Kaiser Half Marathon - Feburary 6, 2010

The Preliminaries

The Kaiser Half Marathon sold-out eight days before the event.  They had a limit of 10,000 registered runners.  That translated to 8,402 finishers (6,080 in the half and 2,322 in the companion 5K).  Surprisingly, over 15% of those who paid did not run (or at least did not finish).  Then, again, almost 85% ran and had a great time, like I did.  There were also over 1,000 volunteers working at the event and on the preparations leading to it. 

The Pamakid Running Club had four training runs leading up to the race.  I attended the first two after my six mile Saturday runs in Golden Gate Park.  They were a convenient way to increase my mileage.  Rick N., who also runs the Saturday morning Golden Gate Park runs was doing the same thing.  January 9 was six miles from Sports Basement across the Golden Gate Bridge and back.  January 16 was ten miles through the Presidio, across the bridge, through Crissy Field and back to Sports Basement. 

Race Day - Before the Race

Race day did not start too auspiciously.  I had planned out my trip to the park on Muni, THE CITY's public transportation system.  Many of the bus stops now have digital "next bus" displays thanks to GPS and computers.  I arrived at the first stop three or four minutes before the bus was scheduled to arrive only to find the display said it was 20-some minutes away.  I was supposed to transfer at Market Street, which is maybe a half mile away.  So, I just hoofed it to that stop.  I had planned to pick-up the Fulton bus on Market at Powell.  When I got to that stop it should have been about five minutes away.  Instead it was 25 minutes.  Another person who was obviously going to the race asked what bus I was taking.  I said that there was supposed to be a Fulton bus in five minutes.  He said, yes and there was also supposed to be one about 20 minutes ago.  Another waiting passenger said she had planned to take the earlier bus but it did not arrive, either.  It turned out that the Balboa bus was scheduled to arrive in eight minutes.  It would drop us only two blocks farther away.  So, we all took that.  Patience and flexibility are the keys when dealing with Muni.

I arrived about an hour before the race.  My pre-race ritual for a big race is to hit the porta potties while the lines are still short.  I then went to look for the sweats check.  When you are ready (and at least 15 minutes before the start of the race), you put your sweats in a plastic bag, write your race number on the outside and throw them in the trash barrel with the appropriate number range on it.  The race organizer then transports the sweats to the finish area where you can pick them up after the race.  At 30 minutes before the race I deposited my sweats and I headed out for a slow warm-up run.  I ran out about a mile and then back to the start.  It takes 15 to 20 minutes.  The closer to 20 the better -- there are no prizes for a fast warm-up.

The Race

I line up about 10 feet back of the start on the left side.  Edward H. is there, so we talk before the race.  Edward is also a DSE member and he ran on the Devil's Slide Track Club team at The Relay last year.  There are many preliminaries, announcements, statements and, of course, the National Anthem.  Finally, the count down.

The start was crowded.  Since I was near the front I cleared the start line in six seconds.  I heard that it took either six or eight minutes to get the full 8,500 or so runners over the line.  That is pretty good for an event of this size.

This race exists in two parts.  The first seven miles through the park are pleasant, sheltered and fast.  The first half of the race is only the base.  The real race starts once you make the turn out of the park and down The Great Highway.  This is where you make or break your race performance. 

I started to feel my left hamstring in the second mile.  After the 10 mile race two weeks earlier I expected that.  I monitored it and I was careful not to do anything that would unduly irritate it.  Otherwise, I do not have much to say about the first seven miles.

I made the turn onto The Great Highway and still felt good.  I continued to hold pace.  When I made the turn around just before mile 10, I went straight into a wall of wind.  At 10 miles I was ahead of my 6:30 goal pace.  I completed the 10 mile distance almost 50 seconds ahead of the DSE Waterfront 10 miler.  That is all nice, but I did not have enough to battle the headwind for the final three miles.  My pace went from 6:30 to a little over 7:00 per mile.  A couple of groups passed me in that last three mile stretch.  I tried to attach myself at the back so that I could draft behind them, but I could not hold the pace.  I finished at 1:26:31, well within my primary goal of 1:27 for a seeded entry to the Bay to Breakers. 

1 - 6:37*

2 - 6:17

3 - 6:16

4 - 6:34

5 - 6:33

6 - 6:11

7 - 6:18

8 - 6:25

9 - 6:49*

10 - 6:24
11 - 7:06
12 - 7:05
13 - 7:08
13.1 - 0:43

 * Longer than one mile.  This mile is a little extra and the next is a little short on time.

After the Race 

I finished 151 out of 6080 finishers.  I was 5 out of 193 in my age group.  This year they started calculating age graded scores.  The idea of age graded scoring is to equalize performances after taking into account age and gender.  There are two ways this is done.  One is with an adjusted time and the other involves a percentage grade.  My age grade was 80.1, which put me barely in the class of national level runners.  Well, a nice dream, anyway.  100 is equivalent to a world record performance, 90 is world class, 70 is regional and 60 is local.

Next up is the NorCal 10 miler in Redding on March 6.  I recently joined the Pamakids Racing Team and this will be my first race as a member of the team.  That also required me to get a USA Track and Field membership.  I mailed-in my entry to the Bay to Breakers the day after the Half-Marathon with proof of a qualifying time for the seeded entry.

Photo Credits

1. Start line waiting for start of race.  Brightroom Event Photography (c) 2010.  Used with permission.
2. First Pamakid training run with Rick N.  Photo by Paul Mosel (c) 2010.
3. Muni logo property of SFMTA.
4. One of the many marathon banners posted around THE CITY.  Source unknown.
5. Race start.  Brightroom Event Photography (c) 2010.  Used with permission.
6. Half-Marathon map from event website.
7. Outbound (South) on the Great Highway, probably around mile 9.  Brightroom Event Photography (c) 2010.  Used with permission.
8. Inbound (North) on the Great Highway after the turn around and into the wind.  Photo by Diane Okubo-Fong.
9. Finish line photo.  Brightroom Event Photography (c) 2010.  Used with permission.
10. Bay to Breakers logo from event website.