Race #149
Marathon #11
State #7 (repeated a state)
California Marathon #2
2018 Race #10
2018 Marathon #1
San Francisco Marathon #2
This will not be a normal recap. I have no plans to go mile by mile or section my section. Instead, after posting my splits, I intend to reflect on my performance.
Even before starting the race, I had no plans of a BQ attempt like I had back when I registered last year at the expo. Training in the high heat and humidity of the summer drains that hope away.
My coach gave me a tentative plan which would ideally bring me in around 3:45. I liked that idea. I thought it was doable. My body had other plans. I think it was the addition of a could steep hills that sealed my fate. For some reason, the course had changed and I did not notice this when looking at the course map because at the far away view, the course did not appear to have changed. We still ran along Embarcadero. We still made our way up to, across and back on the Golden Gate Bridge. We still spent significant time in Golden Gate Park. We still came around and back across to run around AT&T park and back on Embarcadero. What I did not know until I heard a pacer describe it to his pace group, is that unlike every other year I have run this race – and perhaps different than any other time this race has been run – we ran on the sidewalk of the Golden Gate Bridge rather than on the road itself. (The first half did not even cross the bridge at all! I would have been so disappointed if that had happened because running across the Golden Gate Bridge was the whole reason that I ran this race in the first place.) This meant that to access the pedestrian walkway we did not run up the road to the bridge, we ran up the trail. This might not seem like much because the road contains a hill as well but not as steep as the pedestrian trail. Once on the bridge, I noticed that there would not be enough room for anyone to pass going the opposite direction when people started to come back across. Then I saw the lead runners on the other side of the bridge. I had a sinking suspicion that we would have to go down, across, and back up again to get to the other side because I doubted that they would stop traffic to let us cross the road. That added another crazy hill to the course that has never been part of the course at all. Seriously. Look at this elevation profile.
The green is the elevation profile. The blue is my pace overlaid.
While I felt okay afterwards, I’m fairly certain that all of these hills, one of my least favorite things in all of running, right up there with humidity, were one of the primary factors in doing me in. Later in the race, my glutes literally hurt, not injury hurt, but soreness hurt. That’s a first for me.
I decided then that I would not pressure myself to meet any sort of race goal. I decided the day before that this race would be my farewell to the San Francisco Marathon and its family of races. With this marathon, I have run each of the races, except the ultra and the 5k, twice. I’ve gotten my fill of these hills. Instead of pressuring myself to meet a race goal, especially now that a BQ was completely off the table, I focused instead on completing this race with solid effort so that I could walk hobble away from this race with my head held high, knowing I had performed well.
I felt lighter almost immediately.
Another thing that I realized during this race as the miles quickly past 17 where we saw the first half marathoners finish, that my heart is simply not in the marathon. My heart has not been fully invested in running fast for quite some times. I know that I set a goal of running deeper (as in faster) but, honestly, that goal came from my mind, not my heart.
I have reached a plateau, especially since I started teaching, that I cannot seem to break out of no matter what I do. Today’s marathon, for example, was almost 10 minutes slower than Chicago and this time I had a coach! Right now, I am not sure why I am stuck in this plateau. The thing is, I, honestly, do not feel the overwhelming pressure and compulsion to figure it out. Near the end of this race I decided that for at least a year, the marathon will not be something that I pursue. I know that I want to run marathons for as long as I am able but right now, the long training holds no appeal for me. That means that my back and forth thoughts on a December marathon are out the window.
As far as another BQ attempt? I am also putting that on hold. Until I figure out how to break out of the plateau, making fruitless BQ attempt after BQ attempt and falling 20-30 minutes short after coming so close in 2015, adds significantly to the frustration. Even though the next age group up does not add much time to the qualifying window, I may just wait until I graduate out of the 35 and under age group. (I do not want to think about how close that actually is.)
These decisions, both made during the race although confirming thoughts I have had off and on for a while, lifted significant weight off my shoulders and made it bearable for me to finish even when my feet complained mightily – my current shoes do not really have the makings of marathon shoes which my feet have made quite clear – and my legs simply would not carrying me at a run through the final miles of the race.
I finished, proud of what I had accomplished and ready to close this particular chapter of my running career. Just like the end of a chapter does in no way signal the end of a book, ending this chapter of my running book does not mean that I am anywhere near giving it up.
Thanks San Francisco for all your wisdom (and pain) imparting hills.