It's been about 5 days post the LA Marathon and I am still celebrating my accomplishment of completing my First Marathon!! Did it go the way I had wanted it to? No. Did I reach my goal time? No. Did I stick with my run:walk cycle? No. Did I enjoy every minute of it? No. Will I do it again? Yes!!!
I was lucky to be able to share this experience with another running friend. This was both of our first marathon. We drove up together from SoCal and had a hotel room for just Saturday night. We first arrived in LA to get to the expo. We made it in around 1:30ish. Getting in and out of the expo was a breeze. It was the merchandise check out line that took some time. But you HAVE to buy a few items at your first marathon race!! And we were in luck too because they had started to mark things down to 50-75% off. I was able to score a $82 LA Marathon jacket for $21 and also 3 shirts for $11 each. I even picked up little man a stuffed teddy bear for $4 with an original price tag of $16. When we were all done checking out we then went over to the Wall of Fame to find our names. Here is mine towards the top of the wall, above the big white A.
When we got done walking through the whole expo we decided to find the hotel and get off our feet for a bit. We drove from LA to Santa Monica, where we would be staying closer to the finish line. We got checked it, relaxed for a bit and chatted about all the great deals we got on our clothing. We walked down towards the beach and settled on PF Changs for dinner, keeping it simple with chicken and brown rice. When we got back to the hotel we had enough time to get our bags and clothes ready for tomorrow before hitting the bed early.
Our wake up call was at 1:50am so that we could catch a taxi at 2:30am to take us to the bus pick up by 3am. The bus pick up was at Santa Monica City Hall, near the finish line. Even though it was just a little over 2 miles from our hotel we just didnt feel comfortable enough to walk from our hotel to there at such an early time. We arrived to the bus pick up and we were definitely one of the first ones there. Once our bus loaded up at 3am we were on our way to Dodger Stadium
Above is a picture of me in Dodger Stadium. My friend and I were some of the first ones there. It was so quiet and peaceful when we arrived. It still had not sunk in that I was getting ready to run 26.2 miles in just a few short hours. While hanging out we were able to walk around the stadium, ate some carbs, made sure to stay hydrated and talked about how exciting everything was. I was also able to meet two other INKnBURN ambassadors for the first time!!! Note that in my picture above it was around 3:30am and the temperature was already at 72 degrees. I am sporting my INKnBURN RunOrDie Singlet, INKnBURN black shorts, MRTT running hat, compression calf sleeves and Hoka One One shoes for this race.
About an hour and a half before the race started, we found our way to the open corral and promptly sat on the ground until things got on their way. The two pictures above is of me in the corral and the sun coming up behind us at around 6:50am. The race was originally scheduled for 7:25am start time but was moved up to 6:55am because of the heat advisory. The race gun went off as close to 6:55am as they could get it.
My plan for the race was to start off a little slower then what I had been training at and keep at a 2 min run, 1 minute walk pace. I was making sure to use the walking time to take small sips of water and Tailwind to stay hydrated. I left out of Dodger Stadium and headed through Chinatown and Little Tokyo before hitting our first hill of the race at mile 4, Bunker Hill. Even though it was a decent size hill there was a group of Japanese Drummers just drumming away and putting extra motivation in your foot steps. These first 4 miles felt great and I was running around a 12:30 min/mile pace. With the hill I went slower up to conserve energy. After Bunker Hill I went through Westlake where there was another major hill to climb and then through Silverlake. By this time I had hit the 10K mark and had already made a pit stop to the porta potty and was also walking through the water stations. From there we ran through Little Armenia and into Hollywood. It was just before hitting Hollywood, around mile 10, that my stomach had other plans for me. I spent a good bit of time in the porta potty with a very upset tummy. I was just watching the minutes pass by on my Garmin. I was so upset. Once things calmed down and I got back into the race, I felt so drained and weak. But this was my first time in LA and I was excited to finally be able to see some sites. Below is a few pictures I was able to take while running down Hollywood.
After Hollywood I ran through West Hollywood for miles 13, 14 and 15. This is where the heat started to pick up. The clouds were clearing, the wind was dying down and the sun was coming out. My body was getting tired already but thank goodness there was so much to see to help keep my mind off of things. I hit Beverly Hills around mile 16 and got to do some window shopping as I ran by all the expensive stores. From Beverly Hills I went through Westwood, West LA and into Brentwood. For me, one of the hardest places to run was near the VA Hospital, around mile 20 I believe. It was around 92 degrees by then and I was traveling up another hill. At this point in my race I could feel myself getting hot and beyond tired. I wanted to finish my race and I wanted to do it without injury or heat stroke. It was at this time that I decided I needed to abandon my run:walk cycles and just walk for a bit. I used this time to make sure I was taking in liquids and using my cooling towel to lower my body temp. People along side the road had buckets of ice that they were handing out and I found myself stuffing it down into my bra. At the water stations I was dumping water onto my head and keeping my cooling towel fresh with cold water. Luckily my INKnBURN clothing was also helping to keep me cool and was wicking away my sweat pretty quickly. Half way through Brentwood, around mile 22, I came across a fellow MRTT (Moms Run This Town) mama who was waiting for me. She had a fresh cold towel, filled my bottle with ice chips and attached a bag around my stomach. She told me that I probably didnt want what was in the bag right now but it would be there for me later. Next thing I knew I was off and going again. The ice chips helped to get me through the next few miles and into Santa Monica. Just as I was starting to feel better and about to hit my run:walk cycles again, I felt my stomach pull at me. I decided here that there was no way I was going to make my goal time and was just going to enjoy the last few miles of this journey. I could tell that I was getting closer to the end because the wind was picking back up again with a cool breeze coming off of the ocean. Before I knew it, there was the last mile marker sign!!
It wasnt long after I passed mile 25 that I could start to see the ocean. I then remembered about the bag my friend had put around my stomach. I opened it up to find jelly beans and pretzels inside. At that moment jelly beans sounded so amazing and they tasted even better then what I remembered. I finished up the jelly beans right as I took my final turn and spotted the finish line just up ahead.
So many people out there cheering for you, telling you that you are almost there and to keep going. Emotions were becoming so overwhelming at this point. My husband was sending me texts asking why I had stopped. I guess he was experiencing a glitch in the system as he and my little guy were following me on line. I sent him this picture and told him I was just about there. Knowing that the finish line was so close and that they were watching me, I found what little energy I had left and ran the last little bit across the finish line. I was fully expecting tears of joy at that moment but all I had was a big smile across my face. I did it. I just ran 26.2 miles. It only took me 6:32:06 but I did it.
Not every race is perfect and things dont always go as planned but thats why there are other races in my future. I set a PR today and plan to break it at my next Marathon this November. I learned a lot and will use it to better prepare myself for the next one. Even though this was my first Marathon, I loved it. Everything ran so smoothly, the runners were supportive, the volunteers were amazing, the community support was overwhelming and the bling was awesome. I would have not wanted my first Marathon to go any other way. I hope to come back to LA next year for a rematch.
Right after the race my friend and I ate lunch, walked back to the hotel, changed and headed for home. I was pumped to wear my 26.2 mile shirt from INKnBURN. I had bought it back in January and was waiting for this day to finally put it on. We also celebrated with iced coffee drinks from Dunkin Donuts. Once I got home and was able to clean up more, little man was ready to take me out to dinner to celebrate. Of course he picked one of his favorite spots, Pieology. While the hubby ordered our dinner, little man and I waited at the table. He asked me to take a picture of us in my new race shirt. Love this kid to the moon and back!
