the 25th Los Angeles Marathon

Well, I did it.  It’s two days later and i can ALMOST walk normally.  Maybe in another 2-3 days.  The marathon was an experience like no other.  I woke up every hour practically for two nights in a row hoping it was 4am of race day so I could wake up and do this thing.  When it finally was 4am I hit my alarm once just for show and then sprang out of bed and got ready.  sitting in traffic at 5:30am, not so much fun, but it is LA and what are you gonna do?  Walking around in circles just to pee, not so much fun, but this is the LA Marathon, possibly the most disorganized marathon ever, and what are you gonna do?

The traffic was insane though.  It took a full hour to get from the 110-101 interchange to Dodger Stadium – 1 mile!  Some people were so worried they got out of their cars and walked on the 110 and up to dodger stadium.  yeah, forget that, there’s no way in hell i would’ve finished the marathon if I had been one of those people.  But then most of them looked like they belonged in wrist-banded corrals anyways, so I’m sure they had lots of steam to blow.  Me? I used walking around trying to find a line for a restroom with less than 100 people in it as my warm up.  By the time we got into Dodger Stadium, it was technically only 30 min before the gun was supposed to go off so I snapped a few photos of sunrise and kissed my husband goodbye and giddily made my way towards the start.

Which was PACKED!  i had read that they were going to have corrals for each minute pace after the sub-3 hour and sub-4 hour corrals.  and supposedly they did exist, but i had no idea how to get into them and by the time i got to the start line it was probably about 10,000 people deep, thus taking me 18 minutes from the start of the gun to the actual startline.  but more on that later.

on my way to the start i saw a friend that I haven’t seen since I worked at Chick-Fil-A at the South Bay Galleria nearly 8 years ago now and I was so excited to see a friendly face!  It was going to be a long day of seeing people I didn’t recognize so I was glad to start it off in this fashion.  Then, I met a very nice woman in line for the restroom who gave me some tips which didn’t come in handy due to unforeseen circumstances, but she was very nice and put me at ease none the less.

after the restroom i realized i had no sunscreen and was about to spend well over 5 hours in the sun which was a bummer – until – dun dun dun – i saw a gigantic, economy sized sunscreen on a table which was also littered with smaller sunscreen bottles provided by island creations or some name like that for free!  my saviors.  saved me from another mottled tan, or, worse yet, a burn and skin cancer.  that was some strong suncreen too!  i applied a fairly thick coat to my legs which was still visible by the time i reached the finish line 6.5 hours later.  amazing!

after sunscreening and stretching and watching the wheelchairs, hand cranks, and elite women take off (and NO ONE cheering for the LA Mayor as he waved to the crowd), I made my way to try and find a place in line, which was nearly impossible.  I got in what was the end when I got there and waited patiently next to a nice woman named Missy, who this was her 2nd marathon and she was shooting for a 5:30.  We had hoped to run the first few miles together possibly, but during the craziness of walking to the start line I lost sight of her and never saw her again.  The 18 minutes it took from the “ready set go” to the start line was the most anticlimactic start I have ever been in.  By the time I made it to the front I had seen thousands of people finish their first mile (since it was visible from the start line) and had seen enough discarded clothes to fill a goodwill!

once we crossed the startline it was the best 5 miles I ever ran.  They felt good. I was pacing myself beautifully around 12:30/mile, and I was having fun.  I was taking pictures and absorbing my surroundings and appreciating all the other runners and their enthusiasm.  Except for the woman who, within the first quarter of a mile freaked out on a woman for stepping on her foot (because that never happens in starts as people jockey to get out of packs?!)  One of my favorite runners I came across as we entered Chinatown and this fellow was wearing a box, in FedEx fashion, which said PedEx.  Hilarious.  There was some pretty awesome course entertainment.  The Taiko Drums were amazing.  Passing Disney Music Hall.  Echo Park.  Passing Legacy Runners and this weird stalker guy who was trying to find all 233 of them.  The spectators were high on energy and so were the runners.  And then reality started to set in after mile 6 or so.  The spectators were fewer, the sights were less, and people started getting tired.

Me? I tried to keep my spirits up.  I called my godfather from mile 6 as I was running down sunset (or hollywood blvd., who knows?!), was trying to adjust my pace to account for the pain I was beginning to experience, and was trying to find people I could stay with who I thought were maybe on the same pace that I was.  Then the boredom started to set in, the pain started to increase, and the entertainment was packing up before we even got there! wtf?!  After mile 8, every mile felt like the longest mile of my life.  After mile 10, i started to forget what mile I was even on!  The heart of hollywood blvd. was fun to run, but it wasn’t too long and many of my pictures were actually pictures of the ground once I looked at my phone after the race.

By mile 14 I hit my wall.  My calf hurt, my hip hurt, and I couldn’t run anymore.  I called my husband to cry, but he didn’t pick up his phone, so I told myself to suck it up and keep going.  Coincidentally the 13:00 pace group passed me around this point, and I thought what the hell, lets try to salvage this race and come in at 6 hours.  I have to say I did not really enjoy their run/walk style.  It seemed to be 1 on, 1 off, and that was too much stopping and starting for me.  It pushed me for the next mile and a half but I just couldn’t keep up with them.  I kept looking outwards for help, but I wasn’t SRLA and I really liked their motivator, but she couldn’t help me.  So I called Christian again and cried (while walking, of course!).  I couldn’t run anymore.  I need to walk.  I felt like such a dissapointment.  I felt I had dissapointed myself and everyone I had ever told I was running the LA Marathon.  How unfit was I to walk nearly half the course and come in over 6 hours?  I felt disgusted with myself.  But Christian talked me through it as I sobbed and tried not to throw myself into a panic attack and the poor guy who ended up walking near me kind of went a little faster to avoid me, and I walked.  I walked as fast as I could at that point.  I figured if I couldn’t run, I was going to walk as fast as I could – 4 mph, dammit!

And then, somewhere around mile 17 or 18, my blister popped open and the juices came out.  Now, I’ve had blisters before.  I got one in the PV Half Marathon and I got one during cross country.  I got one during my 20 miler too.  But usually, what happens, is they seem more like a callous, or, instead of popping persay, they tear open and end up bloody, which I think I might have preferred to feeling the juice and the stabbing pain every single step.  When it first popped, I got scared.  It hurt like hell and I didn’t know what it was.  I started to cry and looked around for a medical tent.  I thought about taking my shoe off, but knew that probably it would make the pain worse once I saw what it actually looked like.  So I gathered myself together, told myself I’d come too far to quit with more than half done, and kept going.  I passed the medical tent (not without  second thought – i probably had like 5) and powered through.

Then, around mile 19 I saw my savior.  My friend who I hadn’t seen in over 8 years was there!  With signs that said We Believe In You and shouting my name and screaming I love you!  I was SO happy to see her.  I knew that her best friend has passed probably over 30 min before I even got there, but she stuck around.  She gave me a huge hug and I wanted to cry out of the joy.  Her words were so encouraging and inspiring that I think I walked faster than I have ever walked after I left her arms.  I tackled the next 3 miles with gusto, passing people left and right who had left me in their dust when I hit the wall.  I owned the miles through the VA like they were my bitch.  And then we hit san vicente and brentwood.  BORING!  It was supposed to be an awesome final 5 miles.  All downhill is what I heard, sights of the beach!  Lies.  All Lies.  Yes, there was downhill, around mile 23.  And I’m sorry, running by multimillion dollar homes isn’t inspiring or beautiful after you’ve run 20 miles.  Watching them spectate and walk their toy dogs and seeing them all skinny WITHOUT running a marathon.  I got a little bitter.  and a little tired. and I just wanted it to be over. The downhill hurt my shins and each mile felt like the longest mile of my life.

People along the way were entertaining.  People humming the rocky theme song, making bad jokes, acting silly, and leaving me wondering just how much energy do these people have?!  although, maybe if i hadn’t cried like a little baby so much i would’ve had more energy too.

anyways, seeing the mile 25 marker was amazing.  I decided that i was going to try to run as much of it as I could to the end, straight shot down ocean, and I ran pretty much all of it.  maybe 75%.  I walked for a bit in the middle to make sure that I could run the last .2 and made a direct beeline.  I passed all kinds of people at the end and as I was nearing the finish line, there was this HUGE charity group walking in the finishing chute.  WTF?! they were totally in my way and I had to weave around them in my final “sprint”.  I say “sprint” becuase the first running step I took in mile 25, my back felt like it had been punched and I hurt and ran like someone who had never run before.  But I crossed that finish line and fought back tears because dammit, i’d already cried enough that day!  i got my medal, got my picture taken, talked to my husband who had gotten to see me run, grabbed my blanket, and hobbled to the corner to meet Christian.

The pain I felt once I stopped was horrendous.  It was 10X worse than any pain I felt during the marathon.  It was like my body knew that it could give up and didn’t need to pretend to function anymore.  I wasn’t hungry or thirsty or anything.  All of my focus was on walking to the car and not collapsing into a heap on the ground.

My husband was nice enough to buy me presents for finishing.  I got a turtle puppet (because I was slow) and a purple minnie mouse wrist band (because  love disney, purple is my favorite color, and i was all sweaty), and a librarian action figure (since i’m a librarian) with shushing action.  It was pretty amazing.  I am so thankful to him for all of his support during these 6 months of training.  He never let me give up and always encouraged me and put things into perspective, espeically when I was hurting.  i don’t know anyone else that would’ve woken up at 4am to drop me off at dodger stadium and then sat in santa monica for over 6 hours just to pick me up and drive me home.  and then listen to me for two days complain about how sore i am.  this, all in addition to listen to me talk about the marathon for the last 6 months and complain about how sore i was after all my long runs. lol.

during the marathon, i thought, surely, i would never do this again.  why would anyone want to do this again?  but then I thought… I was injured on this run.  I should’ve gone to the doctor but didn’t becuase they would’ve told me not to, more than likely, so maybe, if i’m actually healthy for the next one… I can’t do anything but PR, right?!  LAM 2011? possibly…

oh, and FYI, yes, technically the course is all downhill because you’re starting at Dodger Stadium which is way up high and ending at SM pier which is sea level. HOWEVER, there are a MILLION hills inbetween, big and rolling, all painful.  Not that I have any other courses to compare it to, seeing as this was my first, but it seemed like a pretty difficult course…

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