So it is 2.45am on a Sunday morning as I head out to Santa Monica with my friends Ray Mena and Alicia,
then it was on to a bus to shuttle some 20,000 plus runners to Dodger
Stadium...why? for the 29th LA Marathon from the Stadium to the Sea all
26.2 miles of it!
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| 4 15am in the morning... |
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| Its Dodger Stadium ! |
The Wait
It
was not a bad morning, super early at Dodger Stadium, there was plenty
of pre race foods and Arrowhead water I personally would have loved a
cup of coffee but alas there was none to be found!
Lucky for me I had packed a Hammer Gel flavor Expresso for such an emergency! Life was good!
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| There was the most awesome sunrise at around 6.30ish... |
The Corral
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| Ray was in Corral A |
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| My Corral was B |
There was 21,506 marathoners which finished thats a lot of runners!!If you knew a time you would finish in you were put into a corral with other runners of similar times....I thought about joining a pacers group I hovered between the 3 25 and the 3 35 but would be happy with a 3 45...
The Race
Then just like that the anthem had been sung, the wheel chair athletes had already departed, the elite women had been given a 17 minute advantage, the male pros had gone now it was for the main pack I crossed the start line my journey had begun..
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| the girls behind me are 13 years old Students Run LA |
Running from Dodger stadium was awesome mainly down hill to China Town were at mile 2 we went through the famous Dragon gates...I debated whether to take a pic, but decided to keep running, Echo Park lake came and went and the miles kept ticking off. Every mile there was an aid station I made sure to drink plenty of water and carried my own Hammer Nutrition. by mile 6 I decided needed a porta potty break, yup when you gotta go you gotta go. Soon it was mile 10 and I had a mini melt down,,,,why was I doing this again ? for the bling? for the training ? for fun? I really had to dig deep and decided to take another potty break on returning to the course I realized I was running down HOLLY WOOD!! woot woot, took out my phone to take pics and there at Graumans Chinese Theatre was KTLA5 very own Gayle Anderson I ran off course and approached her I said something like "Oh is that really you! I just have to have your pic I love your reporting!"
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| Hee Hee Hee I got an awesome selfie shot with my phone well worth the effort to get the pic! |
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Then it was soon mile 11.5 and I had a horrible side stitch I drank more water and took a Hammer gel and endurolytes, I stretched it out and kept moving forward. then a funny thing happened the miles started adding up and it was mile 17 and I was running down past Rodeo drive, I took the energy from the AMAZING crowd which was out supporting all the marathoners, I gave out high fives, I cheered the cheer leaders I thanks the Girl Scout Brownies for the water, the sun was heating up the course and I love HOT! mile 22 I am looking for the down hill....another mile then we were running on a slight downhill, I was laughing I could smell the Ocean, I was going to finish strong the last couple of miles was amazing the energy of the crowd the view of the Ocean I could see the finish line I could see my time I had to pinch myself wow I was going to do a 3 35!! A female in front of me had nearly collapsed but her friend was pushing her to the finish, I saw my friend Randy in the announcement booth and then I crossed the LA MARATHON finish line...I could stop I could get a well deserved piece of bling I could laugh I had finished!
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| The well fueled athlete...Hammer Gels, Endurolytes and Endurance Aminos.. |
Post Race
That finish chute and the line to the medals was LONG! I saw a few friends from the Ultra community and grabbed a bottle of water, I wanted to get my drop bag which had my Hammer Nutrition Chocolate Recoverite... it was really hot and suddenly I stopped waiting to get my bag felt light headed and dizzy, lucky for me Ray was able to get my bag while I sat in the cool first aid room and was reunited with my Recovery drink
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| The Bling my Recoverite and the Beach! |
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| Uncle Fester! |
Then it was time to play with a rather large yellow snake as I thought it would be cool for my grand daughter Abigail to see!!
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| Yikes!!!! he is getting too friendly! | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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| Sir Hiss and I wrestle |
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| Kool n Fit |
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| The Bling |
Here is my RC3 GPS info for the 26.2 miles shows route and my time.
Big Shout out to Ray and Alicia for being fun to share the weekend with, Thank you to Hammer Nutrition for the great Hammer Gels and post race recoverite, To Polar USA for letting me listen to my body, To Rudy Project for awesome Fluros, to Kool n Fit for keeping me Kool and Fit, To Ocean Potion for my sun care needs and Brooks Running for great shoes to run in! And to Fuel Belt for letting me run independently on my own nutrition !!
I finished in 3 hours 35 mins and 6 seconds, two potty breaks, one melt down and finished strong 9th in my 45-49 age group and I won a nutri bullet too!!
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| MS no force for this amazing runner |
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| Brooks Running |
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| Polar USA |
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| Good Friends |
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| Found my name on the board of names! |
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| yup an hours sleep gone! |
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