The Los Angeles Marathon

Marathon #14 came after a loooooong hiatus from racing. Leading up to Boston I was feeling insanely burnt out on running and racing.  It wasn't fun anymore.  So I took a nice long break. And now I'm back.  

I had decided on the LA Marathon a couple of years ago when I found out that it was to be held the same weekend as the Olympic Marathon Trials. Watching the trials seemed like an extremely cool thing to do.  And now, here it is.

Let me first tell you that besides all the running-fun that happened this weekend, I was in food heaven.  As a vegetarian married to someone who eats gluten-free, we don't always have a world of choices when it comes to eating out.  Not the case in LA.  Everywhere we went there were millions of vegetarian AND gluten-free choices.  We ate with abandon at any restaurant we came across. It. Was. Awesome.

Dude, this is a side salad at a pizza joint.  How fancy is that???

The first of many happy meals.

Our hotel was in Santa Monica, which happens to be the most amazing town on Earth. We were 2 blocks from the beach.  The beach has a running/biking/rollerblading* path that was rumored to go 26 miles along the coast.

Makes the Trolley Trail look a tad less fancy.

Dude, if I could run on this trail every day, in this sunshine, I would probably run 26 miles a day.  No wonder people in California seem so fit/happy.

Exploring.

We walked the trail and soaked up the sunshine... contemplating if we have maybe been wasting away our lives living in the damn center of the country.

Love this guy.  Love this beach.

My first of many juices.  LA loves juice.  Me too.

Dinner on Friday night ended up being at a mall... we didn't realize when choosing a restaurant that it was going to be in a mall.  We were a little hesitant, but it turned out to be awesome.  Only in LA will you end up eating at a restaurant in a mall that has it's own herb garden outside.

Have I mentioned how much I love LA?

Saturday morning and we were off to the races!  But not before breakfast.  We stopped at some "healthy" restaurant and discovered our first (of many) acai bowls.  It's essentially a smoothie in a bowl, topped with pretty things.  It was delicious.  I made Drew read up on the Olympic hopefuls who we would be watching.

Acai bowls and Runners World.  I'm in heaven.

Drew studies up.

We headed downtown and found a spot along the race course.  The marathon trials ran along a different course than the LA Marathon.  The course was essentially a big loop so we were able to see all of the runners 3 times!

I was a mess waiting and waiting for the runners to show up.  And when they did, there were so many!  The qualifying times are pretty tough, but this year they had more runners qualify for and run the trials than they ever have.  Most of them know they don't have a shot at making the Olympic team, so for them this really is like their Olympics.

Cheering!!!!

I could have died when the runners finally came through.  These women are my idols.  I read about them, stalk follow them on Instagram, know their stories.  And now here they were, close enough for me to jump out and tackle cheer them on. It really was amazing.

Kara Goucher, I love you!!!!

Look how close I am to Meb!  I thought he might stop to say hi, but he was in a hurry.

Des!  Look at her stride.  All business.

I felt very emotional about the women's race.  Kara Goucher is my all-time favorite hero.  She's been through some serious runner turmoil as of late and a lot of people have said she's past her prime and it's time to give up professional running.  This was supposed to be her big come-back.  I wanted more than anything for her to take top 3 and make the Olympic team.

Britt and I often compare ourselves as a running team to Kara Goucher and Shalane Flannigan.  They used to be training partners and have been on the Olympic team together before.  However, now they run on separate teams and Shalane has a new running partner, Amy Cragg. #runningdrama

Shalane and Amy.

Shalane and Amy lead the entire way.  It was amazing to watch.  The way they helped each other out and worked as a team seriously makes me want to cry with joy... and hug Britt.  It turns out Shalane was doing really poorly in the warm weather and started to fade.  Amy pulled her along and it the 2 of them finished 1st and 3rd, with Des Linden taking 2nd.  Kara came in 4th.  My heart breaks for her, but I'm incredibly proud of her.  I just hate that I won't see her running in this year's Olympics.

One more of Meb, he took 2nd!  Another Olympics for the most patriotic American I've ever known.

After the trials we planned on going to the expo.  But the Expo is where the trials started and finished so everything around it was blocked off.  We were running on acai bowl fumes at that point and things were not looking good.  Hangry doesn't even begin to describe it.

We finally made it back to the hotel after sitting through the most horrendous traffic the world has ever known.  And now we know why we don't live in Santa Monica.  We found a burger joint and rushed to eat as our blood sugar plummeted.

This was dinner, folks.  Dinner.  As in, we missed lunch.  I'm not sure how much you know about prepping for a marathon, but in general you don't want to skip meals the day before.  Or so I hear.

This was maybe the best meal I've ever eaten.  Ever.  Isn't it funny how food tastes so much better when you are genuinely hungry?

Eating all the food!

After dinner it was back to the hotel to get some shut-eye for the big day!

I awoke excited to run!  The race started at 7 and I had signed up to be on the 5:30 shuttle from Santa Monica to Dodger's Stadium, where the race started.  I had checked my map and was sure I knew how to get to the shuttle.  However, while walking there I didn't see a soul.  The streets were empty. There were no shuttles.

I finally saw some runners walking in the opposite direction and decided to follow.  Thank heavens. They turned out to be from Santa Monica and lead me to the shuttles... a mile in the opposite directions!  I seriously would never have found it on my own.  Crisis averted.

I hopped on a shuttle and headed toward the start.  I sat next to a nice blue-haired Santa Monica native who gave me all kinds of restaurant recommendations, as well as race advice.  I have a hard time with talking to other runners sometimes. I'm not sure what it is about me that screams newbie, but people love to give me advice about running.  And I have no idea how to politely interrupt their lecture on hydration strategy or how to pace myself to say that this ain't my first rodeo.  Hell, it's not even my 10th rodeo.  I'm a Boston marathoner.  I got this. But I just remain silent...

The race setup was pretty cool.  We started downtown at Dodger Stadium and ran through all of the different parts of LA until we arrived in Santa Monica.  They call it the "stadium to sea" marathon. The race took us past all of the famous red carpet spots and through Beverly Hills.  Running down Rodeo Drive was so much fun!

My goal was to BQ, just to know that I could.  It was a very warm day and I was pouring water on my head at every aid station.  Even so, I kept just ahead of the 3:35 pace group. I was hot hot hot until mile 25.  It was the strangest thing.  As we entered Santa Monica, we literally ran into a cloud. I went from feeling completely overheated, to being kind of chilly.  So strange!

Drew was at the finish, snapping pics.  Isn't he just the best?

Who am I waving at?

By the end I was completely dead.  It was all I could do to keep myself moving forward.  I remember being passed by so many runners! I felt like if someone bumped into me I would crash and there's no way I could get up and finish. Luckily no one knocked me down. :)

Running in that damn cloud!

Still smiling, even though I'm getting passed!

The finish was kind of a cluster.  I had a hard time finding Drew and I was getting COLD!  We finally met up and made our way to the beer garden where I feasted on booze and Cheeze-its. Fantastic recovery food.

Boom. Done.

After cleaning up we hit up another healthy food joint that had all kinds of options for us.  I happily devoured a vegetarian open-faced sammy and shared this tasty smoothie with Drew.  We love smoothies.  So does LA.

Yum Yum Yum!

We had the stupid idea to try to go to Malibu after the race, but then spent an hour in the car and made it about 3 blocks.  We accepted the fact that LA is only fun when you are not in a car.  So we took the car back and walked to Whole Foods for snacks and then hit up the beach which was right there.  Why had we wanted to drive to a different beach?  Because we are stupid.

Beach + Drew + popcorn + not being in a car = my happy place

The beach was crowded and we had lots of fun watching these seagulls rob a woman while she played in the ocean with her son.  They literally pecked her paper bag of snacks open and stole her food.  We just watched.

Seagull Thieves.

I ventured into the water for some ocean-therapy on my legs.  Have I mentioned that I've somehow developed planter fasciatus? Yeah.  It sucks. But the ocean cures everything, right?

Pacific ice-bath.

Oh my gosh!  Have I mentioned that it was Valentine's Day?  How could I forget???  So, please imagine this whole thing as incredibly romantic.  Because it totally was. Just to make sure, we watched the sun set and read each other love poems**.

Oh how I love this guy.

And then we ate pizza and hit up Whole Foods yet again for a bottle of wine and a chocolate bar. Then I put on my sexy compression sleeves and toe stretchers and we watched TV in the hotel room... in separate beds. #marriagerules

Best Valentine's Day ever.

Monday morning: acai bowls and green smoothies.  Have i mentioned how much we love acai bowls? No? Well we do.

He is so hot.

Then we drove to Malibu.  Because that blue-haired chick had told me about a restaurant that served all organic/local food on a pier over the ocean.  People, I'm not going to miss that.

The drive was much easier than the day before, except for when we experienced verbal abuse from a mad-crazy woman while parking.  For a minute I thought Drew was going to have to fight her.  But she backed down. Have I mentioned how not fun it is to drive in LA?

Oh yeah.  I'm on a pier. Over the ocean.  

The food was awesome, duh. The restaurant was so cool. But don't be fooled.  We were sitting on this pier, sweating our faces off.  I think I sweat more at lunch than I did the day before during the marathon.

Sweaty salad.

And then it was back to the airport and home to the middle of the map.  What a fantastic trip!!!  I'm so glad to be back to running/racing.  Not only do I feel a renewed love for running, but I love the experiences it allows.  Of course my goal to run a marathon in every state is about running.  But it's also about traveling and experiencing our amazing country. And there is no one I love doing it with more than Drew. ♥




*Drew was beside himself any time we saw a roller-blader.  He was sure rollerblading had not made it to this century.  He's so happy to know that it still exists in California.
**False.