Well, the weather was perfect, and as Randy Newman's "I Love LA" (ironically, a song about NOT loving LA, but it somehow attached itself to the city) blasted through the speakers, 25,200 runners took off into the concrete jungle of Los Angeles.
This, being my first road race (I believe the highest number of participants in my trail races hovers around 315), I was blown away by the sheer SIZE of everything: Musicians playing in the streets, people hanging out to cheer us on, dodging and weaving for the first 5 miles around, not rocks and roots, but walkers and shufflers.
I was running with my friend Eric, who had been threatening to run this marathon for 8 years and challenged me only a few days after my 50k to run it with him. Well, I did have the base, but I was concerned that he'd only been running regularly for about 3 weeks at that point (he was a stellar track athlete in high school but had since fallen off the running wagon). I pointed him towards several training programs and told him to "catch up".
THE MUTHER FUGGIN' RACE
With the shot of the starting pistol, it took us about 6 minutes to cross the starting line, but once we got going, things were smooth sailing. Our first 10k, we clocked in at 55:14, a less than 9 mn/mile pace, which we'd been counting on. We both felt fantastic, and I was itching to push it, but I was there for Eric moreso than myself, so we trudged on enjoying the picture-perfect weather.
Our next split was at 13.1 miles, and we hit that at 1:55:33, still both flying high. I could tell that I was going to finish more than strongly at this pace, but I sensed hesitation in Eric. Slight, but I knew it was there. When we stopped so he could take a leak, it took him 2 minutes to get out of the port-o-john, so I knew something was up.
Dara and his wife Kate awaited us at a designated corner around 14 miles, and we rushed over, gave them sweaty, salty kisses, and got the hell out of Dodge. Into the back half, I was getting the warning signals from Eric that things were taking a turn, and by 15, I saw that glaze that overcomes runners who are approaching "the wall". Regardless of my constant insistence that we eat and drink more than we felt necessary, his reserves we running low, probably from a lack of long runs in his training, but I kept up words of encouragement and kept telling him, "We're finishing this together."
At mile 19, I was seriously losing him. Our pace was somewhere in the 10:30 neighborhood, and we were still in the middle of some hills. I pushed him, tried everything from humor to positive reinforcement, to getting him angry at the course, but I was losing him, and at mile 22, staring at the split clock, he looked at me and said, "Break 4 hours."
I had major gas in my tanks still, so I patted him on that back and said, "I will see you within 10 minutes of my finish. Keep moving. You can do it." I picked up my pace and left Eric behind, trudging, aching. I felt awful for doing it, and wouldn't have split off if he hadn't insisted.
The wives again were at mile 24, so I waved across the street and picked it up even more. NOTHING was gonna slow me down....at least I thought.
About 1/2 a mile later, I saw a runner in the middle of the road, holding his left hamstring. As I am wont to do whenever I see someone stopped and hurting during a race, I asked, "Are you okay?" and saw a grimacing, tearfilled face look back at me. He screamed as I hoisted his arm over my shoulders and shuffled him to the curb. An onlooker took him and screamed, "I've got him! Go!" and off I went.
I felt the leg burning and the nausea coming on from burning everything you've got in a race, but I was 1 mile from the finish and pushed even harder. I couldn't BELIEVE the throngs of cheering people as I entered the chutes, barely missing 4 hours at 4:02:19, placing 2,375 out of 25, 200 runners.
Our wives reunited with us and welcomed us with 2 bottles of delicious sports drink Guinness , which we thankfully guzzled in celebration. And Eric, after all of that struggling? The s'umbitch finished in 4:08! I shudder to think what he'll do with a big running base under his belt.
All in all, a great day, a fantastic experience, and now, to soak my legs in a hot bath...and enjoy another Guinness. Pics are coming - fucking blogger is refusing to allow me to post at the moment. Bastids.
This, being my first road race (I believe the highest number of participants in my trail races hovers around 315), I was blown away by the sheer SIZE of everything: Musicians playing in the streets, people hanging out to cheer us on, dodging and weaving for the first 5 miles around, not rocks and roots, but walkers and shufflers.
I was running with my friend Eric, who had been threatening to run this marathon for 8 years and challenged me only a few days after my 50k to run it with him. Well, I did have the base, but I was concerned that he'd only been running regularly for about 3 weeks at that point (he was a stellar track athlete in high school but had since fallen off the running wagon). I pointed him towards several training programs and told him to "catch up".
With the shot of the starting pistol, it took us about 6 minutes to cross the starting line, but once we got going, things were smooth sailing. Our first 10k, we clocked in at 55:14, a less than 9 mn/mile pace, which we'd been counting on. We both felt fantastic, and I was itching to push it, but I was there for Eric moreso than myself, so we trudged on enjoying the picture-perfect weather.
Our next split was at 13.1 miles, and we hit that at 1:55:33, still both flying high. I could tell that I was going to finish more than strongly at this pace, but I sensed hesitation in Eric. Slight, but I knew it was there. When we stopped so he could take a leak, it took him 2 minutes to get out of the port-o-john, so I knew something was up.
Dara and his wife Kate awaited us at a designated corner around 14 miles, and we rushed over, gave them sweaty, salty kisses, and got the hell out of Dodge. Into the back half, I was getting the warning signals from Eric that things were taking a turn, and by 15, I saw that glaze that overcomes runners who are approaching "the wall". Regardless of my constant insistence that we eat and drink more than we felt necessary, his reserves we running low, probably from a lack of long runs in his training, but I kept up words of encouragement and kept telling him, "We're finishing this together."
At mile 19, I was seriously losing him. Our pace was somewhere in the 10:30 neighborhood, and we were still in the middle of some hills. I pushed him, tried everything from humor to positive reinforcement, to getting him angry at the course, but I was losing him, and at mile 22, staring at the split clock, he looked at me and said, "Break 4 hours."
I had major gas in my tanks still, so I patted him on that back and said, "I will see you within 10 minutes of my finish. Keep moving. You can do it." I picked up my pace and left Eric behind, trudging, aching. I felt awful for doing it, and wouldn't have split off if he hadn't insisted.
The wives again were at mile 24, so I waved across the street and picked it up even more. NOTHING was gonna slow me down....at least I thought.
About 1/2 a mile later, I saw a runner in the middle of the road, holding his left hamstring. As I am wont to do whenever I see someone stopped and hurting during a race, I asked, "Are you okay?" and saw a grimacing, tearfilled face look back at me. He screamed as I hoisted his arm over my shoulders and shuffled him to the curb. An onlooker took him and screamed, "I've got him! Go!" and off I went.
I felt the leg burning and the nausea coming on from burning everything you've got in a race, but I was 1 mile from the finish and pushed even harder. I couldn't BELIEVE the throngs of cheering people as I entered the chutes, barely missing 4 hours at 4:02:19, placing 2,375 out of 25, 200 runners.
Our wives reunited with us and welcomed us with 2 bottles of
All in all, a great day, a fantastic experience, and now, to soak my legs in a hot bath...and enjoy another Guinness. Pics are coming - fucking blogger is refusing to allow me to post at the moment. Bastids.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home