San Francisco Marathon
San Francisco Marathon is this Sunday, July 28th. I’m excited and nervous.
Excited because we used to live here, and I love this city. There’s a special memory around every corner. Nervous because SF is all hills. There won’t be much flat running.
I’m really happy to be running this with my friend Allie and husband Tom. We rode up from LA together and have been trying not to stress out about the big run tomorrow. I’m going to high five the shit out of these two around mile 5-6 when I see them at the turnaround. I will be the last one to make the turn headed up the hill to the bridge (I run slower than both of them). Then, it’s game on for all of us. Hold onto your butts.
It’s kind of awesome that all of us have close friends who have done the full out here and could give us the play by play. In particular, I’m obviously most excited that one my best friends, Christine is doing the first half. I loved being able to catch up with her and get all of her SFM insider experiences and tips today. We started with the Puma sponsored shakeout and demo shoes, and we are ending the day with early, early dinner and goodnight texts.
Back to the run. Some of the hardest hills are getting up the bridge, then a little reprieve down the other side and under the bridge, ONLY to go back up the other side which is the steepest hill on the course. Everyone says this is the hill that kills you if you went out too fast. From there on, we’ll still have to fight back through SF, Sea Cliff, Outer Richmond, and into Golden Gate Park. The course this year has 1400ft+ gain. In my video, I said 1300ft based on their website, but the map in the expo has been updated and says 1400ft. Yay. That yay is sarcasm. I’m genuinely nervous and stoked. Maybe equal parts.
We’re currently watching a video of the race course in the hotel. Psyching ourselves out at 6:30pm the night before the race. Because of course we are. Mile 22 and 23 look like they’re a lot of uphill and the narrator says “if you’re tired, slow down, and walk quickly. Pick a point to point strategy and and just keep going… Really evaluate what’s left in the tank and make an informed decision about how you can finish your best possible race.” Oh joy. Wonderfullllllll. He closed the video, “Congratulations, you just completed one of the most challenging and iconic races in the world!”
I’m going to start every work call next week with that line, btw.
For this race, I created a pre-race video! Check it out below.
GOALS
Have fun
Finish
Come in around 4 hours, lol
Honestly, I don’t think I’m going for a PR here (anything under 3:58). I have a hard race coming up in November that should be a PR if I train smart. This one is just for fun and to check it off my list.
I’ll post a recap here later. Time to eat some pasta.
RECAP:
Not a lot more to say other than I’m glad to cross this course off my list of experiences. I ran faster in Florida last October, with way less fitness. I didn’t push my pace in SF. I slowed around mile 11, especially coming back over the bridge. I don’t remember much after leaving Golden Gate Park. My legs were tired and I just kept thinking “one foot in front of the other” over and over again. I kind of wanted to DNF, which is “did not finish” for those who aren’t big on running acronyms.
My big PR attempt (personal record attempt) is coming up in November and I want to be fully recovered and ready to go.
Until next time!
