The day finally came. I was very excited. I took the Friday off, packed the flag and headed to Boston Logan airport. I stayed at my friend Frank Johnston’s place in San Jose. My goal was to finish the race under four hours. That is about 9 minutes per mile.

On the race day, I got up at 2:00am, (it is really 5:00am Boston time.) drove to San Francisco and parked right at the start of the race (close to the start of Market st.) The race started at 5:30 but my wave didn’t start until 5:50. The temperature was perfect for running, not humid or hot at all. I crossed the one mile mark at a 7:45 pace. I felt great. Somehow the race seemed easy. I guess all the training paid off.

After about 45 minutes or so, I got to run across the golden gate bridge. Two traffic lanes are open for the runners, but they were very narrow and I had a hard time passing people on the bridge. It was kind of foggy. I didn’t get a good view of the ocean.

My friend Frank Johnston joined me at mile 16 inside the park. It was great to have company. Frank is from the area. He was telling me about the histories of streets and buildings as we run by them.

I continued to run eight minutes a mile or under. The flag started to get heavy at the end but I am also more excited. I was going to break 3:30!

In the end, my time was 3:32.2. It was a great run, cool, fun, fast, and good times.

Here are some pictures I would like to share with you.