Race Report: LA Marathon - March 21, 2010

The  LA Marathon. 

Or as I like to think of it, a lovely 26.2 mile training run 

through some of the best parts of Los Angeles with 24,999 of my running buddies!

Someone once said that you race the race that you trained for and on this day, that actually came true. My goal for my first marathon was to finish between 4:20-4:30, with a smile and feeling good. I finished in 4:27:23, I actually have photo proof that I was smiling, and well, good is not quite the right word...but I did feel strong. My last 2 miles were my fastest and crossing that finish line was simply unexplainable. I also had a separate goal of raising over $3000 for the Hirshberg Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer and I can happily announce that goal was exceeded and money is still coming in!! Add all this to the facts that this course ROCKED, the entire city seemed to come out to either run or play with the runners, the weather was perfect, and the support and volunteers were nothing short of absolutely amazing, well...my first marathon was a success and I could not be happier that I chose to do it at home on the inaugural "Stadium to Sea" course. 

The success did not come easy, though. There were highs, there were lows, and a little of everything in between. And if that's all you needed to know, great! If you are intrigued to read more, please continue but make sure that you have about 20 minutes and a comfy chair because this report is about as long as the marathon itself. You have been warned.


So, let's start at the start, shall we?

Transition: Motivations

January 17th, 2010 was going to be my first run that is longer than 13.1 miles. With each long run, I seem to compose a new blog post in my head. When someone comes up with the technology to translate my stream of thoughts directly to an eBlogger post, I will be forever grateful (and slightly worried) because I have fallen into this lovely habit of typing in my thoughts and notes directly into a draft post as soon as I am done running with every intention of writing a full post as soon as I stretch, shower and eat. Yeah, that clearly has worked out REALLY well since this particular post was drafted on January 17th and I'm now writing it on February 20th. I am still dating it Jan. 17th and I'm probably breaking some major law of the blogdom world by doing so. Oh well.


So I almost didn't do this run. My right leg was really sore in a particular spot for the first time during all of my training. And because this kind of training is new to me, I wasn't sure if my soreness was "normal" or an alarm. I am terrified of injury and very aware that most injuries could be prevented if the warning signs were listened too. So was this a warning sign?