San Francisco Marathon - Now With More Tutus

San Francisco... the site of my first marathon finish 1 year ago. And this time, I go there on a 50-mile week to run 26.2 miles again as a training run! Crazy! It's been a hard journey this past year but filled with so many memories!

My attire for Sunday's marathon - the singlet on the left... and the tutu!

I'm an Ambassador for the second year now with this race, and it will always have a special place in my heart as my first marathon. Plus, I love San Francisco, and you just can't beat the only marathon where you actually run on the Golden Gate Bridge!


This year, I want to go race this course. It was actually my PR marathon until April, and it's a course I like. I know where the hills are, the last 6 miles downhill plays to one of my few strengths as a runner, and I know I have gotten stronger since my last race in April, especially now that my iron deficiency that developed in May & June has been fixed.

However, I'm training for my first 50 miler in just 6 weeks. I have no taper going into Sunday's run and I've hit my highest weekly mileages ever with this being my second week over 50 miles. So when fellow SF Marathon Ambassador Lauren (@RunningLaur) said she was thinking about running the full marathon with our friend and fellow SF Marathon Ambassador Peter (@RussianBear), both of them in tutus again this year, and maybe we could run together, and of course I'd have a matching tutu, I asked my coach, "Race or run 26.2?"

San Francisco Marathon 2011 - Marshall Ulrich, Lauren, Peter
The part of Marshall Ulrich this year will be played by me. ;-)

The answer was run, don't race. Peter is running the Worth The Hurt 52.4, where you run the course backwards at midnight, and then run it forward with us at normal start time for the marathon. Lauren and I will be there to run, walk, and crawl with him through the marathon course. All the while, the three of us will be sporting matching tutus. They are true San Francisco Marathon tutus made to match the colors of my San Francisco Marathon Ambassador gear! They are created by another SF Marathon Ambassador Monika (@monikool), who has a company GlamRunner where she makes these tutus to benefit a cause she loves (Girls on the Run). In total, 12 of us, 9 of which are ambassadors, will be sporting these tutus on the course!

Had to try it on right when it arrived in the mail! My 4 year old's bad photographer skills at work here

So if you are running the San Francisco Marathon on Sunday, look for Lauren, Peter, and myself in tutus, along with many of the other ambassadors. We'll be a sight for sure. Say hi, make us practice our Princess wave for you, and be sure to give Peter a cheer as he'll be moving towards finishing 52.4 miles that day!