Nike Womens Marathon - RunMarathon

As expected for a race this size, I spent most of the first three miles weaving around tons of slower runners and walkers...many of whom were walking 3-6 abreast making it very difficult to pass. I was actually really excited to hit the first hill at mile 4ish hoping that I could drop some of the slower folks. That happened a bit, but things did not ease up too much. I was feeling a little overconfident and annoyed by the time we hit the biggest hill from mile 6-7 and I kind of charged up it. I powered through the remainder of the rollers until the killer downhill around mile 10. I pounded down that as well and was beginning to regret my zeal by mile 11.
I was hurting and starting to worry about the remainder of my race as I passed Will cheering for me at that point. I continued on into Golden Gate Park, determined to keep running at least through the first half. I slogged along at a pretty decent pace with a little bit of walking at aid stations until about mile 16 or so. We started up yet another hill near the SF Zoo and I just couldn't run any more. I started walking in earnest around this point.
I kept going with a walk/run mix through mile 21/22 and then felt really terrible for a bit. I was sure I was done running for the day and decided to just keep one foot going in front of the other and walk it in to the finish. I was just glad I'd be getting off the course well before it closed. However, around mile 24/25 I felt like I could mix in some running again and I ended up running pretty strong into the finish (got to get a good photo!). No PR for me, but I did end up doing better than my first marathon time anyway. I was nearly in tears as I rushed up to the firefighter in his tux handing me that little blue Tiffany box.

Definitely more hill-specific training, possibly including some strength training to make my muscles a little more able to withstand that pounding. Probably shouldn't have gotten so aggressive on the first half hills either.

Stumbled over to get my timing tag removed, picked up a space blanket and my finisher's tee. Volunteers just kept handing me stuff, so I was loaded down with my necklace, water, banana, bagel, and free smoothie by the time I found Will. He got out my long-sleeve top for me and I put on my space blanket as a skirt to keep warm in the very chilly ocean breeze. So much for doing a leg cool-down in the ocean...I knew that was a sure path to hypothermia. We walked around the finish a little before catching a shuttle back to the start.


Lack of strength for hills, getting overexcited in the beginning and wearing myself out.


Very well organized race. Lots of aid stations and entertainment and tons of crowd support. On the downside for me was that I was not affiliated with Team in Training and definitely felt in the minority. The TnT folks had a ton of coaching and support along the entire course and I felt a bit like chopped liver at some points. The racers themselves were very nice, though and I chatted with several of them. I would do this race again just for the course, which I thought was a really fun way to see the city. (I'd never been there before) Next time, though, I'd probably plan on training more intensely than I do for the typical Nebraska marathon. :)