SF Marathon Race Recap: I did it all for the hoodie

The only reason I ran the SF Marathon was to get a hoodie. SFM does a lot of "Challenges" or offering of special *prizes* to get you to pay more money to sign up for your races. ("You sneeeeaky race".) One of them, the 52 Club, is for people crazy enough to run 52 miles of races through San Francisco (the first two halves then the full in three consecutive years) and are rewarded with a hoodie. Clearly, I had to have it. 

The 1st Half was my first intimate introduction to many of the roads that would become my favorite jogging paths: the Bridge, Marina Green, Ft. Mason. I ran it with my best friend, Anne, a mere 6 weeks after moving to the Bay (I was still living in Oakland at the time) and reveled sharing both my new city and love of running with her more than I realized at the time. It was also tough, and I quickly learned that running in SF is not for anyone who doesn't want well-defined quads and butt that come from running hills on a daily basis. 

We do love sweat.

I signed up for the 2nd Half at the Expo, before even stepping foot on the SFM course, and pleasantly surprised myself a year later by running a hot, hilly course only 2 minutes off of my PR. Having completed the Half It All Challenge (which comes with a sweet medal), I dropped a $100 last December to complete the marathon and receive the most expensive sweatshirt I own.

After running Nike Women's in October, I was dreading running another marathon in SF. It's hilly, it's hard. As my summer travel schedule shaped up, I knew training for a decent time was out of the picture, and relegated myself to training to finish.  There would be no 50 mile weeks or runs longer than 20 miles. Life is bigger than running, and spending July 4th with my family, going on weekend trips with my friends and hiking Yosemite were all greater priorities than obsessing over a training schedule. I have my sights set on bigger, faster things, and have already registered for the notoriously speedy CIM in December. Bouncing back quickly is a priority, and I didn't want to find myself in a position of being out of training for a month post race.

My motto going into SFM was "have a good time, not get a good time" and set out to run with other members of my club who were also running to gain entry into the 52 Club. I knew that by treating it more as a training run, my recovery would be quicker, and as much as running in the city can suck, I do still love this place, and wanted to enjoy all it had to offer.

I met up with Amanda, Jenni, April, and Matthew at the start. My new BFF, Katelynn, was running her first marathon ever, and lined up two corrals ahead of me. As much as I would have loved to run with her, I did not want to push myself too hard and wanted her to go for the sub-4 I know she could achieve.

Pre-race selfie. So many smiles, so much excitement.

I had never run with Matthew, a 3:34 marathoner, before, but he was hilarious. He had duck confit for dinner the night before and called SFM the "Stupid F-ing Marathon." He was also trying a new arm band, new race fuel and wearing new shorts, a running caricature of what you're not supposed to do for a marathon.

My race plan was to run the first half in 2:10 then speed up for the second half and finish with a negative split, something I had never done before. We started at a much quicker pace, running the flat segments of the race in 9:00-9:15, but stopping for a bathroom break and at the top of hills to catch up to each other. We waved excitedly to speedier friends going the other way on the bridge. (Rachel, Katelynn and Susan - you all looked amazing!) We were having a great time, exchanging our most embarrassing moments, bad first date stories, and checking out men. We made up our own Ryan Gosling "Hey Girl" lines and commented on our favorite signs. At one point, I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe. I was definitely having a great time.

We lost April at Mile 7 and crossed the first half at 2:09. It was around my race plan pace, but wasn't running consistent splits. It was insanely humid and warm, not a great combo for me. Humidity has always gotten me, and some of my worst races have been really humid weather (Baltimore Half 2009, Baltimore 10 2010, Jingle All the Way 2010.) At 14, we all started hurting, and went to 8 minutes of running, 1 minute of walking, which are the intervals we do in our training runs. It was clear none of us were having great race days and despite the slow start, looked like a slower finish was in the cards. My legs and joints hurt, although my breathing wasn't labored. I'm not sure if I didn't taper well enough, but I was already in pain and was mentally starting to lose it. Around this part, the 2nd half of the marathon merges in, and we were almost stampeded by fast halfers. I felt bad, I remember last year being frustrated by slow marathoners, but kept our slower pace. This is also the west end of Golden Gate Park, where you turn around to come out and have a slow 3 mile uphill. After so many training runs through it, I've come to hate the park, and had been dreading this part of the race.

It felt like forever, but happily saw the SFRRC cheer station at Mile 18. I was buoyed by cowbells and Donnie's spandex-clad hip thrusting. After this, the end of the park was in sight, and I started to feel better. As we exited the park, Amanda was feeling lightheaded and needed to slow down to walk. She encouraged us to continue on, so Matthew, Jenni and I ran down Haight Street together. We danced to music provided by a man with a boombox on his bike. There was someone with a bubble machine and the faint odor of marijuana. You know, typical SF. 

Thanks Donnie for providing me with much needed Mile 18 smiles.

The fog had lifted by Haight, and the sun was bright. It was also 9:30-10 am and starting to get hot. SF has been experiencing a (relative) heat wave and the clear skies weren't helping. After the bubbles, Matthew decided he needed to walk too, so Jenni and I continued on together. There was a big downhill past the 20 mile marker, and Jenni was pulling ahead of me. I thought about how much I wanted to walk, and calculated the time it would take. I could run the last 6 miles in an hour and finish around a 4:30 or I could walk and finish in 5 hours. Or I could do a combo of the two, and finish somewhere in between... At this point, my body took over and I just ran. Around 20.5, some SFRRC members had an unofficial aid station set up with pretzels and Gatorade, so I stopped to snack with Jenni. The salty pretzels were great, and they earnestly told us that we looked amazing, despite our protests that we felt otherwise. 

So much club love. Road Runners rock.

Jenni ran ahead of me, and I was left alone for the last 10k of the race. I had been looking forward to having friends for the end and there I was, alone. Left only with my thoughts, I just kept on running. I knew the course, and told myself where I could walk, but I didn't. Not on Potrero Hill, not up into the Dogpatch. The sun was hot, I was so sweaty, but I actually felt better than I ever had at the end of a marathon, and thought I might be able to salvage the race into not my slowest ever. Mile 25 was sub 9:30, however, my last mile+ was slow. I could have pushed myself, but I saw several people prone on the sidewalk receiving medical attention and knew it wasn't worth it. I wanted to finish, but I also wanted to be safe. It was really hot, almost 11 am and I was running in the hottest part of the city. Mark handed me a water bottle at 26, which I greatly appreciated, and loved seeing him there.

Blowing kisses of appreciation to Mark at Mile 26

I crossed at 4:20, but I had stopped my watch at one of our pee breaks so didn't know what my official clock time was. I knew I'd be cutting it close for slowest ever and was so frustrated. I wanted this to be a slow race, but a slow race that felt good, not one that elicited me saying/thinking obscenities countless times over the day. 

I found Jenni quickly, and texted Katelynn. She had finished, but had pulled her calf at Mile 11. Susan found me (again, magically) while I was getting chocolate milk, and I headed to reunite with Katelynn and the rest of the Road Runners. 

Obligatory post-race pics

I was completely soaked in sweat and covered in salt. I was so dehydrated, and after hanging out a little post-race (taking tons of pics), headed home. I declined brunch with Katelynn and our friends and texted Lindsay from the bus to draw me a cold bath so I could hop in as soon as I got home. I limped in the door, mixed my chocolate milk with protein powder, then hopped in the bath with my shake and instagrammed my pics without dropping my phone in the bath. I had a snack, then showered for real and laid in bed for a nap. I went to the Giants game with the newly-formed Terps alumni club and got myself post-race garlic fries AND tacos for dinner. Afterward, I met Katelynn for celebratory Loving Cup. We split rice pudding as a "dessertizer" while they made our FroYo and chatted about our epic upcoming Friday night out.

I didn't share. 

In retrospect, I have a lot I should be happy about with that race. 

1. I did it. Running one marathon is special, running five is very special. 

2. SF is hard. I know this. I wasn't in shape to run fast, which I knew. The weather was working against me. There were 0 signs pointing to me having a great race day, so beating myself up over not magically running a 4 hour marathon is ridiculous. I didn't follow my race plan, but wouldn't have traded the fun I had for the first 19 miles for running consistent splits and not stopping, but being alone. I had a great time.

3. I kept going. I could have given up at 20, but I didn't, and finished so much stronger than I thought I would. At 20, I was optimistically hoping for a 4:30 and thought about walking, but finished in 4:23. Miles 14-20 were terrible, and 20-26 the best I've ever had in a marathon.

4. My aerobic capacity felt great, it was my legs that hurt. Even at the top of hills, I was never gasping for breath. I'm going to give myself a break, get a massage this week and taper smarter for my next race. And treat my legs better. More ice, more foam rolling, more strength training.

5. Everyone has bad days. I was with 4 other very strong, fast runners, and finished 2nd of our group. There were two five hour finishes and a 4:37. It was a rough day for a lot of people, and nothing to be ashamed of. I ran 3:50 at Nike a few months ago, and have a 3:48 PR. I haven't tried running on a course with my ideal conditions since Philly in 2010. I know I'm a stronger runner than 4 years ago and will be even stronger come December. Once I have a course and weather I can do better with, I will.

Hard-earned hoodie and medal.
Also of note, I finished 10th in the 2014 52 Club for women.

6. Next year, I'm running the SFM 5k.