San
Francisco Marathon
John: 5:02:06 4229/6585 Overall 2980/4221 Male 26/62 in 65-69
Jodi: 4:56:45 3981/6585 Overall
1143/2364 Female 121/259 45-49
“As you can see by my PW at the Boston Marathon…”
So began my last marathon write-up. This is becoming too common: San Francisco
was an all-time PW. (It’s been hard to run and train with a strained left
hamstring, so I have been taking 3 weeks off and doing a lot of PT sessions).
So let’s turn this recap over to Jodi:
The
sights, sounds and smells of SF Marathon
The clanking cable car bell, which signaled the start of the race.
The smells of seafood along the Embarcadero, not always pleasant.
The aroma of fresh sourdough bread baking at Boudins at 6am.
The sound of the foghorn as we approached the iconic Golden Gate Bridge.
The sound of yelling and screaming when we witnessed the proposal at the top of the bridge.
The sight of John at Mile 10 when I decided to run with him instead of by myself.
The sounds of thousands of running shoes through GG park.
The smell of eucalyptus trees.
The clanking cable car bell, which signaled the start of the race.
The smells of seafood along the Embarcadero, not always pleasant.
The aroma of fresh sourdough bread baking at Boudins at 6am.
The sound of the foghorn as we approached the iconic Golden Gate Bridge.
The sound of yelling and screaming when we witnessed the proposal at the top of the bridge.
The sight of John at Mile 10 when I decided to run with him instead of by myself.
The sounds of thousands of running shoes through GG park.
The smell of eucalyptus trees.
(John: Jodi running with a guy dressed as a
shark. I passed him in the last 2 miles; no way was I letting a shark beat me!)
The sights on Ashbury street: original Rasputin and grown men smoking pot while cheering for us.
The sight of an Otter Pop being handed to me at Mile 21.
The sound of Chariots of Fire blaring from a loudspeaker with little kids proudly handing out fruit around Mile 22.
The grand sight of AT&T park at Mile 25. (And-for John-sound of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’”; Giants’ adopted fight song—Although I think it’s safe to stop this year! Lol)
The grander sight of the finish line.
The joy of being able to stand at the finish line and watch John finish and then collecting our medals together.
The sights on Ashbury street: original Rasputin and grown men smoking pot while cheering for us.
The sight of an Otter Pop being handed to me at Mile 21.
The sound of Chariots of Fire blaring from a loudspeaker with little kids proudly handing out fruit around Mile 22.
The grand sight of AT&T park at Mile 25. (And-for John-sound of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’”; Giants’ adopted fight song—Although I think it’s safe to stop this year! Lol)
The grander sight of the finish line.
The joy of being able to stand at the finish line and watch John finish and then collecting our medals together.
Seeing the words “personal record” scroll across
my Garmin when I stopped. I literally
laughed out loud as I said “What??”, only to see the rest “New Distance
Record: 26.7 miles”.
Despite the slow finish time, this was by far my
favorite marathon!!
------
Here are some comments on the
pictures to help you enjoy them:
2017 was the 40th
anniversary of the SF Marathon so I included a few pictures of when I first ran
it in 1983. You’ll see Mom as my personal aide on the course. Jodi and I saw a
number of Fresno runners at the expo; such a small world. Jodi got us
reservations at the host hotel (Hyatt) so we had a 2 block walk to the
start/finish and great views out our window. You’ll see some pictures on the
bridge and then the Presido where Jodi waited 2 hours (lol) for me. At the
finish I got a special “40” medal for doing 40 or more miles worth of events at
SF Marathon.
After the marathon we took Uber (We
had parked our car in Hayward for the weekend and taken BART into the city to
avoid the $70/night hotel parking fee and to avoid driving in the city traffic)
out to Golden Gate Park to go to see the “ Summer of Love” 50 year anniversary
of 1967 and San Francisco music/hippie scene. I knew some of that stuff especially
the music, but learned a lot of other things. It was fun to share the slice of
history with Jodi since it was all new to here.
Afterwards, we got special burgers at the Burger Bar at Union Square and
“Summer of Love” sundae at Ghirardelli.
Monday morning we rode the cable car
(which started and ended in front of our hotel) from beginning to end. We had a
lot of fun with the driver and saw some fun spots along the route. After that
we walked around the Ferry Building enjoyed some unique shops and watching the seagulls
outside.
This was Marathon #155; 22 states on 2d go round; All 10 Canadian
provinces. Next up: Indianapolis Marathon on 11/5/17
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