I’ve always wanted to run the SF Marathon, so when we decided to move back I signed up for it right away. They had a 3:00 pace group, so I started the race with them. We were clocking 6:40 miles and had more than 30 seconds to spare after the downhill sections after coming back from the Golden Gate Bridge. A friend from my running group joined me in Golden Gate Park and paced me for a couple of miles, it was awesome and resulted in a pretty fast mile 18. I started to fade at mile 19, at around mile 20 the 3:05 pacers passed me. I think sub 3 at TSFM was a bit aggressive especially with inadequate hills training. Since I already got my BQ, I just took it easy on the downhills in the last 10k. I was mindful with my quads and didn’t want them to cramp up. I also didn’t want more black toenails. I ran high-7 and low-8 min-miles only and it was a pretty comfortable stroll to the finish line. I finished with a 3:11:00, which I’m pretty happy with.

Detailed results

Splits

Gears

I have a decent collection of running shoes:

• Saucony Peregrine 4 for trails, really love these, I got about 142 miles in them
• Adidas Energy Boost 2.0, ran Grandma’s with these, racked up about 240 miles in them, mostly longer runs
• Newton Distance S III, ran SFM with these, was curious about the brand, decent shoes, only have about 128 miles on them so far
• Altra One², just got them, very light weight, zero drop, the sizes run a bit small so maybe get a half size bigger than usual

Other gears

• RooSport pouch, I picked up one of these at the Grandma’s expo. I used to run with running belts and switched to this. The RooSport doesn’t bounce at all, and it holds my phone and a few Gu packets. I’ve done many long runs and ran SFM with it, no chaffing at all
• Feetures socks, only socks I run with now, super comfy, no chaffing or blisters after over 1k miles in them. They’re also available for cheap at Nordstrom Rack
• Meelectronic M6P cans, cheap $25 cans with volume slider and button, solid inexpensive running cans
• I picked up an Elevation Training Mask, will start training with it on

Recovery

I picked up a pair of SKINS RY400 recovery compression tights before Grandma’s. I put them on shortly after the race and had them on 24/7 for 3 days. They helped a lot. I now sleep in them after harder workouts. If you want to recover quickly, I highly recommend them. I hydrate with Nuun tablets after workouts, the flavors are tasty and sugar-free. I take Gu Recovery Brew after long runs, and after races I drink Hammer Recoverite.

I just got a Roll Recovery R8 massager, it’s pricey but works really well. I use it in addition to my Tiger Tail and Grid foam rollers (yes I have 2, the original 13″ one and the 5″ one for travel).

Onward

I will attempt sub 3 again at CIM. Maybe one of the Tahoe marathons too, but should probably just focus on CIM. I’ll do Boston 2015 and probably the Boston 2 Big Sur Challenge, that’s to run Big Sur, a pretty hilly and difficult course, 6 days after Boston. I already signed up for TSFM 2015, I should be much better prepared for it next year.