Per the usual for the LA Marathon Expo, I would drive about halfway to Pasadena to take the Metro light rail into Downtown LA. It's a nice way to avoid having to deal with Downtown traffic and those insanely high parking fees ($20-30). I still can remember the good ol' days when you could find parking for $5 a block away from the Convention Center. It's normally a smooth easy ride at $1.75 one way. However today, they were doing maintenance work on the tracks. So once the train reached Fillmore Station, we had to get off and board a bus which took us over to Southwest Museum Station. This inconvenience added about 45 minutes to the trip. However during this bus ride, I got to see The Greyhound Bar & Grill. I've been wanting to wake up early one weekend and come here to watch a Spurs match with my fellow supporters. They're also a Dodgers bar, so that's a double-win for me!
The Greyhound Bar & Grill
After arriving at Union Station, I headed over to the other Metro platform to wait for the first Red or Purple line train. I took that over to 7th St/Metro Center Station. Finally from there I waited for a Blue or Expo line train to take me over to Pico Station. I arrived at the LA Convention Center at about 10:15 am. Upon entering I saw a huge line of people waiting to get into the expo. The organizers were smart to control the inflow of people into the convention hall as it could get quite crowded inside. While waiting in that long line, there was a lot of murmuring about whether or not the race would take place due to the coronavirus. Despite the murmuring, I don't think I saw a single person wearing a face mask.
Expo
Long line to get in
As I entered the convention hall, I received a race program. Then it was time to pick up my bib, race shirt, and gear bag. I liked this year's race shirt, but the neck hole was kind of tiny or my head had grown too big! :)
Race program
Bib Pick Up
Race shirt
After I got that necessary part out of the way, it was time to hit all of the vendor booths. It was pretty cool to see both Carrie Tollefson and Deena Kastor. I had just seen Carrie last weekend in Atlanta. They are both very nice down-to-Earth people.
Carrie Tollefson and Deena Kastor
After checking a few things out, I made my way over to the LA Loyal area as I had heard that LA Loyal runners were supposed to receive a special 35th anniversary medal just for being a loyal runner. At first I got in the wrong line which was for 5th and 10th year runners. After a fellow runner pointed out the correct line, I hopped into that one.
LA Loyal 35th anniversary medal
I was kind of done with the expo by this point as it was pretty dang crowded. The Volvo electric pace car was pretty cool. They were letting people sign the car. I found it kind of funny to see a Volvo pace car as I've always associated Honda with the LA Marathon.
On my way out I decided to register for next year's race. The price of registration at the expo was $165. Plus the usual Active.com fees, it came out to be $180.68. I thought I'd get that out of the way instead of hoping for a good deal later in the year.
Registration for next year
I then saw a few of my friends up on the stage being interviewed by Carrie. They were showcasing female runners and their amazing running goals and accomplishments. I feel privileged to know all but two of them.
Expo freebies
Just before leaving the convention center, I made a quick pit stop at the restroom. That was a smart move as the trip back to my car took a bit longer, about 20 minutes longer. Most of the extra time was spent waiting at the station for the next train and enduring traffic on the freeway.
Later that evening, the news on TV had LA mayor Eric Garcetti saying that the race would definitely go on as there were only 5 known coronavirus cases in the area. Since the race was a definite go, it was time to lay out my flat runner and to make sure that I had everything for tomorrow's race. I went with one of my Spurs jerseys. #COYS
Flat runner
Sunday 3/8
I left the house at about 3:40 am to start heading over to Union Station to catch a free bus ride over to Dodger Stadium. Once again I drove out to Pasadena to take the Metro light rail. Thankfully, unlike yesterday, there was no track maintenance or any out of the usual delays. I arrived at Union Station about 10 minutes before 5 am which was perfect timing. I caught one of the first buses heading out. Coincidentally, I bumped into a few of my friends on the bus! I'm not exactly sure why, but the ride over took longer than it should have. We were stuck in a lot of traffic. I think we ended up going in via Golden State Gate. After we were dropped off, my friends and I wished each other a good race and we went our separate ways.
Bus ride to Dodger Stadium with my friends
I walked around a bit and checked out the starting line as well as Dodger Stadium. Unfortunately, this year they were not letting anyone inside the stadium due to all of the construction to build a new entrance into the stadium in preparation to host the All Star Game. They're making it so that you can access any section of the stadium regardless of your ticket. It used to be that they kept you in your section based on the ticket you've purchased.
Start line
I timed my last minute preparations so that I would get to the pre-race Marathon Maniacs photo on time. I used one of the many portapotties and checked my gear bag before heading over to our designated meeting spot which was just outside the right pavilion. One of the person assigned to prevent people from approaching Dodger Stadium was nice enough to let us get a bit closer for our obligatory pre-race photo. After the photos, it was time to head into my assigned corral. This year I was assigned corral D. I feel like I'm getting a later corral each year. Pretty soon I'll have to start out of the general corral!
Marathon Maniacs
Latino Heat
Corral D Entrance
Per the usual, there was a lot of anxious and nervous energy all around me from my fellow participants as we waited for the start of the race. Once the race started a few minutes before 7 am and they started playing Randy Newman's iconic song, you knew that it was time to run a marathon from the Stadium to the Sea! See you in Santa Monica!
Corral
Dexter
My friend caught up to me between miles 14 and 15 while I was going down Sunset Blvd coming up to a left turn onto San Vicente Blvd. I was already starting to take long walk breaks. I always appreciate it when my friends check up on me when I'm struggling that early in a marathon.
During my many extended walk breaks, I approached mile 17 with Rodeo Dr coming up. I was mocked by an English lady saying, "Tottenham?! I'm running better than you are!" I had to run up to her to have a little conversation with her. It would turn out that she was an Arsenal fan. There was actually quite a bit of Arsenal fans among the spectators. :) Even so, it was actually fun wearing the jersey. A couple of what I assumed to be Korean runners were also wearing Son Heung Min jerseys, came up to me to say hi.
Prior to the race, I had thought about skipping my usual McDonald's pitstop at mile 19 if I was feeling good. As I was feeling pretty ragged, I got out my phone and placed my order for a hash brown on their mobile app. With the app, the wait was very minimal. I remembered to only order one as my stomach usually feels queasy if I try to eat more than one during a race! :)
Per the usual, I was having calf cramps as I was coming down the final stretch. It was a sight for sore eyes and sweet music to the ears as my race announcer friends were welcoming the runners to the finish line!
Finish: 5:08:21
Click here for my Garmin data.
That was my 16th Los Angeles Marathon overall and my 9th consecutive time running this race. While I was hoping to have finished in under 5 hours, it's always a great feeling to just finish a marathon.
Rodeo Drive
Hash brown
Finish line
Finish: 5:08:21
Click here for my Garmin data.
That was my 16th Los Angeles Marathon overall and my 9th consecutive time running this race. While I was hoping to have finished in under 5 hours, it's always a great feeling to just finish a marathon.
After getting my finisher medal, I continued down the long finisher chute. There were many volunteers passing out post race snacks and bottles of water. Besides the usual banana, we received small packages of Goldfish crackers, animal crackers, and a couple Clif Bars. Good thing my shorts had pockets. I then headed over to the gear check trucks to pick up my bag.
After getting my stuff in order, I headed down the exit chute. I took my normal exit on the left side of the chute which normally led to the beer garden at the open parking lot at the corner of Santa Monica Blvd and 2nd St. When I arrived at that lot, it was very crowded with no finish festival in sight. It looked like they finally moved the finish festival out of that tiny little spot! To where, nobody really knew. After asking around, I finally deduced that the finish festival was located on the 3rd Street Promenade. When I got there, I saw that there were many vendor booths set up. I wasn't very interested in any of that, I was just looking for some portapotties. I finally found a restroom sign next to The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. Taking that walkway took me over to the 2nd Ct alleyway where the restrooms were located.
After emptying my bladder, I made my way over to the Metro Station located at the corner of Colorado Ave and 4th St. I was able to jump into a car just a few moments before the train was about to leave. I ended up standing as the only seats left were reserved for the elderly or disabled. After a few stations, a couple seats were freed up. A Mexican guy and I took those seats. We ended up talking for a while about marathons, work, football (aka soccer) and just about anything. As we were beginning to approach the 7th St/Metro Center, a somewhat sketchy guy sat down next to us and eventually started talking to us. He had the usual bad boy tattoos and was missing a lot of teeth. I figured that he was either a drifter and/or a drug addict. My new Mexican friend and I were both a bit on our guard. I was hoping to God that he wasn't about to clown us. He saw that we were both wearing our finisher medals. He ended up congratulating us repeatedly as if we had just won the LA Marathon. He gave us both fist bumps and eventually extended his hand out for a handshake. Now with the coronavirus being out there, I had a brief pause before I shook his hand. Taking public transportation has been an adventure in of itself. I think more people should do so, so that they can see those that are less fortunate instead of living in a bubble.
Finisher medal
Post race goodies
After getting my stuff in order, I headed down the exit chute. I took my normal exit on the left side of the chute which normally led to the beer garden at the open parking lot at the corner of Santa Monica Blvd and 2nd St. When I arrived at that lot, it was very crowded with no finish festival in sight. It looked like they finally moved the finish festival out of that tiny little spot! To where, nobody really knew. After asking around, I finally deduced that the finish festival was located on the 3rd Street Promenade. When I got there, I saw that there were many vendor booths set up. I wasn't very interested in any of that, I was just looking for some portapotties. I finally found a restroom sign next to The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. Taking that walkway took me over to the 2nd Ct alleyway where the restrooms were located.
After emptying my bladder, I made my way over to the Metro Station located at the corner of Colorado Ave and 4th St. I was able to jump into a car just a few moments before the train was about to leave. I ended up standing as the only seats left were reserved for the elderly or disabled. After a few stations, a couple seats were freed up. A Mexican guy and I took those seats. We ended up talking for a while about marathons, work, football (aka soccer) and just about anything. As we were beginning to approach the 7th St/Metro Center, a somewhat sketchy guy sat down next to us and eventually started talking to us. He had the usual bad boy tattoos and was missing a lot of teeth. I figured that he was either a drifter and/or a drug addict. My new Mexican friend and I were both a bit on our guard. I was hoping to God that he wasn't about to clown us. He saw that we were both wearing our finisher medals. He ended up congratulating us repeatedly as if we had just won the LA Marathon. He gave us both fist bumps and eventually extended his hand out for a handshake. Now with the coronavirus being out there, I had a brief pause before I shook his hand. Taking public transportation has been an adventure in of itself. I think more people should do so, so that they can see those that are less fortunate instead of living in a bubble.
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