Nike Women's Marathon

Suzanne got up at the crack of dawn to start the Nike Women's Marathon.

Jen and I tried to meet her at the 13 mile mark but barely missed her in the park. So we went to mile 17 and caught her there.

This picture with the thumb's up is just past mile 17. She was taking a "goo" break. Check out that fuel belt. Jennifer and I were joking the day prior that she kind of looked like a police office with that thing on.

Jen and I then drove to a part further down in the race. The parking around that area was terrible but after about a half hour we found a spot. We caught back up with Suzanne past the 25 mile marker. She was still doing just fine. I ran with her for about a tenth of a mile. She finished in under 5 hours and met her goal. I think it's awesome.
Drew joined us at the end of the race and just barely missed Suzanne passing by. Here's a picture after the race in front of the ocean. It was foggy by the water but sunny everywhere else in San Francisco.

Later that evening we celebrated Jennifer's birthday at a Mexican tapas restaurant. Our waiter was funny. When Suzanne asked him if they did anything special for birthdays his response was, "like a stripper?" Yeah, not what we meant. He did get it right when he brought out dessert with a candle and Happy Birthday written in chocolate on the edge of the plate.

Suzanne was fine that evening after the race. Although once again Jen and I were joking as she walked around the hotel room that she wasn't exactly bending her legs, and it was more of a waddle walk.

Race Prep

Suzanne picked up her race info, and we visited the race expo. We also met a friend of Suzanne's, Kevin, for lunch at the Daily Grill. It was excellent food. Kevin was an interesting guy who told us about the book "Let My People Go Surfing" about the founder of the Patagonia company. He's investigating a career in CSR - Corporate Social Responsibility. I wasn't familiar with the career prior to that.

Suzanne then went to her pasta party and Jen and I went shopping at one of my favorite stores, H&M! Usually I have to wait until I'm in NYC to go to H&M but San Fran had several.

We went to dinner in the North Beach area so Suzanne could do some more carb loading. We had a great table at Trattoria Pinocchio that was quiet and right by the window. Their food was also excellent italian.

Scenic 17-Mile Drive

I started my Friday morning with a massage at our hotel the Monterey Plaza. It was the first time I've gotten a massage, and I highly recommend it! Suzanne and I then sat out in the hot tub on the roof overlooking the ocean. Yup, it was pretty awesome. Since it was early in the morning we had the place to ourselves. We had brunch delivered to us outside also. It was a very relaxing morning. I was wearing my spa robe drinking my stawberry banana smoothie soaking up the rays. Not too cold, not too hot, just perfect. If only every day could start that way...well, then you would just take it for granted.

We then drove down scenic 17-mile drive in Pebble Beach. Here's a picture of us in front of the famous lone cypress.

We drove back to San Francisco to pick up Jennifer at the airport and check in to our hotel so Suzanne could prepare for her race.

We had dinner that night in the restaurant Cityscape; it was on the 46th floor of our hotel. It has a great view of the city.

Monterey Aquarium

Suzanne and I drove down from San Francisco to Monterey on Thursday. We visited the Monterey Aquarium. If you click on the link you can see a live cam of the sea otters. We got there just in time to see all the afternoon feedings including the sea otters. They are so fun to watch. We also watched the feeding in the kelp forest tank. The diver wears a mask that has a microphone attached so he can answer questions about the feeding. The leopard sharks and wolf eels got a little aggressive for food. The diver had to be quick to release the food to keep them from accidently biting his fingers.