San Francisco Marathon

Race Information

• What? San Francisco Marathon
• When? July 28th, 2024
• Distance: 26.2 miles (42.195 km)
• Where? San Francisco, USA
• Website: San Francisco Marathon
• Strava Activity: Strava
• Finish Time: 2 hours 59 minutes and 22 seconds

Goals

Preamble

Originally, I had planned to run only two marathons this year, CIM and Napa. However, as my recovery from Napa went smoothly and I realized it was 28 weeks until my next race, the Arkansas Traveller 100, I thought the interval was too long to prepare for just one event. It seemed wiser to split the period into two training blocks with a race in between.

Mid-March, I began looking for races scheduled from mid to late July, considering either a Half or Full Marathon. Then, the San Francisco Marathon appeared. As my cursor hovered over the purchase button, I hesitated. The hesitation was partly due to the steep entry fee, but mostly it was memories of my previous ordeal with this hilly challenge. Although the course had changed, eliminating excessive loops around Golden Gate Park, it wasn’t completely flat. I vividly remembered my dramatic struggle 30 kilometers into that race, where I had started in the “Semi-Elite” field only to end up alternating between running and walking the last 12 kilometers, finishing in 3 hours and 18 minutes. Did I really want to attempt this race again? Oops, too late—I had already clicked the button. Damn.

The Block

With 18 weeks to work with, I divided the training block into three phases:

1. Phase 1: A gradual increase to around 70 km (43 miles) per week over 5 weeks.
2. Phase 2: Maintain approximately 70 km (44 miles) per week, with a few peak weeks.
3. Phase 3: Taper!

Overall, everything went according to plan, with the main deviations being a last-minute entry into a trail half marathon and a 62 km trail run, Zion Crossing. This led to a 70-mile (110 km) week at one point. I should also mention that I focused on maintaining a 7-day rolling mileage window, aiming to keep it around 70 to 80 km (42 to 50 miles). I experienced a few minor issues, such as tight ankles, some random back pain from weight lifting, and a bit of Achilles pain, but nothing too serious.

Shoes

Nike AlphaFly 3.

After the heavy bricks that were the AF2s, these feel magically light and bouncy. I love them!

Race day

The SF Marathon is notorious for its 5:15 AM start, which, given that I live an hour away, meant waking up at 2:15 AM to be ready in time. I tried to get plenty of sleep the week before to prepare, and I think it helped.

I have a pretty nailed-down system, as this would be my 9th marathon:

• 12 hours before: Pasta dinner
• 3 hours before: Bagel, coffee, and 500 ml of electrolytes (Maurten 320)
• Before the race: Minor sips to quench thirst
• 5 minutes before the race: Eat a gel (Maurten 100 Caf)

0 to 18.5kms

The race began with a somewhat awkward start, where a single handcyclist began first, followed by a few runners, and then the rest of the participants. Confused? You can watch a YouTube video of the start. Since the race was all chip-timed, I guess it didn’t matter.

The race is known for its hilly and challenging first section, but in my experience, the rolling hills of the last 15 kilometers are the real challenge for anyone aiming for a sub-3 finish. After analyzing splits from previous years, I settled on this strategy: pace the race for a roughly 2:55 even split. If the second half became difficult, I would aim for a 1:27/1:33 positive split to still achieve a sub-3 finish.

I also decided to run the hills very conservatively, pushing hard for the initial flat 10 kilometers and hitting this in 41 minutes, right on target. While I’ve seen race reports mentioning visibility issues, I found the weather almost perfect, except for a decent headwind. I tucked in behind whoever I could, but the field was already quite spread out, so I had to face the wind more than I would have liked.

I used a new strategy, carrying a 500 ml bottle of water with Maurten 160 electrolytes to boost my total carbohydrate intake. I also adopted a more aggressive gel strategy, consuming as much as I could rather than gradually, aiming for over 80 grams of carbs per hour, which was quite challenging!

Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge and starting the brief climb, I glanced back as I heard thundering footsteps. It was the sub-3 hour pace group! I had expected them to even/negative split the race, so I was somewhat surprised to see them. As I descended the hill towards Marin, I picked up the pace and tucked in behind a few runners who overtook me—perfect. Finally, I was back at the base of the bridge for the “Garmin Golden Gate Challenge.” I ascended slowly, and as I reached the top, the 3-hour pace group overtook me.

18.5km to 31kms

For a split second, I was worried I was falling behind, but then I realized this was excellent luck. The bridge was very windy, so I quickly tucked into the pace group and let them lead. After just over an hour of running, it was nice to turn my brain off and just focus on keeping up with them.

The pacing group maintained a steady pace. As we ascended hills, they pulled away from me because I wanted to take it a bit easier. However, I easily caught up on the downhills. This section was a grind with steep ups and downs as we worked our way into the park. I asked the pacer how he planned to split the rest of the race. He mentioned that we had 3 minutes buffer and would probably finish with a minute to spare. At this point, there was little wind, and the pacer had dragged me a long way, so I decided to revert to my own pacing strategy rather than stick with the group.

Just as I was about to exit the park, I felt a deep, strong pulse in both of my hamstrings. I had felt this pain before, at almost exactly the same point in the same race! Argh, was I about to blow up? Quickly, I slowed down and did some math. I had 50 minutes to run 11 kilometers, which almost perfectly worked out to 4:30 minutes per kilometer (7:19 per mile). I decided to stop pushing for a ~2:55 finish and focus on securing that sub-3.

31km to END

I would love to say it was easy from this point on, but quite the contrary—it was a massive grind. The challenge in this part of the race is getting the pacing right. To hit my target pace, I needed to push on the downhills and then try to hold on during the ascents. There was very little purely flat running until the final 4 kilometers.

At this point, I heard a loud cheer from my friend James, and we high-fived. This lifted my spirits, and I was certain I was going to get it done.

Finally, I hit that elusive flat section for the last 4 kilometers. I could hear large cheers behind me for a local female runner. I made it around the ballpark, looked up, and saw 2:58 on the clock. I started to kick and sprinted to the finish. Chip time: 2:59:22!

Wrap & What’s next?

Overall, I was thrilled with the result and wouldn’t have changed a single thing about the entire day. Now, it’s time to take a few weeks of lower mileage before building back up for the Arkansas Traveller 100!