San Francisco Marathon Race Report

What do I recall most about “the Race Even Marathoners Fear“?  Let me count the ways:

 1. Amazing how many people have come to San Francisco for this event.  It really makes me wonder whether the WSJ was way off base in its assessment of the marathon or whether the article was the shot in the arm the race needed, giving it a last minute boost in registrations and taking it over the top.  Either way it’s pretty thrilling to see so many people on the plane, at the hotel registration desk, on the streets….all clearly runners come to San Francisco to share this moment in time. 

 2. This was my second marathon ever.  And just a little over two years of getting off my arse and starting down the path to becoming a runner.  My first marathon, in Pasadena in February, was filled with the drama and emotion that only a first marathon can have.  In comparison, San Francisco was filled with less drama (I’m a pro at this now.  HA!) but no less emotion.  The first glimpse of the Golden Gate on the approach from the Marina put tears in my eyes as the majestic sight tugged at memories and thoughts of the future and how much this bridge has come to symbolize so many things in my families lives.  That first bridge sighting stays as a major high point of this marathon and of the whole weekend. 

 3.  We splurged a little on the hotel so as to have a bit more creature comfort pre- and post-marathon.  Afterall, this was only my second marathon and my first away from home; how could I know in advance what the experience was to be like, so why not plan for the drama, the discomfort and the disorientation and then overcome it all through the comfort of the Westin Market Street.  The drama presented itself as a downed computer system at the hotel when we checked in.  After some ensuing confusion over rooms, a complimentary upgrade, followed by yet another room change since the upgrade had only a shower (how does one take an ice bath in a shower?!) we finally ended up in a complimentary upgrade to a full suite on the 25th floor with full views to the Bay to the South and penninula below as well as full views to the East across the financial district (and with a lovely bathtub).  Oh, and did I mention that it was a complimentary upgrade to a full suite?  Sweet indeed!

 4. The members of my family that came to San Francisco to participate in the weekend’s events, each and every one was a bright shining star this weekend.  K (my love and eternal partner), K2 (K’s mom and my mother outlaw, flew in from Reno), D (K’s aunt and K2′s sister, flew in from Seattle), and P (K’s cousin and K2′s other sister’s son, drove up from Burlingame).  We all came together to do SF, originally K and P were to set to run the full marathon (P’s first) and first half marathon (K’s first) but injuries and events during training sidelined both and they instead ran…

 5. The 5K: K, K2, D and P all ran the 5K while I chugged along at my marathon.  K and P functioned as coaches and cheer squads and running partners for K2 and D respectively, and everyone had a wonderful time.  Not only was this the first race for K2 and D but this was the height of a journey they began in the Spring after I convinced both of them to give running a try.  Not only did they try running, intently following a C25k training program I developed and shared with them, but they both learned so much about themselves and what they [previously] perceived were limits in their own capabilities.  K2 especially has blossomed into a very active adult whom in her late 60s has learned she can do so much more than she ever thought she was capable of doing.  Watching her growth has been a real joy and I’m so pleased to continue working with each of them as they continue to investigate running and where it can take them. 

 6. The first significant hill took us up from the water line near the piers and around the backside of Fort Mason.  I’ve walked this hill many, many times over the years as we’ve visited the City.  It’s only a slight hill, going from water’s edge to near 80 feet elevation in 1/10th of a mile, and I got a kick out of how many runners seemed unprepared for even this “little guy” of a hill.  Going up there were people all around huffing and puffing as they walked the hill, and yet as I ran it I felt it certainly deserved a runner’s respect but if one were struggling with it now what did that portend for them when the real hills started.  It didn’t take long to find out as the second hill on course, as the hill rated by WSJ and bloggers as the hardest, came up very soon.  

 7. Beginning at mile 5, along Doyle Drive just after the Marina, and on the approach to the Golden Gate Bridge, the reputed hardest hill on the course takes you from a few feet above sea level to over 250 feet.  The main thrust of this change happens over 1 1/2 miles and really is just a long steady slog to the top.  But the hardest hill on course?  Maybe it was the sight of the bridge.  Maybe it was training in a no-flats environment at home.  Maybe it was the exhileration of being in that moment at that place at that time.  Maybe I was fooling myself and was to pay the price later.  Whatever it was I certainly did not have a problem on the hill and recall clearly how upon reaching the Bridge I was mentally questioning everything I had heard about the alleged difficulty of this course. 

 8. Upon completing the first crossing of the Bridge we headed for the vista point overlook on the North side of the Bay.  This was the turn around of the only out-n-back section of the course and the first sanctioned entertainment spot as well.  As we rounded through the vista’s parking lot there was a water station, and quite a few runners lined up at the porta potty stop, and then as we exited we passed a live band playing classic 80s covers.  They were fun and loud and a bit grungey sounding and I loved every bit of it as we turned the corner and headed back out to the Bridge for the return crossing.  And as we did so there was that stupendous view of the City from the Golden Gate.  Simply gorgeous is this City when seen from this vantage point.

 9. I train quite religiously to do consistent 9|1 run|walk, that’s nine minutes running followed by one minute walking.  And I ran this in the race right from the beginning.  My running pace was ahead of plan, right near 9:00 (~9:20 per mile including the walk), and I didn’t need to peel down my arm warmers and examine my PaceTat to know how much ahead I was.  The time goals I had were for anything between a 4:15 and 4:30 finish, and I had a PaceTat on my left arm for the former and another on the right for the latter.  But so far I was not needing to look at either, knowing both that I was ahead of plan quite significantly and that I felt great.  In fact for nearly every mile through 15 I was running so easy and effortlessly.   The legendary hill(s) written about by the WSJ were really, for me at least, inconsequential and I felt like I was simply breezing through this marathon.  Of course all dreams have a way of being interrupted when waking from them, and when Idid awake from this one it came suddenly and without mercy.

10. I counted at least 8 VFF and 2 barefoot runners on course.  I don’t know if they were full or half marathon runners but I was impressed with them in either regard.  They made me think about the recent studies coming out that appear to provide evidence against the running shoe industry’s “stability control” and anti-pronation designs.  I had read through Peter Larson’s analysis of one of the studies just days before the marathon so it was top of mind when I saw the feet on course.  I love running in my VFFs and hope to work up to the more than occassional usage I make of them currently during training but I don’t know if I could ever do a long race in them.  The first barefooter I saw on course was when we were crossing the Bridge the first time and honestly all could think of was how cold his feet must be.  Maybe I’ll take my VFFs that far, maybe not.  I’m not religious with my beliefs in the minimalist vs running shoe debate, I’m simply trying to do what works for me.  But I do like that more studies are finally being done as even if it doesn’t lead [me] to fulltime minimalist running I’m certain it’ll help invigorate the running shoe industry and maybe, just maybe, we’ll see some well designed products come out that won’t contribute to injury. 

11.  We are running.  It is very pretty here in the Presidio.  There is the beautiful coastline right over there.  SQUIRREL!

12. Shortly after entering Golden Gate Park from the Presidio the Full Marathoners and the First Half Marathoners parted ways.  I was not said to see them go.  Nothing personal but the moment we cleared the fork in the fork in the road their were 65% less people on the roads and it was nice to be able to spread out and run without worry of bumping others.  Unfortunately, another two miles down the road the Second Half Marathoners were merged into the route from their start.  Again, nothing personal against the runners but as it was happening I really couldn’t shake the opinion that it was very disrespectful to the Marathoners, who have now just passed their half-way mark and are beginning execute on second half plans to finish strong and fast and etc etc etc, to suddenly be bombarded by all these bodies again and nearly pushed aside by….wait for it….a ton of spunky, excited, rested, energized and fresh runners just starting their Half Marathon experience.  Yeah, it felt disrespectful to have to suddenly run with gaggle of people who weren’t yet feeling the first signs of fatigue.  Damn them!!!  :-)

13. Coming up on the halfway point and I’m over five minutes ahead of my Half Marathon PR.  It is great to feeling like this, at this pace, this good….why, oh why can’t it last?

14. It’s odd but living for 3 years in the City and coming for visits on a regular basis since then (12 years now) I have only managed to make it to Golden Gate Park once.  And it was nowhere near where we are running.  This place is quite beautiful and tranquil and it’s hard to imagine you’re in the middle of the city.  I must remember to do GGP properly the next time I’m passing through on a visit.

15. Dailymile hosted a bandit aid station with bacon, red vines and Mr. Pib at mile 15.  As I ran by I announced myself to Kelly and the crew and grabbed a handful of red vines and continued on my way.  Take note, two things you need to know about red vines and running: (1) red vines really are difficult to chew, swallow and digest while running and (2) shoving a handful of red vines into your sweaty pocket is not a good idea as red vines and sweat mix to make a gawd awful sticky red mess.  Next time I’m going for the bacon.

16. I had been looking forward to meeting other DMers at the ‘after party‘ being held at the 21st Amendment Brewery.  But in the end I missed it and the opportunity to meet DMers who inspire me daily.  I was sad, but the full on backyard family barbeque we had down in San Mateo was well worth it.  After the marathon and a bit of recovery back at the hotel, K and I met up again with K2, P and D and all drove down to San Mateo to spend the evening with more of K’s cousins.  SM and A threw a big get together at their place, pulling out all the stops with barbeque pork and chicken and beer and fresh veggies and grilled veggies and beer and chips and dip and beer and salads and deserts and beer.  And an ample supply of beer, and wine. 

17.  My HR range during the race was right where I wanted, with a 26.2 mile AVG of 166 and a MAX of 177.  I run a high rate normally so these numbers are fine, and a bit low for the expected effort it was supposed to take for the hills.  What hills?  My thoughts exactly!  So well within the zone I wanted to keep.  The high HR and a pretty high metabolism means I burn calories like no other.  On the one hand I’m kinda proud of this, I burned 3900+ calories during this race, but on the other hand it’s also one of the reasons I continue to struggle with fueling on long runs.  I’m getting better at it, and I feel I may even have succeeded at it in this race.  It’s hard to say for certain as though I didn’t have an experience of hitting the wall that could also have been mitigated by what did happen and all the walking that ensued.

18.  My left ankle often gets stocked up, especially on long runs, and I usually just have to push the issue out of my mind and accept that I am running on what suddenly feels like a peg leg.  The ankle gets so tight and sore it feels like its not flexing or moving and the feeling is that each foot strike on the left is more a ‘thump’ than me placing my foot on the ground.  It was one of the issues that came up during my first marathon (near mile 12 back then) and here it was in San Francisco rearing itself against my progress and starting send shadows of doubt across my feelings of a stupendous ~4:05 finish.  They say this is what makes the marathon such a challenge, these last miles where it doesn’t matter how you felt at the beginning or how well you’ve run or how effectively you’ve stuck to your race plan when it comes down to these ending miles anything can happen.  And it did, and it woke me from my dream.

19. I tried to push aside the negative feelings stemming from my ankle, I’d been successful doing so in my 18+ mile LSDs during training.  But somewhere along the way, maybe just one single step was all it took, I don’t know….I changed my stride up unintentionally and my right knee announced itself.  Of all the pains I’ve dealt with in my 2 1/2 year running journey it was the right knee that was the only one to truly sideline me for anything more than a couple of days.  It was the right knee that led to cancelling my first marathon attempt (stepping down to do the Half at the innaugural Pasadena Marathon) and led to me getting custom orthotics and led to months of physical therapy and lost training.  No solid, clear diagnosis was ever made…it could have been IT band related as yes that was really tight, or it could have a compensatory injury caused by an imbalance of the left hip, left knee and left ankle, or it could have been…it was “runner’s knee” and after we did everything it seemed to be resolved but we did so much we never clearly understood what exactly was the culprit.  But I hadn’t forgotten the pain, and it seems it hadn’t forgotten me either.  This was pain I couldn’t run through.

20. Added an extra 30 seconds in the walk interval and it felt a bit better.  It didn’t hurt at all during the walk, even on a fast paced walk.  Oh but it hurt during the run, even a slow paced run. 

21. On Saturday afternoon, after our visit to the expo, the family and I took a cab to Washington Square in the North Beach area of the City.  This is an area K and I fondly recall as part of our neighborhood when we lived here.  We actually lived up on Russian Hill, near Larkin and Green, but we spent a lot of time down the Union hill here at Mario’s Bohemian Cigar Shop Cafe.  On the corner of Columbus and Union it sits, a tiny little it is with the most delicious focaccia bread and focaccia bread sandwiches.  Hardly any room inside Mario’s, ever, and on the Saturday before the marathon, with an abundance of extra visitors in town it was no exception.  But the fates were shining on us Saturday and though we couldn’t get a table there were 5 spaces along the bar together that welcomed us warmly.  K and I shared stories with the family of how we’d come here during K’s study breaks, have a sandwich and watch the busy streets outside and the park across the way.  Rain, shine, warm, cold, fog or blue skies we never had a bad visit to Mario’s.  Everyone had a different focaccio sandwich, everyone enjoyed their sandwiches, and everyone fell in love with Mario’s as we had so many years ago. 

22.  The purpose of taper week, so I’m told, is to let the body rest and store reserves of energy for the challenge of the Marathon.  That means you’re not supposed to do much running that final week.  You’re not supposed to fill in the gaps of non-running by over doing it at the gym.  You’re supposed to take it easy.  Casual.  And rest.  Well I rest more on my feet than at any other time.  In San Francisco I rest by walking the City.  Always have.  While living here I walked all over the place, up and down the hills.  And in every visit back that we’ve had we walk the City, up and down the hills.  I love it and really can’t be in San Francisco and not walk the hills.  So after lunch at Mario’s it was a no brainer to walk up Union Street – and by up I mean UP – to the original Swensen’s Ice Cream shop at Union and Hyde.  It really is a nice walk, unless you don’t like scaling the Eiger.  And once you reach the top, since you’re already that far up there, you might as well walk over to Lombard Street so you can snap pictures from one of the best vantage points to view both Alcatraz and the Coit Tower.  And it’s not like we were hiking the hills, it was walking.  Slow and easy.  And I felt great.  And Swensen’s was so worth every bit of it if I hadn’t.

23. Sunday morning came and I woke at 4:00 AM to get myself together for the race.  I’m an early bird as it is, and had been prepping all week by getting up earlier and earlier so by Sunday it was very natural.  I had my coffee, and an apple, and some bread, a banana and made sure my head was in the right place and my body was feeling good.  And both were.  There was no fatigue from Saturday’s adventurous outaging and no anxiety about pace or speed or even time.  I felt really good.  It was kind of unexpected actually as I was so planning on having to psyche myself up Sunday morning.  But I felt good and so I just relaxed and counted my blessings and spent a leisurely morning getting dressed and primping my gear for the race.  Sunday morning was a good day, before the race.

24. I am very lucky in that I train almost every run with a training partner.  It is the rare run that I have to do alone.  If there was any twinge of anxiety deep in my skull on Sunday morning it was that I’d be running alone.  One fear associated with that is early pacing: I struggle during each LSD run with keeping my pace slow and consistent and there’s a real chance that on every long run, race included, I will go out fast (adrenaline? excitement? stubborness?) and ruin myself for later.  Though I was faster than plan from the beginning of the race I was not faster than my ability and so I felt good about the pace I held.  Even after the ankle and knee took my pride down a notch or two I felt it wasn’t due to the pace I had held, rather the breakdown being purely biomechanical in cause and of that I was certain.  At numerous points in the race I did think about how I was running solo.  Sometimes when a thought popped into my head and there was no one to blurt it out to, and other times when I passed a Pasadena Pacers runner (hometown pride!!!!) and chatted a few moments and then went on my way ahead.  Yet I was doing good then and I was feeling good then, and it was as natural running alone as running with partner so in and of itself the anxiety, if there, never presented in the first 20 miles.  But now, when I was stuggling, and walking, and walking some more, I really did miss having someone to run with.  I felt somewhat certain that having a running partner at that time in the race, feeling as I did and struggling literally with every running step, would have provided a much needed distraction.  And maybe, had I been holding a conversation as we do in so many long runs on the weekend, I would have somehow managed to work through it and it talking would help me push beyond the pain and just run regardless.

25.  Lots of walking.  More walking in the last 5 miles than running.  My overall pace dropped near 9:37 average over the first twenty miles to a finish time overall average of 10:09.  It really did take a lot of walking at the end to destroy the lead I had given myself.  Depressed, saddened, humiliated…these and more were what I was. 

26. As the finish line approaches, I can imagine it up ahead around the corner and the sound of the crowds are growing with each step, so I know I need to start running again.  It’s been rather painful for these last five miles, left ankle battling it out with the right knee in a cage match to the death.   But the finish line is near.  And I’ve come so far, so I focused on finishing strong, at a run, and putting in a good showing as I complete this journey.

It was the right decision as approaching the chute there is K, outstretched arms over the railings, and yelling her heart out for me.  And P is there too shaking that cow bell frantically.  And somewhere there, too many faces to see clearly but who is who but I know they are there, is K2 and D and I’m the one who brought them all here and now they are the ones helping me to cross the finish…at a run…strong…and with a smile on my face.  Even in pain and the hell of the last miles I am 20+ minutes improved from my first marathon.  There is no saddness in that.

26.2 The Finish Line

Advertisement