6 down, 44 to go!

I ran the San Francisco Marathon this morning!

Huh??

... wait, no, I ran the progressive marathon this morning. Or finished running it, at least. Which is to say, I ran the 5K race after having previously logged 23.1 miles.

Ah. That's more like it.

I had about 45 minutes to kill after I got checked in, so I took the opportunity to wander up and down by the Ferry Building. There's a rocket ship to other destinations in the Milky Way ...

... and a giant bow and arrow, which I saw when I jogged out to the end of Pier 18, trying to warm up.

The timing chips went on our shoes this time, which was a new one for me:

It was wicked crowded at the start, which actually makes sense, since it turns out that there were well over 1,000 runners in this event alone.

This doesn't even begin to show how crowded it got.

But only one from Rhode Island!

(One, who is usually a little more photogenic than this.)

The crowd meant that, instead of my usual burst of unsustainable speed at the very start, I had trouble finding room for my strides and didn't get up to pace for probably several hundred yards. Once I did, though, I felt really good. I worked on lengthening my stride and softening my impact by rolling through my whole foot. When I started getting tired, I caught myself shortening my stride, but I corrected my form and usually passed whoever just passed me.

And in the end?

Run a race, get free stuff!

Official results are still compiling, but the unofficial page (honestly, I have no idea whether that link will work properly) lists me as finishing 222 out of 1,031, with a time of 29:14 and an average pace of 09:25. Not my best ever, but well within my goal of finishing under 30 minutes. And I got a medal*. :-)

Next race is this Saturday, August 4, in Forest Grove, OR. Looking forward to visiting Oregon for the first time! Meanwhile, I'm going to try running up to Bernal Heights Park tomorrow to enjoy the view. Gotta keep training ...

*Note: All progressive marathon finishers got medals.