Running the 2017 San Francisco Marathon

This was to be my 5^th full marathon and first on the west coast. My first was the 2014 NJ Marathon and I have run the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington DC the last 3 years (2014 – 2016). I am registered to run Marine Corps again this coming October so if all goes well, for 2017 I will have run two full marathons, same as 2014.

Great scheduling:

The real reason to travel to San Francisco this July was a much more important reason as we were celebrating our daughter’s wedding. It was simple serendipity that when Jess asked us if we could take some time off after the wedding to dog sit for Nala while she and Joe went to Hawaii for their honeymoon.  Well, a free week’s lodging in San Francisco and the chance to help them out and spend time with our grand dog was an easy sale – we were in.  Of course, that’s when I got the brainy idea to check the upcoming race schedule in the Bay Area and lo and behold, Sunday July 23rd was 8 days after the wedding and it was the the 40^th annual San Francisco Marathon.  Here's a great idea, let's do that in addition to the wedding ... all in the same trip!

Planning:

It’s a good thing this wasn’t my first full marathon for numerous reasons. First, because it’s an extremely difficult course and second because I was already comfortable with finding ways to incorporate my training plan into my schedule because the last few months before the wedding were going to have lots of activities and challenges to work around. Once my registration was confirmed, I mapped out my training plan and wove it into life’s schedule.

Review:

Event organization

Having run Marine Corps and having attempted to get entry to New York, I am familiar with race entry lottery systems. I was surprised to find this wasn’t the case with San Francisco and I was able to get online, register, pay my fees and confirm my slot very easily.  The registration process was very simple and easy to deal with.

The San Francisco Marathon is one of the events that offers both half and full marathon distances as a part of the event. Uniquely, they also offer options for the half marathon distance; you can choose the first 13.1 or the second. The first 13.1 has the exciting experience of going over and back across the Golden Gate bridge but it is an extremely hilly 13.1 as a serious trade-off.  The second 13.1 also has hilly sections – especially in the beginning through Golden Gate Park – but then the hills subside a bit – at least in comparison to the first half.

Packet pick-up was offered all day Friday and Saturday at the Fort Mason facility. We chose to go on Friday so I could spend Saturday off my feet as much as possible. We used Uber – as we had throughout our time in San Francisco – and the trip to Fort Mason was simple and quick and left us just a short walk from one of our favorite tourist stops for Irish Coffee at The Buena Vista.

Race review:

Starting corrals were very well organized. The race begins very early at 05:30 and each assigned corral has a defined starting time every 15 minutes or so after the elite runners start. My corral began at 06:15 and we indeed began promptly. The start and finish are on the Embarcadero at Justin Herman plaza with lots of room spread out for corrals, restrooms, vendors, etc.

My day started out very early, up at 03:45 to fuel and use the bathroom before taking Uber to the start area. I arrived comfortably by 05:20 or so as the first corral was just about to start. This gave me time to drop off my bag at the UPS bag drop, use the bathroom and eat my Stinger waffle and then do some light stretching before entering the corral.  Considering how dark it is at that hour, we were blessed with good San Francisco weather. It was cool but not cold – perhaps upper 40 degrees. There was a bit of fan support but not a whole lot considering the early hour and the darkness but still an exciting start with music, loudspeakers and a good motivational send-off by the race announcers.

The more races I run, the more I am able to stay in the moment and take in the experience. I was intent on doing that so I specifically recall our first mile where we passed the docks for Alcatraz tour boats and folks were already on line for the first boat of the morning at 06:30. Imagine their surprise, they get up early to go on a boat only to find 15,000 crazy people out there before them going for a morning run!

Fort Mason hill (photo from a previous event)

The first 5 miles up the Embarcadero take in the most famous tourist areas of San Francisco past Pier 39, past the restaurants, past Ghirardelli square and the aforementioned Buena Vista and on up to the Maritime museum. We get our first taste of hills on the Fort Mason hill alongside the bay. Up and over that first hill and we quickly pass the site of the packet pickup and then on to the Marina district. Another simple, flat 2 or 3 miles up to Chrissy field and then it’s time to make our way up to the bridge.

Miles 6 – 10; the bridge. By this time dawn is rising and with daylight we are now able to see ... that we cannot see! Classic San Francisco summer fog was upon us and as we approach the bridge we can hear the fog horns that operate on an automatic cadence based on fog conditions.  Well this day, they weren’t going to be stopping for a while!  As we exit Crissy field we begin the uphill climb through the Presidio streets that will merge us onto the Route 101 bridge access roads shortly before the toll plaza area.  This is a very steep uphill climb and we begin to notice a fair amount of crowd support waiting at the base of the bridge entrance. I look ahead at the bridge and I notice that I cannot even see ¼ up the orange tower and I cannot see the guide cables – fully engulfed in fog.  One of my biggest apprehensions was my fear of heights across the bridge and I was relieved of that worry -- couldn't see 10 feet to either side of the bridge -- great success!

The surface of the road is wet and I can hear some runners commenting that it is raining but as any San Francisco resident knows, there ain’t no rain this time of year. There is such thick fog that droplets are forming in the air plus drops are falling down from the bridge structure to simulate a rain shower. The bridge surface is a fairly steep incline so lots of focus on footing, avoiding some small puddles and generally not slipping on the surface. Once we reach the Marin side we veer right to the vista point for our turnaround and the fog is broken up unveiling a beautiful blue sky above. As we make the turn and look back onto the bridge it is almost surreal how clear and blue the sky is above us because within a few minutes we will re-enter the bridge southbound and be fully engulfed back into the fog.

Miles 11-13; a triple treat: This is a very pretty part of the course through the Presidio along the outer coastline on the San Francisco side. Treat 1 is that we have completed some of the most hilly parts of the course. Treats 2 & 3 are that I will get to see my wife and our grand dog Nala at mile 12 because the race passes 3 blocks from our daughter’s apartment. How’s that for race planning! Bonnie has been at every one of my full marathons and I always look forward to the part of the course where I will see her. It works out well that we are just about at the halfway point and I see her clearly up ahead, I stop for a quick hello kiss and hug and one for Nala too and now I am ready to tackle another 14.2 miles. I even got to share half of Bonnie's cereal bar, I was hungry already!

Miles 13 – 16 are all within Golden Gate park. This is a big place – actually larger in area than New York’s Central Park and this race course lets us see EVERY bit of the park. Since we are still out in San Francisco’s Richmond and Sunset districts we are still very much engulfed in fog for the entire period in the park. We see the finish area for the runners who did the first half marathon and we see the start area for the folks beginning the second half. We pass the bison paddock, the lakes, the beautiful botanical gardens and gradually make our way east – up considerable hill inclines again until we exit the park near the old Kezar stadium.

course map

Miles 17 – 21 take us through the upper and lower Haight districts on our way toward downtown and finally we have crested the midland heights of San Francisco and most of the race will gradually descend now. A byproduct is the weather change as this is one of the dominant fog lines in the city where the fog parts. We see some last wispy low clouds and then bright blue sky and oh wait, what’s that, the sun is out! I distinctly remember that I began to re-sweat if there is such a word. Having been in fog and cold for 2 ½ hours by now my body was pretty much fully drenched in a combination of sweat and dampness but I had mostly regulated to a type of constant body temperature. As soon as we ascended one small neighborhood hill in bright sunshine somewhere near mile 18 I notice profuse sweat coming down into my eyes. By this time in the race my Nike running hat is fully drenched and has no more absorption capability and this new rush of sweat flowed a salty sting into my eyes. I squinted my way to the next water stop so I could flush my eyes and use my wristband to dry them out.

McCovey Cove

Miles 22 – 26.2; let’s play ball. Yep, as luck would have it, the SF Giants were having a 1PM home game at AT&T Park and the early arriving fans became our final home stretch support crowd. There is some desolate area between miles 23 – 25 as we approach the stadium from the south. It was so great that we were in clear sunshine and we could see the city skyline ahead, the Bay Bridge and the ball park. The course takes us along the docks to the front of the stadium and out around through McCovey Cove with fans cheering us on all the way. Like the folks a few hours ago who bumped into 15,000 crazy runners on their way to the Alcatraz tour boat, here these folks thought they would be cheering a baseball game and find themselves spontaneously cheering for us – really great support!

Another 26.2 in blue #wearblueruntoremember.org

The finish line is back on the Embarcadero just about where the start had been. Great fan support now as we run this final hundred yards under the Bay Bridge in bright blue sunshine. My finish time was within the range I had hoped for considering the challenging course.

http://www.wearblueruntoremember.org/














As my family has come to learn, I get a really good appetite and like a really hearty meal after marathons so my reward was a beautiful gift that Jess and Joe had left for us, dinner reservations at Ruth's Criss steakhouse. All I needed to do was to get myself into an Uber for the ride back to the apartment where I could rest for a while before our early dinner.

Thanks for dinner Jess and Joe and thanks Bon for your support!