clock … watching time, the only true currency

The San Francisco summer (September) delivered another beautiful morning today. The Bridge to Bridge 12K race is a local fixture I’ve never run. Starting at the Ferry Building, the race has only one short, steep hill, as it stays along the water almost the entire race, finishing in the Presidio. The official results are not available yet, but my self-timed result was 47:00 (approx). I’m very pleased with that ~6:18 pace, although I’ll update with the official time when it appears.

Update Official results: 47:12.4 for 9th in the M30-39 age group, and 34th overall, out of 2294 in the race. Pace was actually just a shade under 6:20 per mile.

The miles were marked clearly for a bit and then…not so much. Here’s what I got:

• Mile 1: 6:21
• Mile 2: 6:27
• Mile 3: 6:30 (only hill on the course, up and then back down)
• Miles 4-6: 18:15 (all on Crissy Field, dead flat, turning at the Golden Gate Bridge)
• Mile 7-finish: 9:32

In my preparation for the race, I ran a 5:46 mile on the track this past Tuesday, as the final piece. The previous three miles were 6:20, 6:23, and 6:12. Stretching it out over 7+ miles worked pretty well today, so I’ll aim for the 10K this Thanksgiving Sunday.