Date: March 24, 2019
Bib: 17912
Time: 4hrs 12min 34sec
Pace: 9min 38sec / mile
Distance: 42.2k (26.2 miles)
I knew running a marathon was going to take a lot of time and commitment from a training perspective. I decided to take it seriously and train for 4-5 months (it may have been closer to 6, but I don’t recall).
I started training by running outside. One thing I learned from the previous runs was the impact on your knees and quads made a huge difference on asphalt or sidewalk when comparing it to running on a treadmill. The fatigue and wear on your muscles + joints hits differently.
Luckily, the Beltline access near Krog Street tunnel is less than a mile away from me. My training would consist of warming up with a jog to the Beltline and then running to either Ponce City Market and back or to Piedmont Park and back. Ponce City Market and back was ~3miles and Piedmont Park and back was ~5miles. If I looped around Piedmont Park it would be closer to 7-8 miles.
When I first started my training running 1-2 miles was difficult. I could hardly get under a 10min mile pace. Eventually, after running for a couple of weeks I could tell my body acclimated to the longer distance and was able to get 8-9min miles.
After a month I was getting my mile time down into the 7min pace. With longer distances, I was able get my averages around 8min, which I was completely happy with.
In the back of my mind, I wanted to break the 4hr mark on the marathon. That was my goal and the challenge I set for myself.
Ironically, I hate running. But figured this would be a good test to will power and mental strength. There were many days where I would feel like quitting around 1-2 miles into my training, but would keep pushing myself. I realized that sometimes it was just my body warming up and once I got past the warm up phase I would get into a trance and the remainder of my run for the day would feel quite simple. It made me realize that a lot of people quit with the slightest discomfort or when they let their mind’s thoughts (e.g. I can’t do this today or I’m going to quit for the day) overcome their will power.
Anyways, Vince booked a hotel a few blocks from where the LA Marathon would end that year at the Bayside Hotel 2001 Ocean Ave, Santa Monica 90405.
The day before the race we didn’t quite think things through and walked up and down Santa Monica. I think it was around 3-5miles in total. This kind of wore me out.
I forget how we got to Dodger Stadium where the Marathon would start, but we got there super early (I believe around 5AM PST). It was eery sitting in the stadium with other runners in the seats with all of the lights out and it being dark outside.
I was laughing because the bathrooms all had lines out the door. Many people taking their morning #2’s before the run. I was worried that I’d have to go, but fortunately didn’t have to before the run.
The starting area was hectic. Thousands of people waiting and what felt like an eternity.
What amazed me was how many people come out to watch the LA Marathon. There were parts of the course that hardly had anyone, but there were thousands of people along the way. People handing out fruits like watermelon and bananas and other people handing out pizza and hot dogs and even sushi lol
There was one person who was holding a sign that said “all toenails go to heaven” and after the marathon I learned what they meant. Both my big toes had their nails bruise and fall off. It took over 6 months for them to grow back completely and look normal again.
For about 16-18 miles into the race I was pacing fine and felt fine even though there was some points I was questioning my life decisions. In the middle of the race I felt I needed to take a #2. I ran past a few bathroom stations (porta potties), but they had lines for days. I eventually came across a bathroom section that had no one in line, but those things were sitting in the direct sun. I don’t know how much time I wasted trying to take a dump, but I’m 100% sure that pit stop costed me my sub 4 hour finish time.
When we were going through the Brentwood(?) area almost to Santa Monica I started to cramp real bad and had to keep stopping to walk. The cramps were insane, my hamstrings were tightening up, but I kept telling myself to push through it because the quicker I finished the quicker I could recover and rest.
There was one section of the road where I stopped to walk and I cussed out “fucking shit, fuck” because the pain from my hamstrings was so bad. What I didn’t realize was there was a mom and her daughter handing out waters and as I said that out loud the little kid asked if I wanted a water and I smiled and said “yes, thank you so much!”. The mom was laughing.
Eventually, the last stretch was on Ocean Ave. in Santa Monica. When you take that left turn the finish seems so far away. If I remember correctly, the straight away on that street was ~2 miles to the finish line. What felt like an eternity, finally ended. Again, there were SO MANY PEOPLE on Ocean Ave.
Eve and Elisa were there to root Vince and I on. I finally found them somewhere in the crowd, switched to my sandals and we waited for Vince to finish about 1.5 hours later.
Vince had runner’s diarrhea (runner’s trots) and had to blow up one of the porta potties after.
We walked to the hotel, showered, got changed. I forget where we walked to after to grab a bite of food, but Vince and I were limping hard. It’s crazy how fast your body has pain (pain like after an intense workout the next day). The restaurant we went to was giving out free cookies(?) to anyone who ran the LA Marathon so Vince and I grabbed one of them.
I honestly don’t remember anything after that.