On Saturday morning, I drove out to Long Beach to pick up my race packet at the Long Beach Convention Center. I parked at the parking structure on E 3rd Street between Pine Ave and Long Beach Blvd. I always park here when I go to the expo because the first 2 hours are free. The layout of the expo was the same as it was in the past couple of years.
As I was wandering through the expo after picking up my bib and shirt, I realized that this was my 3rd consecutive year of running this marathon which meant that I now belong to the Beach Bum Club. I had also run it in 2005, 2008, and 2009. They gave me a choice of either a blue or red cotton shirt and a Beach Bum pin. I went with the red one since I have so many blue shirts. The more years you've run it consecutively the more that you're rewarded. According to their website: after 6 consecutive years you will receive a Beach Bum sweatshirt and after 10 consecutive years, your name will be enshrined on a bench on the Long Beach Run of Fame Bench in Lighthouse Park. I guess I will have to run this race 7 more years in a row! :)
Beach Bum Club
Extra shirt and pin
After leaving the expo, I drove north a bit to meet up with a good buddy of mine for lunch at Jongewaard's Bake N Broil with him and his son. It was a pretty long wait to be seated, but it gave us a good chance to get caught up and talk about tomorrow's race. When we finally got seated, I ordered their Bake n Broil burger with Jack cheese and a lemonade.
Bake n Broil burger with Jack cheese
I laid out out my race gear before going to bed. I realized that I'm out of GU, so I had to scrounge through my pile of race goodies to assemble enough nutrition for tomorrow's race.
Race gear
10/12 Sunday
I had prepaid to park in the same parking structure for $8. It's several blocks away, but it has worked out fine in the past few years, so I exited the 710 freeway at Anaheim Street and drove down to the parking structure. I never bother exiting at 6th or Broadway because it's usually a pain in the butt. After getting my stuff ready, I walked down to wait at the Hyatt Regency. I bumped into a couple of my running friends there.
As the start of the race approached, I headed towards to the starting line and met up with my buddy and his friend. We talked shop a little bit before we hopped into the corrals. My friend had been dealing with some leg issues so he traded in his full marathon bib for a half marathon at the expo yesterday.
Starting line
I positioned myself somewhere near the front of the corral. Later the 3:15 pace group leader would position himself near me. I could run that pace for a 10k, but I was definitely not going to stay with him. For the first couple of miles it was pretty congested so I was able to stick around his group. Once the course opened up a bit, I would fall back gradually. It was good to see a bunch of my friends throughout the course. One was passing out donut holes just as we got off of the dreaded cement bike path. I like that the course goes through Cal State Long Beach, but it also has a nice climb that usually causes my legs to cramp up. This year was the same. I kept eating and drinking and eventually they would subside once we hit the big downhill leaving the campus. I would take a minute or two walk breaks as I hit each mile marker, but I started having leg cramping issues again from mile 21 through 24 where I was finally passed by a guy dressed up as Toucan Sam carrying a box of Froot Loops. The good thing was that after mile 24, there was no more climbs. Everything was flat to the finish line. The only annoying thing is that you'll have to dodge the half marathoners since the two courses merged at mile 24. Fortunately the cramps held off enough for me to pick up the pace a bit and get the race wrapped up.
Photo from Dexter Emoto
1-2: 15:22 (7:41)
3: 8:02
4: 8:17
5: 8:22
6: 8:33
7: 8:33
8: 8:48
9: 8:52
10: 9:36
11: 9:28
12: 9:13
13: 9:19
14: 10:05
15: 10:40
16: 10:37
17: 12:46
18: 12:04
19: 11:40
20: 11:40
21: 12:05
22: 13:20
23: 12:45
24: 12:45
25: 11:30
26.2: 12:42
Finish: 4:27:03
After getting my medal, some drinks, and a bag of goodies, I made my way through the finisher chute. Getting out was a pain in the butt. Family and friends of runners were crowding the exit point so it made it quite difficult for runners to get out. I skipped the usual post race beer tent. I kind of wanted to rush home to relax. I have been feeling quite fatigued by my recent trip to Portugal.
I liked the design of the medal for the 30th anniversary of the race. Nice and simple. It turned out that this was my fastest time for the Long Beach Marathon. I'm just glad that I was able to bounce back a bit from last weekend's slow run where I was 30 minutes slower and continue to improve. I'm hoping to run much better next year for Long Beach as I attempt to back off... again... on the excessive racing.
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