LA Marathon Race Recap

This morning was an early wake up call.  I spent the night at my friends Reese and Jim’s house in Calabasas (thank you guys!) and went to bed at 11pm and got up at 3:15am.  If I was any better at math, I’d figure out how little sleep that was.

(Reese is such a great host she not only had coffee ready at 3:15am, she had all this out for me)

I drove to Santa Monica where I parked and then caught the 4:45am shuttle to the Dodgers Stadium about 25 miles away.

I hung out for a couple boring hours at the start, met up with Pam and then got in the B corral. 

An IMPORTANT note: it wasn’t raining before the race so I made a critical mistake: in my car at the last moment I changed out of my capris and put on a skirt.  Then mistake #2: I gave Pam my rain slicker to bag check.  This would come back to bite me in my wet, soggy butt. big time.

We started 15 minutes late but finally got started at 7:45am.  I didn’t have a time goal for this race because I went into it feeling a little achy, sore and tired, especially my shin.  But my one goal that’s always the same: to pace myself smartly enough to finish strong especially the last 10k.

(I dig the sign.  And this guy’s plastic head.  I hope he’s not trying to suffocate himself.  It’s just bad weather, buddy; don’t give up on yourself)

Pam and I ran the first mile together in 8:21 and then she took off like the wind and left me in the rain.

By mile 2 it was raining.  And it never stopped.  It down poured at times.  It thundered twice.  It flooded certain parts of the road.  It was like Portland all over again but maybe even wetter?  This skirt is unlucky with the rain gods.

(It was so windy that after the first couple miles the orange blow up mile markers were taken down because they couldn’t stay upright)

I met readers Lara and Jennifer during the race and got to talk to both for a bit.  Hope you both had great (albeit wet) races!

I took my camera with me because the Stadium to the Sea course has a lot of famous landmarks and sites, but by mile 5 I put it away in my belt because it was getting so wet.  The few shots I took:

Chinatown

An afro’ed  naked American Flag

I think this is the Disney Concert Hall.

Thought this guy’s shirt was funny.  As were his super short shorts.  Who wears short shorts?  He wears short shorts!  And that’s all the pictures I took.

Here were my splits:

10K – 49:45                8:08 pace
15K – 1:14:13            7:58
20K – 1:38:05           7:53
25K – 2:02:11           7:51
30K – 2:26:10           7:50
35K – 2:50:00          7:49
40K – 3:12:39          7:45

Finish – 3:21:36

Overall Pace: 7:41

Place
Overall: 536
Gender: 60
 

I’m super happy with my pacing; I didn’t really know how I’d feel so I started conservatively enough that I was able to really pick it up the last 5 miles.  Mile 25 was a 6:58.  Who am I?!  That’s gross to run that fast.

For those 5 miles I kept repeating two things: Lay the hammer down and Make it hurt.  I don’t know why those two particular phrases, but I guess it worked.

(Post-race back in the car.  Looks like my camera might need a towel)

The weather, by the way, made the race pretty miserable as expected.  As soon as it started raining, I knew my ipod wouldn’t work (it’s like Simon Cowell, super touchy) so this was my second marathon running WITHOUT music the whole dang time.  And I didn’t even mean to.

I was drenched within the first couple miles and by the end of the race, I was pretty cold, especially my hands.  I was so glad to be done… until I realized I had to walk at least a mile in the rain and wind to my car.  Talk about chilly with up to 30 mph gusts.

Eats:

I had a Clif bar 45 minutes before the race started and then a GU energy gel at:

Mile 8.75

Mile 13.75

Mile 20 (wanted to take this around 18.5 but forgot)

Mile 23

The first half of the race I drank water from the aid stations and the second half I switched to Gatorade.

Overall, for the weather and no music, I’m really happy with my race even though it was pretty miserable running.

Congrats to Pam who ran a PR!

And to Sarah who ran a 15 minute PR!!

(Stole the pic from her blog)

 ChicRunner also ran the race so congrats to her as well!

And thanks, of course, to Salonpas who gave me the entry for the race.  I’m wearing 3 Salonpas patches right now, one on each knee and one on my thutt.  Jaymo’s napping beside me and I want to slap one on his face for fun…

For those of you who mentioned my headband, it’s a BIC Band – half the price of other bands and $1 from every band goes to charity.  Thanks Sandy for sending me some!

*While I was typing this up, the power went out again.  Eek! 

Tagged as: blogging friends, pacing, races