This was my third ever open marathon. I have run 7 marathons in Ironman races, but that doesn't count. The training is different and the race effort is different. So it is fair to say that I have very little experience training for and racing an open marathon. After a lack luster run at IM Arizona last year, I decided to focus on running and aim for a BQ time. I wanted to see how fast I can run an open marathon if I really focused on training just for that. So I signed up for SF marathon because if I could do it on a challenging course, I'd be confident I'd be able to do it on a relatively faster course like CIM.
The training went fairly well without injuries or hiccups. At the peak, I touched 71 miles in a week, which is the most I have run in a week, ever! I had become a fan of the Saucony Endorphin Pros after my successful 10K in Feb. Yet I experimented with the Nike Alphaflys Next% just to see what the hype is all about. They are fast shoes, but didn't agree with my feet. The arch of the shoe was digging into my right foot's arch and was painful after mile 14 on long runs. I decided to stick to the trusted Endorphin Pros for the race. I will probably whip out the Alphaflys at SJ RnR in October.
The morning of the race went very smoothly. Eating early dinner of roti-sabji worked like a charm. Hit the port-a-potty 15 mins before the race and I was ready to go. The usual niggles before the race were still there and I was hoping they'd disappear as they usually do after the race begins. I lined up with the 3HR pace group. As per plan, I downed a gel just before the start. First few miles felt like running on the clouds -- Everyone was flying. I was carrying a small music player and BT headphones, and the music felt great and energizing. I would realize later that the music was a bad idea as it distracted me from my breathing rhythm. The road had a slight rightward camber, which was super annoying since it tends to aggravate my ITB. I tried to stay as much to the left as possible where the camber was less steep. Every once in a while I'd hop onto the adjacent bike path as it was much more even. For the first 6 miles, I stuck with the pace group. As soon as we hit the first hill, I knew I needed to take it easy up the hills, so I let the pace group go. After the first hill I could still see the pacer's orange shirt, but he completely disappear from my view after the second hill. The steep downhills on the other side of GGB were nasty. Not only were they steep, but they had an acute camber, and yes, that too rightward -- the one I hate! The lateral side of my ride leg was screaming. This is the first time the thought of quitting at the half marathon finish and taking the bus back came into my mind. And I was only at mile 10. At mile 14 there was another downhill but it was a slight leftward camber -- I like that! But the downhills had already taken their toll. I kept wishing and imagining myself doing those up/down hilly reps on Calaveras -- the ones I only planned for but never actually did.
The weather was cool, but super humid (~95% humidity). I was not sweating like I did in training runs, but I know I was losing a ton of salt. I stuck to my nutrition/hydration strategy of 1 gel + 1 salt tab every 30 mins until I ran out of gels and realized that they had only Nuun and water at the aid stations. Bad planning! I misread that they were going to carry gels/chews at aid stations. Turns out they had chews only at 2 aid stations. I missed the first one at the turn around after crossing GGB. At 2hr mark I was running by the half marathon finish and the time to take that next gel had come. I requested a lady volunteer to hand me a banana. She reluctantly and surreptitiously handed me one, saying that she's not supposed to since they were for the half finishers. What the heck! This is when I again started contemplating quitting. But the thought of waiting for the next shuttle bus to take me to the start was more aggravating than dealing with the pain and continue digging. Anyways, I'd like to believe that the banana helped immensely, because I didn't find the chews until mile 20.
GGP was more hills. Although the hills were not as long as the earlier ones, they certainly felt equally long on tired legs. I kept digging, a bit surprised on occasion that I was able to still maintain the pace. Finally we made it out of GGP and there was this long stretch of city street rolled out in front of us. I could see at least 2 stingers along the stretch. I stayed on the left side of the yellow line, the side which has a slight leftward camber. It helped to take the tension off of the right leg a bit. Despite the pain, one thing that I did religiously was to thank the police officers manning the intersections. I hope they appreciated that we appreciated them keeping us safe out there. Mile 21 and 22 had some really steep downhills which did a number on my legs. My left toes started curling up which is when I decided to employ my "hyperventilation" strategy, only to be used in extreme circumstances. Some quick rapid puffs of O2 and the cramps subsided. I had to keep it going for the rest of the race. At a cadence of 200 spm, the best I could to was 1-1-1-2-2. That's 1 inhale per step for 3 steps followed by 1 inhale per 2 steps 2x. And repeat. That seemed to keep the cramps at bay.
The last 3 miles were flat and my legs remembered what they had trained for. All this while my legs were like, "what the heck!? this is not what we were expecting. what are you putting us through?" The last 3 miles they were cooperating better, probably saying, "yeahhhh finally! this is what we trained for!" Laden with lactate, but with enough O2 supply they were able to carry me through the finish line at a respectable pace in a total time of 3:04:xx. That's a BQ! I knew around mile 10 that if I cross that finish line, it will not be under 3hrs. Those last few miles really surprised me. I could have never thought that I had anything left in me to run a 6:43 min mile-26. I am really happy with the time all things considered, but not happy with how much pain I was in for half of the race. There was the small screwup with the gels and a more bigger mistake with not incorporating hills in training. But no fret -- it only means that there is tons of room for improvement!
