40 and Beyond.....: Marathon No.42 - San Francisco Marathon

Thursday, 13 June 2013

Marathon No.42 - San Francisco Marathon

Security BAGGAGE Check Area............

The WIPRO San Francisco Marathon EXPO

The morning view before the START of the Marathon

Concourse Exhition Center - BiB Collection

Name display board at the EXPO

Running T Shirt COLLECTION Point

The busy EXPO Center

My KIT

The START Line....

WAVE 8 - Start Time 6.30am

San Francisco Marathon - 2nd of Triple

There were approx. 20,000 runners taking part.

The San Francisco Marathon consisted of 8 waves in total. As I had put down my estimated finish time as 5 hours and 30 minutes I was in Wave 8.

My start time was 6.30am. They had announced that all runners were to arrive 30 - 40 minutes before their start time due to security reasons.

Our bags were checked before entering the main area and after checking my bag on to the UPS Truck I walked towards my start wave. Davey, Lesley, John and Rosemary were in a much earlier wave so I was unable to locate them.

'Marathon Maniac' Paul Rodman was running his 3rd San Francisco marathon and described how hilly the course was going to be, in my usual optimistic naive way I looked at him with an air of confidence that this run was going to be a doddle. We both ran together briefly for the first few miles until we hit the first water stop at around 2 miles at Fort Mason. As I'd ran Crissy Field the previous day, I just couldn't keep up with him and never saw him on the course after that. But we did manage to meet up again at Tracey's Fat Ass the day after.

Fabulous View of the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge...........

The San Francisco Marathon was a loop course. The race started and finished on The Embarcadero (near the Ferry Building), traversing San Francisco. The Full Marathon runs through Fisherman’s Wharf, the Marina, across the Golden Gate Bridge (and back!), through the Presidio and into Golden Gate Park. After a tour of Golden Gate Park, we ran down the famous Haight Street and through the Mission, Potrero and Mission Bay Districts. After a pass behind AT&T Park we were almost home – under the Bay Bridge and up to the Finish Line.

Just coming off the Golden Gate Bridge - Getting Warmer....

The weather over the Golden Gate Bridge was very clear, there was no fog unlike the previous day. I think we were ever so lucky as it was fairly breezy from the start and gradually got very warm towards the finish. I was taking in the scenery as I ran and remembering my first USA run in New York and how I thought I'd never get through it. And now here I am doing a triple Marathon State side again, only a couple of years after nearly collapsing near central park. Oh such fond memories!

The Golden Gate Bridge started around Mile 5 and finished at approx Mile 9. Many runners were taking photos en route of the beautiful scenery. One girl running the opposite direction to me slipped and tripped. I felt bad for her, I remember my last fall and I know from experience it's always more painful the day after the run. The poor dear is going to be hurting real bad now.

There were 6 lanes in total on the Bridge. 2 lanes were for runners, the middle lane was closed and the final 3 lanes were for vehicles (in both left/right directions).

MEDICAL Point on the Course

Cupped Water, Energy Drinks were evenly distributed out on the course. There was also left over bananas (from the Half Marathoners), Clif Gels and Bloks distributed.

THe 1st Half Marathon FINISH Point..... Where Bananas were left for us FULL Runners

Golden Gate Park

The last 3 miles were very tough indeed.... Limping, Walking, Light Jogging I went for the final mile without stopping even tho I struggled big time. I must admit San Francisco Marathon was the most difficult one out of the 3. The scenery was amazing especially running through the park and there was plenty of photographers on course. The atmosphere was so relaxed and everyone was so friendly, what I joy is running in this beautiful city.

Upon arrival at finish with my medal, I grabbed a bottle of water, can of coconut juice, some hawaiian Sweet Bread, a bottle of Chocolate Milk Shake, yoghurt all in one hand. I saw Davey sitting on the side of the road with a cool refreshing beer in hand and wanted one of them too and would have swiped his if i could have gotten away with it!. We checked our results and left the marathon with the beautiful backdrop of the sun setting over San Fransisco.