I"ll try and keep it brief but this is a great route across SF. I was inspired by the Battle of the bay games where we battled for 8 seperate strava segments around the bay area. I knew Jared's time was very strong and I'd have to give a top effort to get close. I chose Christmas morning to do the run, hoping to avoid vehicles and human traffic on the trails. It is inevitable on this run that you will get thrown off by construction, gate closures, dogs off leash, etc.
I knew Jared got off to a very fast start but I just ran my own run, I felt pretty strong for the first couple miles and spirits were high. I did encounter my first road block in Visitation Valley green belt when I had to climb a fence/gate. I had no problems up thru Glen Park, I did have to run with my phone open in order to take the correct path and not lose time. I maintained physical control as my pace slowed in the hilly, windy areas with stairs. my overall pace slowed considerably.
Once I made it to flatter ground I really upped the pace as I headed to GGP, I did have to come to a complete stop as I crossed Judah street to avoid being road kill. I weaved through ggp, the presidio, baker beach and Landend. I regained hope of the record as I reached the west end of Landend, my legs felt really strong for the last mile. I watched my overall pace drop from 6:45 a mile to 6:42. I figured I had it wrapped up. I sprinted towards the finish with a smile on my face.
The big problem is that I didn't cross the "official" strava finish line. I was using the route I downloaded from the crosstown trail website and it varies slightly at the finish. I believe my route is slightly longer actually. I was able to collect all 5 strava segments and the combined time of those is 1:42:54. So I don't have an official strava time but I ran past the finish, just missed it by 20 yards.