Long Beach Marathon 2012

Pre-race and Expo
I have been dealing with upper back/neck/shoulder pain on and off for about a week. My chiropractor has always told me that it was from the long hours sitting at a desk. It's an annoying discomfort while running, but luckily for me it cleared up a bit as race day approached.

I took Friday off to prepare for a week long road trip. So instead of going into work or the race expo, I stayed home. There was a lot of packing and logistics to take care of for a 1 week road trip. On Saturday I attended the race expo at the Long Beach Convention Center around 11am to meet up with a couple of my friends. I parked at a parking structure in the CityPlace shopping area. The first two hours here were free. The bib and shirt pickup was quick and painless, but the expo area was quite a tight squeeze with a whole lot of people. I didn't buy a thing or sign up for another race. I stopped by the Train-4-Autism tent to say hi to Sam who was in town for the race. I also picked up a pink shirt from Deo to celebrate his 300th lifetime marathon!

Sam's in town

After the expo, I stopped by one of my neighborhood McDonald's to eat my traditional day-before-the-race meal. I won a Quarter Pounder with cheese and medium fries.

I always love it when they bring back the Monopoly game.

"Carboloading" with McDonald's

I love playing Monopoly!

I decided to run in a pair of brand new pink Asics GT-1000 shoes. The shoe was specifically designed for Breast Cancer Awareness month. To complete the outfit, I also decided to run with Deo's 300th marathon pink shirt.

2 new items for race day isn't too bad, is it? :) I've never worn so much pink ever in my life.

Pink race gear to support Breast Cancer Awareness month and Deo's 300th marathon

For dinner, I met up with a couple of my old church friends to eat endless shrimp at the Red Lobster. This place was gross, but I do love my shrimp even if it was the cheap kind that they sell at Costco. I think I overdone it with the shrimp as I had to spend extra time on the can during my morning preparation for the race. :)

Red Lobster's endless shrimp

Just a little bit of the carnage

Race day
I parked in the same lot as the day before when I attended the expo. Parking was prepaid so it was pretty easy getting parked. I also exited the freeway a couple of exits early to avoid any log jam and took surface streets. It was pretty warm already in the morning so I didn't have to wear a jacket or arm warmers while waiting for the start.

I met up with my Marathon Maniac friends and took a bunch of pictures with them.

My maniac friends!

(photo from Jessica M.)

Marathon Maniacs and Half Fanatics

(photo from Steve W.)

Getting into the waves was a pain in the butt. You can't really locate the points of entry, so people began hopping the railing.

The race
As usual I ran the race by feel. I went with what felt comfortable. I just wanted to get through this race unscathed so that I could enjoy the road trip. I was hoping I could get to the half by around 2 hrs and finish the race under or around 5 hrs. The right ankle started giving me problems about 4.5 miles into the race. I had to slow down and eventually start the walk breaks a lot sooner than I had hoped. It was fun running with my friends in the early miles. They are a hoot!

Looking fresh during the first few miles

(photo from Chris J.)

Getting hard trying to keep up with these fast ladies

(photo from Chris J.)

Approaching mile 10 and the right ankle was pretty sore already. Good to see a familiar face.

(photo from Louis K.)

I always thought that it was in my head that running on concrete wasn't all that much different from running on asphalt. Yet every time that I've ran the Long Beach Marathon, the section on the concrete beach bike path reminds me that concrete beats you up a lot more. It was a relief to finally get off of it as we approached the mile 10 marker. During the out and back section approaching the halfway point, it was good to see a couple of familiar faces, but I was very low on energy already at this point.
1-2: 17:03 (8:31)
3: 8:37
4: 8:45
5: 9:15
6: 9:11
7-8: 20:25 (10:12)
9: 10:16
10: 9:56
11: 11:55
12: 11:20
13: 11:53
Half: 2:09:43

I loved running through Cal State Long Beach. There was a lot of energy from those that were greeting you to the campus. But there was a couple of hills here that just slowly sucked the energy out of you. Once you leave campus, you knew that every step will take you one step closer to the finish line. They were passing out beer around mile 20. I supposed it helped dull the discomfort in my ankles a tad. I tried to pick up the pace a bit once I got back on Ocean Blvd at around mile 24. I could not sustain long periods of running or jogging, but once I approached the last left turn for the finish line, I just had to jog it all the way in. It was pretty cool to get a shout out by Rudy as I crossed the finish line just because I was one of his friends on FB.
14: 11:52
15: 13:46
16: 12:14
17: 14:23
18: 13:36
19: 13:35
20: 14:28
21: 14:18
22: 15:00
23: 15:32
24: 13:49
25: 13:50
26: 14:29
26.2: 1:26
Finish: 5:10:57

Post-race
After the race, I headed over to the Runner's Circle tent to congratulate Deo on his milestone race. I also stopped by the Train-4-Autism tent to say hi to my friend. I then headed over to the finish line and further up to the final corner to cheer on the runners. I had friends who were running their first and another becoming the youngest person to complete 100 marathons. There are a few others with great stories behind their marathon accomplishments.

Train-4-Autism tent

Finish line

Maniac with the Southwest airplane hat

There he flies towards the finish line

The legendary Larry Macon!

Maniac Silver

It's her first marathon!

Marina's 100th marathon

Rosemarie

God is Love!

This was my 80th lifetime marathon. I can't believe that I'm pretty close to reaching the century mark. I wish I could've done it in better physical shape, but I'm still working on that goal. I love running the Long Beach Marathon, but I've never really started a streak. Unfortunately it's on the same weekend as the Chicago Marathon and a few other great races.

Nice pair of shoes and medal

Endure the Bear 50k

Pre-race
I left pretty early and got to the starting area way too early. I parked just across the street and took a nap. While I was napping, I heard a tap on my window. I looked and it was a cop. He wanted to check to see if I was alive and not dead. He took down my name and birth date to check me out. I guess they aren't busy with bigger issues up in the Big Bear area or are not too fond of vagrants.

Once there was daylight at around 6am, I was able to check in and pick up my bib and timing chip. Slowly but surely, my maniac friends started showing up. During check-in they instructed us to park at a lot about a few blocks away. I drove over to the lot and got my stuff ready. Since I had been dealing with some ankle issues, the only goal for the race was to finish without getting hurt. I also tried out using my hydration pack to carry my food. Instead of drinking from a tube, I took out the bladder and carried a second bottle instead. I got my stuff ready and walked over to the starting area.

That's a weird looking bear

4 Maniacs and the 1st place female finisher looking all pretty on the far left

Right before the 7am start for the 50k race, we all gathered at the starting line. It's mostly the same group of people running ultramarathons, so I was able to shoot the breeze with a few familiar faces. The race director said we had 10 hrs to complete the course. I was pretty confident that I could hike the course within that time.

Start/Finish line

Starting corral

Keira!

Lifesabeach

A few thoughts during the race
I took the race very slow from the very beginning. I definitely felt the effects of the altitude on the very first climb on the road up to the trail head. My breathing just could not keep up even with the slow pace, so I started walking.

One thing about trail races is that the higher you go, the nicer the views. My pictures definitely does not do it justice!

For the most part, I was moving at the pace of two runners from the "Run With Us" group from Pasadena. After a while I could not keep up as my ankle was getting sore. There was one part where it was a very steep downhill. We had to go through this section a couple of times. The first time was somewhat scary because I had to navigate the gnarly hill with a few other mountain bikers. The second time was just as hard since your legs were super tired.

Looking back at a very steep downhill

At the bottom of the hill, I found a bench. There was a very nice view from the bench. Another fun part of trailing running was having to limbo under trees.

The obstacles definitely keeps the running interesting.

Well, look what we have here!

The view from the bench

Limbo!

Near the end of the race I caught up to and was walking with the last place guy in the 30k race. He was an older gentleman with some health and physical issues but he was still out there running and hiking a tough 30k trail race. I told him that when I'm older that I'd want to be like him. My legs were cramping up, so I walked with him for a little. Once the electrolytes kicked in, I told him that I was going to jog it in. I bid him farewell and took off for the finish. The only section that I really ran was when I finally made it back to the roads and it was one long downhill to the finish line. I took so long that the timing mats were already removed. I thought that I came in dead last for the 50k, but I was told that there was one more guy out there.

8:52:43 official time
8:55:34 watch time (I'm not sure how I gained about 3 mins)

Race shirt, medal, and bib

Post-race thoughts
This was a fun and challenging race. Hiking a 50k was definitely not as easy as it sounds. You know that you're out of shape for a difficult course when your breathing was very rapid and you're only hiking and not running. I would hope to run this again next year hopefully dealing with less physical ailments. This was my first race where I tried eating Honey Stinger Waffles. The vanilla flavored ones were pretty darn tasty. My body still prefers the margarita flavored Shot Bloks with the extra salt.