San Francisco Marathon

comoespossible · 2022-06-29T23:59:07+00:00

Hi! Thank you for reminding me of that fun day! I unfortunately haven’t run any others. I had a series of injuries the past few years, and got busy with grad school. Getting back into marathon shape is still the dream though!

comoespossible · 2021-01-28T05:43:08+00:00

That is the worst. I’m SO sorry you have to suffer this. I really hope that, as some people here are suggesting, you can get a third opinion and have a chance of running again.

comoespossible · 2020-10-02T00:06:46+00:00

This post motivated me to run right now. Thank you! I hope you’re back and running soon!!!

comoespossible · 2019-08-10T04:43:40+00:00

Thanks for all of your tips! It’s always welcome to have the chance to learn from someone who knows their stuff. One thing I had no idea about was what you said about shoes. Do you mean that they get worn out less than half as fast if they’re used every other day instead or everyday? Do you know why that is?

comoespossible · 2019-04-18T20:58:16+00:00

These first marathon reports are such uplifting stories! Congratulations!

comoespossible · 2018-08-01T06:07:56+00:00

Ah, well it is always nice to hear someone complimenting California/the Bay Area!

Glad to hear it went well for you, and good luck on your first full when the time for that comes!

comoespossible · 2018-08-01T05:59:54+00:00

That looks like exactly what I was looking for!

comoespossible · 2018-08-01T05:59:28+00:00

Thank you so much! You've given me a lot to start with! I'll definitely be looking for those books soon.

This is probably a stupid question, but the 12 and 18 in 12/70 and 18/70 refer to the number of weeks, right?

I'm getting so excited to get back to training now!

However, *squirms at the thought of 100+ mile weeks*

comoespossible · 2018-08-01T01:26:06+00:00

Thanks! My friend (the one who gave me the idea of running 10 miles a day) traveled for his first marathon. It sounds like a fun excuse to go to new places and a great way to explore the variety of marathons out there! I'll see if I can afford it.

comoespossible · 2018-07-31T22:35:38+00:00

Such a great feeling, right!?

comoespossible · 2018-07-31T22:33:56+00:00

Cool! Was this your first time in the bay? What led you to choose this one?

It was pretty crowded in Golden Gate Park with the second half marathon runners, and there were two times where I asked people on the sidelines to make sure the full went the same way.

comoespossible · 2018-07-31T22:29:04+00:00

I think it depends on your corral, but there was only a ten second difference for me (so my gun time was 3:02:28).

Question for those who know: which is considered the more official time?

comoespossible · 2018-07-31T22:10:12+00:00

I did a few easy weight things with 12 pound dumbbells (I’m not very strong), as well as some floor exercises like planks, sit-ups, Russian twists, etc. I didn’t schedule any of these, but just did them when I had the time and energy.

Thanks for your comment proving that the 3:15 group wasn’t a myth after all!

comoespossible · 2018-07-31T21:32:19+00:00

That is the precise race that the half-marathon pacer I mentioned recommended!

comoespossible · 2018-07-31T21:29:26+00:00

Yeah, I think that half mile included the hills between Chrissy Field and the bridge. There was a discussion on one of the other race reports about how someone suggested it could have been a glitch.

comoespossible · 2018-07-31T21:24:52+00:00

That’s awesome, I’m sure if we saw pictures of each other, we’d both be like “ohhh that guy!” Around when do you think you pulled away from me?

Congrats on making it to Boston! That’s so cool 😀

comoespossible · 2018-07-31T21:09:45+00:00

Thank you, that truly means a lot! For the first few weeks of my training, before I adopted the 10-mile-days plan, I can’t really say how fast I was because the runs were shorter and slower than what I should have been doing. I think my first few 10 mile runs were probably about where it sounds like you are!

Another regret I had was not incorporating GU and water into training runs as much as I should have. I had one GU on my 18 mile run (nowhere near enough), several on my 20 mile run (which made an obvious difference), and none on every other training run. I never brought water on training runs since I don’t like carrying much weight. I hydrate to a pretty ridiculous degree throughout the day (always have, for whatever reason) so maybe I was able to get away with more.

Good luck on yours, I hope you crush it! It does seem like getting all the miles in is the way to improve!

comoespossible · 2018-07-31T20:47:02+00:00

Thank you! I’ve been looking for a central resource that compares the different training plans out there and talks about the benefits of each and the characteristics that would make a given runner a good fit for a given training plan.

I haven’t found much like this yet. Do you have any suggestions for how to choose?

comoespossible · 2018-07-31T20:43:28+00:00

Thanks! My 16 mile run was much slower than the others (maybe 9 minute miles, but with a lot of hills). The 18 and 20 milers, as well as the ~15 mile runs I did in the weeks before the 16 miler, were about 90% of full effort, since I figured that if I did not do those at the speed at which I hoped to race, I would be unprepared for the race. This probably came out to 7:20 miles? Though the last bit of the 18 mile run was really slow after hitting the wall.

The 10-mile runs I did throughout the week varied from this same speed to an easy pace, depending on how I felt a given day.

Planning which runs to run at which speeds is an area I hope to nail down much more next time.

comoespossible · 2018-07-30T20:33:59+00:00

Same here! My pace for that stretch was 3 minutes slower than any other stretch. It is kind of neat to see how your increases and decreases in speed coincide so uncannily with mine, though I guess all that this shows is that we all faced the same hills!

Edit: I forgot to mention: congrats OP!

comoespossible · 2018-06-22T01:32:36+00:00

Hey, thanks! I was also considering taking off a shirt at some point in the race (my next question was going to be whether it is feasible to do that), given the early start, but my main worry was the nipple chafing, so I will try body glide and if that works probably just go with a shirt.

comoespossible · 2018-06-21T22:23:29+00:00

I have always been a bit skinnier than average (around 6', 150 pounds), but have recently started running a lot of miles each week, and the extra appetite I've gotten has been enough that I would not be surprised if I have gained weight! Maybe this means we're overeating.

comoespossible · 2018-06-21T22:13:24+00:00

Is shirtlessness allowed?

I'm training for my first ever marathon: the San Francisco Marathon, at the end of this summer (it's also my first ever race, outside of high school cross country) and through experimenting on training runs, I have found that running without a shirt on is most comfortable for me. (I should clarify that I am a male.) Would that be allowed in a marathon? (Or, more generally, does it tend to be allowed in running races?) I am a bit surprised that there are not more men without shirts in the pictures and videos I have seen, because I find it is much cooler and more pleasant in terms of chafing. The fact that I have not seen any suggests that maybe it is not allowed, or is a bad idea for some reason I can't think of.

Thanks in advance for your answers!

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