"Worth the Hurt" is the tag line of the San Francisco Marathon. The Wall Street Journal has been quoted in saying that the San Francisco marathon is "the race even marathoners fear." So was it worth it? Hell yes! The 2 days of muscle soreness in my quads and calves was worth the experience of running over (and back) the Golden Gate bridge in the early hours of the morning, through Golden Gate Park, and along Haight St. This was probably one of the best course that I have run (I think, even slightly edging over the NYCM), in my not so lengthy marathon career.
The WSJ had one thing right, the SF marathon was certainly one that I had feared the most. Not because of the hilly route or the early start time, but because I had felt that I was truly unprepared and improperly trained for it. Between the SD RnR and the SF marathon, I only logged in one 20 mile run, and ran 2 to 3 times a week and those runs usually felt very blah at best. A few days before the race date, I was seriously thinking of not running it and opting to cheer Joe on on the sidelines. I was scared shitless.
Up until race morning, I was bouncing between the idea of not running it. My wave did not start until 6:22am (the first wave starting at 5:30am! Joe's started at 5:52am). After a few more minutes of arguing with myself, I decided to get corralled up with my wave. I was going to run, have fun, and just enjoy the course and the enthusiasm of both runners and spectators alike.
I was expecting the course to be hilly (after all, it IS San Francisco), but not as hilly as it actually was. SF's idea of "rolling hills" is much different than what I had in mind. After a while, I didn't mind the hills so much because I told myself that I could stop and walk if I needed to once I reached the top. Once I got to the top, however, I felt that I could keep going and didn't really stop to walk during the course until about mile 22 or during the water stations. My favorite parts of the course was running across the Golden Gate bridge and passing the waterfall within the Golden Gate Park. It was an absolutely phenomenal experience.
Official time is 4:29:32 - barely making my goal time of under 4:30!
2011 SF Marathon Garmin Stats
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