Marathon No.41 - Crissy Field ULTRA Marathon

This was the first of my triple Marathons this weekend. I was so close to my first DNS. It started off with my taxi cab dropping me off at the wrong place. I spent the morning searching for the Marathon start and it was getting pretty nerve racking when I realised that I was no where near the place I should be running. I was running around like a headless chicken asking people where the start was. Did they understand my accent, or are the cabs drivers not as efficient as the London cabbies? I'm not sure what it. Most of the people I was stopping on the streets clueless and had never heard of the marathon and that is when it began to dawn on me that I could miss my first marathon line up and I wasn't going to let this happen.  With only 4-5 minutes left for the 8am Start time I hurriedly got in to another cab, which then took me to the correct start line. I was flustered and pumping with adrenaline when I arrived at the start line I was adamant that I was not going miss out on this triple weekend of running and so I dashed for my running bib and chip and headed off for the first loop. Straight out of the cab and into the marathon run!

The course was located at 'Crissy Field, Golden Gate National Recreation Area'. This was a USAT certified course with each lap of 1.061 miles around a very beautiful  lagoon.  We had excellent views of the San Francisco Bay, the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and Angel Island and what a lovely backdrop it was.

Thin Chocolates

Clif SHOT Bloks

Mixed NUTS & Raisins

Banana

Pretzels

Fresh Oranges

Blueberry Cakes

Fresh Sliced Water Melons

Cola, Peanut Butter and Jam Sandwiches

There was one Aid Station at the Start/Finish which provided a variety of fresh fruits, salty snacks, salted potatoes, peanut butter & jam sandwiches, salt tabs, sugary snacks, Clif Shot Sports Drink, Coke and Water. There was also warm foods post-race, and these could be requested during the event and were made ready for you at the start of your next lap. I had a few Cheese Tortillas on the final 2-3 laps... They were absolutely YUMMY! And the water melons at the end of the run were really out of this world. I could have stayed there all day, just eating and watching the other runners and I almost did but I remembered my plan to run a triple marathon and dragged myself back into the marathon.  I'm easily tempted when there is good for on hand, and of course staring out across the Golden Gate Bridge gets me into a bit of a daydream. What fond memories I have of this run!  

On my 3rd-4th lap, Brad Niess a lovely gentleman I met on the course noticed I had not been drinking, very perceptive of him as I think I must of forgot because of the all the commotion that morning. I didn't do my usual checks as to where the aid stations were situated and where water was available.  Brad's partner kindly handed me a filled up bottle and mentioned it was an electrolyte drink..... I was very thankful to have this as a backup in case I needed it. I carried the bottle around the course and as I had sufficiently fueled myself up before, continuing the run I did not need the drink and so handed it back to Brad's partner at the next aid station.

I managed to grab my camera for a few photo shots as I ran the final lap of the course. Me, Rosemary, Davey and Lesley all completed 26 laps of the course, which totalled a distance of 27.5 miles and I was so pleased to have finished in the time of 5 Hours, 30 Minutes and 40 seconds. As each lap was just over a mile and being rather flat it was fairly easy to get round.

At the FINISH Line with our FINISHER COASTER and Hot Soup! - Lesley, Davey, Rosemary & Moi....

At the FINISH Line

Bib - 603
Name - So Mei Chan
Class - 6hrs -  F-30-39
Overall - 7
Age Group -2
Distance - 26
Total  Tm -  27.586
Best Lap - 08:18.0
In Lap - 3
This was a perfect race to test ones limits and to reach your personal record for the most distance covered in 6 or 12 hours.

Pacing was not allowed, and friends/family could join you in for a few laps or you can invite a tourist or locals visiting the park to join you for running laps.  I was looking around for any cute guys but I think they were all snapped up by the faster runners!

Live results and split times were monitored throughout the course.

Finish Line of Crissy Field 6 Hour Ultra

COASTERS and MUGS

FINISHERS REWARD - A COASTER. FINISH Time : - 27.5 Miles in 5 Hours, 30 Minutes & 40 Seconds!

The organisers had kindly asked us all back.... The event was not on a large scale and was very well organised, approx. 30 runners in total but it had such a lovely feel about it.