2026 SF “The Bridge” Half Marathon!

We did it!

After a VERY shaky start to this training bloc interrupted frequently by travel, allergies, and colds, I’m really proud of myself for pulling through with this one :) This is my 4th half marathon ever, 2nd for this year, and first time running a race in San Francisco. I wanted to run this race for three reasons: 1) it would make a good checkpoint to see how on track I was for the Santa Cruz Marathon, 2) I wanted to run across the Golden Gate bridge, and 3) there was a challenge medal for doing an event at both the LA and SF marathon in the same year lol.

Let’s get into it!

Race Expo

Originally I had wanted to drive up to San Francisco early on Saturday, hit up the expo, and chill until the race. However, my other somewhat expensive hobby had other ideas: there was a Gundam card game release event that same Saturday in the afternoon. So, after rushing to the local game store to pick up a GD05 box and ripping packs, I drove up to SF on Friday instead and went with my friend who lived locally.

As far as expos go, this wasn’t the biggest one I had seen, which I actually appreciated. It also wasn’t very crowded, which meant I could go up to booths for freebies and demos without needing to wait in long lines.

Being a corporate schill for a free pin. But also, I really liked Taipei 101 when I visited.

The longest lines were definitely for the photo opps, but even then the wait wasn’t terrible. Standouts to me were a furikake-flavored granola and these caffeine powders that you can put under your tongue and allegedly won’t upset your tummy. Have yet to test if the latter holds true or not. There was also a husband-wife athletic wear team based in Irvine who were very friendly and talked with us a bit and gave me a free shirt in exchange for an insta story. I found out when I got home that I had asked for the wrong size. Oh well.

Oddly enough, I actually picked up my challenge medal AT the expo, which struck me as odd since the LA marathon handed me my Conquer LA medal after I finished along with my regular race medal. To avoid internal accusations of stolen valor, I kept it stuffed away in a bag until after the race

Race Day Morning

The morning started with a 3 AM call time. We were going to take a shuttle to the starting line from Macarthur station since the BART wasn’t running yet, and that left at 4:05. Even though we weren’t far from the station, I still wanted time to eat breakfast, park, and do any last checks at the car. This turned out to be a good thing, as when we woke up my fiance discovered that the first half marathon finish was not in the same place as the main marathon finish, and that another shuttle would have to be taken after the race. At the time, we thought this meant only runners could take the post-race shuttle. At the time.

The discovery ate away about 10 minutes of planned preparation, and our departure time from the place we were staying reflected that. I was able to wolf down some oatmeal, but I didn’t realize until we were driving that I had completely forgotten to fill my water vest. Immediately after taking care of this in the parking lot, the buses arrived, and we made haste from the suspicious liquid in the elevator to the shuttles. Some anxiety settled in since it looked like my fiance was the only non-runner on the shuttles, but I had paid for two tickets and was prepared to put up a fight if anyone asked. Fortunately, no one did. Unfortunately, this made me wonder if we even needed to buy tickets at all.

Regardless, we arrived at the starting line promptly at 5 am, giving the marathoners just enough time to prepare and the half-marathoners almost too much time. I used the bathroom several times, determined to empty anything and everything out of my body. Bag check was a little confusing as the half marathon section was poorly marked, but overall everything was well organized. I don’t know if my fiance was as thrilled as I was to see the sunrise, but it was pretty!

Based on the discussed issue with the post-race shuttle, we decided that my fiance could just chill at the location rather than try to see me throughout the race. This would mean he would miss me finishing, but I would rather that than risk him being turned away and having to either walk or take alternative transportation there.

After finding my way into Corral C and moving up to the 2:40 pacers, we made our way across the start line just after 6:45. We’re off to—

The Race

Going into this race, I had told myself I was just going to have fun, and my time would be whatever it was going to be. It would be nice to PR my 30s’ time of 2:36:46, but realistically my fiance and I both agreed that sub 3’ would be good enough.

It wasn’t until the day of the race that I realized 3’ was actually the cutoff. In fact, if you weren’t on the bridge itself by a certain time, you would be forced to DNF. Now my “just have fun” mindset was tainted with the stress of a time limit. Even though I had easily cleared 3 hours in the half-marathon distance, all the zone 2 training meant I didn’t have as clear a gauge on what my actual half marathon pace was.

Ultimately I had to just trust myself. The bridge started around mile 5. The slowest runners would cross the start line around 6:45-6:50. You had to be on the bridge by 8:25. That mean an hour and half for 5 miles, aka… an 18 minute mile pace. I told myself to keep it easy the first 2 miles to warm up and not burn out fast on adrenaline, then pick the pace up to sub 12 for the rest of it. I figured this way I would have no problem finishing within time, and possibly even close to my baseline. For the most part, I would be correct.

Weather-wise, you could not ask for better conditions. The sky was clear, no fog, and views were beautiful. If anything, it was almost too warm. I was wearing the long-sleeve race shirt and had the sleeves rolled up halfway pretty early into the race. I know there’s a bit of a superstition to wearing the race shirt on the race, but to be honest it may be a tradition I start implementing. When else will I have the chance to wear the event’s shirt at the event??

First glimpse of the Golden Gate bridge!

In terms of music, I actually started by listening to the entire soundtrack of the Hamilton musical lol. Even though it wasn’t as consistently high energy as my running playlist, I did think it would help me not rush in the beginning. Musicals in general also help the time go by a bit faster since you’re paying attention to the narrative within and between the songs (they are a zone 2 favorite for me because of this). Finally, the Hamilton OST is around 2 hours and 22 minutes… I figured if I was on the bridge heading back by the time the album finished, that meant I was in no danger of falling victim to the 3 hour cutoff. It would also mean that was the time to leave it all on the table and book it.

To be honest, at the beginning of the race I wasn’t feeling great. I felt slow, unprepared, and unconfident. I had taken over a week off partially due to taper and mostly due to travel. My zone 2 pace was still trash and I had already skyrocketed to a high zone 3 hr. But after the bridge broadened in the horizon, I started to feel better and more excited. I was able to maintain a sub 12 pace and still feel okay. San Francisco was looking beautiful. And my fiance was texting me that pace was on track. Now I could start having fun.

This course is interesting because the highlight is very obviously getting to run the bridge. You get to do this twice, so each half of the half your goal is “get on the bridge; run on the bridge.” I have yet to run a race where there is such a towering, visual ‘goalpost’ so to speak that everyone is chasing towards. And was running on the bridge everything that I had hoped and dreamed it would be?

Running is an ideal vehicle for reflection, since there’s nothing else to really do while running, and getting lost in your thoughts is an excellent way to quicken your perception of time. As I ran across the bridge the first time, I was reminded of my very first trip to San Francisco. I had been freshly laid off from my contract job with a very well-known streaming service. I had ended the 2nd go-around to a long-term relationship 6 months prior. I had moved all my stuff across the country and came back to crash in my friend’s living room while I figured out what I wanted to do with my life. It was 2019 and I was 26 and in the throes of my quarter life crisis. A week after losing my job, I had decided to move forward with my planned PCH roadtrip and visited San Francisco. I spent 2 days in the city and slept in my car at the Golden Gate Park parking lot. I walked across the bridge to Marin and back, then drove over and visited Point Reyes where I hiked and saw a ton of elk and a whale. I can’t say that I had been inspired to think, “one day I’ll run this thing,” back in 2019, but I can say that it felt like a full-circle moment in 2026.

I ended up making good time on the bridge. So much good time, that it seemed within the realm of possibility that I might beat 2:36:46. That changed the tone from fun to serious, which is evidenced by the blatant decrease in photos. I ended up walking through most of the Garmin challenge so I could fuel up and give my legs a break. I eventually picked up the pace, all the way until the biggest monster of the course: The Hill.

Here is where I believe I made a mistake. When training for the LA Marathon, it had been pounded into me that I should go easy on the hills, both up and down. Save and conserve energy for the very end. I had already walked the previous two hills in this course, so naturally I was planning to walk This Hill. This ended up absolutely murdering my pace. Looking back, I should have a) done way more hill-training, and b) at least tried to run it.

As soon as the ground leveled and the bridge was at hand, I knew there was only about 3 miles left to go. Now I started to run. And really run. Any ground I had lost during the hill I felt I had made up a good portion of it. The bridge gets very crowded, so I had to do a lot of ducking and dodging and sliding in between people. Eventually I got to the peak of the bridge, which meant only downhill from here.

Here’s where I made my second mistake.

Remember when I mentioned in the LA Marathon I was told to go easy on the hills, both up and down? Yeah… I definitely did not do that on the downhill. I booked it. And I booked it in a way that was very hard on my knees. The general advice for downhills to lessen the impact on your knee is to take shorter, more frequent strides, rather than just falling forward as fast as you can on a longer stride. Guess which one I ended up doing?

I could feel the barrage on my knees, but kept pushing because I was certain that it was ALL downhill until the finish. I was thinking about the Rose Bowl Half course, where this was certainly the case, and I had come into the finish flying at a sub 9 pace. I was thinking about how badly I wanted to beat that Rose Bowl time, and how close I seemed to be to achieving it…

Enter Mistake Number Three.

As soon as I got off the bridge, what did my eyes see… but one last, winding, uphill battle. In reality it was nowhere near as steep as the previous hills, but in that moment it felt enormous. Couple that with my watch telling me I had already hit 13.1 miles and you have a recipe for physical and mental disaster. I tried to continue pushing, but my left knee and glute was not having it. I ended up walking most of that final stretch, which was equal parts embarrassing and frustrating. Once the finish line came into full view and the course flattened again, I plucked up whatever final reserve I had to at least run across it. My final time was 2:39:14.

After the Race

Remember how I said earlier that, at the time, we thought the post-race shuttle was runner only? Well, turns out they weren’t turning anyone away and everyone could ride it, including spectators. So my fiance missed the end of my race for nothing… although I can’t say it was a very spectacular finish. That said, he seemed proud of me for beating 2:40, and to be honest, I was too. Yes, I was disappointed I couldn’t stick the landing, but I was happy to come in before the 2:40 pacers when I had started behind them. Considering all the hills, The Hill, and how my training ended up going, 2.5 minutes longer than my baseline didn’t seem that bad to me at all.

The post-race festival was similar to the expo in that it wasn’t very big, with maybe 12 stalls. I did get my free beverage, pictured above: a wine. Everyone including myself was hobbling around, which I found amusing. I had slathered biofreeze onto my afflicted left leg immediately after the race which helped mitigate any real pain. There was a sticky ice cream stand next to the caffeine powder people. China Air had an off-brand Hello Kitty present. I was ready for a nap.

The Numbers

See, GARMIN says I ran MORE than a half marathon…

Post-Race Reflections

Stolen valor averted. Also, the little bridges on the left medal open and close!

Having a formal half marathon in your marathon training bloc is valuable because it illuminates what’s working and what isn’t, giving you time to adjust before the Big race. I had several important takeaways from this half marathon:

Hill training. There are several steep, but short, hills near me. I cannot shirk them any longer by cowering under the excuse of zone 2 training. And I can’t just keep walking up them either. It’s clear I need to start running them, heart rate zone be damned.
Strength training. The day after the race my abs and obliques were aching up a storm. Initially I thought that meant my core was being worked, which was a good thing! But then I learned it was actually due to my core being weak. I had skimped on strength training for a couple weeks due to my new work schedule, but it became obvious I can’t do that anymore.
Nutrition. I wouldn’t say I wasn’t eating enough necessarily, but I felt that I could be eating more optimally. Especially in the protein department.
Hill training.
Hill training.
Hill training.

In terms of what I felt good about, I do think my overall conditioning was pretty solid. I never felt that I was pushing my body to the point of no return. Even when I was forced to walk, I didn’t feel it was due to my entire body breaking down and bricking, just one part that had already been previously compromised by injury a few years prior. I know what it feels like to run myself so fast I feel nauseous or completely gassed out, and I didn’t feel that way at all during this race.

I also felt my pacing was pretty good. I didn’t rush out the gate. I managed to keep a relatively consistent sub 12 when I wasn’t on the hills, and was able to push when I needed to. I left the starting line towards the back of the pack and was 6,207th in the 2 mile split, but gained a lot of ground across the race and finished 4,676th.

Most importantly, I didn’t need to poop at all during the race. Not once.