San Francisco Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

“The sea was angry that day, my friends - like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli.” George Costanza

The race took off to a cable car bell. It took me 1:30 minutes to get past the start line. The first mile was really slow as many people were in the wrong paces areas. I moved back to a slower pace area this year and it meant a much slower time. I came close to running over two walkers walking side by side during the left had side of the run. As always there was tons of chaos as people found their own pace. The first mile was a 9:24 minute pace—which I did not see again until the last mile.

Aaron and I hung together until about mile 2, where I dropped my pace back to 8:30. I was able to keep this pace until about mile 10. I was running in my cycling shell and at this point I started to burn up, so I took it off and wrapped it around my waist. The course began to thin out quite a bit. We continued through the Golden Gate park through very small rolling hills. At mile 6 the sky opened up and the rain started to come down—with quite a bit of wind. About here I dropped a mocha shot block. I continued through golden gate park until we came out onto the Great Highway, which runs parallel to the ocean, at about mile 7. At that point, I got hit with a very strong headwind coming out.

That head wind turn into a cross wind as the course continue toward the San Francisco Zoo for the next three mile until mile 10. About mile 8 I dropped my water bottle and had to stop to pick it back-up—much to the chagrin of the other runners! I am happy to say that there were no tigers out and about—but none of us had time to tease the tigers. On the turn-around at mile 10 you realized that the cross wind wasn’t a cross wind off the ocean, but a wind coming off the ocean at a 45 degree angle. The run back was very difficult. The wind I found out later averaged 18 MPH with gusts at 21 MPH. I’ve never been impacted by head wind on the run before! My pace dropped down to 9-minute miles. The rain stated to picked-up again. It really got fun as you hit about mile 12.5. The wind picked-up and it was a tough go for a while. At this point, I could feel my hip get tighter and my knee started to bother me. My pace dropped to 10-minute miles. I hit the turn to go back into golden gate park. What a difference with the wind now at my back. However, I was pretty much spent. The majority of this course is downhill or flat. So what do they do? At mile 13 you have a ½ long hill! I grinded up the hill and came around the corner to the race shoot. It was over! The last mile was 9:25!

I raced UGLY.



I should have gotten another goo in about mile 11.

I went through the expo area and caught up with Aaron. We pick-up our race stuff and headed back to the car. We had planned to stretch out, but the car was right next to the ocean it was freezing. So we drove back to the park and stretched out for about 10 minutes without the wind.


Do my unrain dance.

My time was roughly 6 minutes slower than last year. My training was impacted by being sick for three weeks in December. I had planned to get an 18 mile run in before this event. Also, I feel that the lack of high intensity workouts during January impacted my speed from last year.

Next year, I'll do this right!


This race is very well run. I will do this course again next year. Plenty of volunteers who braved the cold and the wet to help us all out.