2017 San Francisco Marathon Race Report

2017 San Francisco Marathon Race Report

A really fun marathon expo being held at Fort Mason.

The 40th running of the San Francisco Marathon has come to an end. I would like to share with you about this race weekend. This is one of the most challenging yet rewarding race that I have done. The most difficult thing to me is the early race start time.

The race started at 5:30 am for the first wave of the marathon. That means runners had to go to bed really early Saturday night. I had dinner at 8 pm, then went to bed at 9 pm. 

My race bib. It was a nice surprise to see
#KarlTheFog. I didn't recall I put that on
my race bib when I registered 6 months ago.

I woke up at 3 am, and biked 4 miles to the race start.
They offered bike valet, thus giving runners an option to
bike to the starting line. This is a pretty cool feature. With
the bike ride to the starting line, I was fairly warmed up. 

I got to the wave 2 corral at 5:28 am, just 2 minutes
before the start of the race. This made the start of the
race a little bit stressful. The race started on time. For the
first few miles, you got to run along the waterfront. It was
really tranquil to be running with 18,000 fellow runners at
5:30 am. There was not much talking, as everyone was still
feeling sleepy with the early race start. I used these first few
miles to let my legs warmed up, as we would be dealing
with a lot of hills for the rest of the course.

The elevation profile for San Francisco Marathon. This is not an easy course, as it is very hilly throughout most of the race.

We ran through Fishermen Wharf, and it felt so different without the tourists. We then headed to Fort Mason, the first hill of the course. Even though it was fairly steep, the hill wasn't too bad. After Fort Mason, we followed the bike trails to head downhill. There was a crazy section where three bike lanes merged into a single lane of sidewalk with curbs. I made sure I don't have any missteps, or else it would be devastating to trip up so early in the race.

After Fort Mason, we had a few flat miles at Crissy Field. Then, the difficult part of the course started. We ran up 200 feet to get to Golden Gate Bridge. Fortunately, the fog and mist started at that point, so it kept us pretty cool. The highlight of the race was that runners can run on Golden Gate Bridge. However, Golden Gate Bridge is technical somehow. There was only one traffic lane for heading out, and one traffic lane for heading back. So the course was pretty crowded. In addition, the metal connector pieces on Golden Gate Bridge were very slippery. During the time on Golden Gate Bridge, I focused on not running into other runners and not slipped on the bridge.

 

The San Francisco Marathon took you to different parts of the city.
The highlight is getting to run on Golden Gate Bridge into
Marin County north of the city.

After completing the segment on Golden Gate Bridge, I knew the toughest part of the course was over. You got to run on the west side of the Presidio for a few miles, then heading off to Golden Gate Park. 

Golden Gate Park was dreaded about a lot of people. For me, that's actually my favorite part of the race. You have the first half marathoners finishing, while the second half marathoners merging into the course. There were lots of things going on, so that kept me distracted from the hills of Golden Gate Park. Once we got to Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park, I knew that we had reached the highest point on the course, and it was mostly downhill from there.

Golden Gate Bridge on a sunny day. During race day, it was sogged in.

However, that was when my nightmare began. The sun showed up as soon as we headed out of Golden Gate Park, and I overheated right away. Instead of running at a 7:30 pace, I slowed down to 8:30 to 9:00 pace as I hit the wall. I started walking, and I had to mentally remind myself to start running again as the race was starting to fall apart for me. After a minute of walking, I returned to a slow jog. I was dragging my body towards the end of the race.

Enjoying the sun after the race with
fellow race ambassadors Jeanne and Kim
from Connecticut.

At mile 24 to 25, we saw the baseball field for San Francisco Giant sitting in front of the skyline of San Francisco. At that point, I knew we were approaching the end of the race. I was able to pick up my pace, and started running towards the finish line under the Bay Bridge. I finished the race at around 3 hours and 30 minutes. Not my best marathon, but a good time considering this marathon was really hilly. There were at least 1200 feet of elevation gain in 26.2 miles. This made me realize I still need to train harder if I wanted to get a Boston Qualifier.

At the finish line, there was a tent for race ambassadors. As an ambassador for the San Francisco Marathon, I was able to spend some time catching up with fellow race ambassadors and sharing our race experience.

This is a difficult race, but it is amazing at the same time. I will be returning to the race again in July 2018. I will be better trained to tackle the hills in this course. Hope that you guys enjoy this race report.

Posters and Flyers Coming Soon!!

Coming Soon! Awesome posters and flyers for the San Francisco Marathon.

We are only 5 months away from San Francisco Marathon. To get the discount code for race registration, please send me a message. Have a great spring training season!

Alternative Marathon Training Plan

If you are training for a marathon you probably have to spend 5 to 6 days a week running. For me, I used to be doing that. After my leg injury, however, I know that the regular marathon training will strain my lower body. I decide to try a different marathon workout plan. One that consists of 3 to 4 days of running per week, and then 3 days of cross training. I still do the long runs, as they are necessary to get your body to run continuously for 3 hours or so.

Below is a summary of my alternative marathon workout plan.

Running (3 to 4 times per week):

• Long Runs: 
• 14, 16, 18, 20, 22 to 24, 20, 18 
• Just like your typical marathon training plan
• Once per week
• Easy pace
• Yasso 800: 
• Run the 800 m at the goal marathon pace (For example, 3 min 800 m for a 3 hour marathon).
• Walk for 3 minutes
• Do 6 to 10 repeats
• Long Interval
• 1 mile, 2 mile, etc.
• Run at a pace that is 10 to 20 seconds faster than your marathon pace
• Jog for 800 m
• Repeats until you ran about 8 miles or so
• Short Interval
• 100 m, 200 m, 300 m, 400 m
• Run faster than your marathon pace
• Walk the same distance between sets
• Repeats until you get to 5 to 8 miles

Notice a lot of focus is on speed workout, mixed in with weekly long runs.

Cross Training (3 times per week):

• Weight Lifting
• Rowing Machine
• Swimming
• Biking

The key is to mix things up. The traditional marathon training plan can be boring. It is important to add deviations to the training plan so that training for marathon can be fun instead of being a chore.

If you are interested in participating in the San Francisco Marathon, Half Marathon, or 5K on July 23, 2017, it is not too late to sign up. Comment below if you are interested in getting a discount code for race entry. Good luck in your training!!

Recovery from A Leg Injury

Running a marathon is a long journey, and there are lots of ups and downs before you cross the start and finish lines. For me, I have gone through a significant leg injury in the winter of 2015/16. The recovery was a long but rewarding path. In this post, I will be sharing with you about my journey through this injury.

In early October, I suffered a leg injury during a hockey game. My right leg's fibula got an oblique fracture from a freak accident. Fortunately, the break wasn't too complex, so no surgery was required. I was put on a cast to let the bone heal up naturally. It was a devastating blow to my marathon training, as I was prepared to go run in the NYC Marathon a month later. Fortunately, I was able to defer the entry to NYC Marathon for a year and focused on the recovery.

Normally, for this type of leg injury, it will take about 8 to 12 weeks for a complete recovery. However, my bone was taking its time to heal up. Every two weeks I would stop by the doctor's office for a new X-ray, and the image would look almost the same as the one before. The doctor and I were both perplexed on the slow recovery progress. I have gone through at least 6 casts. To get me through the long Alaskan winter, I decided to perform alternative workouts without using my leg. These exercises include push-ups, sit-ups, crunches, planks, etc.  It took me almost 6 months before I can walk normally. I then moved on to starting the next phase of recovery with physical therapy.

By the summer of 2016, about 9 months after the injury, I was able to run normally. I gradually increased the mileage during the summer. In October, I completed a half marathon in 1 hour 32 minutes. In November and December, I completed the NYC Marathon and the California International Marathon. After more than a year after my leg injury, I feel that I am making some good progress towards full recovery. I am still suffering from poor balance, but I will be taking some yoga classes to improve on my weakness.

One of the main lessons I learned from this leg injury is being patient. 26.2 miles is a long way to go. Training for being able to run 26.2 miles also takes time. One will have the patience to go through 3 months of marathon training before the race. During the race, patience is key to not going too fast in the beginning and saving some energy for the second half.

Thanks for reading. In the next blog, I will be talking about how I use marathon to help me see different parts of the world.

Welcome, and let's Journey together to the 2017 San Francisco Marathon

Welcome! If you have interests in participating in the 40th San Francisco Marathon, you have come to the right page. San Francisco is a very beautiful city. In July, you will have an opportunity to run through the city and also get to run on Golden Gate Bridge. There are various distances to choose from: 5K, half marathon, full marathon, and ultra-marathon.

This page will have blog entries talking about different running topics, marathon training, and also a deeper look into the San Francisco Marathon.

The picture shown is Tanah Lot in Bali, Indonesia. I spent the last 2 weeks traveling in SE Asia to escape the California rain. Being back in NW California, now I can start my training for the San Francisco Marathon!

I have also created a facebook page, you can go to: https://www.facebook.com/TSFM2017NWCA/

If you consider registering for the race, you can go to: goo.gl/l4RndY
Make sure to send me a message before registering for a discount code.

Have a great running season.