SF Marathon 10K: Perrero powers through the fog to claim F20-29

• Liz Perrero, 37:38 (6:03/mi) — wins the F20-29 field outright, finishing 42 seconds clear of runner-up Lucie James.
• Lucie James, 38:20 (6:10/mi) — second place, the only other finisher to break 39 minutes in a 237-runner field.
• A 5:45 gap separates 2nd from 3rd — Ilaria Stewart's 44:05 (7:06/mi) marks a significant jump back to the rest of the podium.
• Three-way near-tie for 19th–20th — Adya Gupta and Julianna Kihmm both stopped the clock at 53:09 (8:33/mi), with Haley Dean's 45:39 anchoring 4th.

Under overcast San Francisco skies and a cool 64°F, the F20-29 race shaped up as a two-woman show at the front. Liz Perrero, 24, from Menlo Park, ran with genuine authority, averaging 6:03 per mile to finish in 37:38 — a pace that put daylight between her and the rest of the field almost immediately. Lucie James, 22, from just across the bay in Sausalito, was the only woman who could stay in the conversation, crossing in 38:20 at a 6:10/mi clip. The 42-second margin between them was decisive, but James's sub-39 effort was a performance worth standing alone.

Behind that front pair, the race took a different shape entirely. San Francisco's Ilaria Stewart, 23, claimed third in 44:05 — a full 5 minutes and 45 seconds behind James — and Haley Dean, 22, rounded out the top four in 45:39. The gap between 2nd and 3rd was larger than the gap between 3rd and 10th, which tells you everything about how thoroughly Perrero and James separated themselves from the field.

The battle for fifth through eighth was genuinely competitive. Emma Couillon (47:09), Gwenivere Robinson (47:30), Paige Cromley (48:25), and Elise Epstein (48:46) were all packed within 97 seconds of each other, trading places across a stretch where every minute mattered. Further back, Adya Gupta and Julianna Kihmm finished in an identical 53:09 to share 19th and 20th — though the timing chip settled the order — capping a deep 237-finisher field that filled the streets of San Francisco on a cool July morning.