Los Angeles Marathon XXV - RunMarathon

I RAN MY FIRST BOSTON QUALIFYING TIME! The run was pretty great, I'm most definitely happy with it and my body is most definitely sore. I didn't do any real hill training, but this course was all up and down all the time. Since I had forgotten my Garmin I wasn't sure what my mile splits were turning out to be, especially for the first few miles since they didn't have clocks set up there. Once I was able to catch the clocks at mile markers I knew I was going pretty damn fast - too damn fast. But I was feeling fine so I just kept with it and hoped the pace would stay with me. I saw Lauren in Silverlake, right were I told her I wanted to see her. Gave her a high five and kept moving forward. Noticed an M-Dot tattoo on the ankle of one of the runners around me, so chatted with him for a bit at Ironman. The streets were well lined with people. Sometimes I had to remind them to cheer, but they stepped it up when I asked for it. The aid stations were great, probably because I was towards the front of the 22,000 man march, but they had plenty of volunteers lined up with water every mile and powerade every other. Only saw one aid station that had Gu, but I had brought my own which I took about every 45 minutes (ate three total during the race). I started feeling pain around mile 10, but nothing killer, just an "oh wait, this might get difficult later" kind of feeling. Around mile 17 is probably when my pace really took a hit. It was great to be wearing an Ironman shirt during the marathon though because people would shout out "Come on Ironman!" and I would have to harden up because the last time I ran a marathon it was at the end of my day. I kept pushing, I knew I wasn't going to quit, but I started watching the clocks and figuring out what amount of time I had left to cover certain distances for my goals. In order to be secure with a BQ time I wanted to get a clock time of sub 3:10 because then for sure my chip time would be safe. I also had a goal of going Sub 3, but I saw that ticking away. I told myself that maybe my chip time is a couple minutes behind the clock, so I kept pushing. The last five miles had great crowd support that really kept me going and for the last mile you turn onto Ocean Ave and the entire mile is lined with cheering support. I threw my hand up as I got towards the finish and the crowd got a bit louder, I heard the announcer say my name over the loud speaker and I wrapped up the marathon with a clock time of 3:07:00. A PR and BQ! Success! I was out of it when I finished though, hell I was out of it before I finished. I had closed my eyes and kept running at a couple points in the later miles. The finish line catcher took me in, gave me a powerade and walked with me for a bit asking me how I was and telling me where I needed to go. I got my medal and made my way for some food, but eating didn't work out very well. Lauren had made it to the finish in time to see me! She was right there along my side as I walked through the finish area. I pulled off to the side and talked with her as I tried to keep my body from completely giving up on me. I made a couple phone calls to my proud family and then hobbled around some more with Lauren.

I'm going to have to start sleeping with my Garmin on the night before races. I think I've forgotten to grab it before the last three events. I feel I could have gone sub 3 if I ran a smarter race. I went out to fast. I knew going into it that I wanted to start slow and work my way up, but without my Garmin for mile splits, and without a clock at the first couple miles, I was lost.

walked around the beach party and back to the car. Once we got home I finally got some food in me and laid around for a bit. Took a nice ice bath, let me legs warm up a bit, and then took a hot shower and rolled out my legs with the Tiger Tail.


Pacing


This was a great race. Well organized with great energy from the staff, volunteers, racers, and support! The course was challenging, but never too hard. There are no flat parts on the route, but the crowd was always there to carry you along when you needed them.