Palos Verdes Marathon

Do Over
Not being able to complete the Country Music Marathon in Nashville really bothered me. Me and my rather obsessive compulsive personality did not like the weather-forced DNF one bit! I was supposed to take a month off from running a marathon in May due to my ailing ankle and hip. But I kept my eye on the Palos Verdes Marathon. I've always loved this gem of a race. In 2008 I ran the half and in 2009 I ran the full. Still I had all the intention in the world to sit out the entire month. But when I took a ~12 mile run, the body parts felt good enough that I sent in my registration the Monday before the race. I've taken a break from running for the most part, so today was both a test run and a make-up marathon for the one in Nashville.

Pre-Race Stuff
I got to the park at about 5:30am. I went over to use the portapotty and to pick up my bib. They did not have my name on the list, so I had to fill out a scan-tron card. They just assumed that I've paid. I bumped into Marcia, Mitch, Nadia, and James. Right before the start, I bumped into a few more friends, Deo, John, Rocco, and Yolanda. I'm probably missing a few. We just keep bumping into each other at these races.

The volunteers were not morning people :)

The plan for this race was to finish around 5 hours. I wanted to push hard for the first half and just jog/walk my way in for the second half. I also wanted to use this race to fiddle with my salt/gu schedule. Most of the mile markers were off so I will not be listing the splits.

1st half - ~2:00:00
I intended to go out as hard as I could, but I was stuck behind very slow runners early on. After getting around them, I finally was able to open up the stride. I ran next to Skinnyrunner for the first 2 miles. I did not know it was her until after seeing her picture on her blog. She quickly ran away from me on the first big climb. I realized that I could not climb very well with my bad ankle. It was great seeing Colin and Kristin on their training run, two very great runners! They will be running Comrades very soon. By mile 8, my hip was already feeling weak. I hung on as well as I could. I wanted to get to the half at about 1:54, but I'll take the 2 hrs.

2nd half - ~2:50:40
I was taking a salt cap every hour, but had to increase the frequency since my muscles were headed to cramp city in a hurry. I was taking about 1 Powergel every 30 minutes and sometimes sooner if I felt hungry. I need to work on my race morning fueling. The next 3 miles was not pretty. My legs were entering marathon-shuffle mode. I saw Colin and Kristin again a little after mile 16. There were miles where I opened up my stride which felt okay for awhile, but the hip and foot would complain. So I alternated between shuffle, walk, and actual running. My friends (Jake, John, Noel, Rocco) started to pass me around mile 18. But I was able to pass 2 of them right before the finish line.

Finish - 4:50:40 (watch)

Post-Race Stuff
While a bunch of us were waiting for Jessica to finish, I ran into Lori. I had no idea she was running this race. She was pacing her friend in his first marathon. This was and probably will be the last time that I ever beat her in a marathon. :) Unfortunately Jessica could not finish. She's been dealing with the lingering effects of food poisoning. She was able to cover about 23 miles before being picked up by the sag wagon.

Finally a shirt that looks good enough to wear! I don't mind a cotton T as long as the design is good.

I swear I'm getting out of this maniac business. 2011 will be the year that I finally get healthy. Then I'll put in some real training and run some quality marathons. In case you're wondering, I drove all the way to Costa Mesa to eat ramen. The wait for ramen was 1 hour! I shopped for snacks in Mitsuwa to kill time. Well worth the wait. I've said it before, maybe I need to change my blog to "I Love Ramen". :)