Finish time: 1:55:47 (PERSONAL RECORD)
Placing: 1309 out of 3766
915 out of 2116 (male)
153 out of 305 (male division – 35 to 39)
This was a good race to start off 2020 right, after basically taking a year away from running. This is the first race in a while that I walked into with a goal in mind–to PR it. I was happy to accomplish that. It was a fairly cold day, though cold is now firmly a relative construct of living in Northern California. It was 50ish and windy in the morning, and I was “freezing,” but then I remembered running a half marathon in 2017 in 18 degree weather, and all of a sudden I didn’t feel so bad. This half was even more fun being able to run with an old friend.
What I learned: when the race gets tough, expected or unexpected, sometimes you just have to put your head down and go through it. No use in griping or bringing negativity, especially when everyone else has to go through it too.
PRE-RACE
I signed up for this race kind of at the last minute. I had a few long-ish runs (7-10 milers) and felt good during all of them, and so I figured I’d do this one as I’m training for a marathon in April and since I had a friend who was already doing is.
The packet pickup was kind of annoying. Not the fault of the race, just that I had to actually go get it. I left work a tad early on Friday and went over to the pickup spot.
The race was in Golden Gate Park SF, which is a good 20 miles from where I live, so I was up at 5:30 to get ready and make it up there in enough time to meet my friend and get to the start. I ended up at the start line at 7:30 for the 8:10 am start. As mentioned above, it was “cold” but actually felt like perfect weather for a run.
Overall, great race, and took a life lesson at miles 9-12.
Miles 1-4
9:46 min/mile; 9:17; 8:55; 8:28
As mentioned, I ran this race with an old friend. I went into it hoping to PR, but I also wanted that to be secondary to just enjoying the run. Most of the race winds through Golden Gate Park. My big observation during these first few miles was that the crowd seemed to thin out pretty early on, at least earlier relative to other races I’ve been on.
Miles 5-8
9:03; 7:52; 8:20; 8:00
These next four miles wind through Golden Gate Park, and at mile 8, the path goes out to the Great Highway along the Pacific Coast. Being relatively new to this part of the country, I didn’t even know what the Great Highway is, but as you exit Golden Gate Park onto it, you’re treated to a beautiful view of the ocean. At right around mile 8, my chest started feeling a little tight, but nothing too concerning. My friend and I kept a pretty consistent pace.
Miles 9-12
8:23; 8:12; 8:54; 8:54
This was the hardest part of the race, probably the hardest four miles I’ve run in a half marathon. And this is where I got a reinforcement of a life lesson. Up until mile 10, you’re heading south on Great Highway. At mile 10, there’s a turnaround, and the run north toward Golden Gate Park was brutal. It was windy as hell. Constant, in my face wind that made it really hard to breath, and really hard to keep my posture upright. There was also a side wind, whipping sand into my face. My friend and I were silent the entire time during this portion, and everyone around us was as well. The life lesson–it was a tough few miles, but you know what, all of us were in it. We all had to run through it, there was not getting around it. You could stop and walk, yell and scream, but if you wanted to finish the race, you had to deal with it. As I was reflecting post-race, I thought about that. I could have easily turned to my friend with a negative comment or turned to another person and yelled an annoyance or just generally muttered some negativity, but what difference would it have made? Would it have changed the fact that we had to power through? Would any minute and marginal benefit of acknowledging a shared misery been worth the mental distraction of negativity? No. So we stayed silent, almost a common understanding among everyone to just go through it together.
And, at least we had a nice view:
Miles 13 to end
8:39; [end]
After getting off headwind from hell, the last segment of the race felt like an easy cool down. I had been keeping track of my watch from mile 10, and saw that a PR was in sight if we kept the pace. By mile 13, the idea for me was to just run easy and enjoy the finish.
POST-RACE
My friend and I collected our medal, took a picture, and walked back through the park to head home. Overall, the post race was a bit lacking. It was alright, but not really too much going on once you finished.
Great race though, and nice to get back into it.
fiftyonemarathons 