Date: July 29, 2018
Bib: 14458
Time: 2hrs 7min 44sec
Pace: 9min 45sec / mile
Distance: 21.1k (13.1 miles)
After running the Nike Go LA 10k, Vince and I registered for the 2018 Biofreeze San Francisco Marathon (half marathon). While I struggled at the Nike Go LA 10k, I trained a little more for the half marathon, but not nearly as much. At the time I didn’t realize how much effort and investment in training these longer distances would take.
We booked a hotel at The Clift Royal Sonesta Hotel at 495 Geary Street, San Francisco, CA 94102, which was funny because it has a certain reputation as the place where cougars hang out. It was close to the starting point at Mission Street + Embarcadero at the Ferry Building in San Francisco.
Start time? 6:30AM PST.
Vince and I had the brilliant idea to go out the night before to a friend’s place (Amy and Jeff) and had a few drinks.
On the morning of July 29th, we woke up, got ready and met Arvand and Stephanie to walk to the starting point. During our walk we stopped at a McDonalds and got some coffee. Stephanie had forgot running shorts/pants? I ended up giving her my pants to run in.
It was pretty chilly before the start, but I wasn’t too concerned since I knew my body temperature would heat up during the run. At the start, Arvand took off like a madman and was at the front of the pack. Embarcadero street is a long street and you could see him way at the front while I was behind quite a bit feeling like I was struggling already lol
The San Francisco Half Marathon was a scenic run. Ran through San Francisco, past the Golden Gate bridge and through Golden Gate Park. Around mile 8 I had already started cramping, but continued to push through. I remember there was one moment when it was foggy/misty and I just told myself to keep pushing through the pain and finish at a decent time.
After the race, Arvand’s parents drove us back. During the drive back we got stuck in traffic and I had to pee very badly. Even though we were a couple of blocks from the hotel I jumped out of the car and ran into the hotel across the street from us and straight to the bathrooms. After relieving myself, I walked back to the hotel Vince and I were at.
Eve and Elisa were also in San Francisco. After the half marathon the plan was to go to Arvand and Shaliz’s place in Tiburon and meet Eve and Elisa there. They decided to stay in the city to hang out with other friends of ours while Vince and I took a ride to Tiburon.
Arvand, Vince and I were drinking some wine on his patio and were all exhausted from the run. Shaliz wouldn’t let us have anymore drinks unless we helped her finish planting tomato plans in her garden.
If you’ve ever ran a long distance run you’ll know how sore your body is a few hours later. We pushed through the aches and pains and got all of the tomato plants into their new soiled home.