City of Angels Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

Well, add "half marathon" to The List Of Things I Thought I Would Never Do.

I had originally planned a Feb half mary in prep for the California half. Then I found this one. Two months earlier. Never having run more than 7 miles, once. Sure, no problem.

In truth, a lot of friends were doing it, and it was one day before my 40th birthday. So I signed up.

Met up with MikeB in downtown by chance (out of 4,000 people, I turn and there he us), so we rode the (heated) school bus over to Griffith Park. It was coooooold, in the 40s easily. And until you hit the sun, it was still coooold. But it warmed up to high 70s nicely by the end.

I intended to make this just a long training day. Not a problem, not like I can keep up with all the folks passing me anyway. I stayed true to my intentions.... for the most part. I ran easy for the first 8 miles or so. Just running my own run and not worrying about the people passing me, including MikeB, who flew by me at about mile 2 like he had winged feet... ok, so he was just running. But faster than me.

I hit the first mile marker quicker than I thought I would (was it short?) at 8:53. Didn't feel like that kind of effort, but I backed off a bit to keep the HR in check. The first 4-5 miles were a nice run through Griffith Park, some pavement, some trails. I was trying to keep split time, but they were missing a few markers. I had to pee, but hadn't wanted to wait in line at the start, and didn't feel like stopping at the many portapotties.. or pulling off into the bushes as many guys did (not a lot of women chose this option).

I couldn't believe how fast mile 6 came. Before I knew it, we were running along the LA River and the 10K split was soon past me. My watch had alreay pooped out for a frew minutes, so no idea what my time was, but the clock time was 1:02. At the end my watch was 8 minutes behind. I took my gel about this time.

OK, a digression....... If you can CARRY a FULL gel on your run, you can certainly CARRY an EMPTY gel packet for the rest. I saw a few people just tossing the gel packets off the side into the bushes, not at a water station where it would be ok. what's up with that??

Anyway, a short uphill back over the freeway into Silver Lake, a eclectic little LA suburb that prides itself on being... an eclectic little LA suburb (Beck lives here), and we started seeing small crowds. People shouting "welcome to Silver Lake." Kids on the side of the road holding out their hands for high fives. It made it fun. I still had to pee, but decided not to stop, since it gave me something else to think about. There was a nice dirt sidewalk to run on instead of the street.

At about mile 7, I decided to pick it up just a smidge when I hit mile 8. I mean, a smidge. The second half of the course is a little hilly, not much but certainly more than the first half. Problem was, there was no mile 8 marker (mostly they were there, some were not or I didn't see them. Mile 5 comes to mind). So I picked it up somewhere in there. I think I read Mike Ricci say here somewhere that the way to run a half mary is take 5 miles easy, 5 miles harder, then run a 5K just like a 5K.

At mile 10, I felt very very good and decided to pick it up even more and take Ricci's advice. And you know what? I passed a few people right back that had passed me early on in the run (just like Ricci said it would happen). I was surprised at the amount of energy I had in my legs, and that I could keep up a good strong cadence. The finish is cool, you go through a long dark tunnel, and just at the other end you mae a left and see the finish line 200 yards away. What a great feeling.

Last year I ran my first ever 5K and ran 29:48. I was absolutely exhausted at the end, and had given it everything I had. I wasn't sure at the time I could have made it. This year I ran my first ever 10K in 59:50, again leaving most of it on the course. Today, I ran the first 10K sub 1:00 and the last 5K of a half marathon in 29:52, and I still had gas in the tank. I am living proof that persistence and stubborness pays off :)

What more could I have done? for not racing it, I am utterly pleased with the outcome

Not much, grab a space blanket, become instantly overheated in the sun, sit on the curb waiting for a friend to finish


Nothing


This is the first year of this race and I am impressed. They were a little late getting started but a race of this size and distance who cares. I have to give them major kudos for the organization, the volunteers, the many many many well staffed aid stations (I had my fuel belt and felt a little silly, absolutely no need for it), and of course, the beautiful course. A run I would definitely do again