Today I ran the Kaiser Permanente Half Marathon in San Francisco.
I drove up to the city at 5:45 after a breakfast consisting of two bananas and a cup of coffee.
As it turned out that was a little on the early side. Despite rain the drive went by smoothly. Also parking was not an issue, as the directions provided by the organizers were flawless. In the beginning I was really impressed by the organization...Lots of shuttles, good service at the sweat drop-off, good water/Gatorate stations and a nice course. Later on I had my doubts though...later more...
The start was at 8 am on MLK drive, heading out of the park down to the Panhandle, and back to the Golden Gate Park. The stretch back to the park was a slight uphill, not bad though. After a loop around the DeYoung museum it was back across the start line and down MLK drive to the Great Highway. By now it had started to rain a bit, but seeing the ocean with pretty good waves was impressive. At this point, about 7 miles in the race, is where my problems started. I was going at roughly a 8:20 pace. But all of a sudden I had to go to the bathroom...like badly...
The problem: No restrooms on the last 6 miles... Around mile 9 I spot bathrooms on Ocean Beach. Relieved I run across the street, only to find the doors locked. Bummer! Also no McDonalds, BK, or any other restaurant along the road. I was not really able to run the last two miles, but walked instead. By now the weather was also really bad! Heavy rain and hail were topped by heavy winds...headwinds that is...I was really happy when the finish line came into view. I finished in 2:05, something. Not what I wanted, but regarding the circumstances I think it's still ok.
In summary...a nice race, well organized, but there could have been more restrooms on the second half of the course...
Now, about 4 hours after getting back home, my right ankle hurts slightly.
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