According to Plan

So I ran a 49:48, pretty much matching my plan (see here). I had a fast start and the hill kicked my butt. Those 2 evened out. Overall the plan was good. Got beat by a pink gorilla, a naked dude, Little Bo Peep, and 2 women's team centipedes; about 261 people in all!

Ran back up the course afterwards, which was a truly mind blowing experience. Passing from runners, to joggers, to walkers, to drinkers. A wild time. I ran back over the Hayes St. hill (about 5 miles) and then it was too crowded/crazy to run, so I bought a beer and joined the party, walking the rest of the way. I got to the back of the pack about a mile from the start! Some people around there were seriously wasted, and were not going to be making it to the beach!

Including the run to the start, warmup, the race, the run back and the walk, I covered almost 19 miles (in my lightweight race shoes), so I suspect a few aches/pains tomorrow.

Overall this race is an absolute blast. The start is fabulous in the seeded corral, you get to warmup with the elites, no lines for toilets etc, and behind you can hear the 60,000 people, already well into party mode. For anyone who can get an entry to the seeded or subseeded corrals I would highly recommend this race. But to be honest, the best part was the run back up the course thru the crowds.

I will definitely do this again next year.