I trained up for this by doing a modified Hanson's method. I was running 5 days a week mostly M-F. No runs more than 15 miles. I knew I was trained up for a marathon but I wasn't certain about a PR. But I was going to try anyways given the previous half marathon success. The plan was to stay under 9 min/mile, but the excitement had me going at about 8:30-40 at the start. Giddyup!
I was worried at about mile 16 during the marathon since I hadn't run further since North Face. Until this point, I was running with an older guy and we were chit chatting. At this point, the wind picked up and I could barely move rounding a couple corners! Huge gusts! I felt great until about mile 22 where I apologized to the guy and put on my headphones. I ate a Gu that I was carrying and started to feel better after a mile or two. The music didn't do it for me so I put my shuffle back in my pocket.
At the park at the end, I started feeling strong. Everyone else immediately started walking up it, but I ran the whole thing and shouted some encouraging words to the walkers. I got some applause from some bystanders and I just said "I'm from San Francisco -- this is a normal road!" Though, I started to get tired about a mile after this and walked for about 30 seconds in the ups and downs by the river park. I finished the race strong and felt good. At the end, I wanted to lie down for a few minutes. They were out of the Arcadia Finish Line Ale which I was looking forward to trying. I drank one beer with my Dad (who did the 5k earlier!) and was starting to get cold. Overall, great race.
What I learned: