Across The Bay 12K Report

Rickshaw · Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2006 8:05 am

What a beautiful day for a race! Today was one of my final tune-up races before the marathon: a scenic 12K from the Marin headlands north of San Francisco, across the Golden Gate Bridge, through the Marina District, ending at Fisherman's Wharf. After weeks of rain, the day dawned sunny and calm, with the temperature around 50.

This course has a couple of serious hills, the worst of which is the climb from sea level up to the deck of the bridge. The bridge itself is also a pretty decent hill, and then the final insult is a short but steep hill right before the finish. I ran this race in 2004 and finished in 55:24 (7:26 pace). My goal today was to beat that time and set a new 12K PR.

The race went great. I tried to focus on taking it plenty easy in the first few miles, so I'd have some strength left for the finish and not fade away in the final miles. The splits unfolded like this:

1. 7:11 Mostly level, along the Marin side
2-3. 15:36 The long climb up to the bridge deck, and another mile across the bridge. Gorgeous views!
4. 6:28 A ripping downhill. Still holding back a little bit.
5. 7:02 Tiring, but not too bad.
6. 7:03 Feeling comparatively OK, and now I'm ready to open up a bit more.
7. 6:52 Pushing it pretty hard now.
12K 3:03 Pushing really hard up the last hill to the finish.
TOTAL 53:19

The last half-mile from 7 to the finish was at about a 6:40/mi pace, going uphill, and felt great. There have been very few races where I've managed to save that much for the end, so I'm pretty happy with my pacing. I took 9:55 from the 6-mile mark to the finish line, compared to 10:39 for the same section in the 2004 race, so that's a big improvement.

Net result: a 2:05 improvement in my 12K PR, and a good confidence boost going into the marathon next month. Woohoo!