13.1. I would drink the Gatorade they were giving out at hydration stations and I’d be set. I saw on the website that they would also be handing out GU Gels at mile 7. I knew from the expo that these were gluten free but as I hadn’t used them in training I’d give them a miss unless I was feeling really low energy levels.

Running in a huge crowd in a marathon or half marathon is such an amazing feeling and it’s pretty emotional too, especially in a race with a huge turn out like this. Waiting at the starting line, the atmosphere is a mixture of nerves, excitement and giddiness. All those miles and hours of training that have brought us together on this summer morning, and the sun hasn’t even risen yet! No one has had a good night of sleep but that’s not important. As soon as the countdown reaches zero the adrenaline kicks in and there’s no looking back. It’s beautiful. It’s an amazing thing to be a part of. The next 13.1 or 26.2 miles are the fun part. It’s all the training that makes you who you are on the day.

The run was amazing! It was hard work but it was worth it. John won husband of the year by waking up with me at 4am and biking the whole race route to meet me at the end. He was there at mile nine waiting to snap a photo of me and he was there at 13.1 with chocolate milk! Perfect. One of the drinks we were given at the finish line was Zico Coconut Water. Not bad but as I’m a big fan of coconut I thought I’d like it more. It’s labelled as gluten free.

Gluten free coconut water

My medal