The Malibu Half Marathon - November 14, 2010

I wasn't going to sign up for this race, but a friend sent me the link to the groupon for half off registration. Of course, I see a half marathon for that price and jump on it.

The Saturday before the race my boyfriend and I drive up PCH to Malibu to hit the expo. We were really disappointed with the "expo." It's true, I've seen smaller... the Birch Bay marathon expo was the back of Joel Pearson's pickup-truck... but at least he didn't pretend... and we didn't have to brave PCH for it. We park on PCH and walk down to where a few canopies are set up. I got my number and my B-tag in a Malibu Marathon drawsting bag. 5 minutes, tops. No freebies. I think I would have rather paid to have them mail it then have spent the time I did on PCH that day.

Sunday morning, everything is set out on the couch already. I quietly get dressed and sneak out of the apartment for a fun early morning drive. 110, 105, 405, 10, PCH to Malibu. Parked, I was irritated to see that people were picking up their bibs and chips. What? I thought there was no race day pickup? Well, turns out some people pleaded a case and were allowed to pick up the morning of, but I was still irritated that I had to give up 2+ hours of my life driving through some of the worst traffic in Los Angeles to pick up mine... but whatever.

I hop on the shuttle bus. It's still dark out. The shuttle driver doesn't know where she's going and is convinced she's went too far. We keep telling her "It's 13 miles from where we left... we haven't went 13 miles yet." Nothing to start a run like someone who is DRIVING telling you it's too far...

Eventually she makes it to the start line at Point Mugu Park. We still have nearly 2 hours before the start. I stretch out a bit, watch the dolphins play in the waves breaking off shore. 

Eventually I get up and get ready for the start. it's packed though. The spot on the beach wasn't enough for all the runners. The lines for the bathroom were going into the crowd waiting for the start. I did, however, meet up with some fine fellow Fanatics.

Sabine and her other half Richard, and my new friend Mark. As you can see, our group got swallowed by the bathroom line! A very nice man took our picture, who had just completed his 100th marathon. He told me he's switching to half marathons. He saw my knee brace and said "you need to cross-train more and do weights. All my friends who only running is what they do, they don't do it anymore! I lift weights and stretch and cross train, and I can run like I did 40 years ago!" Considering this man has been running longer than I've been alive, I certainly have been listening to him.

The start was a little rough, up a little driveway with lots of rocks, road turtles (whatever the hell they're really called... I don't know!), and just jam packed. A wave start would have been appropriate here. After the first mile the crowd starts to spread out and I feel comfortable. It's already really warm outside. I knew wearing pants might be too warm, but I just didn't know it'd be so warm by the time the race started. I think after mile 2 I took my undershirt off and tied it around my waist, and put my fanatic shirt back on.

Mark and I were playing tag with each other throughout the race. I'd run and catch up to him, and he'd pass me on my walk breaks. This happened until probably mile 7 of the race. By this point I was so hot I rolled up my pants. I forgot chap stick and my lips felt like they were getting dry. Of course, if they'd had enough water stops along the course this might not have been a problem. With the heat, though, they were just spaced out too far. Some of the stops we came to didn't have anyone at them, and some weren't set up. It was really wonky. Had I known, I would have brought a fuel belt with water bottles. I heard the marathon runners had it even worse. I found this ironic, that at mile 10 they'd have a "stay hydrated" note on the mile marker. 

I think it topped out in the high '70's to low '80's that day. I don't remember, but the combination of the sun, no where to hide from the sun, the heat, and the lack of fluids.... OH RIGHT THEY ONLY HAD WATER. I really wanted some cytomax. At one of the water stops they had coconut water, but it was in huge containers, that you couldn't really run with, and you couldn't drink all at once. What? Who planned this?

I was really dragging at mile 10, per usual. This time though I got what they call dead leg. I could not lift my legs up and felt like I had to drag them. My feet hurt too. I can't complain though. I wasn't on the side of the road with an IV in their arm like a handful of runners. I was so blah about the run I started taking pictures with my iphone of the mile markers and sending them to my boyfriend. 

When I sent him this one I remember saying "thx gd 1 mr mi!" And I swear that last mile was rough. It was so hot! I tried to run in to the finish. Marathon Mitch was super sweet and at the finish line to snap this action shot of me... however I was so tired I couldn't remember how to make a rock horn with my fist... 

When I finished I came back and sat next to Mitch for a while, to stretch and cool down, and cheer some of the other runners on. Mitch and I got another pic, because Mitch is awesome. He ran the full. Oh yeah, I ran into Mitch around mile 8. The spot where the half met up with the full marathon runners. It was crazy, because he's such a fast runner, we would have never met up on the course, so that was a lucky split second.

Bling baby. Now I want coffee from Dunkin' looking at that sweet beanie. I told Mitch I was gonna take an ice bath in the ocean, and I'd catch up with him in a bit.

Then I walked into the ocean and it was the best 5 minutes of my life. 

See, seaweed leg treatment even. The water was pretty cold. I got it above my knees for all of a minute. With the waves though I didn't want to get my pants wet. But oh yeah, that happened. Snazzy medal eh?

 I left my shoes and stuff on my new fancy pants Finishers Towel. If there is one thing I give the Malibu Marathon credit for, it is this damn towel. I have enough shirts. This towel is totally badass and I can't wait to rock it at the beach. Now, if they could fix the water stops, website, shuttle, and start...

Oh, oh, bonus.... I ran into Joe Taricani from the Marathon Show!

Am I famous now? Hahaha. No? Oh, that's fine with me. I couldn't handle all the attention anyway. Super cool people though. Hung out with fellow Fanatic Casey for a while too. She drove out from Vegas, poor thing.  

I didn't really enjoy this run at all. The medal and towel were nice, but I didn't really like paying to run down PCH with a lack of water stops. I felt like I could have done this one on my own. There wasn't much for spectators... though there was a Maniac I didn't know on the side of the road somewhere who wooted for me to high heaven... Thank you, whoever you were.  I say I wouldn't run it again... but we'll see come next November... and if there is another Groupon.

Finisher 1316/1697

official time: 2:50:15.3, 

chip time 2:48:36.0.

Pace: 12:52

The Inaugural Rock n Roll Los Angeles Half Marathon - October 24 2010

My first back-to-back weekends of running half marathons. Friday night I got off work early to cover the last shift volunteering at the expo. I arrived a little early to get my bib and shirt, then put on the Rock n Roll Race Crew shirt and before I knew it I was handing out shirts to people. It was crazy seeing the system from the back. It's really very chaotic, but I have to give the Competitor Group major credit for managing all the volunteers. If I have the time, I'll gladly do it again.

Sunday morning I drive into downtown Los Angeles, where I work, and parked next to the convention center. I hopped on a shuttle bus to Griffith Park. I've lived in L.A. for 3 years at this point and have never been to Griffith Park. I was again wearing my Half Fanatics shirt. On the shuttle bus I was sitting next to the door and shivering from the wind. I looked around at all the skinny runners with ripped calves and quads in their bitty shorts and felt like a poser. Who knew it was my 6th half marathon? They were probably thinking "fanatic my ass." Or so I felt. This feeling was quickly squelched when I got off the bus and walked towards the sign for the park.

My friend Tony from the Long Beach Marathon was standing there with a group of people. I saw his cape. They were about to take a picture. I thought, what the hell? I jumped in!

Then I met all these amazing people, some who have wound up becoming some of my best friends! Little did I know that some of them I'd run entire races with - including today. Turns out the woman in the cake hat, Stephanie, was celebrating her birthday that day too. Happy Birthday to Stephanie! Mohan and I would wind up running an entire whole marathon together! Who knew at the time though.... I introduced myself, and the other fanatics were super sweet and inviting. We quickly started talking races and places. This was lingo I could handle! I obliged and followed Stephanie to the secret meeting spot for more photos!

This was the first of many Marathon Mitch Photobombs:

We all talked about future races, and what our finish time goals were. I was nervous from having done a half a week before. Tony, who I'd met the week before also was doing back to back weekends. We jumped into the sea of people about to run, and we were off. Tony and I ran the first mile together, then we both slowed down. We weren't intending to run together, but it just happened that way!

The first 3 miles were next to Griffith Park, then we had a nice jaunt down Riverside drive and a turnaround. Usually I have a hard time with out and back portions of a race, but this was super fun because we were waving and yelling to all our pals coming up behind us. We turned onto Glendale Blvd. and ran down that a way, running into Jessica, Fanatic #27. She was waiting for someone else, so Tony and I went onward, turning around at Boyce and heading back toward L.A. 

I started getting really hot at this point, and with it being our first real incline, I realized I was overdressed. I hated to do it, but I stripped off both layers of shirts down to my sports bra. I handed them to Tony as I tried to untangle my headphones quietly playing the new Devo album... "I feel like I'm holding onto your umbilical cord." he laughed as I tied my long sleeved shirt around my waist and put my loose and cool Fanatic shirt back on. 

We walked up the hill, and were happy to turn down Rowena to Silver Lake Dr and past the reservoir. We were getting sweaty! Thankfully, someone on Silver Lake Dr had a hose out and were cooling off hot runners! Tony ran through it, while I caught the mist. 

It felt so good, after all the running I'd been doing the past week, to make it to mile 8! I wasn't honestly sure how I'd fare. I was going slower than I wanted to, but I was in good company and we were certainly not thinking twice about stopping to snap a few pictures! And, there was another really big hill before we got up to Sunset.. We walked up that one too. We were able to run on the flats, but I think both of our quads were tired from the last race. Thank goodness for the Taiko drummers! They know how to get you up a hill!

Tony and I stopped again on Sunset, in front of my favorite mural by the local artist Cache. 

He even got a picture of me with the chicken and the ninja!

And then, we were at 10.

This is where we ran into our friend Louie! He came up to Tony, from reading his blog. Little did I know I'd run 2 half marathons locally with Louie! We chatted him up for a minute and I think he blew past us, but I'm not sure. 

Tony and I were getting tired, as tends to happen with me around mile 11. We actually sped up a little bit to run down Temple though, until we found this:

I love the work Cache does... but what is up with the 8-legged sheep?

Baudry was another long hill, uphill. We walked up the whole dang thing. It was rough having it right there at the end of mile 11. Oh did it feel good to get to the top of that hill and hit 4th. We zoomed down the hill and turned onto flower... zig-zaging about downtown. Flower, to 9th, to Hill, to 11th... I felt like a Dash bus.

I believe somewhere on Hill we ran into our friends Sherry and Ethan, fellow Fanatics (but wonderful Maniacs!) Turn the corner and there is the finish line! We were greeted by Jenn, who was waiting for her husband to cross the finish. She's super sweet. 

I went home and celebrated:

A few days later, Tony sends me a message on facebook saying "dude, did you know we made the website?"

The Long Beach Marathon - Half - October 17th 2010

I attempted to start running in 2009. I really fell in love with it at this race. In my mind, this is where some strange life changing things went down, and where it all started.

I need to start a few days before the race to explain.

I'm part of a running group called the Half Fanatics. To gain entry, one has to have ran at least 2 half marathons in 16 days, or 3 in 3 months. Back in February of 2010 I'd qualified with a 25k and a half in 15 days. I'm Half Fanatic #474. My mother became a Half Fanatic, (or, as we call it, just Fanatic) at our SF half. The Fanatics have shirts you can wear when you run. Super great Fanatic Blue. Before the race my mom ordered me my first Fanatic shirt, and the sweet Fanatics sent it right away and in time for me to wear.

This race was also so special and meaningful to me because when I moved to California I lived in Long beach, when I started walking on the running path... walking to the Queen Mary... Walking to Belmont Shore... Running to the Aquarium and the Pike. This is really where it all started for me.

I left rather early Sunday morning and took the 110 to the downtown parking structure. No traffic problems at all. I walked past my old apartment on Ocean, and past where I carbo-loaded the night before (the Auld Dubliner, with 2 half and halfs - a delicious ale concoction). As I waited for the start, sleepy and trying to figure out where I should corral myself... This guy walked up and says "HELLO FANATIC!" A friendship was made.

So, my new friend Tony goes by the name Endorphin Dude. He is not only a Half Fanatic, but a Marathon Maniac... Twice the fun! He was running the full. Yes, he runs in a cape! We chatted up for a while and corralled together. I wished him well and we agreed to facebook each other after the race.

 Then there was that awkward moment where the race started, and no matter how much we slowed down or sped up, Tony and I were side by side. We cracked a joke about it, and then I decided to keep running as he slowed down (give him credit, he had to save himself for the full! yikes!) just a bit. For the first time in a race, ever, I ran all the way to mile 1. It took me 11"! Best mile to date. I felt motivated, but tired. I took a walk break, and after a minute started going again. I went strong until mile 2 when I hit the Queensway bridge on the way to the Queen Mary. I started to slow down to a walk when I saw my caped friend ahead. Tony and I walked and talked from mile 2 to just after mile 3. I got a second wind, and after wishing him well on his full we parted ways.

Mile 4 I ran by my old apartment on Ocean. It was strange, but it felt good. I had a guy behind me yell "Go Fanatic!" That was the first time of many. Mile 5 put us by the L.A. river and onto the bike path, around the pike, and one of my favorite places - the Lighthouse in Long Beach. To anyone who didn't notice, the Long Beach Marathon dedicates a bench every year to a volunteer who makes a huge difference in hosting the marathon every year. Running next to the aquarium we could hear the birds chirping, then past Bubba Gump Shrimp and their cheer station. One of the guys at the cheer station gave me such a hard high-5 my hand hurt, but they got me running again after a quick walk break.

I was shocked that I got to mile 5 in under an hour! I'd never ran that fast. My 10k split was 1:09:12 (why can't I do that in a 10k?).

Mile 6 was just lovely next to the marina, and the path shot me out onto the beach path I had been on so many times before. It was nice because there weren't a ton of spectators on the beach, but there were just enough. I didn't feel guilty when I had to take walk breaks, and it was so lovely at the beach I didn't mind slowing down at all.

Mile 9 we ran up to the Belmont Brewing Company (delicious food and beer!) and I saw some guys drinking a craft beer and thought about a pitstop... but I kept going. We turned left to Ocean blvd at there was mile 10. 2 hours. I have never ran 10 miles in 2 hours. I was really happy with myself. Really, really, really happy. The beautiful and familiar course was just such a motivation. Not only the course, but the runners. Normally I would say I get motivation from spectators, but when you wear a Half Fanatic shirt, everyone cheers you on!

I was crushing any time up until mile 11. Mile 11 is Belmont Shore. Mentally I was ready to go, but it felt like someone had stepped on my toes, and the padding on my feet started to really hurt. I didn't want to, but I had to slow down. The next 2 miles were a slow jog, with with walk breaks tucked in. Even when I hit shoreline drive, which was a downhill, I had to save it for the finish. I finished in 2:35:21. PR!

They had chocolate milk at the finish. Best thing ever. In the post-run survey I asked them to make sure they have it next year... because I loved the race so much I am signed up for the 2011 full!

I got my picture taken with Shrimp Louie before I moseyed back to my car. It was really hard walking back after I pushed myself so hard, but pain has never felt so rewarding. Looking at the results I know I wasn't even near the front, but I still feel very accomplished. This was my 5th half marathon. 4th for 2010.

Lexus Santa Monica 5000 - September 12 2010

I signed up for the Lexus Santa Monica 5000 10k, which benefits the Saint John's Health Center, because it is the same course as the Santa Monica Classic. This time I went to the expo the day before at K-Swiss in Santa Monica, then got a great dinner at Library Alehouse with my standard carbo load of a nice dark ale. 

This time I drove myself early in the morning to Santa Monica. I parked in the public lot and walked back down to Barnard. It was a little bit cooler today than it was in May. I wanted to beat my previous time, even though I've been more focused on distance running. I usually don't warm up until I've ran a 10k... but I was able to do it!

 1:10:21.5 with an 11:21 pace! So it's not by a lot... Hopefully in 2011 I can shave another minute or two off that.

The race was good. I think as much course support as the Santa Monica Classic. I didn't like the cotton shirt I got for this race, and would have rather went without, as the Santa Monica Classic provided a great tech shirt! Also, the Santa Monica Classic event is a bit better at updating their website.

The BEST part about this race, however, was the pancake breakfast after. I waited in line for my pancakes and when I got to the guy serving them up he said "oh sorry, I'm all out... can you wait a few minutes?" I must have made the most pitiful look, because he held up his hands and said "Wait right there!"

Patiently, I waited. As soon as he'd made up a new batch of pancakes he gave me the one on top. He told me it was for waiting. The woman behind me was so pissed. She even said "Hey, we waited too!" but I proudly took my pancake. A grandma came up to me and asked if she could take a picture of it. I laughed and said sure. She told me to hold it up higher, closer to my head. Then she said "oh here hun, lemme take a picture for your family." I handed her my phone, and the rest is history. Best pancake ever.

The San Francisco 1st half Marathon - July 25 2010

I secretly signed my mother and me up for this race in April. I told her it was her early birthday present, that we'd get to run together again, and this time a half marathon. We were still a little shell-shocked from the LA Marathon, so a half sounded good. I met up with my mom and dad Saturday for the expo.

 It was much colder in SF than we were expecting. Neither of us were dressed for the Bay Area summer. I guess that Samuel Clemens quote is true... We stopped at CVS and bought some gloves for the morning and had our carbo-load dinner at the Cheesecake factory. When we got back we laid out our clothes and went straight to bed!

Sometime in the middle of the night, I got sick. My mom felt sick too. Don't eat at the cheesecake factory before a race. Ever. We snuck down to 7-11 for pepto bismol tablets to chew as we walked down to the embarcadero. This was not starting well. Shivering and anxiously waiting by the water we visited with many a stretching runner until it was time to start.

There was a sign with a quote "The Race Even Marathoners Fear" from a recent article in the Wall Street Journal. I read it. Great article. I'd been doing hill work on the treadmill thanks to it...  I heard some people say I look like I'm 12 in these photos. I stopped wearing my hair in pigtails for a while because of that, but I don't care anymore. I'm 28. My lovely mother runner is 50. She has better PRs than I do for all races.

 Looking back on this picture, I realize that while I haven't lost much weight, my mom and I have certainly firmed up since then.

On to the race: The first mile we were running fast to warm up. A girl in front of us was wearing a running skirt with not much on underneath giving everyone a free show. We passed the No-Meat Athlete. A homeless man was clapping for us saying "you can do it kids". When we ran by the sourdough bread it did not smell good. Some people love that part of the Embarcadero... But for us, not while running. 

Mile two was Fishermans's Wharf. Super cool running this stretch. It was nice and flat too, leading up to Ghiradelli square... and the first hill... 

If I had known the hill coming up I would not have been smiling! 3 miles in and there is a huge hill going up Fort Mason. It felt huge! My mom and I walked up it. There were two men drumming this death march of a beat for us to get up there, too. Once we got up this little hill though it was smooth sailing mile 3-5. We started to warm up at mile 5 a little bit, and got this lovely view of the foggy Golden Gate Bridge. 

We were so excited, for months, to run across the Golden Gate Bridge. Of course, like many other runners, we stopped to take pictures in front of it. Who knew it'd be so foggy that while we ran across it we wouldn't even be able to see the famous red bridge suspender ropes! Did you know it's called the Golden Gate bridge because with all the fog it was originally supposed to be painted gold for visibility? The U.S. Navy wanted it to be gray and black... but the Air Force proposed orange and white stripes... and after applying red primer, the bridge stayed red for a while, then orange. Not that we could see this as we ran up the bridge... Did you know that the bridge is a mile and a half long?

 We spent 3 miles running on the golden gate bridge... Which was nice, except we couldn't see the bridge due to the fog, and that we had to run up it... Why up? Because to have enough clearance under the bridge... oh does it matter? I read somewhere in SF there is an 85' elevation gain driving across the bridge, and we did it twice! That was it, right? Oh no, another big hill after we were done on the Golden Gate Bridge. After a while the pasta came back to get us and we had to slow down so we didn't get sick. We tried to run hard for a moment and I heard the sound of liquid hitting the pavement next to my mom. I turned, both of us still running, and she was wiping her face. Still running... "mom, did you just-" "yep, water station, now!" But we kept running

 Finally, we made it up another hill, and it was the last! We were in Golden Gate park and crossed the finish line! I was worried we took too long to get an official time for a moment because we crossed... and nothing... we just walked around. I looked around frantically for the medals. Finally someone said "medals are up there!" "PHEW!" My mom and I got our medals, our space blankets, and trekked over to the long line for a shuttle back to the start. My Garmin recorded, by the end of the race, a 1,500 foot elevation gain over the course of the 1/2. I talked to other runners who recorded 1,300 to more than mine... So I'm not sure, but all I know is that there were a lot of hills. We really worked hard for those medals, and were actually relieved to 

be done. It was a little sad, a race we were looking so forward to running we didn't enjoy as much as we thought, but it was an experience for sure, and another race down. No PRs, we'll just have to save that for next time we run together...

Santa Monica Classic 10k - May 16 2010

The Santa Monica Classic is a 5k/10k run event which benefits the amazing nonprofit Heal the Bay. 


I hadn't ran a race since the LA Marathon, so I thought a new distance would be fun. Saturday I picked up my packet at Sports Chalet in West Los Angeles. They were giving away gift cards to the first 500 people that ranged anywhere from $5-$100. I assumed my gift card was for $5 and bought some headphones before heading out. When the man at the counter handed me back the gift card he said "you have $88 remaining on your gift card." "What?" I got the $100 gift card?" "Yep!"


So, I bought some Vibram Five Fingers. I don't wear them much, but I get to try them out pretty much for free! Thanks to Sports Chalet!

In the morning My boyfriend dropped me off at the start of the race and went to the gym. I was a little nervous, but excited to run up San Vicente again. The race started at Barnard Way in Santa Monica, went up a slight incline to Main Street, then down Colorado to Ocean. Once on Ocean we ran up to San Vicente... This was my favorite part because it was my favorite part of the LA Marathon. I was reliving it in my mind. Daydreaming about running this fast at the 2011 finish... At 11th we turned around and went back down San Vicente to finish just past Broadway. 

My boyfriend was waiting for me by the finish line. He ran me in. My time was 1:12:22. 
Overall place 1633/1890.

The LA Marathon - March 21 2010 - My First Marathon

My first marathon. Seven months of training led up to this fateful day that I could say I completed my first marathon.

Can you believe we were excited???

My  mom was down from Washington for the weekend, so my boyfriend was sweet enough to get up at 3:30 am to pick my mom up from her hotel at 4. My father stayed asleep in their hotel room. We drove up to the start of the race at Dodger Stadium, however, all the freeways were so backed up there was no way we were going to make it to the start on time. I didn't realize that the start to this race would take well over an hour, and we'd have been fine... So we did what everyone else was doing... we got out of our cars and walked down the freeway to Dodger Stadium.

There were no D-Tags for this race. The timing chip was actually on the back of your bib.  I don't mention this much, but I actually work for the City of Los Angeles, Department of City Planning. It was really special getting to run though my city, and especially where I work and play. Anyone who's a Dodger fan, or has been to Dodger stadium, can understand the next paragraph. 

The first mile of the marathon was 1.5 times around Dodger stadium. This would have been fine, except for they had the song "I Love L.A." on loop. I never said we were fast runners, my mom and I... So we had to hear that song plenty of times before we escaped Dodger stadium. This is changing for 2011, I hear, with merely a half loop around. Then we got to run down the hill to sunset. Anyone who's parked at Dodger stadium can only imagine how liberating this felt!

That big building in the background is my work.

The first mile went so fast! Ok, so it took 13 minutes!  But before we knew it we were in front of my work, Los Angeles City Hall! We ran down main, and up to our first hill, on 1st street. There were a great group of Taiko drummers kickin' out beats to motivate us up that hill that I hate already from short lunch breaks. We did the first 6 miles in just over an hour. 

As we went though Echo Park a man held up a sign that said "Mile 7 Silverlake: Beware the Hipsters" I wish I'd taken a picture of it. My mother was doing so great! I know I slowed her down... though, it provided great photo opportunities. I think she really liked Echo Park Lake! It was very scenic.

There were so many spectators all through the course. It was amazing. It was hard to even stop to take walk breaks because so many people were cheering us on. By mile 9 we were really digging our walk breaks though, and people were still super supportive. It started to really warm up at this point too. I'm used to the LA heat but my Mom isn't. She's faster than me though, so it balanced out.

There were some women standing outside of their Silverlake homes in their pajamas holding coffee cups. I secretly hated them... but whatever. On we went.



There is a part of Sunset Blvd, right before you turn onto Hollywood, that has a big mural by a local artist named Cache. His art is chickens. I love the chickens. I think this was around mile 8.  Here are some of Cache's chickens we ran by during the LA Marathon:

Water stop at mile 9, Time to walk down Hollywood Blvd. While many of the runners were ahead of us, and cleanup was underway, there were still plenty of volunteers out handing us water.

They gave us so much water, in fact, that we were able to rehydrate ourselves both inside and out. I never actually touched my water bottles on my nathan hydration belt. Unless there are few water stops or it is a hot day, I think I'll save it for training runs.

Hollywood Blvd was a trip, for sure. Especially when you get to Hollywood and Vine. There are movie stars and wannabes cheering you on, people drunk at 9am or whatever time it takes you to get 11 miles in, but everyone is cheering for you. Of course, this allowed us to make a break for it. Hollywood turns left onto Orange, where I park when I go to the Hollywood Bowl, and we run past an In-N-Out. Anyone who ran the LA Marathon can tell you where at mile 11.78 of the Marathon that In-N-Out, which was CLOSED, was. We wanted fries well done. We ran instead.

You get back onto Sunset from Hollywood for a few miles, and right when you're past the Chinese Theater and about to turn off Sunset you run by the famous Whiskey a Go Go. This is where The Doors got there start and made it big. This was one of Jim Morrison's favorite places to play. It was one of my favorite things to run by. There were still spectators too! 14 miles down!

After running by the Whiskey we ran into Beverly Hills. Mile 17 was Rodeo Drive. Still, many spectators! A police officer grabbed my hand during a walk break and said "you're doin' good honey! Good job Dianasaur!" There were some people up for early shopping though, in their fancy pants high heels, grossed out by the sweaty runners in their paths... "what is going on?" I heard one unknowing fashionable male say from out of his prison of a scarf.

Mile 18 was a nice little jaunt through Century City. The firemen were out in full force supporting us! We'd slowed down to 4.4mph, from our starting speed of 4.6! Turtles. The LAFD had a hydrant open and were spraying people down in a little cool zone. I ran through it once. My mom turned around for a second spray and ran through it twice. We needed it too. It was really getting warm! We'd ran 18 miles! Holy moly! So what if we took a lot of walk breaks. I was really surprised that while, even with all the walking we were doing (and I won't lie, there was a lot) we still had been running over 2/3s of the race.

That was until we got to mile 20... Mile 20 was Westwood and the VA hospital. This hill has since been named Purple Heart Hill. My mom started getting hot and dizzy going up this hill, so we slowed down, down, down. Just past mile 21 was another water stop. We drank plenty of fuel. I told her having to go to the bathroom is better than passing out! Chugalug. Cool off. Keep going. The turn onto San Vicente was spectacular. After all the time walking up that killer hill, we're suddenly on a beautiful green street headed towards Santa Monica! 4 miles to go? We can do that.

At this point the 6 hour pacer caught up to us. The 5:45 pacer I so wanted to stay with blew past us on the hill... but I kept telling my mom "we gotta stay ahead of that guy!" For the rest of the race, I kept looking behind us! At one point, we'd lost him!

Did I mention all the samples along the way? At one of the mile markers they handed us coconut water. I loved it, my mom hated it. They had been handing out samples of any and everything! Milk, water, food... It was insane. Somewhere on San Vicente they were giving out Sunny D. So gross! My mom loved it, but I spit it out and wanted water so bad I busted open my nathan belt just to wash my mouth out!

We never once hit a wall. We got tired at mile 22. Mile 23 we stopped to try to go to the bathroom. Nothing happened though. I guess we were perfectly hydrating! Did I mention it was downhill from here? All the spectators... People who'd finished.... people on their bikes... they all made a point of telling us "IT'S ALL DOWNHILL FROM HERE!" and we needed to hear it every single time!

At mile 24 I just didn't have it in me to run at all. We'd went from a run walk at the start, but at this point I only had walk left in me. So, we walked. Mile 25 turns onto Ocean. It was foggy. It felt so nice! We needed the cool. It gave us the little boost we needed. I looked behind me one last time and saw the 6 hour paces coming close. I knew what I needed to do.  When I could see the finish line, I said "lets run" and we did. Our finish was 5:58:42. Not too shabby for my first marathon!

Unfortunately, the finish line festival was so packed we couldn't get to it. We didn't care at this point though. A nice finisher took our picture at the pier and we walked all the way up Pico down 4th to rose... in Venice, to get away from the horrible traffic! I heard they'll be fixing this for the 2011 race also, having the finish closer to San Vicente so the parking and festival aren't so crowded. We'll see. I'm signed up for it!

 

Some famous people ran the Marathon too... but my favorite: We ran with a goonie!

Yep, Sean Astin! Who cares about Shia LaBeouf, Gordon Ramsay, or Audrina Patridge... whoever they are... We ran with a Goonie! He finished in 5:16! Pretty impressive. 

The Birch Bay Not Marathon 25k - Feb 21 2010

My first 25K. I was overly ambitious.

My mom and I both signed up for the marathon. I'd had a knee problem for the past month but I assumed it wouldn't bother me since I was fine when I ran the Surf City Half two weeks before. I was wrong!

The first 2 miles I was breathing hard because it was 29 outside, and I'm visiting from warm L.A., but my mom was sailing smooth. Mile 4 I started warming up and feeling pretty darn good, still convinced I was running a marathon. There was a big hill I'm guessing around mile 5, which we quickly walked up. By mile 9 I said "17 more miles? pftt, we got this!" and was maintaining a nice pace about 5mph (good for me!).


Somewhere around mile 10 my knee started to burn and ache, and I thought if I just kept on it'd go away *shakes head at self* and during a burst of energy it felt like an explosion behind my kneecap and up my thigh. I had to stop. My poor momma looked SO worried. I felt so bad for her. I walked it off but it was still sore. I kept saying "stupid knee. I'll be fine" but the farther I went, the sharper and hotter the knee.

When we hit the halfway point we had two options: Turn up the hill and start the second loop to complete the marathon, or go straight and call it a 25K. There was a water station and I was happy to stop. My mom asked how I felt and I said "well, I could probably walk the rest of the way." and the girl at the water station said "you probably shouldn't" and my mom and I nodded at each other, thanked the water gal, and went straight.

My little attempts at running went from minutes to seconds. I kept thinking it'd go away like it usually does, but it just got worse and worse. I walked the last mile with a hobbled jog through the finish.

It was dissapointing to see the finishers medals for the full marathon, but I know I did the right thing.

Aside from that, I'm still really happy I finished a 25K! The guy who set it up was really cool. There were 112 Marathon runners and 54 25K runners (well, switch two!). The organizer at one point drove the course and was driving next to us and said "hey, you only got like 30 miles to go!" and laughing and joking with us. He said "wanna jump in the back, I won't tell anyone!" Of course, that didn't happen.