posted Aug-09-2007 01:37 AM               

We originally planned this trip to visit my aunt and uncle, who are oldies, 87 and 91 respectively, before it was too late. They are suffering in their retirement in a 2500 square foot home on a small lot in Malibu next to Pepperdine University. So after we invited ourselves the next step was to check out the California race calender. Hey look, the San Francisco Marathon, July 29. We can visit aunt and uncle, then drive up the coast (Big Sur and all that), see San Fran, run a marathon, then visit my sister in San Jose! This would be my first marathon as a tourist without any real goal. All my others were either goal races or set-up races. But after several years of drifting with my training in July, I (or we, since my wife is a burgeoning marathoner too) decided it would be good to run a marathon in July to not let our training slip. And the climate in San Francisco virtually guarantees a cool run.

We got into L.A. airport on Tuesday 7/24 and picked up a rental car. First things first, stop along Pacific Coast Highway and dip your feet in the ocean. My wife and kid:

Aunt and uncle's house below. They live next door to Shannon Doherty. She has a "small" house too. I guess not all celebrities can afford mansions.

The next day we went to visit our cousin (aunt and uncle's daughter) in Westlake Village, a thirty minute ride through a canyon. We stopped at a 9-11 memorial at Pepperdine University. It turns out an alumnus died on flight 93 and I think the college president is a buddy with dubya thus the reason for a 9-11 memorial way out here. Here's the view out over the Pepperdine campus from the memorial. Uncle's house is close to the pool in the distance. That morning I ran 5 miles at MP on the college track because the roads are way too hilly in this neighborhood for a pre marathon run.

A day later (Thursday) we drove down to San Diego so my wife and daughter could attend Comic Con, a big cartoon, anime, comic book, sci-fi convention. This is geek-central, so I decided to go to Coronado Beach. I spent the afternoon running on the sand and body surfing. Man, did this ever remind me of my teenage years when I was a beach bum on Long Island. My other daughter was already in San Diego with her BF visiting his dad, so we met up with them for dinner that night. Here's a picture of my two girls with my probable son in law at Comic Con. Thank God they turned out normal...

Driving back to Malibu that night we got lost in San Diego and when my wife yelled "Turn here!" I hesitated for a second then swerved and ran over a curb at 30MPH. A minute later we got a flat tire. It took me a half hour to figure out the jack in the dark as we sat stranded on a freeway on ramp, and as I jacked up the car I gave myself a three inch gash on my left shin with the jack handle. My wife called the rental company and they said come to the airport and they'd give us another car, which we did, but we finally got back to Malibu at 1AM. This was three days before the race. Not good. On Friday we said goodbye to our hosts and headed up the coast. Here's a picture of me and my kid somewhere between Oxnard and Monterey. The views of the cliffs and the ocean along this stretch were incredible.

That night we crashed at a hotel in Pacific Grove, a resort town on the Monterey Peninsula. This is a piece of land that is famous for it's golf courses, the best known of which is Pebble Beach. Only rich people live in this area. We had pizza and salad for dinner and went to bed early. The next morning we checked out the sights. There is a scenic road called 17 Mile Drive but they charge a toll to drive it! We decided against it because the entire area was clouded over with a cool mist. I was starting to understand what people were saying about the cool cloudy summer weather in this region. Here's a picture of the shore in Pacific Grove. This area is also famous for the Monarch butterflies which gather here in the millions every October...

We arrived in San Francisco around noon, left our car at the Omni Hotel garage and walked three blocks to the expo. The expo was in a big tent and was just another typical marathon expo with all the usual suspects. The tent was big enough for the crowds and the sunny day made it nice for a lot of vendors who set up outside of the tent. These two Dri-Lite Wristband guys wanted us to take their picture and email it to them... Anybody recognize them?

[This message has been edited by Doctor Wu (edited Aug-09-2007).]

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posted Aug-09-2007 01:39 AM               

Are you still awake? Congratulations! You made it to the race report!

San Francisco Marathon, July 29. Also with two half marathons run consecutively, a first half and second half. 4250 finishers in the marathon.

Fashion: The usual garb, Race Ready blue shorts and RRS boxer briefs, white and orange socks, Mizuno Elixir's, day glo orange singlet, white Cool Max cap and a throwaway long sleeve tee.

The course: Beginning on The Embarcadero waterfront shopping and business district, it runs north to and across the Golden Gate Bridge. Then an immediate u-turn and back across the bridge. Next is a winding loop through Golden Gate Park where you hit halfway. Then straight through the Haight Ashbury district and a residential area and an industrial area. Back to the waterfront and a left turn for the home stretch where the finish line comes just after running under the Bay Bridge and ending .2 miles from the starting line.

Hills? Hmmm, it depends on who's talking. According to the race director, they're minor. According to Dr. Wu, this was the toughest course I have ever run. Tougher than Boston. Tougher than Adirondack. Basically, it's flat from the start to mile 2.5. Then it's hilly in varying degrees until mile 24, then the last 2.2 is flat.

The weather: Dark. And cloudy, mid 50's. Typical San Francisco weather.

My goal: Still carrying those extra seven pounds, having an upset stomach and getting three hours sleep and remembering this was supposed to be a vacation, I decided survival and having fun would be a good strategy. So I was thinking somewhere around a 3:38 - 3:40 would be respectable.

Mile by mile (almost) play-by-play: My stomach felt fine and the only thing wrong was that it was 5:35 A-friggin-M, way too early for me. My wave started out and I soon realized that there were a lot of slow half marathoners who were clueless and decided to go off with the elites so they'd get a five minute head start on the post race food. Within minutes I was doing the weave trying to pass people without burning up too much energy. The road was narrow enough that it was hard to pass. At 2.5 there came a short steep hill that eventually became less steep and kept climbing to an on-ramp for the Golden Gate Bridge. I didn't see a mile marker until #3 and my watch (started to follow my chip time) said 26:19, an 8:46 average. Miles 4-5 had the most uphill and they passed in 18:49 for a 9:24.5 avg. Onto the bridge where we were in a misty fog with a 30MPH crosswind. So much for sightseeing, but I had been forewarned that the bridge is usually in the fog in the morning. The middle lanes were opened to traffic and most of the time there was very little room to pass. Unfortunately there were way too many nimrods who were slow and running two and three abreast. I found myself running on the far left against a rope which separated runners from the cars while I would elbow my way past the joggers on my right. Not very elegant, but necessary since some of them were oblivious to my presence. It was cold and misty on the bridge. This combined with my anger at the clueless ones made me pick up the pace when I finally got some running room and I did miles 6 + 7 on the bridge 16:09 for an 8:04.5 avg. Off the bridge for a short .25 mile turn around then back over. The metal expansion joints on the bridge were slippery and I almost fell on one. Off the bridge through a nice residential area called the Presidio with rolling hills, I didn't see a mile marker until #12, so 8-12 went in 42:34 for a 8:31 avg. Then into Golden Gate Park where the course covered miles 12.5 to 19. This area had many sharp turns and a lot of gentle but long hills. I hit the half marathon mark in 1:53:50. Crimey, I just ran a half marathon and it's not even 7:30AM! Not knowing what lied ahead I reset my sights on finishing in the 3:45 - 3:47 range and made it a goal to do a negative split. I really wasn't racing but was just getting in a good workout and letting my body react to the terrain changes. It was good to get off the windy and misty bridge. But I found Golden Gate Park boring and devoid of crowd support. My splits were slowed in here somewhat by the rolling hills and sharp turns with 14-19 going by in 8:21, 8:46, 8:55, 8:57, 8:49 and 8:35. It seemed like I should have been faster since I had made up my mind to speed up.

Finally out of the park then comes Haight Ashbury and a mixed residential industrial area for miles 19 - 24 before hitting the waterfront for the home stretch. We ran straight down Haight Drive for 1.5 miles with a few tough hills. I was happy to be out of the park and cruised up and down the hills doing miles 20 + 21 in 16:49 for a 8:24.5 avg and mile 22 in 8:15. Somewhere along here I got mixed up and thought I was at mile 24 when I saw the marker for mile 23. This was demoralizing and was topped off by a couple of very steep ups and downs. I trudged through 23 + 24 in 18:02 for a 9:01 avg. This included two steep downhills where I just said "F it" and sprinted down them knowing that I'd be sore two days later anyway. Mile 25 on the homestretch along the water found me feeling like toast and even though it was flat I managed only a 9:22. Seeing the Bay Bridge in the distance picked me up because I remembered that the finish was just past the bridge so I ran mile 26 in 8:40. I noticed three guys gaining on me but since this was a chip event with waves it really wasn't necessary to race to the finish, right? Of course not! I hauled off and ran the final .2 in 1:39 and looked strong at the line. My finish time was 3:48:08.

Apres race: The finish area was well managed and a volunteer immediately handed me a bottle of water and seconds later I had a space blanket wrapped around me. There were plenty of volunteers to cut off the chips. It reminded me of the Boston Marathon finish where they keep moving you forward until you eventually reach the food then the end of the corral where you could meet your family The only problem was that there was plenty to drink, all kinds of energy drinks and water, but very little food. Just yogurt, bananas and some small rolls. The rolls were good. I think I ate about five of them. I walked the four blocks back to the hotel with the space blanket wrapped around me eventually getting far enough away from the race that I felt a little self conscious looking this way. My wife ran the full marathon too, starting in a wave 35 minutes after me. She had a good run and was only 8 minutes off her PR compared to me being 21 minutes over mine. I didn't wait around at the finish for her but decided to shower first and wait for her in the hotel where my daughter was hanging out enjoying a morning of sleeping late and having room service.

The Doctor Wu official marathon rating:

Good: Decent expo. Great volunteers including some weird motorcycle club. Well run water stations. Scenic course and a good workout if you're a hill junkie and masochist. Who cares if it's foggy, you get to run over the Golden Gate Bridge right on the roadway! Guaranteed cool weather.

Bad: Some of y'all don't like hills, right? So don't go here looking to run fast. Too many clueless slow runners lining up at the front and no room to pass them for the first 7 miles. Most San Franciscoans don't seem to notice or care that there's a marathon going on. Very little crowd support. Small hard to see mile markers. Very early start time.

Overall though it was fun. My half splits were 1:53:50 and 1:54:08, not a negative, but only 18 seconds slower for the 2nd half.

Later we took a bus back to Haight Ashbury for some shopping and lunch. Here's me and the kid at a place called the Squat and Gobble where I'm sampling an Anchor Steam Ale while waiting for my 1/2 pound cheeseburger:

We stepped out of the Squat and Gobble and encountered a local church group looking for new members:

Here's one of the steeper hills in SF. The course stayed away from the steepest hills in the city but they still threw in a couple of pretty steep ones.

On Monday 7/30 we checked out of the hotel and drove over the Golden Gate Bridge (still in the fog) and into Marin County.

We did some sightseeing before heading down to San Jose to stay with my sister for a night. The next day we checked out Santa Cruz then flew home on a red eye getting home the next day at 2PM.

An observation: I grew up on Long Island and I thought we drove like maniacs. But Californians are crazy! What's the big hurry? It was good to make this trip. Now I can stop thinking about moving out there and be happy where I am.

Are you still awake?

[This message has been edited by Doctor Wu (edited Aug-09-2007).]

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posted Aug-09-2007 02:33 AM               

It is 2:40 am and I just read every word, looked at every picture and enjoyed every moment of your great race report.
Thanks for taking the time to detail it all so well. I am still awake.

I was thinking that at this stage in life, what you did there is what is SO enjoyable. Here you are vacationing and able to run over a course that includes one of America's best known landmarks. You didn't use the marathon to try and do a PR, but let the race come to you for an enjoyable event in life.

Being a "Right Coast" dweller all my life, I can relate to your comment about driving out on the "Left Coast". It is nice to get out there occasionally to visit, but it definitely is a varied experience from what I am accustomed to. This is not saying it is wrong, just different. You would have to learn to get used to that on a continual basis.

The pictures were great. You all look just great and it certainly seemed to be a wonderful time out there.

Thanks for the report.

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vista129

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posted Aug-09-2007 04:15 PM               

thanks for the pics. We were at S.D. marathon in '06 for my wife's first or second marathon. Can't remember. Anyway I was in a achilles boot so had to watch. Scenery was much the same as you are showing us. I have an aunt and uncle in S.D. Stayed at a hotel and didn't call 'em.

ksrunr

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posted Aug-09-2007 04:40 PM               

I'm so not a 5:30 marathoner either, but it was great to be finished by 9:30, no?

grins,
A

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posted Aug-09-2007 08:39 PM            

John

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posted Aug-09-2007 09:10 PM            

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posted Aug-10-2007 09:12 AM            

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posted Aug-10-2007 09:29 AM            

The early race sorting out of slow runners is a common problem...and clearly one in San Fran. Especially problematic in a large marathon with two half marathons going on at the same time. Wonder if other than Boston which has a strict coral system if there is a large marathon that does it better than others.

Anyways, congrats on your run. Wu Hoo!!!

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posted Aug-10-2007 12:20 PM               

------------------
My Profile
"I think I can, I think I can"

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posted Aug-10-2007 12:26 PM            

Thanks for the vacation and race blow-by-blow, and the visual support. Seems that a great time was had by all on all your left coast adventures, except for the flat tire incident - how's your shin? - and the buns. Glad your wife did well in the marathon. Glad your daughter enjoyed the room service...

Well done!

Jay

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posted Aug-10-2007 12:27 PM            

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posted Aug-10-2007 09:19 PM            

I agree with Wu that it was fun to run in a city, but oh was it painful. The hills certainly predominated--it seemed one was always going up or down which is OK--but for me it was the type of hill that made it so hard. Most of the inclines were long and gentle, while most of the declines were short and steep. The long inclines meant a slow steady pace (losing time) and the short declines meant pain for my bum knee and ankle.

But the hardest part? OK, this is my caffeine withdrawal speaking: the runners! Maybe it was because I was back in the slow section (the 4:15 and over crowd) but there seemed to be lots of people who wanted to run two or three across, chatting. Actually, on the narrowest part of the course, the GG Bridge where there was room for 4 people across at most, I ran (almost literally) into quite a few of these oblivious chat buddies who also decided that the bridge was a good place to walk.
Then there was:
- the woman who stopped dead in front of me to tie her shoe right in the middle of the crowd...
- the pace setter who never stopped talking and had a voice that, shall we say, 'exceeded its purpose' (actually that worked out favorably--quite a few people, me included, sped up to get away from her...hmmm...maybe that was the plan...)
- the race official who, at the end of the race, wouldn't let me walk back into the chute to find my favorite hat that I had dropped when getting the blanket on...

Of course, most of it was positive:
- most of the runners seemed to be having a good time
- the weather stayed cool and cloudy just long enough
- plenty of water/sports drink support
- the park was a pleasant, and smoothly paved, respite from the rough city streets
- there was a kicker band around mile 20 that rocked us up one big hill
- the fact that, without really trying, I ran my second fastest marathon ever
- the fact that it was the second one of the year, and I've never done 2 in one year before
- the speed at which the front desk clerk had a huge pot of tea sent up to the room after I staggered back to the hotel, wrapped in a race blanket, drenched, looking like a drowned rat, muttering incoherently...

Do I want to run SFM again? Probably not. Do I want to try this "go someplace far away and run a marathon" thing again? Absolutely!! So, what races do you all recommend??

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posted Aug-11-2007 10:17 AM               

hup

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