I timed it so that I would arrive at the LAX Economy Parking Structure at about 4:45 am. Normally, I would take the 605 freeway to get down to the 105 freeway whenever I have a flight over at LAX. However, they had signs up that it was down to 1 lane for the southbound side of the freeway at Whittier. I waited until the 710 freeway before taking that south. I had not driven on this freeway in quite some time. After finding a suitable parking spot, I got on the crowded shuttle for a ride over to Terminal 5. My flight was on one of the smaller regional planes, so I had to take another bus over to the American Eagle Regional Terminal, also known as The Eagle's Nest. The first bus didn't leave until 5:30 am.
LAX Economy Parking
Catching a shuttle ride over to the terminal
Terminal 5
American Eagle Regional Terminal
Snacks on the plane
The plane landed at SFO Airport shortly after 8:30 am. We were let off at Harvey Milk Terminal 1. After using one of the restrooms, I followed the signs for the AirTrain which I took to catch a BART train into the city. The first train that arrived was a yellow line train headed for Antioch. I took that over to the Montgomery Station.
BART ride into the city
After exiting the BART station, I stopped in at the Starbucks around the corner to get my morning coffee. On the mobile app, I ordered my usual grande blonde vanilla latte. With coffee in hand, I started my long walk up to Fort Mason for the race expo.
Starbucks at Montgomery
Grande blonde vanilla latte
Bimbo's 365 Club
It was actually drizzling a bit as I neared Fort Mason Park. However, it was never enough to get out the umbrella. As with prior years, the race expo was located in the Festival Pavilion at Fort Mason. This year, I cut through the park and took the flight of stairs down as it was the more direct path away from the car traffic. The only thing bad with this path was that the stairway was very narrow and I was stuck behind a mother and a small boy where the stairs were too big for him. As soon as I got there, I used the restroom before I headed into the expo. The layout of the race expo was changed a bit. The full marathon bibs were on the left side as you entered. Unfortunately, I had already gone down the right side before I had realized my mistake. After picking up my race bib, I headed towards the back to pick up my race shirt, California Time to Travel Challenge medal, San Francisco Los Angeles Challenge medal, and my loyal runner socks. Although it was a bit strange to receive my challenge medals prior to finishing the marathon, I understood that it was one less thing for the race director to worry about at the finisher chute.
Fort Mason Festival Pavilion
Race expo
Marathon bib pick-up
Long sleeve race shirt
Back of long sleeve race shirt
California Time to Travel Challenge medal
This would've been perfect to carry my cigarettes!
San Francisco Los Angeles Challenge medal
Loyal runner socks
As for the rest of the expo, I got in line to pick up a Chargel sample before stopping at the Taiwan booth to check out what they were offering. I had seen them before in the past, but this time I decided to see if I could possibly run a marathon in my motherland. My Taiwanese was good enough for me to ask them questions and carry on a conversation without any English. On the way out of the expo, I noticed the small little map by the restroom. It was there for people to place a pin to indicate where they're from in the world. I thought it was a great idea, but the map certainly needs to be a lot bigger!
Chargel sample
Stuff from the Taiwan booth
World map
Per the usual after finishing with the race expo, I headed towards the Safeway across the street to buy some water and snacks for the weekend. On the way out of the Fort Mason parking lot, I noticed that there were a lot of Waymo vehicles. Say what you want about the dangers of self-driving vehicles, from my own observations, they were much better at driving and safer around pedestrians. I bought a bottle of Powerade ($1.78), a bag of Cape Cod Waves potato chips ($3.99), and a gallon of Refreshe purified drinking water ($1.50). I used one of the self-checkout kiosks to pay for my items.
Leaving Fort Mason
Safeway
From there, I walked a few blocks over to Nippon Curry on Fillmore St to eat lunch. Since I was there before noon, there weren't too many customers yet. I placed my order for chicken katsu curry at the counter before finding a vacant table. Once my food was ready, one of the employees brought the food out to me. They had a self-serve dispenser at the counter for iced water. The curry came with fukujinzuke (radish) and rakkyo (pickled scallion). The food tasted great. The only minor compliant was that they used white breast meat so it was a bit dry. Overall, it was a good find for some good Japanese curry!
Nippon Curry
Chicken katsu curry
Check-in time for my timeshare was at 4 pm, so I took my time heading over to the WorldMark San Francisco over on Stockton St and Bush St. Since it was nearby, I decided to head over to that famous winding section of Lombard St. Well, I made the mistake of taking Lombard St to get there. Sure it was the most direct route, but those couple blocks from Van Ness Ave were super steep! Once I had reached the top, I had to stop for a breather. It didn't help that I was carrying my bags! Once I caught my breath, I headed down the sidewalk next to those 8 hairpins turns to reach Leavenworth St.
Bobo's
Cable car at Lombard St
Lombard St
From there, I headed south. Along the way, I found Waldo Alley. Once I reached Jackson St, I headed east to go get a cold drink at Hi Sweetie Tea and Treats in Chinatown. The store was just east of Stockton St. The storefront was a bit unassuming so it was easy to miss. At the counter, I ordered their Crème Brûlée Boba Milk Tea 烤布蕾波波奶茶. Even though I didn't have them reduce the sweetness, it wasn't overly sweet. It was a nice refreshing drink after all of that walking!
Found Waldo
Hi Sweetie Tea and Treats
Crème Brûlée Boba Milk Tea 烤布蕾波波奶茶
After finishing my drink, I headed south on Stockton St to reach my timeshare. I supposed that I could've climbed a flight of stairs before entering the tunnel, but I opted to go through the tunnel instead. At the end of the tunnel, I climbed the stairs to get up to Bush St. It's a crapshoot when taking these stairs as it's heavily used by the homeless. It would seem that the city had been doing a better job cleaning it out each day, so it hadn't been quite as bad.
Stockton St tunnel
As to be expected, my room was not ready when I had arrived just shortly after 1 pm. I asked the lady at the counter to text me as soon as the room was ready. She obliged and told me to stop by the concierge station. Unlike the Club Wyndham Midtown 45 property in NYC, it was actually pleasant to talk to the manager at this location. He did not strong-arm me into attending yet another useless owner update. He even listened to me gripe about some of the terrible experiences at other properties where they had me attend a 3rd "update" in the span of a month. I could've had them hold my bags and go back out to pass the time, but I was pretty wiped out from all of those hills! I decided to just wait in the lobby. At about 3:30 pm, after seeing a bunch of other groups being checked into their rooms, I went to the counter to see if there's any update on my room status. The guy at the counter was able to move me to a studio room up on the 5th floor. They originally had me on the 2nd floor where that room was still not ready. He checked me into room #501. Their one solo elevator was quite busy, so I took the stairs.
WorldMark San Francisco
Stuff from the concierge
Map of San Francisco
Chess set
It was great to finally get up to my room and put down my bags. After getting settled into my room and going through my race packet, I laid out my flat runner for tomorrow's marathon to make sure that I had packed everything.
Flat runner
Later that evening, I walked over to Super Duper Burgers on Market St to pick up dinner. As I arrived, I noticed that there was a bouncer at the entrance. Has it really come to this? Why does this city have to be so sad? So many stores along Market St had close and the remaining stores were having to do whatever was necessary to stay open. The clueless politicians continue to tout financial prosperity, but oh, they could be doing so much better! I digress. I got in line to use one of the 2 ordering kiosks. There was a third line where you could order with a person. That employee made eye contact with me and I saw that the group ahead of me wasn't moving over, so I headed over to place my order. Midway through my order, I got a tap from what I assumed was the dad. He said to me that I they were ahead of me. I apologized saying that I had thought that they wanted to use one of the kiosks. So I abandoned my order and got back in line. Now what I assumed was the daughter turned around and apologized to me. I responded saying that it was my fault for not checking with them first. Moral of the story was to never make assumptions. Eventually, I used one of the kiosks and placed my usual order for a super burger with everything, added cheddar cheese and a fried egg. Normally, I would get a couple of their delicious pickles while I waited for my food to be ready, but the jar was pretty empty and looked a bit gross. As I was waiting, I didn't see that family that was ahead of me. Did they decide to go elsewhere? All of that hubbub for nothing?! Back at my room, I enjoyed my burger while catching the remainder of the Dodgers vs. Red Sox game. The Dodgers came up short, losing 2-4.
Chinatown gate
Super Duper Burgers
Dodgers vs. Red Sox
Sunday 7/27
I got ready and left my room at about 3:45 am for the walk over to the start line. I reached the Embarcadero and Ferry Building at just before 4 am. Along the way, I came across several of those that were running the ultra event. They had started running at 10:15 pm last night! Those that were faster were able to get some rest before having to run the marathon that was scheduled to start at 5:15 am. I was kind of surprised at how empty the start line area was even at 4 am. It worked out great for me as there was no wait for a portapotty.
R-EVOLUTION
Marathon start line
Start line selfie
After using one, I strolled on south until I reached a second cache of portapotties at Howard St. As I waited there, I noticed nearby that they were dropping off runners that had taken a bus from a BART station. I spotted one of my friends among them. She was running the 1st half which started after the marathon at 6:30 am. After chatting a bit and taking a selfie, I started heading north to my corral to use a portapotty one last time. I ended up getting in a short line at Pier 14. While waiting, I talked to the guy in front one me who was running the marathon for the very first time! It's always great to talk to a newbie. My advice to him was to take it slow in the first half or you won't be able to take advantage of the downhills in the second half. The runner behind me in line saw my gloves and said that she had forgotten hers. I mentioned how it's always cold running across the Golden Gate Bridge! She concurred.
Ginny
Corral B, wave 2
Queued up and ready to run
Queued up with 4:20 group
Almi pacing 4:35
I started the race from the back of corral B, wave 2. I made sure not to take off like a rocket like I would normally do. At mile 2, I reached the aid station at the Aquatic Cove. After hopping off of Van Ness Ave, I reached the short steep hill up to Fort Mason Park. I came across a runner wearing a Taiwan shirt. I struck up a conversation with him and his running partner. Fortunately, my Taiwanese was good enough that I was able to carry on a conversation with them. Turned out that they had flown over just for this race! At about mile 3, I hopped onto Marina Blvd. Those 2 Taiwanese runners were lagging behind, so I continued on without them.
(9:51, 9:38, 10:01)
I then proceeded to run at a comfortable cruising pace heading over to the out and back at Fort Point. I made sure to take it easy as on the way back, we headed up Long Ave to hop on the Battery Trail, making the steep climb up to the Golden Gate Bridge.
(9:35, 9:52, 10:05)
At about mile 6.5, I hopped onto the narrow bridge sidewalk. Everyone seemed to hit the gas during this section. I stuck to my own pace while trying to avoid those slick metal plates or coverings on the ground. I reached mile 8 nearing the northern end of the bridge. After running that small loop around the North Vista Point, I headed north on Alexander Ave for a loop around Fort Baker. This was my first time running around this area. There were some nice downhill sections, but the road was heavily cambered.
(10:59, 10:05, 10:31)
At the most northern end of the course, I turned onto East Rd. Then it was a left turn on Center Rd, followed by another left on Moore Rd. Approaching mile 11, I ran underneath the mighty Golden Gate Bridge and the road turned into Conzelman Rd. This would be probably the steepest climb for the course as I made my way back up to the bridge. All of my daily hilly climbs really paid off as I was able to grind out that section without having to pull over for a walk break. The wind seemed to be much stronger on this side of the bridge! I was glad that I had hung onto my gloves.
(10:01, 10:07, 11:28).
Once again, it was kind of a pain in the butt to run on the bridge sidewalk as it was quite narrow. I knew that I was impeding quite a few runners that wanted to run faster, but once again I stuck to my cruising pace. I reached the halfway point as I hopped off of the bridge and onto the California Coastal Trail.
(10:33, 2:06)
1st Half: 2:14:51
It was a rather uphill climb up to Lincoln Blvd. Thankfully, that was followed by a nice long stretch of downhill through Presidio. The street eventually turned into El Camino Del Mar. I turned left onto 27th Ave while making my way down to Golden Gate Park. This section was not easy as there was a bunch of rollers. I struck up a conversation with a girl that was running the ultra. I was only running 1 marathon and was barely keeping up with her. The course eventually turned left on Fulton St to enter the park at 25th Ave.
(11:18, 10:34, 10:48)
I bumped into my friend that was pacing the 4:35 group. That only meant that I had fallen off the pace that I was hoping to maintain. I definitely did not have it in my legs to follow her and her co-pacer as it was a bit of an incline heading up to John F Kennedy Dr. Next came the loop around Blue Heron Lake. Just as I was nearing the mile 17 marker, a familiar looking guy passed me. It turned out to be one of my Bay Area Marathon Maniac friends. At first, I wasn't too sure it was him since he was wearing a shirt. The guy almost always runs without a shirt! The guy was a beast as he kept plowing ahead with ease. I reached mile 18 as I finished the loop around the lake. I saw those 2 Taiwanese runners as I approached the right turn back onto JFK Dr. Unfortunately, about a third of mile into my 19th mile, I hit the wall pretty hard. I had to pull over and walk. I tried to give myself some time to recover a bit while I was still inside the park so that I could have something for the upcoming downhills.
(11:40, 11:15, 13:47)
As I exited the park onto Haight St, I got out my Maurten bar and took a few bites. With all of the walk breaks, I was able to revive the legs a bit. I made my way across Market St on my way over to the Mission District on 16th St. My heart rate was a bit higher than I wanted, so I took an extended walk break for that to come down.
(13:12, 12:59, 10:53)
Lee's Meat at about mile 20
I was back to putting in some rather slow miles as I made my way under the 280 freeway towards Crane Cove Park. There were these short steep climbs that my legs were just not interested at all in jogging up them. However, once I made it onto Illinois St, I knew that all of the climbs were behind me. I kept taking my walk breaks as I headed towards Oracle Park. I eventually stopped nibbling on that Maurten bar as I was starting to feel a bit queasy.
(13:02, 13:20, 12:45)
Even though I very much dislike those f'n Giants, I was glad to finally have crossed the 3rd St Bridge and reached the San Francisco Bay Trail to run the outside perimeter of Oracle Park. Once I reached the Giants Promenade, I knew that I only had 1 more mile to go. I made myself run that last mile without any walk breaks. It was only about 2 blocks after crossing under the Bay Bridge, but that finish line looked so far away!
(11:23, 3:35)
2nd Half: 2:38:25
Finish: 4:53:16
Click here for my Garmin data.
Finish line
I've had quite the love-hate relationship with this race. It's a challenge course with it taking place in the summer when I usually scale back on the training. Looking at my past results, I would typically run the marathon for a couple of years and then take a year off before returning. Prior to the COVID shutdown, I had a 5 year streak going with this event. I was pretty much getting worse each year. Once I returned after COVID, I ran a really lousy 1st half marathon in 2022. It was so bad that I vowed to give up on this event. It wasn't until this year that I finally returned on the condition that I would stay healthy and committed to training during the dog days of summer. Even though it didn't go as well as I would've liked, my result was good enough to set a personal course record. I was finally able to beat my best time from 2009, the only other time that I had finished this marathon in under 5 hours. I must say that even though I didn't particularly enjoy running on the sidewalk for the Golden Gate Bridge crossing, this was my favorite iteration of the marathon course.
San Francisco 1st Half
2008: 1:56:17
2022: 2:38:00, finally back from COVID. No more free bus rides to the expo
San Francisco 2nd Half
2019: 2:10:38, last time eating at Hai's Restaurant
San Francisco Marathon
2009: 4:55:46, too much pre-race alcohol!
2010: 5:02:28
2012: 5:14:19
2013: 5:28:46
2015: 5:14:50
2016: 5:29:23
2017: 5:42:00, last year running on the road while crossing the Golden Gate Bridge
2018: 5:22:01, drug-ridden McDonald's on Haight St had shut down
After receiving my finisher medal, I continued down the finisher chute to get the usual post race water, banana, and snacks. Off to the side, I saw my friend Sammy. We caught up a bit and grabbed a selfie before he headed out. I checked on the tracker that my friend wasn't too far from finishing, so I stuck around to wait for her. We grabbed a selfie before heading out. Per the usual, the exit for the finisher chute was extremely crowded. I wish that everyone would just back up so we can actually exit!
Finisher medal
Close up of medal
Post race snacks and water
Sammy!
Lea
On my walk back to my room, I came across an old guy shaking a paper cup asking for a handout. He was mumbling a bit. I told him, "sorry, I don't have any coins on me." The guy straight up laughed at me, saying he wasn't asking for coins. He wanted bills! Then I kind of had a brain fart and forgot to turn on Battery/Bush. Eventually, I turned on Sutter which worked out great since I came across a Chipotle. I went inside to pick up lunch as I had a free bag of chips reward that was expiring at the end of the day. With those chips, I got my usual chicken burrito bowl. With my food in hand, I continued on my walk back to my room where a fellow marathon runner came up next to me. I made a comment that she was still running. She told me that she was putting in 30 total miles to celebrate her birthday. I responded saying that I was old enough that I cannot do that anymore! Back at my room, my appetite had not quite returned yet, so it took me a while to finish everything.
Chipotle
Chicken burrito bowl and bag of chips
Chicken burrito bowl
Originally, I was planning to go back out after cleaning up to watch the new movie, The Fantastic Four: First Steps. However, I ended up staying in as I was feeling pretty wrecked from the marathon. Even when it came time for dinner, I didn't want to go anywhere far. I ordered food from Ramen Hiroshi on Uber Eats. It was only a couple of blocks away and I had a $25 voucher that was expiring. I ordered their shoyu yuzu ramen, nankotsu, and ika geso. I scheduled it for a 6 pm pick-up time. About 20 minutes before that time, I received a call from the restaurant letting me know that they were out of nankotsu. I had them substitute it with arabiki sausage which was the same price. I guess I should've checked before I left the restaurant, but they forgot to give me any utensils. Thankfully, my unit had silverware. The ramen was good, but I was not a fan of the yuzu flavor in the broth. If there is a next time, I will definitely opt for the regular shoyu broth.
Shoyu yuzu ramen, arabiki sausage, ika geso
Monday 7/28
I woke up pretty early to take a shower and packed up my stuff for my trip home. I checked out of my unit at about 6:15 am. After dropping the keys off at the front desk, I walked over to the Starbucks on Sutter St to get my coffee before heading over to the Montgomery Station to catch the BART. I was a bit wary of taking the stairs, but it turned out to be fine. On the mobile app, I ordered my usual grande blonde vanilla latte.
Starbucks on Sutter
Grande blonde vanilla latte
With coffee in hand, I walked over to Market St. The entrance that I normally take was closed for what looked to be for repairs on the escalator. I headed north to use another entrance. After a short wait, I boarded a red line train headed for Millbrae. During the wait, I saw a couple of transit cops. I made eye contact and nodded good morning to one of them. Thank you, stay safe, and keep up the good work.
Montgomery Station
I arrived at SFO Airport Station at just before 7:30 am. I walked over to terminal 1, got through TSA screening and was at my gate at about 8 am for my 10 am flight home. I must say that it was a much better flying experience being on one of the smaller regional planes. The boarding process was much quicker and easier with fewer passengers. Although the newer ones have larger overhead bin space, still they typically cannot accommodate those huge "carry-on" luggage.
Gate B24
Switched to Gate B22
Heading home
Snacks on the plane
The plane landed at LAX on time at just after 11:30 am. It was a bit strange landing on a different landing strip as I didn't recognize the surrounding areas. After getting off of the plane at the regional terminal, everyone headed for the bus to catch a ride over to terminal 5. After getting out of the terminal, I waited at the curb for a bus ride back to economy parking structure. I cannot wait for the APM to be finally up and running. They can finally retire these antiquated busses and the traffic around the "horseshoe" would be greatly reduced.
Waiting for a shuttle ride back to my car
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