If you have read the previous episodes, you know that as far as running is concerned, this year’s theme is speed. So I have setup a plan to get from point A to point B in less time. As a way to keep me motivated, I have signed up for several half marathons already and will add some more with the goal to run 6 events this year.

The first one this year is new for me but The Kaiser Permanente San Francisco 1/2 Marathon has been going on for 27 years now. While it has been raining the whole week, the sky opened up today and the Sun shined over San Francisco for a beautiful day. Alicia and I made it to the starting line with some time to spare, and we did that looking for the sweat bag drop off “strategically” located half a mile away from the start line. Still, I managed to get to the front of the pack in time for the start.

The point to point route was a net descent and the gently rolling hills helped me get good speed. The view coming out of Franklin drive toward the Old Highway was breathtaking, or was it because I was running at 7min/mile?, and I really enjoyed the whole race.

After a great effort, I crushed my previous 1/2 marathon PR by a bit more than 2 minutes finishing in 1:34:27. I am really happy about that and feel 1:32 is within reach. Next is Santa Cruz in April with the plan to go even faster in that great race I ran under-trained last year.