Woohoo! I’m a marathoner! My first marathon experience was perfect! The weather was cold but great for running, the scenery was beautiful, the course was hilly (but awesome), I was rocking my RunNinja shirt, I saw Domingo at the beginning, I didn’t have any bladder or GI issues or injuries, and my family was there to cheer me on. My target time was 4:30 and I did it in 4:24! The best part was I felt great throughout the whole thing! Read on for the full race report!

Pre-run

It was an early morning. We had to be in our corrals by 5:30am so I woke up at 4am. The day before, Jim reminded me not to experiment with breakfast so I made sure we stopped by a grocery store to buy a loaf of bread, jam, and peanut butter so I could make a PB&J sandwich in my hotel room. That’s what I usually eat before my long runs. I had my PB&J at about 4:05am, ~1.5 hours before the race start.

I had all my stuff laid out because I posted a flatrunner the night before. I think that helped because I was barely functional at 4am so I’m sure I would have forgotten something.

Many other runners were staying at this hotel because it offered a marathon rate and it’s the closest one to the start/finish line. After texting with Lisa for some last minute encouragement, I left my room at 5am and there were even a couple of people running around the corridors to warm up. I got to the elevator and it was packed with runners. Of course, I took a selfie. 😂

It was cold (about 12C) so it was perfect for running. A lot of people were wearing the long sleeve technical race shirt, some were wearing fleece jackets, some had garbage bags to keep warm. I felt perfect in my short sleeve ninja shirt and shorts. I guess all that winter running was good training for this weather!

It was still pitch black outside which made the Bay Bridge look so spectacular.

I messaged Domingo when I got to the corral. When he texted me, turns out he was just standing about 5 feet away from me. It was great to see him again to share the excitement!

Start of the race

After the selfie with Domingo, the elites were off. I wanted to follow the 4:25 pacers but they were nowhere in sight. I guess I had no idea what my pace was going to be when I signed up for this race in Nov so I ended up in the wrong corral (again!). The only pacers in my corral was 4:45 so I knew I had to move up to catch the 4:25 group. As the corral in front of us started, I asked to join them and the guy holding the rope for our corral was nice enough to let me so I ended up starting with Corral F at 5:45am.

Mile 1-3

My sister and BIL were waiting for me at the Ferry building (Mile 0.5), just across the hotel. It was great that they woke up so early to see me off and took this photo.

Jim told me to start slow for the first 5k but I was running like a mad woman to try to catch up with the 4:25 pacers. Oops! I passed by the 5:10 pacers. They were definitely in the wrong corral since the 4:45 pacers were behind us. I finally caught up with the 4:25 pacers by about Mile 2 and actually passed them for a bit.

Mile 4-11

A blind runner came from behind me with his team of guides. It was pretty cool to see how they were working together. Two of the guides ran about 2m ahead and kept on yelling “blind runner to your right” so people would move out of the way while one guide was tethered to him as she gave him directions on where the course was going (uphill, downhill, left, right). We were running at about the same pace during this stretch of the course which helped pass the time. This was also where the hills started so I channeled the green monster and thanked Jim for making us do those 4×4 Hill intervals. I felt so prepared for these hills, almost to the point of looking forward to them… almost.

As we approached the Golden Gate bridge, the views were stunning and since I was well ahead of the 4:25 pacers by then, I stopped to take some pics.

When we finally got to the bridge, it was very cold with a very strong cross wind. Then I was glad for all the winter running we did!

Because they didn’t close the roadbed of the bridge this year, we had to run on the sidewalk and it was CROWDED. The whole time, I was trying not to step on the feet of the person in front of me. The 4:25 pacers caught up to me and I ran with them for a bit.

Somewhere on the bridge, I felt a bit of pain in my right ankle. I’ve never had pain in my ankle before so I continued running and, thankfully, it went away after a while.

By about Mile 7, I was starting to worry about my fueling strategy. I had only brought a pack of sesame snaps and water with me. I didn’t have any Nuun, gels or chews because I was going to drink Nuun from the stations and take the Guu chews that they were going to give out during the course. I couldn’t remember where they were giving them out. I thought it was Mile 6 but there was nothing at Mile 6. Just before Mile 9, I asked the pacers whether they would be giving out Guu chews and one of them said there should be some at the next station. He also offered me his opened pack but I felt bad that I was taking his chews so I told him I would wait to see if they were giving them out at the next station. Of course, there was none at the next station so I quickly caught back up to the pacer and asked for his chews. I was mad at myself for not bringing my own because I learned the lesson not to rely on the race stuff during the Chilly Half and here I was again, relying on the race to provide me with my fuel. Thank goodness for the pacer offering me his chews!

Mile 12 – 19

At about Mile 12, we were off the bridge and headed into the Golden Gate Park. As I ran along, a couple of people were running ahead and the woman asked the guy for a selfie. As the guy answered, I recognized his voice. Turned out it was Mark Zuckerberg! So I ran ahead of them just to be sure. Sure enough, there he was running with 2 others who I assume are his body guards.

At about this time, we were approaching the Mile 12 aid station and I noticed they were giving out Guu Chews (thank goodness!) so I quickly grabbed one and decided I wanted to get a selfie with Mark. I skipped the Nuun at this station just to keep up with them. Once we passed the station, I mustered up the courage to ask if I could get a selfie. I was kind of expecting him or his body guards to say no but it would probably be bad PR if he did that. He might have been a bit creeped out but he hesitantly said ok. I’m sure he’s used to it but maybe not while he is running a race. 😂 I quickly ran a bit ahead of them and took a moving selfie. Totally blurry but it’s good enough to corroborate my story.

After I got over how creepy I was, I went back to focusing on my race. By Mile 13, I was pretty impressed with my pace and I reflected on how far I’ve come as a runner. Half marathons have been the longest I’ve ever raced and now I was at the half marathon mark and still felt really strong with another half to go. At one point, I felt like I was floating. I’ve gotten this feeling before and it’s so surreal when it happens!

Lots of people were cheering at Golden Gate Park. It was also where the first half marathon finished and the second half marathon started. It was great to see the finishers from the first half go through their finish line and celebrate their race.

Mile 20-23

I knew Jeremy and my kids were going to be cheering me on around Mile 21. Sure enough, I saw my daughter in her bright blue jacket as I was going down a huge hill. I started waving my arms up in the air, ran right towards them and gave them each a hug. They ran with me for about half a block while video taping the whole thing.

It was pretty awesome to see them, especially since Jeremy was really stressed out about taking an uber by himself for the first time. He told me he would try to meet me at another location but he ended up being stuck outside the marathon loop and didn’t make it to the next location. #uberfail

This was also the part of the course where people from the neighborhood were giving out random stuff including beer and mimosas. Not wanting to jinx my progress, I didn’t take one, of course. I have no idea how my body would react to alcohol after having run 20+ miles, especially since I haven’t had any alcohol since March! That’s an accomplishment in itself! I did grab a handful of grapes that was being offered which was so refreshing. Way better than Guu chews!

I picked up another Guu chew and I averaged about one piece every mile. I wasn’t sure if I was eating too many because I’ve never trained with so many Guu chews before. In total, I had almost 3 packs (22 pieces). I guess it worked because I didn’t bonk.

By Mile 23, I told myself just 5 more km and reminded myself to enjoy the last 30 minutes of this incredible journey. I didn’t feel like I had been running for almost 4 hours straight and I still felt strong which was amazing!

Mile 24-26

The last 2 miles were bittersweet. I was glad that I was almost done but I was sad that it went by so quickly. As we ran through neighborhood after neighborhood, there were so many things to look at that 26 miles went by so fast. I think it also helped that I switched to tracking miles because 26 miles seem shorter than 42km. 😂

About 300m to the finish line, my sister had just gotten there to take a video of me.

That gave me the extra bit of adrenaline I needed to kick it to the finish. 😂 I thought I was just a bit over 4:25 but turned out I was 4:24:05. Super happy to have made a sub-4:25 time!

Post-run

As I walked through the chute, I chugged a bottle of water, got my medal, and took a selfie. #priorities

I was surprised I felt as good as I did. Not sure what I was expecting to feel but I felt like I had just gone for one of our ninja long runs. I think the cool weather really helped. I felt so much better after this one than the Toronto Women’s Half Marathon because it was so hot that day.

I got through the chute and met up with my family. It was so great to have them all there!

As we headed back to the hotel, I asked Jeremy to buy me a soft shell crab po boy from the ferry market. We had one on our first day in San Francisco and it was so delicious. I figured it was a good post-marathon treat!

At one point, I had to stop to stretch out my right ankle because there was that pain again. But after about a minute, it went away. No idea what it was.

I was very thankful for our hotel being so close because I wanted to get out of my wet clothes asap. I had bypassed the space blankets when they were giving them out because the sun was out at that time. But by the time we were walking to the hotel, it had gotten cooler. San Francisco weather is so unpredictable!

Once I got to my room, I took a shower, ate my soft shell crab po boy, drank a chocolate milk, posted on FB/IG, and took a nap. I sent my family off to rent bikes while Ainsley just stayed with me in the room playing her device. We all had a blast!

I napped for 2 hours and rested for another couple of hours before we went out for dinner. I was a bit sore but it wasn’t too bad.

The next day, my quads were really sore! It was hard for me to walk down stairs or sit down on the toilet (TMI). Good thing I was still able to drive because we drove for 5 hours that day. I need to roll more!

Okay, that’s all folks. The journey to my first marathon has been amazing. I’m glad I started this blog and was able to document every run. It’s a great way to capture all the great memories.

Thanks for the few of you who read this blog regularly: Lisa, Dave, Lily. I think you are the only 3 people who actually read this blog! 😄 😄 😄

Until next time – ciao!