SF Marathon

Arrived back in town yesterday after completing my second full Marathon in San Francisco. Took an extra couple of days to visit the sights: Alcatraz, Giant's game, Lombard Street, Coit Tower, Chinatown, and all the other touristy things there is to do in that great town.

Alicia, Shane and I got in about 10:30 a.m. the morning before the race and checked into the hotel before grabbing lunch and heading to the expo to pick up our race packets. For as large a race as SF is, the expo was quite small and congested. The swag wasn't too great, and not a lot of good clothing options on extra gear. I did get a stellar retro green track jacket though, and picked up some Gu's for the race - a marathon staple if you ask me.

Being tired from the long flights, we hit the bed fairly early, but not before having two to four too many drinks at the local pub. Not something you really wanna do the night before a marathon, but we were all so excited to be in a new city that we couldn't help ourselves. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel room - had to be up at 4:00 a.m. to shower, dress, and walk to the start line about a mile or so away.

Shane took off in the 6th wave, while Alicia and I were in the 8th. Us girls had talked about trying to stay together throughout the race - something we have only been able to pull off the first mile or two of a half - but with this being Alicia's first, and only my second full marathon, we stuck by eachother which really helped boost my moral throughout the run.

The first half of the race had some pretty steep hills, and running over Golden Gate Bridge and back was incredibly awesome. I didn't start to really feel tired until 12 miles or so into the course, when the half marathoners broke off to finish their race. I know it was mostly a mental thing at that point, but it didn't help the fact that I knew I would be hitting the wall soon.

Coming up on mile 14 that is exactly what happened. A few people had told us that the second half was easier than the first, as it was flatter. Well, I guess by flatter they meant less steep hills, because the number of hills in the last 13.1 miles sure surpassed the first 13.1. I could tell the run was taking a toll when I looked down at my watch around mile 17 and saw that it had taken us 52 minutes to run just 4 miles. At that pace, it felt like we would never finish the race - with another 9 miles left to go.

Somehow I caught my second wind at Mile 20, and felt good until around Mile 24. Alicia took off around this time, stating she was in a groove and wanted to push herself to make the goal time we set for ourselves: 5:30. I was okay with this, as I know if the situation had been reversed, I would have left her as well. Plus, with only 2.2 miles left to go, my fatigue turned to excitement just knowing I would be crossing the finish line and done with this torture soon enough.

The last mile seemed to take forever - as it always does - and by this time I was doing 3:1 intervals (we had started out with 6:1, then fluctuated between 4:1 and 5:1 for most of the second half). I was able to pick it up and actually sprint through the chute to the finish line, and overall felt pretty decent for having just finished a marathon.

Alicia finished just 3 minutes before me, and Shane 57. We were all very happy with the race, and definitely endorse it for other marathon runners. We're all talking of doing Miami in January, and of course I have a few small races and triathlons between now and then. Alicia says she is now hooked on marathons, and Shane - well, this was #19 for Shane, so he's been addicted for a while.