You know, I'm not sure why I find myself running this race every year. It's not among one of my favoirtes, but this year would be my 5th consecutive year running this marathon. I've also run it back in 2005, 2008, and 2009. I guess the biggest reason is that as a member of the Beach Bum Club, after 10 consecutive years, my name will be enshrined on a bench on the Long Beach Run of Fame Bench in Lighthouse Park. So I'll be halfway there after tomorrow's race.
I normally try to get to the race expo right when it opens at 9 am on Saturday. However they had the kids race around that time. So I ended up rolling into Long Beach a couple of hours later at about 11 am. I parked in the usual parking structure on 3rd St in between Long Beach Blvd and Pine Ave. Parking was free for the first two hours. From there, I walked a few blocks south to the convention center.
Expo
Picking up bibs and shirts was pretty easy at this expo. Their setup was the same as it has been in the last several years which was very similar to a Rock n' Roll event. The race shirts for this year was pretty ugly in my opinion and I wish that they would stop printing graphics around the belly area. Just more opportunities to cause chafing.
Bib pickup
Front side of race shirt
Back side of race shirt
After getting through the official merchandise area, I made my way into the general expo area with all of the vendor booths. I first went to the Beach Bum Club area to pick up my Beach Bum t-shirt before I forget. The shirt was the same as last year's. That was somewhat disappointing, although I really didn't need another shirt. I'm probably among the minority, but I'm fine with receiving something besides a t-shirt, perhaps something like the sticker that we put on our medals at the Surf City Marathon.
Beach Bum Club
Front of Beach Bum shirt
Back of Beach Bum shirt
The booths were pretty much the usual. I got my free samples from the Lärabar booth. I asked if they had any über bars. Unfortunately one of the reps informed me that they've discontinued those bars and will be replacing it with something similar. Bummer. Those were my favorite. I also picked up some Power Crunch samples.
I then made my way over to the runDisney booth. It's actually good to see them again at expos now that their races don't sell out within hours of registration being open. I saw that they had a $25 off registration for the Super Heroes half marathon or challenge. I thought that was a bit unfair for those that signed up on the first day of registration. I was wearing my Disneyland Paris half marathon shirt, so I started off by telling them that I had a fun time running the new race and that they did well for their first year over in France! I then expressed my displeasure for the discount for the Super Heroes weekend. I could tell that the rep that I talked to was fairly new as I've never seen him before. He told me that the discount was a last minute deal. As I was leaving, I could hear him relaying my message to the other reps.
WTF $25 off?!
As I was getting ready to leave, for some reason I decided to stop by the World Vision booth. I told them that I used to run for World Vision back when they first started. In fact, I was so easy to spot at the races with my orange World Vision shirt. Anyways, I ended up signing up with them to officially run the Los Angeles Marathon in support of their charity. For a while I was considering not running Los Angeles. I was really contemplating about doing something more worthwhile, perhaps volunteering instead. They gave me a t-shirt for joining the team. If you want to support me, you can donate by clicking here.
Front of Team World Vision shirt
Back of Team World Vision shirt
Later that night, I got my race gear ready for tomorrow's race. I laid out everything just to make sure that I didn't forget anything. I went with the usual margarita flavored Shot Bloks and my favorite flavor of Powerade, tropical mango.
Flat runner
Sunday 10/9
I woke up super early and arrived at the parking lot at the end of Seaside Way at Linden Dr at about 4:30 am. This year, I took the 710 and exited at Shoreline Dr. I got onto Broadway and turned right on Pine Ave before turning left on Seaside Way. Parking was again $10 cash for this parking lot. I met up with my friend and we went over to pick up her race packet. I wasn't aware that they had available race day pick-up. The full marathon started at 6 am, so we went back to our cars to get ready. We gathered in the starting corral after using the nearby portapotties one last time. In the corral we bumped into some Marathon Maniacs and other familiar faces.
Marathon Maniacs!
The usual suspects!
Things felt pretty good during the first mile. It felt good to be able to run a bit faster. I made sure not to overdo it and progressively backed off on the pace in the next couple of miles. I still wanted to get used to moving faster. I eventually settled into about a 9 min mile while taking my usual walk break every 30 minutes to take my salt cap. At about mile 4.5 while running on Ocean Blvd, I spotted an old friend from the Runner's World forums. She was out cheering on the runners at her usual spot right before we made the right turn on Queens Way. The next section was one of my favorite sections of the course where it took us around the lighthouse at Shoreline Aquatic Park and the Rainbow Harbor. After making it back on Shoreline Dr, I was already fatigued. As I made the right turn onto Shoreline Village Dr, an old friend came up to me. We used to run around the same marathon times many years ago, but he has since improved quite a bit where he has qualified a couple of times for the Boston Marathon. Shortly after that, my friend who was pacing the 4 hr group came up to me. I ran a little bit with her and her group, but I really needed to take a break especially with the beach path coming up.
My awesome friend pacing the 4 hr group
My friend caught up to me on the beach path at about mile 8. She pulled ahead, but I guess she was struggling with the concrete as well as I eventually caught up to her. We decided to keep each other company for a while. It's always a big relief for me when I finally got off of the concrete path at about mile 10. As the course curved left into Nieto Ave from Livingston Dr, my friend stopped to take a potty break. I jogged on ahead. She would catch up to me at the end of the out and back on Paoli Way where we made it to the halfway point at about 2:10.
I was definitely the slower one especially as the day wore on and the weather got quite toasty. I was almost looking for any excuse to take another walk break. I even stopped to take a picture of the Skittles that was being handed out on the course. :)
Wait! Let me take a picture of the Skittles!
As we approached mile 17, we made a right turn onto the campus of Cal State Long Beach. My legs were starting to cramp up pretty badly at this point. It didn't help that it was pretty much a steady climb to the aid station at mile 18 where I filled up my bottle. There was a big downhill section where I really could not run. My legs were not cooperating. My friend needed to use the portapotties again so she took advantage of the downhill and ran ahead. I hobbled on as I watched her disappear into the distance. As I approached mile 19 on Palo Verde Ave, I saw my friend up ahead as she exited the portapotty. That would be the last time that I saw my friend until the beer garden. The leg cramps would get worse before they eventually got better. I ate a whole banana around mile 20 which helped with the cramps. I then ran into one of my friends running around in his flip flops when I got to the mile 21 marker. He kept me company as I walked and jogged as much as the cramps would allow. It was pretty cool literally to get an Otter Pop at about mile 23. He stayed with me until we reached mile 24. Since I took the last two miles really slow, the cramps finally subsided enough for me to rally a bit for the last two miles as I navigated through and around the back of the pack half marathoners.
Finish line
Finish: 5:21:07
Click here for my Garmin data.
My only goal for the race was to finish at around 5:30, so I did accomplish what I wanted. After getting my medal, my post race bag of goodies, and some drinks, I started heading over to the beer garden to meet up with my friends. Along the way, I bumped into my friend who paced the 4 hr group. We walked over to the beer garden together. We got into the first line to get our beer bracelet. Then we parted ways as I went to the exclusive Beach Bum section where they served Shock Top. I was there only to see my friends as I had just recently quit drinking. I tried to give away my free beer, but I had no takers. Oh well.
Beach Bums get Shock Top
Medal
After my friends were done with their beers, we went back to our cars to drop off our stuff before meeting back up at Tequila Jack's for a post race meal. It was a short wait before we were seated. It was pretty crowded inside as there were several NFL games on. I ordered an iced tea and their cilantro lime salad with shrimp. Not only have I quit drinking, I've also made it a point to stop eating so much red meat as part of my post race meal. It was a little bit funny as the server kept trying to give the salad to my friend, who was the only female at the table as well as the check for the salad when it came time to pay. :)
Cilantro lime salad with shrimp
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