LA Marathon Day

As I woke up this morning at 3:30am, I checked the weather report. Los Angeles, 90% chance precipitation by 6am. Then 100% through noon time. Temperature range in the low 50s. Then I checked Santa Monica. Nearly same forecast. Just great. Around 4:30am, a group of my friends met me at my house and we carpooled to the marathon.

We all lined up about 10 rows from the front. We could see the elite women group as they took off. Then 17 mins later, the elite men took off. It's quite a humbling experience to be standing right behind the world's best runners. Why are they so different then the rest of us? How? That's a topic for another day. I was just blessed and thankful to be able to run and participate in this marathon today. I take nothing for granted.

The LA marathon "Stadium to Sea" course is not an easy course. The Stadium is Dodger Stadium. The entire course is full of rolling hills through downtown LA, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and Santa Monica. It's quite scenic through Hollywood and Beverly Hills if you like shopping and entertainment. The last 2 miles to the Santa Monica pier is downhill but it sure didn't feel like much downhill.

As we started the race, the sky was overcast with some dark clouds but it didn't rain. I was hoping that the weatherman would be wrong so we could have a "dry" event. According to the forecast, the rain should have started already. As we got down the hill from Dodger stadium around mile 2, the rain finally arrived. I won't bore you with race details so I will just cut to the chase. Throughout the rest of the race, the rain never stopped. As a matter of fact, there was thunder and lighting when I got to mile 5. The wind picked up and so did the rain. We all got drenched. At certain points of the race, the wind was right in our face. By the time I finished the race, 3:09:27, I was completely drained. The hills throughout the race killed me. My legs were in PAIN. The wind made the cool weather even colder. I couldn't stop shivering at the end. IT WAS COLD. I was supposed to run a negative split for the 2nd half but never did. I was actually 3 mins in the positive side. Oh well, I still PR'd by about a min and a half over my Sacramento marathon in 2009. I can't complain.

When we were leaving LA, the entire city was getting pounded by the storm. But in Irvine, it was still cloudy and overcast. Around 5pm this evening, that same storm system had caught me again. it is now pounding Irvine. Double whammy for me. Once early this morning and now in the evening. What a day!