The Los Angeles

I ran the Los Angeles Marathon yesterday.  I had two goals for this marathon.  Making a PR (personal record) which is pretty much every runner's goal in most marathons.  Also I wanted to finish strong and not hit the "wall" in the last 3-4 miles like I did last time.  Traffic leading to Dodger stadium was terrible.  I think it took us over an hour to go 1 mile.  Many runner's were simply getting out of their cars and walking up the hill which I eventually did.  There was plenty of time though.  When I got to the starting area I had almost an hour before the race actually started.  It was scheduled to go off at 7:30 but was delayed until 8.  I expected the porta-potty factor to be really bad for this race considering how many runner's there were and recalling how bad it was at Long Beach.  That was not the case though.  All the lines were maybe 10 people deep.  Looks like they planned that part right.  Anyway, that was a big deal last time so I thought I'd cover it.  I made my way into the starting corral area.  I think they call it a shoot or a shoo or something like that.  It was a good half hour before the race but it seemed like most of the runner's were already in there.  They have it set up so that you run with a certain speed group according to how fast you think you can run each mile.  I was buried back past the 11 minute milers.  Unfortunately, I found myself directly in front of one of the speakers which killed my ears until the race finally started.  When the gun went off they played that song I love LA by David Lee Roth.  That was a great way to start a race.  30,000 people do not get going in a hurry.  It took me 15 minutes to actually cross the starting line.  One thing I noticed early on was that a lot of people brought sweaters that they didn't mind leaving behind.  The first mile was littered with disgarded clothes on the street.  If I was homeless I'd stake out that first mile and clothe myself for a year with what was left behind.  Early on we made our way through China Town.  To be honest, there wasn't a whole lot to see.  It's only a few blocks of stores and restaurants; all Chinese of course.  It started raining almost immediately upon leaving Dodger Stadium.  By mile 2 or 3 it was already raining heavy although it would take the occasional break.  The running jacket I was wearing was protecting me well at that point.  There were a lot of people on the sides of the course cheering us on.  That was really awesome.  One weird thing I noticed at multiple times on the course somebody yelling "Go Dave!" or something like that.  I heard a few other people being cheered for as well, but I heard the Dave thing a lot.  I kept thinking they must be cheering for somebody nearby named Dave, but it kept happening.  There was even a few billboards setup around mile 6 and 8 that said "6 miles down 20.2 to go, You can do it Dave".  I don't mean crappy cardboard signs against the side of the road.  I mean those giant billboards like you see on the side of freeways.  That was a little strange.  By mile 10 it was really coming down hard and the wind was kicking up.  Most of the time the wind wasn't a big deal, but then I'd turn a corner and it would be blowing full force against me.  It was like having a shower nozzle pointed directly into my face.  This made site seeing a bit difficult.  There is probably half the marathon that I can't honestly remember because I was blinking through rain.  I know that we ran through a lot of not so glamorous neighborhoods before we made it to the ritzy parts of LA.  The Sunset strip was a nice part.  That was one of those parts of the race I was really looking forward to because you just can't run down the middle of Sunset Blvd on your own.  I know that I ran by the iconic Capitol Records building but I can't honestly remember doing it.  It was raining really hard on the Sunset part.  I recall there was a lot of flooding.  It didn't matter too much since by this time I was soaked through.  I might as well have been running with no shirt on.  The course after Sunset is a bit of a blur.  This was the part of LA I don't think I've ever seen before.  Beverly Hills, Brentwood, West Hollywood.  I kept having to look at signs on the side of the road to find out were we were.  One thing that was a bit annoying was that they did not post mile markers at every mile.  So I would be running for a while thinking I was at a certain mileage only to find out I was one mile behind were I thought I was.  Brentwood was one of the last areas we went through before Santa Monica.  Very nice homes, I wonder how long it will take for people to not think of OJ when they hear Brentwood.  One thing I did not expect on this course was all the hills.  There was a lot of them.  I thought it was going to be all down hill, being "Stadium to the Sea" and all.  It really didn't feel that way.  I know that we were going downhill, but it was an up and down downhill.  The final 2 miles were almost completely downhill which was nice.  As I approached the 23 mile marker I started to get nervous knowing that this was the part that my body hit the wall in the Long Beach marathon.  I remember how bad that felt.  Thankfully it did not happen.  I was able to finish the race striding hard for the finish line passing people the entire way.  Unfortunately, I missed my PR time by a mile, or two.  I ran 4 hours 18 minutes, almost 20 minutes off my Long Beach time.  I suppose I could blame a little of that on the weather, but I still am left feeling a bit disappointed.  It felt good to finish strong though.  All those good feelings would quickly make way for the fact that once I stopped running I immediately started shivering from being cold and wet.  I grabbed one of those foil blanket things that they always give runner's after marathons.  It helped a little.  Some more experienced runner's got 2 or 3 of them and fashioned foil toga's around themselves.  They looked silly but that was a pretty good idea in hindsight.  The crowd was ridiculous.  Everybody looked the same in a dark rain jacket and  an umbrella.  I wish that we had set up some distant meeting point ahead of time.  I finally found Michelle, or rather she found me about a block from the finish line.  I would later learn that she had been standing out there for hours.  I am really lucky to have a wife as supportive as Michelle.  Overall, I'd say that the experience was good.  As miserable as much of that probably sounded, I want to do that marathon again.  Maybe not in the rain though.  People ask me sometimes why I like doing things like that.  I have a variety of answers.  It's a challenge.  To get in shape.  To be a good example for my kids.  Mostly though, it's to prove that I'm alive and not just existing.  Yesterday, I felt really really alive.