Bad news: That was a *hard* race near the end.
Good news: I ran the fastest race of my life.
Better news: Stanford Triathlon wins the SF Marathon team division!
Congrats to all the folks that came out today!
First, the stats:
| Place Overall: | 38 | out of 1980 |
| Men: | 30 | out of 837 |
| M 20-29: | 8 | out of 172 |
| AgeGrade: | 69.14% | Place: 38 |
| FINISH: | 1:25:40 | pace: 6:33 |
According to my GPS
Distance: 13.33
Time: 1:26:41
Avg Pace: 6:30
Total Ascent: 2250
My goal today was to start with 7:30 miles, then work up to 7:15 and perhaps even 7:00. That um...didn't work out too well. Special thanks to Carlos for pep talk, pacing, and recovery advice.
I woke up today in the Mission district and slipped out of the apartment onto a Muni bus. After a 10 minute ride, our bus driver stopped dead at the course blocking the road and kicked us out- 5 miles from the starting line. I hailed a cab with some fellow runners and we made it without incident. The starting area was...small. Perhaps I'm too used to transition areas with bikes and wetsuits as far as eye can see, but it definitely did not seem like room for 2000 people (or that there were even 2000 people, for that matter).
The first part of the course went fast. Carlos and I blasted out of the gate with a 6:12 first mile and were feeling great as we watched the 1:30 pacer recede into the distance. Highlights in the early part of the race included the folks handing out beer for those who wanted it at the first aid station. The course started flat, then hit some hills, but we pushed on through. Supposedly there was a herd of buffalo somewhere there, but I didn't see anything except the tunnel of race vision.
I kept up with him until mile 5, when a 100 ft lead became a 200 ft lead, and then a red figure up ahead that I tried to chase down. The folks running the full marathon were simultaneously a huge confidence booster and mobile obstacles, as our pace was much faster at this point.
Mile 6 or so broke out onto Haight Street. The miles flew on by as I tried to keep up the pace through the streets of the city proper. Mile 9 definitely started weighing heavily on me, and when I had "just a 5K left" I definitely could have used more energy. For me, it was light stomach issues and heavy legs. I had been alternating cytomax and water at aid stations, but I probably should have eaten more than the one shotblok I threw down.
Miles 10-13 were tough. I had to mentally maintain my legs moving as the hopes of negative splits faded. It didn't help that there were definite ups and downs in the course and that the folks around me were slowing down majorly. The ending chute was a welcome site, as I tried to kick tired muscles into high gear. Afterwards, I was pretty wobbly, with tired legs. But I got a nifty SF marathon foil blanket and plenty of recovery food and drink.
Regular readers of this blog know that my long runs have been pushed down towards 7:00 on good days, so 6:30 miles are *fast* for me. I'm proud to say that this shows how far I've come; I can now maintain my 5K race pace over 13 miles! I have surpassed my modest expectations and ran an awesome first half marathon. Thanks, Stanford Tri- best shape of my life! Plus my VDot has been upped from 52 to 54. Not a bad day's work!
Racing was fun! There's an energy about running with thousands of runners that sorely lacking in training runs. Kudos to the SFM team, the course was well staffed, well marked, and I had decent luck with the aid stations. My legs are a bit sore, but nothing out of the ordinary for hard training.
Lessons learned:
1. Don't go out too fast, but go with the flow if you feel good
2. There's no need to carry fluids on the run
3. Get in and out of the aid stations
4. Be sure to eat and drink!
5. Best prerace dinner ever (thanks Matt!) http://www.sporksf.com/home.htm
Here's a look at the triathlon folks
Full Marathon
42 Kevin Lohner 2:57:35 6:47 M 30-34/10 43 2:57:35 50:54 1:27:48
53 Mammen Jacob 2:59:45 6:52 M 40-44/5 54 3:01:21 51:06 1:28:28
663 Martin Nagel 3:47:16 8:41 M 35-39/122 766 3:53:29 1:02:26 1:48:06
181 Alison McGuigan 3:58:36 9:07 F 30-34/44 1184 4:54:07 1:10:28 2:02:09
Half marathon
23 Carlos Melo 1:23:44 6:24 M 20-29/7 28 1:23:47 10:46
30 David Li 1:25:40 6:33 M 20-29/8 38 1:25:43 10:46
10 Sarah K 1:27:46 6:42 F 20-29/2 49 1:27:48 10:51
28 Kath Boyer 1:33:53 7:10 F 20-29/7 118 1:33:55 11:59
38 Friederike H 1:37:18 7:26 F 30-39/12 172 1:37:23 12:37
259 Shawn Morel 1:46:41 8:09 M 20-29/56 361 1:46:46 12:37
392 Sryan Ranganath 1:56:54 8:56 M 20-29/82 622 2:03:11 14:11
266 Christine M 1:58:48 9:04 F 20-29/109 693 2:05:02 14:40
New goal: qualify for Boston! 63 days of training left!
David out
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