Long Beach Marathon one step at a time

The 30th Anniversary of the Long Beach Marathon and my 7th time at Long Beach thanks to Kool n Fit who have made this possible every year...

Renate, Preston, Ed and myself after the run at the KoolnFit booth

So just a few thoughts to share about my amazing 7th times the charm experience...

• with hind sight the 13.1 mile probably would have been the perfect distance...
• Because I am Suzy I chose the 26.2mile version.....pretty darn smart after 4 weeks and 2 days post vein surgery....
• training really helps, it conditions the body to stay upright and move forward for a few hours without getting cramps, and having to walk......
• mile 15 was my magical number.....after 8 weeks of no running and just walking after surgery and not even cycling I thought at least I would be well rested!!!
• Mile 15 is when my brain registered several warning signs that my feet my knees my back my shoulders really did not care to keep moving forward as fast as I was moving....
• Walking is an option and as long as you are moving forward the miles will keep on passing by!

I was prepared for a longer than normal day I had my fuel belt full of the good stuff, Hammer Nutrition montana huckleberry gel in one of the bottles,  and another the expresso Hammergel gotta love my caffeine fix. I also had endurolytes, and racecap supremes and anti fatigue caps...
To order Hammer Nutrition products the first time..

I had my legs sprayed with Kool n Fit and my insoles before the event and during the event at mile 9, I also with Ed and Preston helped the Kool n Fit booth at the expo and after the race.

the last 10 miles were LONG.... I dug deep into my bag of tricks,...I felt fine!! just my body had forgotten how to behave after 2hours or so! I smiled I handed out hi fives, I called out to other runners looking strong, way to go....yup I had to walk and jog but I had NO pain.

The finish was sweet as I managed a sub 4 hour marathon that was certainly not expected the bigger news was my left leg were I had the saph vein removed was NOT swollen, NOT itchy, NOT purple around the ankles and was NOT aching!
My race pace.....

It was an awesome day to jog and very grateful to be able to do what I do. Big thanks to Kool n Fit for their friendship and support. Big SHout out to Hammer Nutrition for fueling me pre during and post race with Hammer Vegan bar and recoverite. To Rudy Project for making me look cool in the yellow fluros, Polar USA for the awesome V800 which told me numbers I really did not want to see but at least I have for reference and gave me a generous recovery time too! Brooks Running and Ocean Potion and of course my husband for letting me do the event so soon after my operation!

Thanks to Ed and Preston for the lift to and from the marathon good times for sure.....its still a long road back to being 100% but I see the light I really do.
V800 information...