Bridge to Bridge Run - 7K

I made a rare venture onto the road for this race. The beauty of the venue made it worth it. It starts by the Ferry building in San Francisco near the Bay Bridge and runs along the wharf and the waterfront to the Presidio above the Golden Gate Bridge.

I manage to squeeze up near the front, despite the thousands of runners in the chute. Despite having raced the day before (winning 40-49 at the QuickSilver 10K) I felt great at the beginning and ran out a bit too fast. I hit the one mile mark at 6:10. As we turned down towards the wharf, I slowed to try to keep it to 6:30 pace. After the tourist shops, the view of the bay opened up. I hit the three mile mark at 19:30 and headed up the hill of Fort Mason. I started to flag behind the college kid pulling me up the hill and he yelled "stay with it sir!" (sir?). I realize "dammit I'm supposed to be a hill runner" and made myself surge. I pummeled down the other end of the hill past Crissy Fields and into the Presidio. The hill still slowed me slightly offpace and I hit four miles at 27 minutes even (my plan was 26).



We turned up the hill towards the finish area. I finished the last quarter mile is 1:53, and finished in 28:53, good for third master and thirteenth overall. John Mintz and Jon Tannehill (frequent competitors for masters at shorter road running here in the Bay area) had just duked it out for overall masters winner, with John winning by four seconds, about a minute of me.

Although I try to stick to trailrunning lately, I will do this race next year. I won't slow down during the early flat stage, and I think I can contend with a sub-28 minute time with proper pacing.

After finishing the race I turned right around and ran back past all the runners, cheering them on, back to the Ferry building, where Susan was waiting to take me to the Slanted Door. Yum!