So just finished Myrtle Beach Marathon in February and learned two of my
good friends Pat & Monica are coming to LA to run my hometown marathon.
I've run in every city I've lived, Columbus, Seattle, so at the back of
my mind I've always wanted to run Los Angeles, however, it wasn't part of my 50
state plan since I had run a marathon in California in 2002. I
really felt like I had under trained for Myrtle Beach, so I suppose Myrtle
Beach could be looked at an excellent training run for LA Marathon!
I toyed for a couple weeks whether or not I should register and asked myself
"Is the timing right?" and "Would I ever run LA if I don't run
it this year?”
I don’t claim to be the best writer by any stretch of the imagination, but
this week decided on a book title if I were ever to author a marathon
book.
How does “Getting to the Starting
Line is Only Half the Battle”
sound for a title? To travel
to 50 different states, just the logistics of traveling to the city and state
of a marathon requires a lot of effort.
Of course there is that “training thing” too, which requires long hours
either up early or out late to log in all the miles to prepare for the race
itself.
Nothing but hard work, proper
rest, and healthy eating can get you to the start line on time and healthy.
While this state has many beautiful
places to see and many great races to run, still I didn’t have a strong desire
to run an additional marathon in any state that I’ve already completed, even
California. So why do it, right?
I supposed there are several reasons
to justify running in Los Angeles.
First, it’s been my home town for 8 years and I’ve run in my previous
two home towns of Columbus, Ohio and Seattle, Washington, so it was probably
inevitable that I would eventually run this marathon. Second, timing couldn’t have been more
perfect, only a month ago I ran a marathon in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina so I
had already put in the training miles.
Additionally, in June I’ll be attempting my 2nd only 50k
which will be my “Wyoming” check on my list, so more base miles couldn’t hurt
to prepare! Thirdly and lastly, I had
two friends from Columbus visiting for the marathon and what better way to
catch up with them than to run together?
First step I tell my friends is
“register” then “train”. I first
learned my friends would be coming January 1st, but honestly, with
my Myrtle Beach marathon already scheduled in February, commitment wasn’t on my
mind just yet for Los Angeles. When I
returned from Myrtle Beach slightly under trained and very sore I still wasn’t
ready to commit to Los Angeles, especially learning on February 19th
registration was $190. Ouch. At this point I was seriously considering if
I ran, to run as a bandit, however, finally on February 28th I
pulled the trigger and registered, only 15 days before race day. I don’t think I’ve ever registered for a marathon two weeks out before!
Now with an official entry and a
good base level of fitness carrying over from my February marathon the goal was
just to stay health, injury free, and get several low mile training runs for
two weeks 4-5 miles each. Myrtle Beach
logistics was a killer for me. First
getting all the way to the opposite coast is not easy then of course is the
time change so race morning comes way to early when your body is on used to the
PST zone. I thought for a change, how
great would it be to sleep in my own bed, roll out and drive down the road from
my home to the start line!
A few days before the race I was
paying attention to the weather forecast and already it had been unseasonably
warm but race weekend temperatures were estimated in the high 80’s to low
90’s. Quite a shock to my system after
the unseasonably low 20’s in South Carolina.
Then all of a sudden I started receiving daily emails from the marathon
organizers warning of the high temperatures and how to prepare. Drink more fluids, run slower, don’t worry
about PR’s, stay hydrated, and repeat.
The week of the race the text messages start to fly between my friends
from Columbus making final plans. They
will be in Friday – Tuesday, we make plans to meet for breakfast Saturday
morning then head to the expo to pick up our race day packets.
Tuesday night I see a group email
that went out to a different group of friends that one of my acquaintances was
going to run his first marathon. How
exciting for him plus he was raising money for a charity so I reached out
and wished him well. I shared with him
that I signed up only a few short days ago and his reaction word for word was
“No Flippin’ Way!” I would check in
later after the race to see how he finished.
 |
| LA Convention Center with Marathon Banners |
I received notification that my bib
number was going to be 24,924. That’s a
lot of runners, been a while since I’ve run race quite so large. I think it was the day I registered, 15 days
out, it was advertised only 700 spots left.
Surprised a few days later the race was sold out. Hard to believe there are other people as
crazy as me if not more crazy to sign up for a marathon only a week before the
race!
 |
| Entrance to Expo Center |
 |
| Inside the Expo..left side bib pickup |
 |
| Poster Inside Expo |
With large races comes large
crowds, so seeing that the LA Expo Center is walking distance from my office I
decide Friday afternoon to walk down.
Both to save trip Saturday downtown and hopefully avoid Saturday crowds
when more people would arrive to town.
Already hot, the walk was a little more than a mile, yet the heat was
obviously significant. Made my way
through the expo, very well organized, easy to retrieve bib, shirt, and grab
bag. Next amazed at the size of the
title sponsor’s booth, Asics, who dominated the expo with all kinds of
merchandise. Nothing else out of the
ordinary, in and out in no time at all.
 |
| Every mile marker the night before the marathon had a spot light lit up the night sky |
I let my friends know we were still
on for breakfast, but I’d already visited the expo. They were staying in West Hollywood area, so
it was a long jaunt from our home in West Covina to a little healthy spot on
Sunset Strip called Hugos, plan was early meeting at 8 a.m. Easy for my friends still on east coast time to wake,
but once again required an rising early morning...so much for a little extra rest for this hometown marathon of mine! I dragged the girls out of bed and made it
right on time, traffic so much better early Saturday morning compared to my weekday
commute! It was great to catch up, it
had been since Parisa was first born over 9 years ago the last time we saw each
other! I was surprised to learn my friend Pat was also on a 50 state quest, tho his a little different than mine. He wanted to run 50 marathons before age 50 and was already up to 42 marathons. He claimed that 50 different states was too expensive! Probably true, but at least for me traveling to all the new places is all part of the adventure! We made race day plans, snapped
a picture, and each of us off in our own direction for the rest of the day.
 |
| Brian, Pat, Homeyra & Monica - Our Runner friends from Columbus, OH |
Plan was to meet race morning. My friends were staying with other friends
of theirs who were also both running Sunday.
Both Pat and Monica’s plans were to run with their friends. Pat would run a 4 hours pace one of their
friends and Monica would pace about a 5-6 hour pace for their other
friend. I usually run about 4 hours so
hopefully I would be able to run with Pat along with his new, as he would
describe, “his wing goddess.”
 |
| Morning Sunrise at the Stadium |
Saturday was actually a pretty
packed day. After breakfast we had a lot
of things to do around the house and that evening was a magic show we were
invited to at our friend’s church that didn’t start until 7:30pm. So much for an early night to go to bed! I did make a last minute run to the local
sports store and wanted to give a visor a try instead of a hat, my idea was
that it would be a little cooler on the course with better ventilation. It wasn’t until about 10 pm we finally
returned home and I organized my gear for Sunday morning. Already up way later than I would have
liked for my 4 a.m. wake up call.
 |
| Morning of Marathon start from above...not sure if this was 2015 or not? |
Yes, that is correct, my home town,
yet still a 4a.m. wake up call.
Logistics in a big city race can make or break you. In the case of LA with horrible mass transit
options combined with a point to point race lead to a little extra effort just
to get to the start line. First, there was
limited access to parking at Dodger’s stadium and to leave a car there would be
very hectic post-race, so I decided to park in my work’s parking structure
downtown LA and walk a few block to one of the hotel shuttle pick-up
locations.
 |
| Pat & I Ready to to go Marathon Morning at start line |
Buzzzz. 4 am alarm.
Way to early, I’m getting too old for this kind of stuff! Throw down a quick breakfast and hop on the
VFR for a quick trip downtown. Five
days a week I zig and zag on this same route through horrible traffic, but at
4:15 a.m. on a Sunday morning the highway was wide open. Actually I was surprised how many cars were
actually on the road at this hour, like me probably other runners trying to get
to the start line. I make it safely to
my parking garage and already by about 5a.m. the temperature is in low 60’s,
not really a need for a lot of extra clothing for the morning before the
race. The only thing I grabbed was a
white running shirt that I wouldn’t care if I left behind. Even my cell phone which I would usually
leave in gear check I decided to carry to make finding Homeyra and Parisa a
little easier at the finish line.
 |
| Monica & I at start line ready to go! |
I walked a few blocks to the shuttle
stop getting there plenty early, was lucky to find no lines and the last seat
on the bus available so I didn’t even have to wait. I jumped on the bus and moments later it was
in route to the start line at Dodger’s stadium. We unload and first stop is port-o-john then
on to the designated meeting place to find my friends. A few texts and I learned they are on the
way and we were to meet shortly. Now
for the first time I meet Pat & Monica’s friends. One, which was her first marathon which Pat will pace
and Monica will pace the other.
 |
| Sunrise, just before marathon start looking back from our place in the corral |
Pat is filled will a few words of
wisdom. “Everyman for themselves”, so
no hard feelings if they drop me or I drop them. Ok. No
problem. Next he list their three
goals. First goal is to finish. Second goal to finish without going to
medial. Third goal to finish with
planned goal time of under 4 hours. My
goal is always 4 hours so we’ll see what are in the legs today and hopefully
I’ll be able to run with my friends.
 |
| Marathon Start Coral, all these runners in front of us before starte |
Giving the number of runners, the
starting area and corrals were very well organized. I was in the “general” chute, so would start
a few minutes later than the first several waves. There were loudspeakers casting instructions
so everyone knew where to go, reminding us to stay hydrated, and take it easy
out there. One last chance to pee
before lining up which I refused and we made our way into the chutes. I’ve never seen this before, but everyone
lined up so early, instead of standing everyone was sitting. This made it a little harder to enter and
find an open spot, but we refused to sit and had a few more minutes to catch up
and talk about the day ahead.
After a
fantastic national anthem, soon the wheelchairs, the pro men, the pro women,
and the first corrals were started. We
started walking forward to take their places and then turned around and noticed
that somehow we had corralled in front of the general area, so while general
was held back, now we were going. Still
barely even a jog and I realized that I should have taken advantage of that
last pee stop and wondered when I would get another chance. As luck would have it directly in front of
the start line there were a bunch of palm trees that offered cover so I decided
to go for it. I didn’t have a chance to
tell Pat and his “wing goddess” and that was the last I would see of them the
rest of the day. Already 1 minute into
the marathon and we were split up. I
kept thinking they were ahead so push ahead but there were so many people I
must have missed them, else they were keeping good pace and I never caught
them. I wouldn’t know until after I
finished.
 |
| Marathon Start |
What was immediately noticeable is
the excitement of the race and crowd participation. My last larger marathon in Hartford it
rained all day, so while crowd participation may have normally been better, it
did not compare to all the people that lined the course in Los Angeles. The first section of the course when through
downtown. Chinatown had 2 of the
traditional Chinese Dragons and then onto past the large silver Disney Hall
structure near Little Tokyo where there was a mob of Japanese drummers. Also one the start of one of the steepest
hills going up on the course which pretty much slowed everyone down to barely a
walk. Here is where I passed a guy with
a “50 States Marathon Siglet”. He
looked young, maybe 20’s, I asked him, “how many states?”, he replied,
“7”. Wow 7 sounds like so long ago, but
I remember those days. I told him 51
today for me, but he didn’t seem to care and was probably more concerned with
the brutal hill we were tackling.
Ok so hot temperatures and hills are
not a good combination. Already less
than an hour into the race and while I usually am not an extreme sweater I was
already hot and starting to use the water stops as chance to cool down. A month ago a water stop every two miles was
ok, but now, each mile’s water stop was a welcomed site where I would take in
both Gatorade and Water nearly every time.
Another surprise with this race is for the first time there were no
clocks along the course. I suppose
everyone’s start time was so far off, the clock wouldn’t do much good anyway,
however, each mile marker had a huge archway covering two lanes of the road
with the mile marker on it. On each
straight away you could always see how far away to the next mile marker. This was pretty cool to visualize a mile
because normally a mile would equate to about 9 minutes and watching my watch
closely.
 |
| Parisa waiting at Finish Line! |
Each road of the course was
familiar. I’d never run a single one of
them before, but have driven down each of them many times on the way to
appointments all around downtown and the west side of LA. If I was an out of towner I might have been more excited about the
various burghs we passed through, but for me each one was a familiar site. There was next Hollywood, the Santa Monica
Blvd, Beverly Hills & Rodeo Drive, the Miracle Mile & Wilshire Blvd,
Century City, and Westwood, and finally the city of Santa Monica and the
Pacific Ocean. In the Beverly Hills
section I ran with a young Ironman that escaped Chicago’s cold to come to LA
for a “outdoor” training run. Just can’t
imagine having to run indoors because it’s too cold outside! The course while a lower elevation at the
finish line from the start was hardly downhill. The course was non-stop rolling hills with a
gradual climb from mile 15-23. With the
head this section was especially brutal.
At mile 20 I ran past the famous 50 Stater Eddie Hahn who has already
run nearly 200 marathons. I recognized
his Marathon Maniacs singlet and USA long socks and said hi, but I don’t think
he recognized me.
 |
| My girls gound me at marathon finish just chillin' for a couple minutes in the grass |
A month ago when I ran a 3:54
marathon in Myrtle Beach I checked my half marathon splits and compared it to LA
and was within 30 seconds. Given my pee
break in the first mile in LA, other than the heat which I couldn’t control, I
was right on track to get to the finish line under 4 hours averaging a 8:58
pace. It’s always tough to run a
negative split and today was one of those days it wasn’t going to happen. After
half way through that’s when things started getting a little tougher. Looking at the hill profile there was a
steady climb that started about mile 14 and was relentless till mile 23. It continued to get hotter and each mile over
13 my splits became slower and slower to nearly a 10 minute mile at mile 20,
then 3 of the miles between 20-24 I even slowed down to nearly an 11 minute
mile. At last at mile 23 I could feel
the breeze and the cooler temperatures from the ocean and the course started a gradual
decent to the finish line. I picked up
the pace and ran a 9:31 mile at mile 25 and with the help of a cheering crowd a
9:12 in the final mile. I fell a few
minutes short of 4 hours with a 4:06:07, but given the now mid 80’s
temperatures I was pleased to have finished my home town marathon…now just to
find my girls which I hope had made it all the way to Santa Monica in what I
imagined was a crazy LA traffic day with all the street closures for the
marathon.
 |
| Parisa and I after race looking for some grub! |
Finish photos taken, some snacks
grabbed, and I made my way to a little grassy patch that overlooked the cliff
down to the Pacific Ocean. I turned on
my phone and reached out to my Homeyra and Parisa who were less than a block
away. Parisa was so kind to rub my shoulders
and ask me about my race. We soon
gathered ourselves and walked a few block away to the 3rd Street Promenade
for some Chipotle which hit the spot.
 |
| Homeyra and I waiting for some grub! |
At the finish line I did notice that
probably for safety there were no crowds right at the finish line itself. There was even a large lookout tower which
appeared to be there for runner’s safety.
I think this may be one of my last “big races” in my quest for all 50
states.
 |
| 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica after the Marathon Finish |
The girls dropped me off at my
office downtown on the way home and I had enough strength left to ride home and
then be quickly whisked away for an afternoon birthday party. On the way home I had the wonderful idea to
check into a massage, made an appointment, came home tucked Parisa in bed and
headed back out. I used to always try
to get a quick 10 minute massage at the finish line, but to avoid crowds and
long lines haven’t done that for a while.
Now only a few minutes from home I spent an hour getting a 1 hour head
to toe Chinese massage that hit the spot.
When done felt like a new man. I’m
not sure if it was the massage, but other than being tired and a little sore,
my recovery from the marathon was pretty quick and painless. I suppose not having to sit on a plane for
5-6 hours the day after the race is a huge blessing because I like to move
about after the race. All in all the LA
marathon was a great experience and I’m very glad I decided to run.
I did check everyone’s times. Pat and his “wing goddess” missed their mark
as well, coming in an hour later at 5:08.
It’s hard to predict your first marathon! Monica another hour later at 6:05. A few other friends ran so I checked out
their results and sent them texts or emails to congratulate them. My acquaintance that was also running his
first marathon for charity and finished at a whopping 9:09. I
thought 4 hours was a long time to be in the hot sun and felt for him out there
more than twice as long. Apparently determined
to finish, had to struggle through the last 6 miles with blisters which took
him as long as the first 18 miles.
Great to see he finished and he even hinted that some day he may try it
again.
| 1
| 9:25.3
| 9:25.3
| 8:58
| 1.00
| 72
| 144
| 9:25
| 8:58
| 7:47
| 130
| 147
| 148
|
| 2
| 8:10.8
| 17:36
| 8:02
| 1.00
| 0
| 115
| 8:11
| 8:02
| 7:30
| 145
| 153
| 153
|
| 3
| 8:46.9
| 26:23
| 8:47
| 1.00
| 13
| 23
| 8:47
| 8:47
| 7:35
| 147
| 159
| 151
|
| 4
| 8:28.7
| 34:52
| 8:30
| 1.00
| 16
| 20
| 8:29
| 8:30
| 6:33
| 156
| 163
| 154
|
| 5
| 8:57.0
| 43:49
| 8:57
| 1.00
| 108
| 62
| 8:57
| 8:57
| 7:53
| 157
| 169
| 154
|
| 6
| 9:15.7
| 53:04
| 9:15
| 1.00
| 92
| 52
| 9:16
| 9:15
| 7:53
| 157
| 167
| 151
|
| 7
| 8:45.8
| 1:01:50
| 8:46
| 1.00
| 33
| 52
| 8:46
| 8:46
| 7:55
| 156
| 164
| 151
|
| 8
| 8:34.7
| 1:10:25
| 8:34
| 1.00
| 26
| 36
| 8:35
| 8:34
| 8:02
| 159
| 164
| 155
|
| 9
| 9:07.9
| 1:19:33
| 9:08
| 1.00
| 62
| 10
| 9:08
| 9:08
| 8:07
| 161
| 164
| 153
|
| 10
| 8:44.0
| 1:28:17
| 8:44
| 1.00
| 10
| 26
| 8:44
| 8:44
| 8:06
| 162
| 168
| 153
|
| 11
| 8:49.3
| 1:37:06
| 8:50
| 1.00
| 13
| 23
| 8:49
| 8:50
| 8:13
| 163
| 168
| 152
|
| 12
| 8:58.8
| 1:46:05
| 8:58
| 1.00
| 7
| 43
| 8:59
| 8:58
| 6:29
| 164
| 169
| 153
|
| 13
| 9:08.8
| 1:55:14
| 9:09
| 1.00
| 30
| 3
| 9:09
| 9:09
| 8:32
| 166
| 170
| 153
|
| 14
| 9:12.7
| 2:04:27
| 9:13
| 1.00
| 46
| 26
| 9:13
| 9:13
| 8:38
| 168
| 170
| 155
|
| 15
| 9:21.1
| 2:13:48
| 9:21
| 1.00
| 10
| 190
| 9:21
| 9:21
| 8:27
| 159
| 168
| 151
|
| 16
| 9:14.8
| 2:23:03
| 9:15
| 1.00
| 3
| 20
| 9:15
| 9:15
| 8:44
| 163
| 167
| 154
|
| 17
| 10:00
| 2:33:03
| 9:53
| 1.00
| 56
| 10
| 10:01
| 9:53
| 8:20
| 163
| 169
| 149
|
| 18
| 9:31.5
| 2:42:35
| 9:32
| 1.00
| 23
| 13
| 9:32
| 9:32
| 8:13
| 161
| 166
| 153
|
| 19
| 9:53.9
| 2:52:28
| 9:54
| 1.00
| 36
| 52
| 9:54
| 9:54
| 8:33
| 162
| 170
| 151
|
| 20
| 9:49.3
| 3:02:18
| 9:49
| 1.00
| 23
| 20
| 9:49
| 9:49
| 7:58
| 163
| 168
| 151
|
| 21
| 10:48
| 3:13:05
| 10:48
| 1.00
| 43
| 0
| 10:48
| 10:48
| 7:33
| 160
| 169
| 146
|
| 22
| 10:41
| 3:23:46
| 10:41
| 1.00
| 39
| 16
| 10:41
| 10:41
| 9:01
| 162
| 169
| 145
|
| 23
| 10:02
| 3:33:48
| 9:47
| 1.00
| 16
| 10
| 10:02
| 9:47
| 8:09
| 162
| 167
| 153
|
| 24
| 10:04
| 3:43:52
| 10:04
| 1.00
| 10
| 26
| 10:04
| 10:04
| 9:08
| 163
| 169
| 152
|
| 25
| 9:30.2
| 3:53:22
| 9:31
| 1.00
| 0
| 102
| 9:30
| 9:31
| 8:59
| 163
| 166
| 154
|
| 26
| 9:12.3
| 4:02:35
| 9:12
| 1.00
| 0
| 79
| 9:12
| 9:12
| 8:52
| 165
| 168
| 155
|
