Back when they decided to move this race from February to May, they sent out an "in training" shirt to those that opted to run on the new date. It worked out for me since I sustained a pretty nasty injury back in early February.
A lot of my "training" consisted of resting and eating lots of ramen. Also there was a lot of limping through a bunch of races.
Anyways May rolled around and I took Friday off from work to attend the expo. I parked at my usual spot at the Paseo Colorado parking garage. I made it over to the Pasadena Convention Center. I was about 30 minutes early so the expo wasn't open yet. There was already a bunch of runners milling around.
It seemed like the entire expo was not ready to be open at noon. Most of the vendors were not ready. More importantly, there was not enough volunteers to deal with the initial rush. The few volunteers that was there were really stressed out trying to pass out bibs and shirts.
I talked to the guys at the Team in Training booth about joining IronTeam. It seems like they didn't have any idea about the group training for an Ironman.
I bought another Ink n' Burn shirt where a portion of the proceeds go to support the disaster relief in Japan. This would make a great shirt for the Honolulu Marathon or the Tokyo Marathon.
On my way out, I got a bunch of Soy Joy bars from the Soy Joy booth. They were giving out one of each flavor.
The next day, I drove out early to volunteer at the Palos Verdes Marathon. Almost all of the Marathon Maniacs I cheered on during the race, I would see in the Pasadena Marathon.
Race day
I ignored all of the parking directions provided to us. I took back streets that got me to the parking structure without seeing one other car. Good thing I used to go to PCC. I took a quick nap and then went out to the starting line to watch the start of the bike tour. I took a quick picture of the starting line and felt a few drops of rain. I saw Maniac Lan in the VIP tent and she snuck me in. In there I bumped into Maniac Dale and @spectorjosh. I wished everybody a great race and went back to my car to get ready. I grabbed my stuff and headed towards the starting area. I bumped into my old TNT friends at the portapotty lines.
I bumped into more Maniac friends as I got into the starting corral. The national anthem was sung and right on cue, it started to drizzle.
Goal was to finish around 5:30.
Backup goal was to just finish however long it took.
First Half
The drizzle turned into a steady light rain. The first mile was very congested but it felt good. It was the first time since February that I've ran without any discomfort. But I knew it wouldn't last. Mile 2 felt great. But after I saw my split, I kept telling myself to slow down. I saw Maniac Mitch spectating at the mile 4 marker. My bro's friend passes me on the way to mile 5. Mile 6 had a huge downhill so I wasn't pushing the pace. My lack of fitness really caught up to me on my way to the Rose Bowl. I pretty much hit the wall at mile 8. It did not help that my right hip flexor was hurting. I walked a bit to alleviate some of the pain. We Rock Andrea passes me, but I would see her again around mile 10 since she stopped for a potty break. Even though my race had become a big struggle, I loved this portion of course as I got to see some of my faster friends run by on the other side. The rain pretty much started to let up by the time I exited the Rose Bowl and reached the halfway point. I got there in about 2:18. The climb out of the Rose Bowl is a long steady one. It slowed me to a crawl this year. Maniac Rocco passed me around this stretch.
1: 9:00
2: 8:24
3: 8:46
4: 9:33
5: 9:44
6: 8:22
7: 10:07
8: 10:18
9: 12:02
10: 11:11
11: 13:22
12: 11:35
13: 14:17
Mile 4 from Maniac Mitch
Second Half
The 2nd half was tough. It got sunny and I had to walk and jog the whole way. I was passed by a few more of my maniac friends. Some tried to help me out, but I hate holding people back. Once I got through miles 20-22, I knew that the worst was over. The rest of the way to the finish line was mostly downhill. My ailing left leg started to feel tender and sore which kind of had me worried. I backed off a bit at mile 25. At least everything felt okay when I walked. I love the finishing chute for this race. I was cramping up but I tried to just jog as fast as I could. Number 60 overall was in the books!
14: 13:56
15: 16:17
16: 15:10
17: 14:12
18: 13:29
19: 16:26
20: 16:27
21: 13:32
22: 14:07
23: 14:50
24: 14:43
25: 16:02
26.2: 16:23
Finish: 5:32:16
Post-race stuff
I cramped up pretty badly after crossing the finish line. I grabbed a can of FRS and after drinking it everything started feeling better. I also mixed a bottle of Nuun just in case. I was very happy with finishing number 60 with relatively no major discomfort. Since I pretty much met my goal, I am more hopeful that I can get through the rest of my races this year. I seriously didn't think that I would have completed this many after running my first one back in 2003. I'll be at 100 before I know it.
I walked back to the corner of Hill and Colorado to cheer on my friends. Maniac Fancypants Ed also was there when he finished his race. After cheering for awhile with Ed, I walked back to my car and headed to my favorite restaurant in the area, Steer n' Ale, to eat a steak.
1 comment:
Oh WOW to that medal. Congrats on running in the wet!
I ran Pasadena in 2008/9. Maybe I'll come back one of these years...
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