OMG 5K PR @ SFM LOL FTW!

That's right, babies: I officially shaved about 3:30 off my 5k time in today's San Francisco Marathon 5k!

Wooohooo!

I gotta tell ya, I ran my ass off today. I went out there and ran about as quickly and as hard as I could; and although I didn't break 30:00, I'm pleased as punch with my result.

It was perfect weather to run hard: it was gloomy and cool—about 58°, cloudy and humid. I got to the race, did my warm-up (dynamic) stretches and found a comfy spot at the starting corral. From the jump to the end, everything felt right. My cardio felt good, my legs felt good, my cadence felt good; in addition, I felt very comfortable passing through the crowd and maintaining my pace. I believe there's a bit of an art to finding the right place to start in a non-wave, shorter (5k) race. If you're too far back, you'll have to wade through a lot of people. If you're too far up front, you'll get trampled by people that churn out -7 minute miles. Today I felt like I found the right place.

Like I said, I am happy. I do have one major gripe, however: although we wore timing chips, we never passed over a starting line chip sensor. It was actually kinda weird. We initially all gathered behind what appeared to be a starting sensor. Then, oddly, 5 minutes before the gun, they had us all walk forward about 60 yards or so. I noticed as we walked that we stepped over what (again) looked like the start line sensor. It was confusing—we were all wondering why they were moving us up, and some thought for a second that we had begun the race.

Personally, I think somebody effed up. I think they were unable to reset the sensor, or that it wasn't working correctly, or *something*. Something went wrong. Of this I'm sure. And since I was really looking to sub-30:00 today, this was a bit of a disappointment. From the gun to the actual start line, there was quite a bit of shuffling and moving around wasted seconds. Was it 22 whole seconds—the amount of time that'd put me under 30:00? I don't know. I don't even want to speculate.

So, while I'm a little pissed at the SFM folks, I am pleased as punch with my race. I gave it my all and, like I said on Twitter, I think ~30:00 is about as fast as I can run a 5k at my current (250lbs) weight. I have no doubt that I could shave minutes off by shaving off pounds. But, everything in good time.

Next up: get smart, consistent, base-building work done, heading towards October 4th's San Jose Rock N Roll Half Marathon. It'll be good.

The Results:
Finish: 30:21
Place Overall: 340 out of 1372
Men: 173 out of 460
Age/Grade: 43.74%*
Gun Time: 30:21
Tag Time: 30:21**
Strollers That Passed Me: 1***
Pace: 9:46****

* I still have no idea what Age/Grade means.
** THERE WAS NO STARTING LINE!!! We never stepped over a starting line chip sensor! They did a count down and we just started running. Basically, I think somebody at SFM effed up and they're hoping nobody noticed.
*** As historically proven, getting strollered doesn't really bother me too much. What bothered me about this one is that she (unlike other stroller pushers that pass me) didn't look like an Iron Man finisher, and yet she didn't really seem to be trying hard. Sorta humbling.
**** My Nike+ says my pace was 9:13. Then again the Nike+ is pretty inaccurate—it thinks I ran 3.29 miles. So, whatever.

Quick note: happy birthday to @TLM26, who celebrated her 27th PRing a marathon. How cool is that? @LosBee, @roadbunner, @audgepodge1, @kristin_running, @chicrunner, @MarathonMaritza, @bicoastalite, @runnersrambles, a few other folks and I all met up at Gordon Biersch after the race to celebrate. Good times.