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| Sunrise view of SF & Golden Gate Bridge from Marin Headlands (Photo by Cedric Letsch on Unsplash) |
Results of the San Francisco Half-Marathon race (SF Marathon 2026 - 1st Half / Bridge Half):
- Chip Elapsed Time: 2:56:14
- Overall Pace: 13:27/mile
- Age Place: 197th (M45 - 49, of 220)
- Gender Place: 3,372nd (of 3,652)
- Overall Place: 5,886th (of 6,650)
- Elevation gain: ~767 feet (~234 meters)
This represents my 4th SF Marathon race: I previously ran 2 full marathons (2006 & 2024), and this represents my 2nd half marathon (2025 - City Half & 2026 - Bridge Half).
Packet Pickup & Festival Expo
We parked at Fort Mason. Easy-ish to get in, terrible to get out. Remembered to pay for parking this year, so no ticket. Arrived around 2:30 p.m.
Goody Café - Grabbed 2 burritos (green chili & bacon) and 2 coffees (Rose Latte & Honey Lavender Latte). Our first visit. Loved the art and creative energy.
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| Goody Café - Letter board above door with text "Not Today Satan - Bianca Del Rio" |
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Goody Café creatures with knitted clothes view #1 by checkout register - Fort Mason
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Goody Café creatures view #2 by checkout register - Fort Mason
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| Goody Café creatures - hard-boiled egg magnets- Fort Mason |
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Goody Café interior "Resist Fear ✊🏻 Assist Love" - Fort Mason |
We completed 4 challenges: 1) Half It All Challenge (Medal - 1st & 2nd half marathons completed in 2 consecutive years, any order); 2) Legacy Runners Challenge (Pin - Any distance for 3 consecutive years); 3) Loyal Runners Challenge (Socks - "If you’ve joined us at least twice in the past ten years—even if the years weren’t consecutive..."); and 4) Bay Bridge SF/Oakland Challenge (Medal - "If you ran any event at the Oakland Running Festival (March 22, 2026) and then run any distance at the SF Marathon"). We ran the Oakland Half Marathon this year, and the SF Half Marathon, so we qualified. We got this in 2025 as well (it was Oakland 10K & SF Half that year).
I had read conflicting info on the "52 Club" challenge, but the sheet at the Challenges table specifies, "Completed Half It All Challenge last year, and registered for this year's Full Marathon. * Must be in this order". I had run the 2024 Full Marathon, the 2025 city half, and the 2026 bridge half, but unfortunately this did not qualify 🤷🏻 😝 Disappointed, but fair. Did get me thinking about running the Full Marathon in 2027 for the 50th anniversary though....
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| 52 Club challenge text at Festival Expo Challenges desk: "Must be in this order" 😝 |
Dawn purchased a purple SF Marathon shirt at the official merchandise vendor area. We skipped a lot of the other vendors this year. They had glow-up stations to touch-up hair (and makeup?), Garmin, other race boosters, etc.
Leaving the parking lot took about 30-45 minutes 🤬 Wish they had traffic control to manage pedestrian safety & vehicle traffic, since only one way out.
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| 3 Embarcadero Center sign |
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| Balcony Suite Room 240 - Facing window |
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| Balcony Suite Room 240 - Facing door |
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| Eclipse Restaurant & Lounge - SF Marathon 2026 Dinner Specials |
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| Pasta Ratatouille |
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| The Market - illuminated menu display |
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| California Street cable car view #1 from balcony |
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| California Street cable car view #2 from balcony, showing celebratory decorations |
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| 2026 SF Marathon welcome informational handout |
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| Race gear laid out the day before (shown: 2026 shirt; I wore my 2006 shirt) |
Woke on time around 5:15 a.m. (~4.5 hours sleep). Garmin reported a sleep score = 55/100. Brewed coffees using the in-room, single-serving-pod coffee maker. Fueled with a peanut-butter Clif Bar. Shaved. Did the 3 things I should always do before a long run: 1) Sunblock; 2) Anti-chafing; and 3) NipEaze ✅ The night before I had laid-out everything. Had already pinned the bib to my 2006 SF Marathon Finisher shirt using BibBoard Avocado Running bibSnaps. The night before I had completely filled the water reservoir of my Nathan - QuickStart 2.0 6 L Hydration Pack using a filtered-water fountain in the hallway by the elevators. Stashed my credit card, license, room key card, phone, KN95 mask, and 2 Clif Bars in the hydration pack.
Walk to the race start was very short--just walked out the door and a block to the Ferry Building. Our Corral C was a few more blocks south, around Howard Street.
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| Pre-race temps, 5:48 a.m.: 61 °F and 82% humidity, clear |
Above us a pair of parrots alighted on the top of the Embarcadero YMCA
building. 20 years ago, I had run my 2nd marathon in San Francisco. Dawn
was there to see me off and greet me at the end. In 2006, the race
partnered with the Embarcadero YMCA which offered its building for
racers to shower & change. This year, Dawn and I would run together as a married couple 🧑❤️👩 With an abrupt cheer, the parrots flew away toward the sunrise. 🦜🦜
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| Sunrise, looking east at the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge from Howard St & The Embarcadero |
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| Sunrise, pre-race 2026 |
Runners began in waves. Corral A, then Corral B, then us. It took us ~20 minutes before we began our first mile at 6:48 a.m. The race officially began when the ChronoTrack timing mats & FlashPoint stands read our bib chips as we shuffle across the starting line.
We ran miles 1 & 2 without stopping. Weather felt ideal. No injuries. We had run a half marathon just 3 weeks earlier and felt confident.
The past 2 times I'd run the early section in pre-dawn darkness only illuminated by streetlights. That made broken asphalt & cobblestone sections potentially treacherous. This time we had sunlight and all was well.
An e-bike glided by us at elevated speed, attempting to thread their way through people and causing friction. I lost sight of them, but I think they eventually moved over to the right sidewalk? It was a rather weird decision on their part to try to bike through all of us.
Big Art Loop art peppers The Embarcadero and we passed a few familiar and new-to-us installations, including Pulse Portal and Launch Intention. Dawn noticed colorful sea lion statues outside the Aquarium of the Bay.
We ran intervals of 2:00 running and 1:00 walking. This put us into a cadence of running ahead of others, walking, falling behind others, repeat.
At Aquatic Cove and other locations close to the water, we appreciated the waves lapping onto the beach.
McDowell Avenue represents the first extended hill to summit and enter Fort Mason park. I think there was a guy loudly encouraging runners, as though it was a military-style boot camp (but in a positive way, if that makes sense). I think he was probably affiliated with the race? In any case he was already losing his voice. A bit over the top but appreciated his energy.
The early city sections had spectators cheering us on, as well as a few excited non-racers joining friends for a short section to talk and celebrate. A few people out for dog walks, a few cyclists rolling by, a few race-bib-less runners out for their exercise.
We passed Chrissy Field, Torpedo Wharf (I don't remember seeing the Palace of Fine Arts this year), the House of Air trampoline park & cafe, and finally arrived at the base of Golden Gate Bridge turnaround. We don't quite get to Fort Point, if I'm understanding the layout properly. It seems the Full Marathon runners get a bit extra distance before turning around. The effect of this means we now pass two sets of mile markers as we cross the bridge--one for Half & one for Full marathon runners, with the Full Marathon mile markers (in blue) coming first.
At the 45 minute mark, we began fueling. Dawn had Gu Gels and gummies, and I had Clif Bars. With water in our packs, we skipped most of the early water stations, saving a few seconds.
After the turnaround, we noticed race staff had blocked stairs access--no shortcuts like the Dipsea Race. Heh. The run up Long Avenue was an extended climb, one of the longest of the race. From asphalt (Long Road) to packed-earth (Battery East Trail), it rises ~200 feet at 3-14% grade for a mile. We ended up walking a large portion of it.
The turn onto the Golden Gate Bridge was controlled by race staff. 🌉 It's still quite a thrill to run across. In 2006, we ran across the road deck. I forget how many lanes they closed (maybe all?) but we felt the metal plates and had so much room. On the sidewalk, it's cramped--maybe 3 people abreast at most.
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| Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, with Angel Island hazily visible in the distance at right |
Up close we can see the never-ending battle to resurface and protect the iconic paint from the elements. Some sections looked perfect, others pitted and chipped.
Exiting the bridge span, we arrived the Golden Gate Bridge North Vista Point. Here was water & electrolytes, a few bathrooms, and what looked like portable bib-chip readers to time runners in section challenges. We did a high five to congratulate each other on making it over the high bridge span. 🙏🏻 Dawn says it helped to focus her attention on the sidewalk and roadway to avoid feelings of height anxiety.
The next section involves a rolling, extended descent down Alexander Avenue toward Sausalito.
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| Highway 101 sign covered in stickers |
This time I managed the downhill without damaging my toenails--in 2024 I had bruised them so badly they eventually fell off in the weeks following 😝 After turning back onto East Road, I expected to see the Blue Mile, a tribute to military veterans in years past--but nothing seemed organized this year. 🤷🏻 The sights and smells running through Fort Baker represent a nice change of pace from the busy noise and chaos of drivers zipping past on the Golden Gate Bridge: bay leaves, eucalyptus trees, lush greenery, calm waters, people relaxing on the lawns.
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Approaching the Golden Gate Bridge from Fort Baker |
Somewhere along this stretch, Dawn was calculating our pace and determined we had a shot of running a sub-3-hour half marathon. This struck me as good news but if we missed it we were OK with it--we were running to finish and avoid injury. The bridge half represents a much hillier course than anything we had done before, so we really didn't expect to finish in under 3 hours.
Running up Conzelman Road, back to the sidewalk return across the Golden Gate Bridge, was not timed as a special challenge this year. Instead, they had the portable chip timers at turnaround at East Road and I think it ended just before heading up Conzelman. Maybe just a change of pace? In any case, we walked most of the way up Conzelman. I pushed my hands on my quads to help my legs, which felt more sore than I had felt in some months.
At the top (finally!) was electolytes & water. We extended our walk break for another interval or two, then began run/walk intervals again.
The run back across was buffeted by crisp ocean breezes. Delicious. Above us, pelicans glided and wafted in formations. It was right out of a Studio Ghibli animation.
Some somber moments along the route: we passed medics attending to one racer who was moved to the side and prone. I hope she was OK. Other racers at this point seemed to have stopped to deal with cramping leg muscles. Some continued to push but held their stomachs, possibly abdominal muscle pain, or (?) We seemed OK. Dawn was actually zooming along. We leapfrogged people a few times, and then it seems we had pulled away. Our (moderate, but extended) training had paid off.
I think Dawn at this point was feeling confident about finishing in under 3 hours. I was not paying attention but just enjoying the moment--once across the Golden Gate Bridge, it's over in a blink of an eye.
That blink of an eye, however, was complicated by having to run uphill in those final fraction of a mile. 😅 Oh well. We saw people walking past with their medals, encouraging us with "It's just over the hill" messages, etc. Once we saw the finish line, we realized we had made it with minutes to spare.
Post-race
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| Strava Map of the 2026 San Francisco 1st Half / Bridge Half Marathon |
We collected bananas, pretzels, our medals (volunteers draped the medal ribbons over our heads, a nice touch), and exited the finishing chute. Fort Winfield Scott seems to represent the name of the finishing area.
The free return shuttle line was quite long. After a few minutes of waiting in line, Dawn felt faint and we sat on the grass for a few minutes. One woman recognized us and said she had played leapfrog with us for a portion of the race, but then fell behind. 😎 We shared congratulations on finishing, then got back into the line and resumed our slow pace to the buses. After about 15-30 minutes, it seems race staff figured out a different way to stage the buses to load people. Instead of loading buses one by one, they moved them all forward and loaded a bunch at the same time. We got a seat right behind the driver on one bus. A few people boarded, failed to find seats, and staff redirected them to overflow buses. The drive back was unremarkable. My legs cramped a bit in the short seats but this passed after a few moments. We had a good driver and she navigated weekend traffic ably. Near the end of our trip, one impatient person came forward and asked the driver if they and 1-2 others might exit, as we had stopped due to a traffic backup. Our driver reluctantly agreed, opening the door--and wouldn't you know it, basically the entire bus panicked and got out. At one point the bus driver mentioned something about how they were now impeding traffic by stopping where they had to let people out, but I think she realized it was pointless. Finally after some aggressive honking, the last impatient runner had exited, our driver closed the bus door, and ... we drove another block, turned a corner, and parked. 🙂 We thanked her and exited. As we walked toward our hotel, we passed most of the others who had exited early....
At the hotel we showered, packed, and checked-out. It was at this point when we realized our $20 credit was meant for the restaurant and not The Market. The cashier was rather emotionless and cold, but efficient and directed us to the front desk to see if they might comp us. We decided to just eat the cost of some snacks, checked out, and left. We got Haribo, Sea Salted Caramel Corn from Oakland's Peter's Kettle Corn, and a Snickers bar.
On the drive home we decided to get out of SF for brunch, thinking runners would swamp most places. Dawn chose a new-to-us place called Brothers Cafe in Millbrae. The food was solid, though the ambience was rather tired at that location. Service was excellent and friendly.
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| Mimosas |
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| Dawn had the Gobbler benedict with Fresh Roasted Turkey & Mushrooms |
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| I had the Breakfast Club with two fried eggs, bacon, lettuce, tomato, mayo, avocado, on toasted wheat served w/hash browns |
The trip home was unremarkable. The rest of the day was relaxing and domestic tasks (laundry, etc.).
Race Swag
Our swag this year included mostly Challenge rewards, shown below. Not shown: random finisher giveaways (e.g., bananas, waters, pretzels).
We saw people at the Race Expo with oversized orange tote giveaways from Shokz, stickers for kids, etc. In previous years we had arrived earlier and had scored Chargel energy gel, toothpaste kits, Sweet T's Granola, Suntory headband & cozy, Hanover's Pretzels, etc. I think some of these vendors tabled the event, but we skipped the lines this year and just grabbed our gear and left.
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| 2026 SF Marathon - 1st/Bridge Half Swag: Loyal Runners/Legacy Challenge (socks & pin, respectively); Bay Bridge Challenge; Half It All Challenge; Bridge Half Finisher Medal; and plastic gear-check bag |
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| 1st Half/Bridge Half Marathon 2026 Finisher Medal (closed; obverse is blank) |
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| 1st Half/Bridge Half Marathon 2026 Finisher Medal (opened; obverse is blank) |
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| Half It All 2026 Challenger Medal (City Half shown) |
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| Half It All 2026 Challenger Medal (Bridge Half shown) |
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| Bay Bridge SF/Oakland Challenge 2026 Medal (obverse is blank) |
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| Legacy Runner 2026 Challenge Pin (obverse has two standard butterfly pin backings; not shown: Loyal Runner Challenge socks--see above photo) |
