I really enjoyed my experience at this year's San Francisco Marathon .. totally an all round amazing experience and a great destination event, for those looking for a nice scenic route ...
Going into to this event, I did not have the confidence on how or what to expect, as I only had one long run in the 28K range and only 2 other runs in the 20-21K range, since the Ottawa Marathon, about 9 weeks earlier, due to some calf issues in June ... which resulted in taking about 2 weeks of running, but, also forced me to take a well need break from running, which may have been a good thing, as it turned out ... And, the fact that I had not done any real specific hill training, since before ATB back in March .... Such the case, I approached this event with low expectations, and that resulted in starting off at a slower pace, then I have been accustomed to, which again, may have been a good thing, as i really paced myself really well in the race, as it turned out ... In the end, I finished in an unofficial time of 3:40:55, which is now my 3rd fastest marathon time ..
Long Report:
The San Francisco Marathon is a nice scenic course, taking us through the waterfront and into 15 communities of the City, as well as crossing over the Golden Gate Bridge and running through the Golden Gate Park, before heading back down, in around the waterfront on Embaracedero ....
The first 5K or so was relatively flat running along Embaracedero along the waterfront ... then, we started some rollers, as we headed towards the entrance to the Golden Gate Bridge ... fortunately, it wasn't too foggy this year, and the view of the Golden Gate Bridge, as we were running towards it, from a distance was breathtaking ... at the 8K mark or so, we hit our first speed bump, about 200m up a 34-43% grade, according to some posted signs ...
but, wasn't too bad, as it was so short ... then we had a few more rollers before entering the Golden Gate Bridge entrance point .... each way was about 1.7 miles in length, not too steep, but was like running on an uphill both ways ... but, also the the reprieve once we hit the crest, for a bit of a downhill until the turn around point .... They closed down 3 lanes of the bridge road to allow us one lane to run in either direction ....After exiting the Golden Gate Bridge, we had about 500m of rolling hills before the 16K, where we started a 2.5K stretch of downhill ... which allowed the legs to recover from the last 11K of hill efforts ... then we started a little uphill stretch on 24th Avenue, heading towards the entrance to the Golden Gate Park ... at the 20K mark, the first half marathoners turned left to their finish line home stretch, while the marathoners turn right, on their loop around the Golden Gate Park ... I figured it was about 10-11K of rollers in the Park ....
After leaving the Park on to Haight Ashbury District, we were treated with some nice downhill stretch, allowing us to catch our breaths, let the legs reover and whizz on down the streets ... the last 10-12K of the second half was pretty much rollers, downhill spurts, then a bit of a uphill followed by another stretch of downhill til we made it back to Embaracedero for the final 4K of the course ... I heard that the average city block was approximately 160m in length, as a reference point ....
Again, I went into this race with a conservative approach and lowered expectations, due to my recent training cycle, that focused more on shorter efforts, and at the same, with a reduction in my training volume over the last 8-12 weeks, since my two marathons in May, allowed my body the much need rest from the high volume, during the first 5 months of the year in my Winter/Spring Training Cycle .... Which, as it turned out, forced to take it out slower than I usually do, and allowed me to pace management better, as well as, hydrate and fuel regularly ... My legs felt pretty good and not once did I have to stop to walk, due to cramping issues, so I think that I am starting to find that balance in race management .... at least I hope I have ...
Not sure when, or, if ever, I will be back to run this course again, but if I do, I now know that this course can be pretty fast, given the hilly aspect of it, but, for whatever reason, I tend to do well on these type of course, even though I rarely train specifically for hills .. weird, eh !! As well, my top 3 marathon locations and top 4 marathon times have come from the West Coast for whatever reasons ... Vancouver (2x) , San Francisco and Las Vegas ....
eta: I know we've discussed this verbatim, but my garmin ended up recording that I ran 42.7K, which is quite acceptable error, in particular with all the turning and twisting and uphills/downhills, I guess ... though I thought I was pretty good with running the tangents ..
