San Francisco Marathon '08 - Race Day

The alarm sounded at 3:30 a.m. and I shot out of bed to take a shower then stretch and eat a Nature bar. The wife followed suit.

Surprisingly, cabs aren't readily available in San Francisco at 4:40 a.m. Challenging is hailing a cab when you can't whistle and especially difficult when the Valet is not present but found sleeping in an office. Nonetheless, we found a cab to share with another couple and arrived at the start line by 5:10 or 5:15 a.m. Perhaps we were too tired to be nervous or care, but after dropping-off our gear bags we lined-up corral 3 and the race began at 5:30 a.m. Karen noted to me, this is the latest we arrived for any race...ever.

Prior to the race, I thought I could run a 3:45 race and appropriately lined -up well behind the 3:40 pace group and near the back of our corral which ended with 3:44 pace. Corral 4 contained the 3:50 pace group which is important to note because as long as I was between the 3:40 and the 3:50, and the 3:50 group didn't pass me, I felt comfortable to achieve my goal.

With slow songs pre-loaded upon my I-pod to slow my pace, we were off and running! Early I kept a slow pace while taking in the sights -- a guy running in Trojan armor was the most unique sight. For San Francisco's creative and interesting people, I was surprised to see little or no crowds or people running in costumes as one typically sees in other races. Although I do enjoy cheering crowds calling your name, this race was different for me as I was more interested in taking in the sights of the neighborhoods. In fact, we purchased in expensive, $10 digital cameras to take a quick picture. Sadly, little to none of the photos worked as there was not enough light, jiggling or lack of knowledge how to use the camera. The difficulty also arose in that there was no view finder and you just guessed when pointing and clicking.


For the first two miles until the first water stop, our pace was slow and I would run ahead of my wife to take a photo of her passing Fisherman's Wharf. Note the excellent attempt by me but no photo is shown below. Believe me, it was a cool photo! At the first water stop, I lost my wife. I stopped and waited searching the crowd, when I saw her walking and drinking. At this point, I decided to run my race and she would run hers.

At each water stop, I would take two sports drinks out of Dixie cups as I wasn't carrying my water bottle. Sure enough, I needed a bathroom and was on the look out. Prior to the Golden Gate Bridge and 40 minutes into the race, I reached back for my Cliff shot and inadvertently money, my bus fair and back to the hotel, fell out of my running belt. I had no idea as I was lost in my Ipod songs and the views of the Golden Gate Bridge. Only after someone tugged at me and yelled, "You dropped your money!" I stopped and turned back. Yes, I ran back in the course where a fellow runner was running towards me clutching dollar bills.

"We're too kind. Thank you."

A minute or two I lost. Then began to pass the people I already passed. I had no regrets as I was having fun. Soon, I conquered the hill up to the Golden Gate Bridge and was amazed I was running across the Golden Gate Bridge! The view was phenomenal and my fear of heights and bridges didn't seem to phase me,except for one brief moment. The running lanes were "twined" off and cars still traveled across which lead to the thought, "Don't fall into the car lane! It would hurt to have your head run-over by a car's tire." Hurt, indeed.

When I was running across, there wasn't room to pass anyone so you just ran with the group you fell into. One guy tried to pass people by crossing into the other roped lane but became tangled in the twine, thereby narrowing the other lane as he tried to untangle himself and earning the scolds from runners. Once again, I took some incredible photos of the bridge structure and runners. Just imagine the picture in focus! The wife took this picture. Notice it is clear. She stopped to take the pic.


Crossing the bridge, I was soon in Golden Gate Park which reminded me of Louisville's Marathon where we ran through Cherokee and Iroquois Parks which are hilly and lush. Quite an enjoyable course and I saw Buffalo! The cold was seemed to affect me a bit with a splitting headache and I noted seeing my breath in some areas. For nearly 16 miles I ran with a splitting headache until the last mile when I realized I tightened my visor to prevent it from blowing off my head when running across the Golden Gate Bridge.

Exiting Golden Gate Park, we entered Haight Asbury where the downhill portions were a bit trying on the legs, but what the hell, use gravity to my advantage! One guy in my pack was running without shoes so I imagined his pain had to be worse than mine!

Without fail, around mile 22 or 23, I felt a small cramp in my hamstring. Instead of stopping, I decided to slow my pace and rub my thigh. It seemed to work up until mile 24 where I had to stop and stretch. Another runner gave me a salt packet. What the hell? I was out of options and would try anything.

While in Golden Gate Park, I knew the 3:40 group was about 6 minutes ahead of me and I wondered if I gained any time on them. When I got to the baseball park, around mile 25, the 3:50 pace group were sprinting by me which evoked a very vocal, "Oh, shit!" by me. These guys were hauling with a panicked looked upon the pace leader's face. I knew I was in trouble too, and managed to greatly pick-up my pace. Other runner's around me sensed the urgency, too, and began to run as fast as they could muster. It felt like a sprint with the Finish in sight.



Once again, I took a fantastic photo of me crossing the line with the clock in view but, due to a bad camera operator, me, we'll never know. Instead, my wife managed to make it back to the Finish line in time to capture my greatness!

My official times are the following:

Place Overall: 1229 out of 4436
Men: 1041 out of 2926
M 40-44: 151 out of 411
AgeGrade: 53.98% Place: 1497
FINISH: 3:59:08 pace: 9:08
7.5 Mi: 1:10:19 pace: 9:23
Half: 1:58:31 pace: 9:03
Chip Time: 3:59:08
Gun Time: 4:05:38

The wife finished the half as follows:

Place Overall: 3220 out of 6693
Women: 1369 out of 3702
F 40-49: 228 out of 656
AgeGrade: 53.53% Place: 1730
FINISH: 2:14:40 pace: 10:17
7.5 Mi: 1:18:00 pace: 10:24
Chip Time: 2:14:40
Gun Time: 2:21:09

Instead of going to the awards ceremony to pick-up my hardware, I opted to go back to the hotel for a hot shower. This time, I let others bask in the glory of finishing first.

About that celebratory martini...