Race Report: 2012 LA Marathon

This is a bittersweet race report. And even one I contemplated not writing. In the end, I decided to write it more as a journal of sorts and perhaps a reminder of mistakes not to make again in the future. Read on if you care to.

The short of it is this: I'm injured again. From what I've experienced in the days after this race, it feels eerily similar to the stress fracture of my left cuboid bone back in 2009. I've tried resting, icing, wearing my walking boot, etc. and still it has been acting up. More on this later but given the circumstances, this will not be your usual novel length race report that I tend to write.

The LA Marathon has been the one and only road marathon I run each year (since 2007). Yes, this is primarily because a road marathon in my experience is more taxing on the body than a trail race of equal or greater distance. Also, I just love running in the mountains so much more than flat paved roads. That being said, I haven't exactly trained my body to deal with the stress of running on the man-made stuff as I - very admittedly - have been looking beyond this race into a 50 and 100 mile race coming up.

In fact, I believe my longest run on the road was a meager 13-14 miles. Anything 2+ hours was reserved for the softer trails. Stupid in retrospect. You have to pay more respect to the marathon distance. You have to train for each and every race at hand. I did neither of those things.

My head by the "2"

Got to the race via a 4:30am shuttle from Santa Monica to Dodgers Stadium. It was a lot of waiting from there on cold concrete floors & walls until the 7:20ish am start. I was donning arm sleeves, gloves and a trash bag and was still shivering eye-balling those who decided to don old sweats/blankets with great envy. Couldn't wait to get moving.

Around 7am I made my way to the 'B' corral and said what's up to some familiar faces in both my and the 'A' corral. After the national anthem, I along with 20,000+ runners finally got going. There was some apprehension about the weather this day but the rain that was forecasted never came. The winds however were a different story.

My goals for this race was to start conservative for the first 10K or so where the majority of hills were and then pick up the pace and run an earnest race hopefully finishing around 3:30ish. That went right out the window once the gun went off and I made the mistake of starting off too fast. To my credit though, it never felt like I was going fast but in the first couple of miles, you can't really tell the difference.

Early, not exactly loving life

I just never really felt that great at any point in this marathon. I kept waiting for that feeling to go away and to hit that sweet spot when I felt dialed in, but that never came. For the first 10 or so miles it felt like a struggle and as the miles wore on, my pace gradually slowed. The winds sucked the energy out of me especially on the stretches that were directly due west. Gels didn't help. Running into and with friends didn't help. The amazing crowds and volunteers only aided me in the times they were within earshot. My feet started feeling sore early and would for the remainder of the race. When we came down from Sunset and rounded right into West Hollywood, a part of me even entertained the thought of breaking left and making the <1 mile run to my girlfriend's place and crawling back into bed. Of course I didn't but pure shame was more the impetus than anything else.

Mile 1 - 7:21
Mile 2 - 7:06
Mile 3 - 7:14
Mile 4 - 7:17
Mile 5 - 7:54
Mile 6 - 7:48
Mile 7 - 7:29
Mile 8 - 7:35
Mile 9 - 7:47
Mile 10 - 7:22
Mile 11 - 7:43
Mile 12 - 7:48

Through it all though, I tried not to walk. There was one moment on Sunset Blvd around mile 14-15 when I felt light-headed (bonked?) and had to walk for a bit. But other times I kept my head down and kept chugging what my body and spirit would allow. I of course also experienced the usual cramping in the waning miles. When my friend Colin ran in with me for the last mile was probably the only time I really enjoyed myself as we both joked around and bantered with the crowd.

Mile 13 - 8:14

Mile 14 - 8:25

Mile 15 - 7:57

Mile 16 - 8:13

Mile 17 - 8:41

Mile 18 - 8:17

Mile 19 - 8:26

Mile 20 - 8:39

Mile 21 - 8:40

Mile 22 - 8:49

Mile 23 - 9:06

Mile 24 - 9:11

Mile 25 - 8:41

Mile 26 - 8:30

Mile 26.4 - 8:01

Officially I finished in 3:33:34. But race times of course only tell a small part of the story. While some might deem it a "respectable" time, it was not the effort/performance I wanted to put out there. And the bigger story of course, there is the lingering pain in my foot that hasn't gone away since.

Cruising down San Vicente

Always happy to be finishing

I've scheduled a doctor's appointment with my ortho in late April but it looks like whatever grand racing plans I had for spring/summer will now have to be canceled. Whatever. It is what it is. Given how crazy my life is these days, I'm sure I'll find a way to fill that time with something else. My mental health and waistline will no doubt suffer however. But I look forward to the challenge of rebuilding my body and fitness from square one in a few weeks/months.

I just wish this could have been a more positive race experience and report. But I had to keep it real and tell it like it is, if for no one else but me. Will likely post back after getting the results of my MRI. Thanks as always for reading.