I swear the Giant Race comes and goes faster than any other race each year!  Maybe it’s just all the anticipated hype of flying to a city that’s so full of energy on this race weekend. Giants fans come from near and far to congregate in AT&T Park and kick off a race event that no Giants fan should ever miss!

My sister and I started our trip flying out of the Orange County John Wayne Airport — we spent (too much) time trying to get a plane selfie, which proved to be difficult as the planes kept driving out of our pictures.

After a (mandatory) pre-flight Bloody Mary at the airport bar — and an hour flight delay, we were off!

Once we landed and finally got our rental car (which could be a whole other blog post on it’s own), it was off to the expo.  This expo is always so fun because it is laid out around the stadium at AT&T Park!

I had the honor of being one of the Starting 9 Giant Race Ambassadors this year, so when we arrived, I saw my pic on some of the screens around the stadium along with the other Ambassadors!

There are always plenty of photo ops as you circle the stadium collecting your race bibs and gear.

One of the big pluses of this race is the weather.  It’s always perfect, cool running weather with temps in the 60’s, when back home in Southern California we are always having 100+ degree temps the weekend of this race.  So it’s nice to be able to hit an end of summer race that doesn’t feel like death to run!

After the expo we hit the Dugout Store, and MoMo’s for dinner and to catch a part of the Giants game, and of course, a few more photo ops…

The race this year was on 9/11/16 – loved the added touches the Giant Race put up to pay tribute to all the lives lost.

Once we checked into our hotel, it was time to lay out #FlatMelissa and get some rest.  It’s funny how every time I lay one of these out before a race, I’m thinking how it literally looks like a yard sale and a ridiculous amount of stuff needed to run…but really once you are dressed, it doesn’t feel that way — I swear!

All set to knock out another 13.1

I ran the first 8-ish miles of the race with Jimmy — We met after last years Giant Race so this was our first race logging miles together; and he set a course PR for himself!

Not a PR race for me, but I ran a 1:42, which was faster than I ran this course last year so, I’ll take it!

Havin’ some GoPro fun after the race, and I was trying my best not to freeze to death.  In some of my pictures post race I have blue lips!

The race finishes in AT&T Park so you get to hang out on the field, up in the seats or in the dugout after the race.

After the race my Sister and I hit up some tacos and beer with friends before going back to the hotel to shower and check out.  We flew out later that night after the race, so we missed the Runners Night Giants game the following day which was a bummer.

We went to a couple places and then headed back to the airport for another successful (whirlwind) of a Giant Race Weekend!

Looking forward to coming back in 2017 — See you soon, San Fran!