LA Marathon Race Report:
Executive Summary:
3:52:42 chip time at the 2011 LA Marathon through torrential rain and strong winds. I came in 2277th out of 19866 finishers, 1949th out of 12045 men, and 332 out of 1634 men aged 30-34. I ran the entire way, made 1 port-a-potty stop, and watered 5 trees/bushes from the warm up to the finish line. So sorry, LA residents!
Big thanks to the volunteers and race crew for sticking it out in that cruddy weather during the race, including my family who braved the torrential rain and wind to meet me at the end. Thanks also go to Quentin Hart for tolerating/enduring the countless early morning pre-workout noise. To Mother Nature, thanks for not screwing up the roads of DC with a ton of snow this year. And a big hearty thank you to my friends who encouraged my efforts.
Preamble:
In January of 2010, I completed my first marathon, the Rock N’ Roll Arizona Marathon as a member of Team in Training. Unfortunately, I was completely deluded with the amount of run specific training needed in order to properly train for the full marathon distance. My training primarily consisted of Crossfit type workouts (metcons + strength work), a couple days of sprints (4-8 x 400m) and a weekly long run with Team in Training. Essentially, I was really only running seriously once a week for any appreciable mileage. The longest I had run for training was 18 miles and that was done in miserable snowy conditions.
With the (then naïve) understanding of training, I blithely ran the race to a disappointing 4:53:12, after being forced to walk several miles due to severe cramping in my quads. I assumed, wrongly, that my electrolyte levels were low due my lack of adaptation to the warmer temperatures (Mid-Atlantic’s winter training compared to Arizona’s dry heat race), but it wasn’t until I started researching proper marathon training that I realized that my actual training was woefully inadequate for the full distance.
Late September brought a training void as I had recently completed the 2010 Nation’s Triathlon, so armed with my new found knowledge of run training; I decided to set my sights on an early spring marathon. One benefit to training for an early season marathon is that I’d be able to build a run base over the winter, allowing me to focus on swimming and cycling after the marathon to prep for the triathlon season. This saved me the headache of having to build a base and do speed work for all three sports at the same time. While I qualified for the DC Marathon, I ultimately chose the LA Marathon on grounds that I would be able to see family and friends while having an opportunity to race in some sunny and dry weather; similar to the Arizona marathon that I had barely completed.
Cue ominous music…
Training:
Training for the LA Marathon started with research into the various training plans out there. Clearly, my efforts in preparing myself for the RnRAZ Marathon were good intentioned, but misdirected. I looked into a few online training plans, sponsored by various websites, and being the cheap (though I prefer ‘fiscally responsible’) person that I am, dismissed them immediately. I happened to run across a series of posts on Slowtwtich.com, a forum for endurance sports - mainly triathlon, written by a certain Barry Pollock (aka BarryP) on run specific training.
To briefly summarize, there are three main articles on run training and an astounding 21 supporting articles on form, workouts, long runs, etc. In a nut shell, the general idea with the BarryP program is as follows: because running is an impact sport, one must run more miles to improve and condition the body to the stresses of running. However, to prevent injury , the quantity of running should be spread out over several days of running at different distances/intensities. BarryP recommends running six days a week with three short runs, two medium runs and one long run. The medium runs are twice the distance of the short runs and the long run is three times the distance of the short run. Progress would be made by increasing the daily distance slightly from week to week.
Following BarryP’s plan, I started running a measly 9 miles per week (MPW), 2 days a week. This turned into 20 MPW, 4 days a week and then into 20 MPW, 6 days a week. By December, I had maintained running 6 days a week and I had hit 30 MPW. Christmas/New Years saw the arrival of my first 40 and 45 MPW weeks. By mid January, I was at 50 MPW and had just run a 15 mile long run at my goal marathon pace (8:26 min/mile).
Unfortunately 50 MPW was the highest I reached, even though my workout planning had scheduled me to reach 70 MPW as that 15 mile long run at marathon pace set me back quite a bit. The intensity of that run burned me out more than I had anticipated and my body didn’t recover as quickly as needed. As such, I dialed back my intensity and by early to mid February, I successfully completed the 18 and 20 mile long runs. Both of these long runs were completed without any significant problems, cardiovascular or muscle fatigue-wise. However, I somehow acquired a foot injury as my left interior ankle tendon became very sore/tight, causing reasonable pain when running. To avoid tendonitis, I swapped my efforts to spinning at moderate efforts on my home bicycle trainer. Understandably, my running mileage suffered.
The last three weeks prior to the race were blocked off as part of my Taper. While I was still spinning on my bike for a significant amount of time each week instead of running, I was able to run a reasonable amount without pain the week prior to the marathon. This was a big confidence booster and I traveled to LA with the confidence that I was well rested and ready to run. My last training run was a nice and super easy 3 mile dirt track session with my cousin near her home. I had no weird pains, strains or irritations during that training session. It was definitely a good omen for the days to come.
Nutrition:
My nutrition plan for the Marathon was pretty simple. I was going to drink a couple of sips of water at every aid station; take a Hammer gel every 3 miles, alternating between the caffeinated Espresso flavor (reasonable but strongly flavored) and the un-caffeinated Apple Cinnamon flavor (my favorite!) and take 2 Endurolyte electrolyte caplets every hour. The race was supplying Gatorade at every other aid station, which was good as I knew it wouldn’t bother my stomach. However, as I had trained with gels and water, I planned on sticking with those until the late stages of the race when I would replace my water with Gatorade to provide hydration and energy at the same time. Fussing with gels while tired isn’t a pretty sight. While I planned on hitting every aid station, I planned on taking my Amphipod hydration belt with two 12 oz bottles so that I could easily wash down the gels/electrolyte caps and so I could skip any extremely congested aid stations without losing too much time.
Day Before the Race:
The day before the race, my father and I drove to Dodger Stadium for packet pickup and to look around the Expo. We followed the directions on the website to try and mimic the next morning’s drive but several entrances to Dodger Stadium were closed. Eventually, we made it to packet pick up, where we grabbed my bib (#4744) and snagged a few samples from the various vendors. I contemplated getting a few different types of hydration belts, but ultimately decided to stick with old faithful; sticking with, “nothing new on race day.”
For my pre-race meal, I opted for getting sushi with friends down in the OC instead of the typical pasta dinner as I had cut out wheat products from my diet a while ago. The idea for this meal was to eat a large quantity of complex carbs to top off the glycogen stores, while avoiding fiber. Fiber is bad. I’ll let you figure out why on your own. I probably stayed out a bit too late, but judging from the quality of my sleep that night, it wouldn’t have mattered if I had gotten home earlier. However, it was good to get some last minute encouragement from the West Coast friends! Prior to getting into bed, my father indicated that leaving at 5 AM would probably be early enough to get to the race start with plenty of time to spare.
Cue ominous music…
Day of the Race:
After a night of listless sleep, or what could be reasonably considered sleep, I was up at 4 AM, getting ready. That morning, I decided to rock my Icebreaker merino wool t-shirt instead of a synthetic top. The reasoning for that was due to the weather forecast: Rain… and lots of it! One of the great characteristics of wool is that it is temperature regulating even when wet, making it a perfect fabric for inclement weather running.
Breakfast was a couple of eggs, an orange and some Greek yogurt and at around 5 am my father and I left the house. We made it to the juncture of Rt. 10 and Rt. 5 at around 5:45 and then came to a complete standstill. Traffic was backed up for the next 3 miles as it was three lanes merging into one to exit off Rt. 5 and then one lane going up to Dodger Stadium. We sat in the car for another 45 minutes, barely moving, wondering if we would ever make it to the start, let alone on time.
At 6:30 AM, after seeing several individuals leave their drivers and start walking, I gave my father some last minute instructions on finding me at the end and stepped out onto Highway 5 for my 3 mile trek to the race start. It’s kind of laughable that a race of this magnitude would have such huge logistics issues that hundreds of runners would have to walk on the highway to get to the start, but in the end, I really only have myself to blame, as I should have taken the race specific busses or had gotten up earlier to get to the start line on time. However, all that said, it was a nice warm-up hike to get to the race start. Along the way, the numbers of walkers gradually increased. Some were walking, some were jogging, and one or two were walking in the opposite direction, talking animatedly into a phone. One woman was cheering from a SUV, taking video of us poor walkers. She asked me what I was going to run and I shouted back, “I hope to break 4 hours!” She laughed and said, “I’ll be 3 hours behind you!” I hope she finished.
By the time I arrived at the start line, the ‘C’ corral, for individuals qualifying with a sub 5 hour time and in front of the teeming masses, was closed and I had about 15 minutes to mentally get ready for the race and get into the staging area. The staging area was basically one big fenced off section of road with openings at various intervals. By the time I arrived, it was so full that people, including myself, were waiting outside the openings, waiting to get in. Some people took the initiative to hop the 10 foot fence and while I contemplated doing that, I really didn’t want to risk any injury. Once the various elite and wheelchair divisions made their start, I finally managed to get into the staging area as the runners started moving forward towards the starting line. Throughout this entire time, the race director was trying to amp people up with typical crowd cheer antics and I vaguely remember some top 40 pop music over the loudspeakers. Mostly, I just remember trying to keep warm while running through my race planning over and over in my head.
Race:
Eventually, the gun went off and the herd started moving across the start line. I remembered to start my Garmin 305 GPS watch as I crossed the start and broke into a run… or at least I tried to run. The start was so incredibly congested with slow runners, spectators, and even walkers that the first half mile was, by my Garmin, at an 11:00/mile pace. Of all things, I even ran into a pace line of walkers that stretched 50 people deep. Walkers, go to the back, please! If I ever do another marathon, I’ll be sure to make my corral start!
As I crested the first hill before exiting Dodger Stadium, I made my way to a row of hedges on the left and joined about 50 other men, watering the shrubbery for the City of Los Angeles. (Seriously, this is probably one of the best reasons to be into distance/endurance sports as a guy.) The massive swell of people sped up down the first hill, past the toll booth gates and spilled out onto the streets. I was holding a very comfortable 9 minute mile as per my race plan, but all around me, people of all shapes and sizes, young and old, were sprinting past me at breakneck speeds. Some were laughing and shouting out to each other, probably from the excitement of being a part of the marathon. All I could think of was, “I’ll see you in 10 miles when you’re spent and I’m reeling your dumb sprinting-at-the-start asses in.”
Right around the first bend, a drizzle set in. Nothing too terribly bad and by the first mile, I had ditched my long sleeve Target special cotton tee for the Salvation Army to pick up and my legs were starting to loosen up. By mile 3, it was raining off and on, and I took my first gel as the drums of Chinatown sounded in the background. Mile 4 had one of the biggest hills in the entire race, and I was elated to have trained all winter on hills. Powering up the hill effortlessly was such a great feeling. Passing about 100 people who were reduced to walking was an even bigger high.
Somewhere around mile 8 or 9, at an aid station, I had my only ‘not so cool’ moment of the race. Usually, when I pull into an aid station, I point at a volunteer and make eye contact so they know I’m going to grab their cup. It usually helps the handoff because they can anticipate my hand grabbing at the flimsy paper cup. However, one dude at this aid station probably though he was being funny and after I pointed at him, he pulled his arm back and shook his head. He ended up just playing with me as he handed over the little cup a second later, but all I could think of was, “what a douchebag.” Just as a passing note to all the volunteers at a distance sporting event: We thank you from the bottoms of our hearts for being gracious and helping, but when we’re several miles into an event and working hard, we just need you to do your job. Screwing with our heads isn’t cool.
Prior to mile 10, my goal was to stay loose, stay relaxed and keep the miles ticking away, so as I crossed under the inflatable arch that indicated we had just completed 10 miles, I picked up the pace and dropped approximately 20-30 seconds per mile. Right around then, I had realized that one of the safety pins holding my bib number had ripped through the little hole on the bib. There’s nothing that requires more focus than trying to re-pin a safety pin, while running, but somehow I got it done. I didn’t realize I was in Hollywood until I passed Mann’s Chinese theatre; so much for the glitz and glamour, eh? The rain and wind was also more consistent from this point on in the race and whenever it was blowing into my face, I made good use of my sunglasses. Losing a contact during a race really wasn’t an option.
I must have been extremely focused on something because I nearly ran through the cheerleader powered cheer alley without realizing that the extremely broad shouldered cheerleaders were actually drag queens. A few high fives went out to the queens out there who braved the rain and just as quickly as I had entered the cheer alley, I was out of West Hollywood and into Beverly Hills and Century City. These miles were all about execution as I reminded myself that I had done this all in training and true to form, I stuck to water and my gels until mile 18, when I grabbed a couple of cups of Gatorade as I was craving something other than gel.
Towards the late teens, all sorts of spectators and volunteers were out, handing out bottles of water, orange slices and salt packets. It seems as though the VitaCoco people were out as well, and I cruised into their aid station thinking that I was getting water. Instead, I got a mouthful of some foul coconut water. Dodging orange peels wasn’t too difficult as they were pretty small and left a lot of space between peels, but the coup de grace was someone handing out banana halves. Unpeeled banana halves. For a quarter of a mile, banana peels and smashed banana literally covered the road. It was like some god awful reality stunt show as I stutter stepped through that mess to the other side of the road that was thankfully banana free.
At around mile 21, I started looking for indicators that my quads were going to cramp a la RnRAZ, as my splits slowed back to around 8:45/mile. As I passed Mile 22, it wasn’t my quads that started to tighten up, but my hamstrings started complaining….loudly. Though my pace slowed to a bit over 9 minutes a mile, I soldiered on, hopping streams of water and trying to push the pace here and there as my hamstrings would allow.
The home stretch was quite invigorating as I started looking around for my father and my cousins who had promised to meet me at the end of the race. I smoothed out my race number as best as I could for the finisher’s photo and my pace picked up a bit as I cruised across the finish line. Strangely enough, the finish wasn’t emotional, with the rain coming down in sheets and the ocean winds buffeting me from every angle. I was just glad to be done.
I stopped my Garmin as I crossed the line, grabbed a space blanket (that promptly did nothing due to the wind), had a finisher’s medal placed around my neck and I scoped out the nearby tents for something to eat. Nothing looked appetizing (wet bagels and bananas) and with the wind howling around me, I walked down Santa Monica Blvd. towards the finisher’s chute exit, acutely aware of how much my feet hurt.
The moment I approached the exit, I heard my name being called by my family. It seems as though they got some automatic text indicating that I was on pace to run a 2:57, so they accidentally arrived super early and got prime spots at the front of the finisher pick up section. Fortunately, for them and for me, they got some superb garage parking nearby and off we went to get me into dry clothes. 20 minutes later, I had on dry clothing, a hot coffee in me and was in a car headed to In-N-Out.
Post Race:
The remainder of race day was pretty slow going as I was reduced to hobbling around due to tight hamstrings, hip flexors and calves. Fortunately, the plan was to go eat like a pig for the rest of the day. After all, I had 3000 calories to make up! First on the list was a Double-Double from In-N-Out and after a shower, my cousins and I went to get Thai where I gorged on fried rice, noodles and fried pork. For dessert, I was introduced to Pinkberry, and a few hours later, I had some great Chinese food. It is definitely a perk when you get to eat anything and everything you want and still come out with a caloric deficit for the day.
The flight back to DC wasn’t bad, but I attribute my short legs as a major proponent to my comfort in coach class. All in all, the speed in my recovery from the marathon has surprised me. The RnRAZ Marathon took me out for several days, but by the second day after the LA Marathon, I was moving around quite well. By the fifth day post marathon, I got tired of sitting around and watching TV, so I got on my bike trainer and spun around for a bit to get the blood flowing in my legs.
Final Thoughts:
I’m not entirely sure if I’ll do another marathon. The training experience of this event was an eye opener in the way that I’ve now learned what it takes to be able to perform at a reasonable level at the marathon distance. People have been amazed that I cut an hour from my previous best, but I think that the context of training specificity isn’t being taken into account. I’ll take the accolades, but honestly, anyone who puts in this level of work can have the same outcome. For what it’s worth, I did beat Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers by a minute.
The curious part of the race was my lack of real emotion at the end. Sure I was happy that I had finished, but that was more because of the fact that I didn’t have to run any more than anything else. It certainly wasn’t the emotional tearing and choking up at the end of my first marathon, but I think that part of me knew that I was just executing a plan and much of the outcome was expected from my training performance. I think the other part of it was that I wish I had run a bit faster throughout the entire race, but considering my training numbers, I would have blown up a lot earlier and in a much more dramatic fashion than just having tight hamstrings.
The race, overall, was definitely a memorable experience. Logistics to the drop off and for the pick up were crazy and thankfully I only had to experience the craziness at the beginning as my family was well prepared at the end. I heard of, after the fact, many people getting hypothermia due to the weather and the sudden drop in body core temps after the race. I saw race reports of other racers huddling in hotels or parking garages trying to get warm while waiting for family to pick them up or for the shuttles to take them to the race start so they could get back to their vehicles. Hopefully, the race organizers can sort some of the logistics out for the years to come.
While many may not have had a good experience with the weather and its complications, I had a great time. The spectators who came out to cheer were fantastic and lifted my spirits and pace on several occasions. I’d definitely do this event again and strongly encourage others to give it a shot. There truly is a landmark at every mile and the scenery definitely kept me occupied such that not running with headphones turned out to be a great decision.
Executive Summary:
3:52:42 chip time at the 2011 LA Marathon through torrential rain and strong winds. I came in 2277th out of 19866 finishers, 1949th out of 12045 men, and 332 out of 1634 men aged 30-34. I ran the entire way, made 1 port-a-potty stop, and watered 5 trees/bushes from the warm up to the finish line. So sorry, LA residents!
Big thanks to the volunteers and race crew for sticking it out in that cruddy weather during the race, including my family who braved the torrential rain and wind to meet me at the end. Thanks also go to Quentin Hart for tolerating/enduring the countless early morning pre-workout noise. To Mother Nature, thanks for not screwing up the roads of DC with a ton of snow this year. And a big hearty thank you to my friends who encouraged my efforts.
Preamble:
In January of 2010, I completed my first marathon, the Rock N’ Roll Arizona Marathon as a member of Team in Training. Unfortunately, I was completely deluded with the amount of run specific training needed in order to properly train for the full marathon distance. My training primarily consisted of Crossfit type workouts (metcons + strength work), a couple days of sprints (4-8 x 400m) and a weekly long run with Team in Training. Essentially, I was really only running seriously once a week for any appreciable mileage. The longest I had run for training was 18 miles and that was done in miserable snowy conditions.
With the (then naïve) understanding of training, I blithely ran the race to a disappointing 4:53:12, after being forced to walk several miles due to severe cramping in my quads. I assumed, wrongly, that my electrolyte levels were low due my lack of adaptation to the warmer temperatures (Mid-Atlantic’s winter training compared to Arizona’s dry heat race), but it wasn’t until I started researching proper marathon training that I realized that my actual training was woefully inadequate for the full distance.
Late September brought a training void as I had recently completed the 2010 Nation’s Triathlon, so armed with my new found knowledge of run training; I decided to set my sights on an early spring marathon. One benefit to training for an early season marathon is that I’d be able to build a run base over the winter, allowing me to focus on swimming and cycling after the marathon to prep for the triathlon season. This saved me the headache of having to build a base and do speed work for all three sports at the same time. While I qualified for the DC Marathon, I ultimately chose the LA Marathon on grounds that I would be able to see family and friends while having an opportunity to race in some sunny and dry weather; similar to the Arizona marathon that I had barely completed.
Cue ominous music…
Training:
Training for the LA Marathon started with research into the various training plans out there. Clearly, my efforts in preparing myself for the RnRAZ Marathon were good intentioned, but misdirected. I looked into a few online training plans, sponsored by various websites, and being the cheap (though I prefer ‘fiscally responsible’) person that I am, dismissed them immediately. I happened to run across a series of posts on Slowtwtich.com, a forum for endurance sports - mainly triathlon, written by a certain Barry Pollock (aka BarryP) on run specific training.
To briefly summarize, there are three main articles on run training and an astounding 21 supporting articles on form, workouts, long runs, etc. In a nut shell, the general idea with the BarryP program is as follows: because running is an impact sport, one must run more miles to improve and condition the body to the stresses of running. However, to prevent injury , the quantity of running should be spread out over several days of running at different distances/intensities. BarryP recommends running six days a week with three short runs, two medium runs and one long run. The medium runs are twice the distance of the short runs and the long run is three times the distance of the short run. Progress would be made by increasing the daily distance slightly from week to week.
Following BarryP’s plan, I started running a measly 9 miles per week (MPW), 2 days a week. This turned into 20 MPW, 4 days a week and then into 20 MPW, 6 days a week. By December, I had maintained running 6 days a week and I had hit 30 MPW. Christmas/New Years saw the arrival of my first 40 and 45 MPW weeks. By mid January, I was at 50 MPW and had just run a 15 mile long run at my goal marathon pace (8:26 min/mile).
Unfortunately 50 MPW was the highest I reached, even though my workout planning had scheduled me to reach 70 MPW as that 15 mile long run at marathon pace set me back quite a bit. The intensity of that run burned me out more than I had anticipated and my body didn’t recover as quickly as needed. As such, I dialed back my intensity and by early to mid February, I successfully completed the 18 and 20 mile long runs. Both of these long runs were completed without any significant problems, cardiovascular or muscle fatigue-wise. However, I somehow acquired a foot injury as my left interior ankle tendon became very sore/tight, causing reasonable pain when running. To avoid tendonitis, I swapped my efforts to spinning at moderate efforts on my home bicycle trainer. Understandably, my running mileage suffered.
The last three weeks prior to the race were blocked off as part of my Taper. While I was still spinning on my bike for a significant amount of time each week instead of running, I was able to run a reasonable amount without pain the week prior to the marathon. This was a big confidence booster and I traveled to LA with the confidence that I was well rested and ready to run. My last training run was a nice and super easy 3 mile dirt track session with my cousin near her home. I had no weird pains, strains or irritations during that training session. It was definitely a good omen for the days to come.
Nutrition:
My nutrition plan for the Marathon was pretty simple. I was going to drink a couple of sips of water at every aid station; take a Hammer gel every 3 miles, alternating between the caffeinated Espresso flavor (reasonable but strongly flavored) and the un-caffeinated Apple Cinnamon flavor (my favorite!) and take 2 Endurolyte electrolyte caplets every hour. The race was supplying Gatorade at every other aid station, which was good as I knew it wouldn’t bother my stomach. However, as I had trained with gels and water, I planned on sticking with those until the late stages of the race when I would replace my water with Gatorade to provide hydration and energy at the same time. Fussing with gels while tired isn’t a pretty sight. While I planned on hitting every aid station, I planned on taking my Amphipod hydration belt with two 12 oz bottles so that I could easily wash down the gels/electrolyte caps and so I could skip any extremely congested aid stations without losing too much time.
Day Before the Race:
The day before the race, my father and I drove to Dodger Stadium for packet pickup and to look around the Expo. We followed the directions on the website to try and mimic the next morning’s drive but several entrances to Dodger Stadium were closed. Eventually, we made it to packet pick up, where we grabbed my bib (#4744) and snagged a few samples from the various vendors. I contemplated getting a few different types of hydration belts, but ultimately decided to stick with old faithful; sticking with, “nothing new on race day.”
For my pre-race meal, I opted for getting sushi with friends down in the OC instead of the typical pasta dinner as I had cut out wheat products from my diet a while ago. The idea for this meal was to eat a large quantity of complex carbs to top off the glycogen stores, while avoiding fiber. Fiber is bad. I’ll let you figure out why on your own. I probably stayed out a bit too late, but judging from the quality of my sleep that night, it wouldn’t have mattered if I had gotten home earlier. However, it was good to get some last minute encouragement from the West Coast friends! Prior to getting into bed, my father indicated that leaving at 5 AM would probably be early enough to get to the race start with plenty of time to spare.
Cue ominous music…
Day of the Race:
After a night of listless sleep, or what could be reasonably considered sleep, I was up at 4 AM, getting ready. That morning, I decided to rock my Icebreaker merino wool t-shirt instead of a synthetic top. The reasoning for that was due to the weather forecast: Rain… and lots of it! One of the great characteristics of wool is that it is temperature regulating even when wet, making it a perfect fabric for inclement weather running.
Breakfast was a couple of eggs, an orange and some Greek yogurt and at around 5 am my father and I left the house. We made it to the juncture of Rt. 10 and Rt. 5 at around 5:45 and then came to a complete standstill. Traffic was backed up for the next 3 miles as it was three lanes merging into one to exit off Rt. 5 and then one lane going up to Dodger Stadium. We sat in the car for another 45 minutes, barely moving, wondering if we would ever make it to the start, let alone on time.
At 6:30 AM, after seeing several individuals leave their drivers and start walking, I gave my father some last minute instructions on finding me at the end and stepped out onto Highway 5 for my 3 mile trek to the race start. It’s kind of laughable that a race of this magnitude would have such huge logistics issues that hundreds of runners would have to walk on the highway to get to the start, but in the end, I really only have myself to blame, as I should have taken the race specific busses or had gotten up earlier to get to the start line on time. However, all that said, it was a nice warm-up hike to get to the race start. Along the way, the numbers of walkers gradually increased. Some were walking, some were jogging, and one or two were walking in the opposite direction, talking animatedly into a phone. One woman was cheering from a SUV, taking video of us poor walkers. She asked me what I was going to run and I shouted back, “I hope to break 4 hours!” She laughed and said, “I’ll be 3 hours behind you!” I hope she finished.
By the time I arrived at the start line, the ‘C’ corral, for individuals qualifying with a sub 5 hour time and in front of the teeming masses, was closed and I had about 15 minutes to mentally get ready for the race and get into the staging area. The staging area was basically one big fenced off section of road with openings at various intervals. By the time I arrived, it was so full that people, including myself, were waiting outside the openings, waiting to get in. Some people took the initiative to hop the 10 foot fence and while I contemplated doing that, I really didn’t want to risk any injury. Once the various elite and wheelchair divisions made their start, I finally managed to get into the staging area as the runners started moving forward towards the starting line. Throughout this entire time, the race director was trying to amp people up with typical crowd cheer antics and I vaguely remember some top 40 pop music over the loudspeakers. Mostly, I just remember trying to keep warm while running through my race planning over and over in my head.
Race:
Eventually, the gun went off and the herd started moving across the start line. I remembered to start my Garmin 305 GPS watch as I crossed the start and broke into a run… or at least I tried to run. The start was so incredibly congested with slow runners, spectators, and even walkers that the first half mile was, by my Garmin, at an 11:00/mile pace. Of all things, I even ran into a pace line of walkers that stretched 50 people deep. Walkers, go to the back, please! If I ever do another marathon, I’ll be sure to make my corral start!
As I crested the first hill before exiting Dodger Stadium, I made my way to a row of hedges on the left and joined about 50 other men, watering the shrubbery for the City of Los Angeles. (Seriously, this is probably one of the best reasons to be into distance/endurance sports as a guy.) The massive swell of people sped up down the first hill, past the toll booth gates and spilled out onto the streets. I was holding a very comfortable 9 minute mile as per my race plan, but all around me, people of all shapes and sizes, young and old, were sprinting past me at breakneck speeds. Some were laughing and shouting out to each other, probably from the excitement of being a part of the marathon. All I could think of was, “I’ll see you in 10 miles when you’re spent and I’m reeling your dumb sprinting-at-the-start asses in.”
Right around the first bend, a drizzle set in. Nothing too terribly bad and by the first mile, I had ditched my long sleeve Target special cotton tee for the Salvation Army to pick up and my legs were starting to loosen up. By mile 3, it was raining off and on, and I took my first gel as the drums of Chinatown sounded in the background. Mile 4 had one of the biggest hills in the entire race, and I was elated to have trained all winter on hills. Powering up the hill effortlessly was such a great feeling. Passing about 100 people who were reduced to walking was an even bigger high.
Somewhere around mile 8 or 9, at an aid station, I had my only ‘not so cool’ moment of the race. Usually, when I pull into an aid station, I point at a volunteer and make eye contact so they know I’m going to grab their cup. It usually helps the handoff because they can anticipate my hand grabbing at the flimsy paper cup. However, one dude at this aid station probably though he was being funny and after I pointed at him, he pulled his arm back and shook his head. He ended up just playing with me as he handed over the little cup a second later, but all I could think of was, “what a douchebag.” Just as a passing note to all the volunteers at a distance sporting event: We thank you from the bottoms of our hearts for being gracious and helping, but when we’re several miles into an event and working hard, we just need you to do your job. Screwing with our heads isn’t cool.
Prior to mile 10, my goal was to stay loose, stay relaxed and keep the miles ticking away, so as I crossed under the inflatable arch that indicated we had just completed 10 miles, I picked up the pace and dropped approximately 20-30 seconds per mile. Right around then, I had realized that one of the safety pins holding my bib number had ripped through the little hole on the bib. There’s nothing that requires more focus than trying to re-pin a safety pin, while running, but somehow I got it done. I didn’t realize I was in Hollywood until I passed Mann’s Chinese theatre; so much for the glitz and glamour, eh? The rain and wind was also more consistent from this point on in the race and whenever it was blowing into my face, I made good use of my sunglasses. Losing a contact during a race really wasn’t an option.
I must have been extremely focused on something because I nearly ran through the cheerleader powered cheer alley without realizing that the extremely broad shouldered cheerleaders were actually drag queens. A few high fives went out to the queens out there who braved the rain and just as quickly as I had entered the cheer alley, I was out of West Hollywood and into Beverly Hills and Century City. These miles were all about execution as I reminded myself that I had done this all in training and true to form, I stuck to water and my gels until mile 18, when I grabbed a couple of cups of Gatorade as I was craving something other than gel.
Towards the late teens, all sorts of spectators and volunteers were out, handing out bottles of water, orange slices and salt packets. It seems as though the VitaCoco people were out as well, and I cruised into their aid station thinking that I was getting water. Instead, I got a mouthful of some foul coconut water. Dodging orange peels wasn’t too difficult as they were pretty small and left a lot of space between peels, but the coup de grace was someone handing out banana halves. Unpeeled banana halves. For a quarter of a mile, banana peels and smashed banana literally covered the road. It was like some god awful reality stunt show as I stutter stepped through that mess to the other side of the road that was thankfully banana free.
At around mile 21, I started looking for indicators that my quads were going to cramp a la RnRAZ, as my splits slowed back to around 8:45/mile. As I passed Mile 22, it wasn’t my quads that started to tighten up, but my hamstrings started complaining….loudly. Though my pace slowed to a bit over 9 minutes a mile, I soldiered on, hopping streams of water and trying to push the pace here and there as my hamstrings would allow.
The home stretch was quite invigorating as I started looking around for my father and my cousins who had promised to meet me at the end of the race. I smoothed out my race number as best as I could for the finisher’s photo and my pace picked up a bit as I cruised across the finish line. Strangely enough, the finish wasn’t emotional, with the rain coming down in sheets and the ocean winds buffeting me from every angle. I was just glad to be done.
I stopped my Garmin as I crossed the line, grabbed a space blanket (that promptly did nothing due to the wind), had a finisher’s medal placed around my neck and I scoped out the nearby tents for something to eat. Nothing looked appetizing (wet bagels and bananas) and with the wind howling around me, I walked down Santa Monica Blvd. towards the finisher’s chute exit, acutely aware of how much my feet hurt.
The moment I approached the exit, I heard my name being called by my family. It seems as though they got some automatic text indicating that I was on pace to run a 2:57, so they accidentally arrived super early and got prime spots at the front of the finisher pick up section. Fortunately, for them and for me, they got some superb garage parking nearby and off we went to get me into dry clothes. 20 minutes later, I had on dry clothing, a hot coffee in me and was in a car headed to In-N-Out.
Post Race:
The remainder of race day was pretty slow going as I was reduced to hobbling around due to tight hamstrings, hip flexors and calves. Fortunately, the plan was to go eat like a pig for the rest of the day. After all, I had 3000 calories to make up! First on the list was a Double-Double from In-N-Out and after a shower, my cousins and I went to get Thai where I gorged on fried rice, noodles and fried pork. For dessert, I was introduced to Pinkberry, and a few hours later, I had some great Chinese food. It is definitely a perk when you get to eat anything and everything you want and still come out with a caloric deficit for the day.
The flight back to DC wasn’t bad, but I attribute my short legs as a major proponent to my comfort in coach class. All in all, the speed in my recovery from the marathon has surprised me. The RnRAZ Marathon took me out for several days, but by the second day after the LA Marathon, I was moving around quite well. By the fifth day post marathon, I got tired of sitting around and watching TV, so I got on my bike trainer and spun around for a bit to get the blood flowing in my legs.
Final Thoughts:
I’m not entirely sure if I’ll do another marathon. The training experience of this event was an eye opener in the way that I’ve now learned what it takes to be able to perform at a reasonable level at the marathon distance. People have been amazed that I cut an hour from my previous best, but I think that the context of training specificity isn’t being taken into account. I’ll take the accolades, but honestly, anyone who puts in this level of work can have the same outcome. For what it’s worth, I did beat Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers by a minute.
The curious part of the race was my lack of real emotion at the end. Sure I was happy that I had finished, but that was more because of the fact that I didn’t have to run any more than anything else. It certainly wasn’t the emotional tearing and choking up at the end of my first marathon, but I think that part of me knew that I was just executing a plan and much of the outcome was expected from my training performance. I think the other part of it was that I wish I had run a bit faster throughout the entire race, but considering my training numbers, I would have blown up a lot earlier and in a much more dramatic fashion than just having tight hamstrings.
The race, overall, was definitely a memorable experience. Logistics to the drop off and for the pick up were crazy and thankfully I only had to experience the craziness at the beginning as my family was well prepared at the end. I heard of, after the fact, many people getting hypothermia due to the weather and the sudden drop in body core temps after the race. I saw race reports of other racers huddling in hotels or parking garages trying to get warm while waiting for family to pick them up or for the shuttles to take them to the race start so they could get back to their vehicles. Hopefully, the race organizers can sort some of the logistics out for the years to come.
While many may not have had a good experience with the weather and its complications, I had a great time. The spectators who came out to cheer were fantastic and lifted my spirits and pace on several occasions. I’d definitely do this event again and strongly encourage others to give it a shot. There truly is a landmark at every mile and the scenery definitely kept me occupied such that not running with headphones turned out to be a great decision.
