Race Report - The 2010 San Francisco Marathon

Woo! First Race Report! I think I'll try to follow the following format 'background', 'pre-race', 'race', 'post race' and 'final thoughts'.

Background
Seven weeks ago I ran my 5th San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon. It was a disappointment to say the least. Immediately following races like that, I tend to make rash decisions; it usually takes me about a week to cool off and say 'there's always next year'. I didn't make it to the 7th day and before I knew it I was signed up for another full marathon and enlisted the services of a coach. It was shortly thereafter that I started this blog.

I've run the 1st half of this marathon before and I loved it. The hills were challenging, but were rewarded with corresponding downhills. The start line was organized with timed wave starts; zero congestion at the start. At the time it was a PR and the second half was supposedly flatter and faster. Makes sense, right?

Pre-Race
After my last pre-race run, the fam packed up the Rav-4 and headed up north - hella north. Seven plus hours and 480+ miles later we were crossing the Bay Bridge. (Just below the SF side is where the full marathon starts/ends)


From there we, or I should say "I", hit the expo to pick up my packet and possibly get some official race merchandise. Coming late on the second day usually means slim pickings...although there seemed to be plenty of Women's v-neck shirts available.

After an early dinner w/ friends, it was time to call it a night as there were three alarms set for 3:30 and a wake up call scheduled, I needed to get to bed as soon as possible.

Here are my little troopers hanging out with me at the Runner's World Challenge pre race area at 4:30 AM!


Here I am rested, ready and with a swollen left cheek. Apparently bees and other creepy crawlers agree that my left side is my best side.

Race
Without a camera in hand, google images will, yet again, assist me in painting you a picture. yay!

The course started and ended just north of the bay bridge. I toe'd the line armed with a completely different training plan under my belt, fueled pre-race w/ a new nutrition plan and with a race plan in mind. The weather was absolutely perfect. It was time to execute.

Heading North along the Embarcadero was mostly flat and easy. I've ravved about the wave starts in the San Francisco Marathon, and again, it did not disappoint. No bottlenecks. No zigging. No zagging. No one to blame for slowing you down. I was trying to keep at an 8:55 pace. I was feeling good.

Approximatley 5 miles in, runners climbed the base of the Golden Gate bridge. Very neat. This is the best out and back you'll ever experience in a race. The only complaint is that runners in each direction have just one lane w/ no buffer between the runners headed out and those headed back. This made for some incredible dangerous passing situations. Not a lot race directors can do there, the bridge is still open to traffic. I was maintaining my pace quite well as we got off the bridge

Heading back into the city, there are a couple of big climbs before I reached Golden Gate Park, where the 1st half marathon would end, the 2nd would start and the full marathon would spend a majority of it's time (6 miles). Now apparently there's a famous 'hippy hill' in this park. I didn't see that, but I did see more hills than I expected and a bunch of crazy people climbing them. Still feeling good through 16, but the hills of the first half and the unexpected hills of the second half had clearly taken it's toll on my legs.

From Golden Gate Park the marathon ran through some residential neighborhoods of San Francisco. No Olsen twins, but this is what I can picture when I ran through here. My pace had slipped considerably. 8:56 through 7.6 miles, 8:59 through half, 9:15 through 20. I had given back a lot of time through the first 7 miles of the second half of the marathon. But there was no wall mentally. I was still in the game and getting those two minutes back felt manageable.




Shortly after 20, I decided to try and pick it up in an effort to get back on pace. My heart was there, my mind was along for the ride too, my legs, however, gave me a big middle finger. Cramps hit both hamstrings and both calves almost simultaneously. This was new to me, so I backed off. More and more people began to pass so I tried to go again and about 21.3, I cramped in my right calf and was forced to move off the course and come to a complete stop. I felt crippled and defeated. Asked by a spectator if I was alright, I told him I was cramping and he replied 'Maybe that's your body telling you to take it easy?' Maybe, but maybe I might not listen. Within a few minutes I was able to rub out the cramp and start 'running' again.

Not being able to carry any sort of decent pace, I was content in the fact that it was almost over. I hobbled through McCovey Cove and AT&T Park. As a childhoold Giants fan, this was a treat. From there, there was only 1 mile to go.

I came in at 4 Hours 17 Minutes and 5 Seconds.

Post Race

After the finish, I gangster limped my way over to the Runner's World Challenge meeting area. I was greated by a round of applause by my fellow challengers, the Runner World staff and the wife and kid. This was nice.

Below is a picture of me in front of a picture of Bart Yasso. He's kind of a big deal. He was there in the morning, but not post race - I was too shy to ask for a picture.

I did ask Jenn w/ Runner's World for a photo. I guess you might say she was my online coach, who answered a lot of questions I had about the challenge, training and the race itself.



After a few pictures and my free massage we were off to meet w/ the Martinezes for lunch before heading home. This is me with Ricardo and His wife Alexis.



After lunch, it was time to make our way home. I had to be at work the next day. Blah.

Final Thoughts

If you typed in the URL for this blog, you know that I did not reach my goal. I did however, run strong though 20 and refused to quit after cramping. There are definitely way more positives for me to take away from this experience than negatives. In my previous 5 marathons I hit a mental wall before anything else. Thoughts like "why am I running" or "laying down would be dope right now"...none of those this time around and I believe nutrition had a lot to do with it (However, there's still some nutritional kinks to work out, i.e. preventing cramps). The only thing I kept thinking was "why won't you do what I ask, legs!"

With the short prep time, I kind of kept the fact that I was running another marathon on the down low. So, sorry if I might have mislead some of my besties in the hamhock community. My next race in the attempt at 3:59:59 is the Long Beach Marathon in October. I have two months and a lot of work to do, but San Francisco has given me the confidence in my training program.

Finally, thanks to my wife and kid who spent 16 hours in a car to spend 24 hours w/ me in San Francisco. I truly can't ask for a more supportive wife and a kid more comfortable on a long car ride. This big ass medal is for you two.