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Published: March 28th 2011
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Our LA running group
Glenn, Jolene, Thanh, Wendy, Marlene and Me It Never Rains in California...
I registered to run this marathon with an 8 mile training run as my base. Not my brightest hour, but friends from out-of-state and out-of-country were flying in to run it so I caved-in to peer pressure and registered sometime in late February. With only three weeks to prepare, I didn't.
Friends from Australia were flying through LA on their way home from a week long cruise. They didn't prepare either, but that doesn't seem to stop runners. If bling is on the line, we'll do almost anything to get it...clearly.
This is going to be hard for many of you to believe, but in order for me to be able to run the LA Marathon, I had to do it during a 4-day work trip. I started work at 5:55 a.m. in Salt Lake City on March 18th and flew until 3:30 p.m. with an overnight in Los Angeles that allowed me enough time to get to Dodger Stadium to pick up my race packet from the expo.
While at the expo, I had to buy a new pair of Asics Kayano Gels as I had left my running shoes in
Utah. I might have been really worried about this had I not had the exact same thing happen at last year's Marine Corps Marathon. I got new shoes at the MCM expo and ran in them and didn't have a single blister or hot-spot. I will always run in Asics Kayano Gels now because they have never failed me. Even brand new without a single mile on them I can complete an entire marathon without any problems.
Back at the hotel later that night I was able to get about 7 hours of sleep. I was due back at work at 7 a.m. the next morning for a 12 hour duty day that got me back to the hotel around 7 p.m. and to sleep a few hours later.
My ride picked me up at 3:45 a.m. Sunday morning and we drove down to Santa Monica, near the finish line and hopped a bus that took us up to Dodger Stadium where the race was to begin a few hours later. Waiting in the early morning hours with the brutal wind was awful and we all huddled together trying to keep warm.
When the gun finally went
Glenn & Marlene
Our Aussie friends, the Prentice's. off for the runners at 7:45 a.m., the sky opened up and rain began to fall and did not quit once during the entire race. The wind gusts were so strong they blew the sheaves off the palm trees and race signs blew to the ground. Through it all we kept running. By mile five we were completely soaked to the skin and ran the remaining 21 miles absolutely freezing to death. There was no avoiding the puddles of water that collected in the streets and after finally running through our first stream of water we didn't even bother trying to avoid them. Everyone's shoes were soaked within the first 5 miles, though surprisingly, even with wet feet I didn't get a single blister.
When we got to the finish line, we had to walk an additional half mile to the bag-drop area where most of us discovered our bags were missing. The weather was so bad the volunteers quit in the middle of the race and the police were called to keep the peace between people trying to find their belongings. I lost a camera case, the cable to connect my camera to my computer, my favorite Under
Armour lounge pants and a running shirt and a running jacket that my friend stuffed into my bag at the last minute. We were very sorry we used the bag-check system, but our loss was minimal compared to what other people lost. I have learned a valuable lesson about using the bag check at races...you can't trust anyone but the Marines. Ooh-rah! I have never lost a single item at the Marine Corps Marathon.
It took an hour for me to make it through the crowds to my friend's car and then another half an hour to get back to my hotel. I arrived close to 3:30 p.m., took as long a hot bath as I dared and had to be on the shuttle to the airport at 5:00 p.m. We had three flights scheduled but had a few delays and I was able to take an hour nap at 10:30 p.m. We finally landed in San Jose at 2:00 a.m.
I had a long break in San Jose and used the time to sleep as long as I could the next day. Two flights later that night and we were back in Salt Lake City. I was
very happy to be home.
Really the only thing that made this race wonderful were my friends...
Glenn and Marlene live in Brisbane, Australia and they made a special effort to extend their vacation in the USA so they could run this race with us. They are ultra-marathoners and they both compete in the 56 mile Comrades race in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa every year. They are wonderful people and they and I ran all 26.2 miles together. The three of us decided it wasn't about the time, it was about being with the people we love so we just made the best of a miserable day and stayed together.
Wendy lives in Boston and is a social worker. She flew all the way to LA just to run this marathon, her first. Wendy was struggling with IT band issues and a few problems with her lower back but she ran anyway and finished with a pretty good time considering she had to walk most of the last few miles.
Jolene lives in Kansas and flew her entire family out to California to spend the weekend. They all played while she ran. This was her first marathon
as well. She had a chest cold when she arrived in California and by race morning she couldn't talk. But there was bling to be had...so on she ran.
Thanh lives in Orange County and is a firefighter and paramedic. He's also the ring-leader of our little group of runners. Thanh broke away from us early in the race and set out to get a PR. He succeeded and we were all very happy for him. It was his second marathon.
I would be lying if I said I had a good time...I did not. But these five runners made the day brighter and I'm grateful they were there.
See you all next week at the Irish Sprint 10k in Quantico, VA...thank goodness it's only 6 miles!
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