Kunal Dutta
Kunal Dutta

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The San Francisco Marathon Race Report (My First Marathon)

Jul 26, 2023

Race Information

Goals

Goal Description Completed?
A Sub 4 hours Yes
B Cross the finish line Yes
C Make it to the starting line healthy Yes

Splits

Planned to negative split and accomplished it.

Race Results Splits

Strava activity

Training/Background

Me: 22, male, SF resident, many leg injuries growing up, before training was running 3-4 times for 15-20 mpw.

Was out at a bar one weekend in February and drunkenly agreed to run this. When I woke up the next morning, I wasn’t going to back out because I didn’t want to be a flake. Previous longest run was 7 miles and never raced longer than 5k so had a ways to go.

Pretty much followed the Hal Higdon Intermediate 1 program to a tee. Proud to say I didn’t miss a single workout. Maintained my 6x/week PPL weight training routine and then ran in the evenings, except for long runs which I did at 5 AM to simulate the marathon. So a lot of activity overall: 5 runs, 6 lifting sessions, 2 cross-training sessions (jump roping or swimming) every week. As a result, I found myself eating a lot more, so the grocery bills went up.

I live in a hilly part of San Francisco, so didn’t do anything special to train for the elevation since I was used to running the hills anyways.

I didn’t know much about running strategy or shoe rotations or anything sophisticated at all, so I was doing most of my training in the Puma Softride Enzo NXT because it was cheap at Costco. About 3 weeks before the marathon, I bought a pair of Nike Pegasus Turbo, which I did my last few long runs in and raced in.

Set a goal of sub-4 hours at the beginning of training. I was able to hold a 8-8:30 per mile pace on the long runs, so was pretty confident I’d hit it come race day.

Pre-race

Didn’t really change much pre-race besides locking down nutrition. Cooked all my meals the last 3 weeks. My meals every day for 3 weeks looked like: avocado omelette breakfast, chicken & veggies lunch and dinner, fruit smoothie snack, snacked on chocolate chips or fruit throughout the day. Oatmeal occasionally.

Before my long runs and the marathon, ate a banana and honey and drank water and coffee 1.5 hours before the run. Honey Stinger 5 minutes before.

So, woke up at 3:30 AM to start eating. Got to the start line around 4:30 AM for a 5:15 AM start. Drank too much water out of nervousness so had to use the porta-potty a few times. Walked around and stretched a bit to warm up.

Race

Here’s a mile by mile POV of the course. It’s a beautiful run.

Had a pacing strategy of 10-10-10 (10 miles easy, 10 miles medium, 10k hard). Was planning to take a GU gel and drink water at each of those points. Mostly successful.

I probably went out a bit too hard but eased up and felt really good the first 10 miles. Ran mostly with the 3:30 pace group. Great views during that stretch and the energy from the other runners was infectious. Seeing the Golden Gate Bridge along the sunrise with all the other runners was a great vibe. Crossed the bridge to Sausalito around the 7 mile mark which was congested but took it as a chance to go easy. Had to pee at the 8.5 mile mark, and I didn’t take in any water yet lol, too much nervous sipping in the morning. Felt great at 10 mile and knocked back the GU gel and a cup of water at the aid station.

Next 10 miles started well. Picked up the pace and caught up to the 3:25 group around mile 12 on the bridge, on the way back to San Francisco. Ended up passing them and running solo around mile 15. Felt really strong until mile 19, where my legs started tightening up. Took a gel and water cup earlier than planned and then took another at mile 20. This helped a lot, as I felt much stronger once I passed the 20 mile mark, but it may have been pure adrenaline. Thankfully, I packed 6 gels.

Balls to the wall the last 6.2 miles. This part was much less scenic than the first 20, until the last couple miles along the Bay and Chase Center/Oracle Park. Shoutout to the kid who told me to finish hard. Inspired by the guy, I let out a “let’s fucking go!” and sprinted the last mile.

Post-race / Reflections / Questions

I was following the time on my watch, but was still pretty surprised I was able to break 3:30. I was scared I was going too hard when I ran with the 3:30 pacers the first 10 miles but I’m glad I trusted my body.

Celebrated the marathon with a meal at Sotto Mare (please try if you’re in the Bay Area). Then, I played video games for a few hours and went to sleep.

Overall, a great experience. I’m definitely at my peak fitness-wise, which I attribute to having a goal that motivated me to train hard and eat right. I’m really thankful that my body allowed me to do this and that I didn’t get sick or injured during training. I’ve had some leg injuries from playing basketball in high school and COVID threw off my fitness regimen last November, so those were pretty big fears I had at the start of the process.

Still determining what the next goal is. I have some post-race blues for sure, so I definitely want another milestone to hit. Thinking about a triathlon or perhaps trying to break 3 hours. However, going to enjoy some time off of training and mostly going to hoop and hit the gym hard over the next few weeks.

Would love some advice on how to build a shoe rotation and my strategy to improve my time. On the shoes, I’m thinking of having 1 pair for long runs which I’ll race in and 1 pair for the everyday training. For improving my time, I think I’m going to train for a 5k, then build my way up to a 10k, and then a half-marathon, so I can improve my speed and then get into the next cycle of marathon training as a much faster runner. Maybe do that for a year and try to do a marathon fall 2024 or spring 2025?

Cheers. See you again SF Marathon, coming for the sub-3.