The San Francisco Marathon and Half Marathon is this weekend so good luck to those tackling this fun race.  If you are toeing up to the starting line this weekend, here are 3 tips to make your race great!

• Part of the beauty and splendor of racing in San Francisco are the views and hills.   While hills are pretty to look at they can be tough to run and trust me, there are hills aplenty in this course.  To get up a hill without killing yourself  shorten your stride and pump your arms and pitter patter to the top.  Some of the bigger hills come early in the race so pace yourself and run smart!
• If you have a time goal, stick near a pace group to help keep you on track.  Pace group leaders work very hard to have you hit the finish line within 2 minutes of the pace goal.
• Be patient with your race.  Start easy and build up to your race pace as you warm up.   Nerves and excitement lead many a runner out of the gate too fast.  While this won’t affect you as much for a 10K, it can be a disaster on a half or full marathon.  Settle down, let the rabbits pass you by because by mile 22 you’ll be the one doing the passing.

Good luck and have a great race.

Now go run!

Keli 🙂