I just ran this today.
It was a last minute thing. I was a little bored on Tuesday, looked at the training calendar and thought that a fast 12K run might be better than a 20-miler, especially since I had just done an 18-miler last Sunday.
So there I was, at some awful hour on Sunday morning, driving up to San Francisco with Mark. I initially thought that leaving before 6am was too early. But we were lucky to arrive at the time we did. We parked at Ghirardelli Square and when we arrived (just before 7am), it was already almost full. The “nice” thing is that they take your car keys and leave you a receipt (so no need to run with keys). The flip side is that it cost $10 to park. Oh well…
Since I had signed up at the last minute, I had to pick up the bib which was fast and easy. Then there was a long queue for the buses that would take us to the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge where the start point was (East Fort Baker).
It was pretty cold, although not as cold nor wet like the Kaiser Permanante 1/2 Marathon.
We basically wore our outer clothing until the absolute last minute, before putting them in the sweats check bins.
To their credit, RhodyCo had the event pretty well organized, with bins all marked out with bib numbers, plastic bags and lots of permanent markers.
5000 people had signed up for the event. So runners were split up into 3 waves. Presumably the first wave had “faster” runners. Even then, runners did not always followed the pace start lines and there was a little bit of a traffic jam at the beginning.
However, at about 1/2 a mile or so after the start, we hit the first hill. And it was a little bit of a killer. At least for this old dude. It seemed like it was never ending and brought us up to the Golden Gate Bridge. I started off going a little fast up the hill and by the time I reached the bridge, I was quite pooped. So it was quite disheartening to see people I had passed on the hill pass me on the bridge…
The weather was great and the view was magnifique. So the pain was at least bearable.
The path near Fort Point was interesting because it was high tide and waves were washing over the running path. So before race started, they warned us that we might get wet, but that it was not dangerous. I did see a photographer get splash by a large wave. It was quite amusing, perhaps not so for the camera (it was an expensive looking SLR).
I found my running legs only at around the 6th mile or so. From that point onwards, things got a little better. I started overtaking people. Having learned my lesson, I slowed down when I hit the uphill going up Fort Mason. Then half-way up, I opened up, coasted over the top, zoomed down to the on the other side and really gave it all in the last couple of hundred yards. In many ways, it helped to be familiar with the area and where the end point was.
Result? I finished in under 60 minutes, which translates to a sub-8-minute/mile pace. So I met my goal. Yay! Now, if I can do that for a 1/2 marathon…
Mark did pretty well too: 52 minutes or a 7 min/mile pace.
Post-race festivities was the usual: live band (pretty good music), bottle water, nuts (it’s sponsored by Emerald after all) and various promotional tents (Subaru, GEICO etc).
Would I do the race again next year?
Defintely!
UPDATE: The official results are out (look for Benedict Chong). I got in at 59:48 race time which translated to 8:01 min/mile. Since I passed the start at 15 seconds after the official clock, I could argue that I really did 8:00 min/mile or better. But that’s just splitting hairs. I aimed for <60 minutes and I got it. That’s why I like running: the ability to achieve my goals.
