LA Marathon Recap

Oh my goodness where do I begin with the LA Marathon recap?  I guess I’ll start at the beginning!

We headed up to my parents’ house around 12:15 and then my dad drove from there to LA.  We got our bibs and wandered the expo where I chatted with Sandy from BIC Bands and got a few new headbands for future workouts.  (P.S. BIC Band giveaway coming soon!).  Then I wandered over to Pro Compression and finally got to meet Skinny Runner whose blog I’ve been reading for quite a while.  She’s so crazy inspirational.  She runs marathons like, all the time, and runs them FAST.  Monica was there too but I didn’t get a chance to say hi.  *tear*

Ok so after the expo.  We headed to the hotel to check in and rest up a bit before dinner.  We stayed at the Millenium Biltmore in Downtown LA which was just a short shuttle ride to the start this morning.  It was an old hotel and the rooms showed it.

 

 

That last picture is kind of lame but I was aiming to capture the cool lamp.

We kept dinner simple by going downstairs to the Italian restaurant in the hotel.  Italian food ~~> pasta ~~> runner’s best friend.

They had a buffet for $25 a person with a discount for marathoners that took it down to $20 each.  And it wasn’t just any buffet – you could pick your pasta, sauce, and all the other ingredients and they cooked it for you on the spot.  I had fettucine, chicken, shrimp, bell peppers, sun dried tomatoes, garlic, red pepper flakes, and marinara sauce.  And parmesan cheese.  Obviously.

 

The buffet also had a salad bar.  I didn’t want to overdose on the vegetables the night before a huge run but I did go after the fruit.  And the croutons because I just wanted them.

It was a bit hard to fall asleep, but I eventually did and got about 4.5 – 5 hours of sleep.  Not great, but I guess it could be worse.  We had a 4 am wake up call so Mat and my mom could drive down to the start and so my dad and I could get to the shuttle around 5:30 or so.  I had laid everything out the night before to make things easy in the morning.

 

 

You can’t see my awesome shamrock socks in that picture, but trust me, they’re there.  :)

Pre-race food was chocolate chip banana bread my mom made smeared with peanut butter.

The events between arriving at Dodger Stadium where the race began and the actual start are boring.  Stood around, sat around, use the porta potties.

And then, around 7:30, we were off!  We were running a marathon!

All was well until about mile 4 when we decided to hit the potties again.  There was a line which was annoying and took about 10 minutes off our chip time.  Luckily my Garmin’s battery lasted the whole race and captured a more accurate running time.

That mile 4 stop was frustrating and kept us from wanting to take a walk break, so we didn’t until mile 7 or 8.  I think that decision bit us in the butt around mile 18, because that was when my legs started to die.  I think it was also due to the long, rather steep downhill shortly before that.  I had to put on the breaks with my quads and butt and was feeling the effects almost instantly.  Not good.

Mentally, that part was pretty tough for me.  I knew I could finish the race, but I was worried about how good/bad/terrible I’d be feeling by the end.  We just kept trucking along, walking when we needed to, stretching when we needed to.  Somehow we got to mile 25 and I started “smelling blood” as my dad says and started to regain some motivation.  We saw the finish up ahead and picked up some speed to finish strong (ish ).

My legs were pretty darn tired at the end.  I went to to get a mylar sheet and the volunteers suddenly left when I got there.  Trying to bend down to get one myself was not a pleasant experience.

 

I look ridiculous in this photo.  Sorry.

 

Daddy’s right leg was bothering him essentially the entire race, yet he looks better than me.

Close up of the medal.  They’re really pretty!

 

My stomach started bothering me a little afterward, so I sat and rested a while.  Eventually we made it to the car and fought some traffic to get back to my parents’ house.  On the way home, Mat and I got shamrock shakes (and fries that we devoured).

I finally checked my stats this afternoon.

Take 10 minutes off the chip time for the potty stop and that’s our running (with a little walking) time.  I wanted to finish faster, but hey. First marathon, in pain, and we crossed the finish at a good clip.  I’d say that’s something to be proud of!

And now the big question: will I do another full marathon?

I don’t know.  Ask me later.

Question:

How did you get your sweat on this weekend?