It’s been three years since Devin McMahon came to Stanford to earn a Ph.D. in earth system science.
If the 25-year-old wasn’t too familiar with The City by the Bay, she certainly is now as the female winner of last month’s 40th annual San Francisco Marathon with a time of 2:52.49.
“This is probably about the flattest 26-mile loop you could make in San Francisco,” said McMahon, with the 26.2-mile course beginning from Mission Street and The Embarcadero. “The hills were OK. I’d say running uphill is something that I do fairly well. And the hills were nicely spread out. Most of them were not very steep, and most of them are in the first half of the course. So that worked out pretty well, but you can definitely feel them by the end.”
Originally from the Seattle area, she’s been running since the age of 11.
McMahon competed in track at Cornell, but didn’t attempt a marathon until Oct. 16 of last year in Eureka. She took first in the women’s division of the Humboldt Redwoods Marathon in 2:53.52, more than 15 minutes ahead of the runner-up.
“It’s very beautiful,” she said of the scenery.
While in training, McMahon ramps up the mileage to roughly 70-75 miles per week. Otherwise, it’s somewhere around 60 miles per week.
“I always tend to start from Stanford campus, unless I can get a ride to somewhere else,” McMahon said. “I like to do my long runs up in the foothills. There are some nice parks nearby and some roads with a path alongside them.”
For someone pursuing a doctorate in earth system science, running in parks doesn’t sound like a stretch.
“It’s different things for different people,” McMahon said of her Ph.D. “My work is looking at changes in soil nutrients and effects of plantation forestry, sort of growing trees as a crop on soil. And just how plants and soils and management interact, … and the long-term sustainability of that land use.”
How much longer before she’s done?
“Up to three years,” she said. “Hopefully less. It’s a long process.”
That means the 5-foot-3½ champion should still be around a year from now to defend her title.
“I’m not planning that far in advance, but maybe,” she said.
McMahon, who resides on campus, opted to stay at a friend’s apartment in San Francisco the night before, with runners off to the races at 5:30 a.m.
“Conditions were lovely,” said McMahon, with the race including a trek across and back the Golden Gate Bridge. “You get to see the different micro climates of the city, so it was very foggy and windy on the bridge, and then mild and pleasant the rest of the time. And the sun didn’t break through until toward the last quarter of the race for me, so it wasn’t too hot.”
After a “pretty relaxed pace” in the early portion of the race, those closest to McMahon could notice her pull into the lead.
“My family I think was following the little dot around the course on their race tracker,” she said.
After she crossed the finished line, McMahon received a bouquet of flowers and a trophy.
She’s still waiting for the round-trip airfare to Paris, courtesy of Air France.
“I’m supposed to get a voucher in the mail,” said McMahon, who has never been to Paris. “I don’t know what the terms and conditions are. I’ll have to figure out when I can plan a trip to Europe, which is something I wasn’t expecting to do.”
How did she celebrate?
“I mostly took a nap, took transit home and ate a bunch of food and slept,” McMahon said. “I imagine that’s what a lot of people did after the race.”
