LA Marathon Race Report
This past weekend I ran my 2nd full marathon in Los Angeles for the 25th annual LA Marathon. This was an entirely new course that was dubbed "Stadium to the Sea" and I was excited to be a part of it.
My weekend started very early on Saturday as I made the near six-hour drive down the I-5 to LA and arrived at Dodger Stadium about Noon to pick up my race packet at the expo. I met up with OH CA regular Kirsten and Monica P. I had met Kirsten before, but not Monica so that was a delight. Kirsten was also running the race. The weather was quite warm and we were hoping that it wouldn't be that way the next day. After going to the hotel to check in and drop my bags off, I went to dinner with Kirsten, Monica and more OH CA folks, Kimmie and Kevin (who hang out here) plus Gus and Ana. We had a great meal and a great time, just what I needed to energize myself before the race. I tried to go to bed early, but I was restless and probably dozed off near 11 pm.
I awoke bright and early on race day at 4 am and met the gang down in the lobby about 5:30 and we embarked to Dodger Stadium for the start. The plan was for Kim, Kevin and Monica to drop me and Kirsten off, but as soon as we got on the 110, we ran into the worst traffic jam I ever seen. It appears that everyone and their mom, dad and 2nd cousins decided to get dropped off at the same time. We waiting about 20 min and moving 100 feet before heading off in search of another way. Kirsten was talking crazy about walking on the freeway to start, but we didn't let her lol.
After winding our way through the streets of LA, getting through a barricade and sheer luck, we get close enough to wear Kirsten and I can walk to the start. Its about a mile to the Stadium and about 6:30 am, so we head off and meet up with several other runners who had the same idea. After milling around, I met up with Lena (another OH CA regular) and her mom, who were both running and headed to the start line. Because of the traffic mess (which had reports of people leaving their cars on the freeway), the race was delayed by over 20 minutes.
FINALLY the race starts and the torture begins. The weather was cool, but not cold, so its off to a good start. My strategy going into the race was to do 7 minutes of running and one minute of walking in hopes of saving my hips from absolutely burning out after mile 20. I had also wanted to break 5 hours if the stars aligned. A side note, they announced the celebs that were running the race and Gordon Ramsey was among them, he was trying to break 4 hours (but had to pull out at mile 15).
The first mile and a quarter is a lap around Dodger Stadium and not even a quarter mile into the race, I see someone on the ground already cramping up. It was really hard to establish a pace for this first mile as there were just a ton of people. Also my water belt kept loosening up, making me think I really need to invest in a camelback. I hit the first 5k at 36:11 which was right on target for my pace at the beginning. I continued on to the 10k mark, which I hit at 1:11:47. I had wanted to be a tad faster, but I'll take it. Soon after, i could feel that I needed to make a pitstop and luckly I came upon some port-o-pottys, but they had long lines. I decided I couldn't wait and make the sacrifice to wait and cost myself 10 minutes. Shortly after that, i hit the hilly part of the course in miles 7-10. These were short hills, but steeper than I thought they would be.
I passed the 15k mark at 1:56:01 and I already knew 5 hrs was out of the picture, but 5:30 wasn't. I was also entering the "Doldrum Miles" of miles 14-20 where you are passed half-way, but not really close enough to think about the finish. These were mentally challenging for me. Miles 12-16 were also up a constant, but slight incline. This also wore me down even though I could already feel fatigue by Mile 10.
My 25k came in at 3:07:31 and I was keeping up with my 7:1 ratio, but was starting to really wear down. I got word that Kirsten was in really bad shape, but hanging there and that Monica would meet me at Mile 21. By Mile 19, I could feel the weather get warmer, but the overcast conditions didn't burn off completely, so the heat never got too bad.
I met Monica at Mile 21 finally for some quick words, recharge mentally, and find out how Kirsten was doing. I trudged on trying to knock out the final 5.2 miles. About Mile 23, I reached my mental low point and got into a mental fistfight about how much more running I wanted to do versus walking. I used the spectators to try and raise my energy level, which worked, along with some Sunny D that was handed out.
I hit Mile 25 and that marked the final turn onto Ocean Avenue. I went into burnout mode and pushed with whatever I had left. I finished strong as always crossing the finish line in 5:27:43, which is a new PR and 17 minutes better than my previous time. It wasn't sub 5 hours, but it was really good on a challenging course.
Big thanks to Kirsten, Monica, Kevin and Kimmie for their support, driving and just being there!
If you are still with me on this report, I applaud you :D
I put up some pics on my Facebook (which if you aren't my friend, you can be at www.facebook.com/bwalker23)
My official split times
5k - 36:11
10k - 1:11:47
15k - 1:56:01
20k - 2:30:32
25k - 3:07:31
30k - 3:48:10
35k - 4:28:48
40k - 5:11:48
Some final thoughts: This won't be my last marathon and now that I've done two, I can say that they don't get any easier!
Brian
~350
You are right that they don't get easier and the first may be the easiest one because we were too stupid to realice that we are getting into.
Congrats
Link to my running journal
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1303681
4 full's - 14 halves - 2 goofy's and one Mt. Washington!
Dan Benintendi - OH Support Group Leader
www.trimywill.com
www.swimfromobesity.com
www.trimywill.blogspot.com
Support Group: www.obesityhelp.com/group/Post_Op_PRs/
