I had the opportunity to have a pre-race meal with some really great people. Although I wasn’t running the Nike Women’s Marathon, I was happy to be able to some of the FitFluential Ambassadors lucky enough to be running.

I made it super easy for you to see some NWM tweets and to follow them on twitter. It’s worth it.

Left-to-right, top row:

Alexandra

Fun and Fit

Alexandra has so much energy. She’ll tell you that she is the  “good twin” — and I’m never one to argue. She came rocking her FitFluential gear and was immediately comfortable and conversational with everyone. A total natural. She also coined the phrase “FriendFluential” for all of our “plus 1s” — genius.

 

Tiffany
Running Hutch

I’ve “known” Tiffany for about as long as I’ve been on twitter. If you think I run a lot of races, then you haven’t met her. She is always racing and it was great to finally meet her. I sat next to her at dinner and the conversation flowed pretty naturally like we had known each other for some time. Funny how you can feel like you know someone without ever meeting them.

 

Meg
Run. Fit. Kin.

Because of the seating layout,  I didn’t get to talk too much to Meg during dinner, but we hung out for a bit afterward and the conversation flowed freely. She is in the Bay Area quite a bit for work, but she is too far away to join me on my lunch runs. I know my RUNch photos probably drive her crazy, but she gets to run up in the Pacific Northwest most of the time, so the jealousy is mutual. One day we’ll get out there on a road or trail together I’m sure.

 

Lindsay
Itz Linz

I’ve read Lindsay’s blog a lot recently and was excited to finally get to meet her. I’m not sure what her race goals were going into the race, but she had “the look” of wanting to put up a good time on race day. She might not have said so, but it was written all over her. I’m not sure how to describe what “the look” is, but one runner knows it when they look at another. I was NOT surprised to read that she set a PR at the half on a challenging course. San Francisco doesn’t make it look easy, but if I had to bet on one person posting a PR, it would have been Linz.

 

Gia
Run Gia Run

Alright, so I’m kinda a fan of Gia. One, she lives in NY which I would love to run more of. I did NYCM a few years back and have walked all over Manhattan. I can’t help but want to run and explore the other boroughs more. Two, she is super fast and runs a lot. Three, she has twins and still manages to get great weekly miles in. Sadly, I didn’t get to talk to her too much, but she was rocking some Tiffany blue nail polish and it really is all about race day color coordination in my book. Ya, I said it, so what? Just because we run and get all sweaty, doesn’t mean we can’t match.

 

Kristen
Stuft Mama

My late-night California buddy! Kristen and I always seem to notice each other online REALLY late at night. Since we are on PST and every one else East of us is in bed, it’s funny to see that we both get things done at the expense of sleep. It was great to get to talk to her for a bit (and take a photo). This was another case of “feeling like you know someone” and meeting them for the first time. I know we’ll be seeing more of each other in future races. It’s a must!

 

Left-to-right, bottom row:

Rachel
Running Rachel

Rachel rolls deep. LOL. If you’ve read her blog, you know that she spent the weekend with some great running friends and did her best not to start a riot at the Expo by wearing her Cardinals gear. I got to talk a bit with her, but not as much as I had hoped. Great job on race day, she set a personal best post-children for the half, again, not an easy course to do that on.

 

Janene
One Run At A Time

If you are going to make a trip to California and run a race,  night as well make a vacation out of it, right? That’s exactly what Janene did while she was also celebrating her one-year anniversary. Some running, some hiking and some wine. Sounds perfect, right? Glad you were able to join us, I know there was a lot going on that day.

 

Melissa
The Melissa Chronicles

I was super sad that I didn’t get more time (or any really) to chat with Melissa… how can we be at the same meal, at the same table and completely miss each other outside of a “hello?” The layout of the table was sort of weird and when I made my way over to the other side, I saw her, we exchanged smiles and enthusiastic “hellos.” I couldn’t talk to her more because she was sort of in an awkward seat that I couldn’t make my way over to. I had every intention of chatting with her afterwards, but got stuck wrapping up the check and missed her post-meal. You are too close for us not to be at a race together in the future… rain check on an awesome conversation.

 

 

Kelly
Cupcake Kelly’s

At last, I get to meet Kelly. I read her blog regularly and she joins in on the Playlist Thursday fun. We have similar music taste and have little one’s close to the same age. I know it was tough for her to be away, but she did an amazing job on race day and finished an incredibly tough course. I run the route regularly and it is no joke. Kelly’s journey has been an inspirational one and I was glad to finally meet her (and her sister) and grab a photo.

* * * * *

It really was great to meet everyone and to be able to wish you all luck on race day. I know this post took me some time to get up, but I wanted to be able to congratulate all of you on race day success. If you ever make it back out here, please don’t hesitate to let me know. I can show you some flatter areas of the city or some hillier ones — it really depends on what you want to conquer, we’ve got it all.

Cheers and thank again. Keep running strong!

And as if that wasn’t enough, I also met Kara Goucher.

 

Do you already know these amazing people?

 

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