After 3 consecutive weekends of getting on a plane and traveling to Tokyo, Kona, and NYC, I was very much relieved that this weekend didn't involve getting on a plane. Apparently I didn't think that I needed to rest on Saturday before the LA Marathon as I had signed up to volunteer for the LA Big 5k. I figured that I was already going to have to be in the area to pick up my race packet. So Saturday morning, I got ready and drove out to Dodger Stadium arriving at about a quarter til 6 am for my volunteer shift. Per the instructions, I parked in lot K and walked over to the registration tables. The volunteer check-in table was nearby however it wasn't very well marked. I kind of just looked for people that appeared to be volunteers and there it was. After signing in on a clipboard, I got a volunteer shirt, a protein bar, and a Capri Sun.
LA Big 5k volunteer check-in
I've volunteered for several races and honestly this was one of the most poorly organized. People that appeared to be in charge of different areas just randomly showed up and grabbed volunteers. When the guy in charge of the finisher area came by, I made sure to get in on that assignment. The tasks involved removing finisher medals from the boxes and the packaging. After that we prepared the post race food. For the food, I mainly helped separating the bananas.
Finish line
Finisher medal
Post race food
After we were done setting up, we took the downtime to use the nearby portapotties before waiting for the runners to come through. At first the runners slowly trickled in, but soon it was by the droves. After a while it was pretty hectic just trying to keep up. Eventually all of the medals that we've unpacked ran out where we had to have a few volunteers focus solely on unpacking the remaining boxes of medals. I didn't get to see all of my friends that ran the race, but I did see a few familiar faces that came through and got a medal from me.
Dexter!
Natalie!
Unfortunately I spotted a few thieves taking more than 1 medal. They would grab a medal, pocket it and go right to another volunteer for another medal. Shame on you! We were pretty swamped with finishers coming through, so it was impossible for us to go catch these culprits. This made me really appreciate the top notch organization and those security guards that they would have at runDisney races.
After my volunteer shift was over, it was time to head on over to the race expo. At first I thought about leaving my car at Dodger Stadium, but I didn't know if they were going shut the gates. Instead, I drove out to the Sierra Madre Villa Station in Pasadena to take the Metro Gold Line over to Union Station. However there was track work taking place between Sierra Madre Villa and Del Mar on the Gold Line, so I needed to go down to the ground level to catch a bus over to the Del Mar Station. Then from there I took the train over to 7th St/Metro Center via the Red/Purple Line. Then to Pico Station via the Blue/Expo Line. The expo was located in the West Exhibit Hall of the LA Convention Center which was the hall right next to Staples Center.
Expo
I liked that this race continues to improve on their race including their race expo. As you enter the exhibit hall, they have the feel of a Marathon Major. There were plenty of signs directing you on where to go. The area used for the bib and shirt pick-up was very nicely spread out to handle the high volume of people. As part of the goodie bag, we were given not 1, but 2 complimentary Metro tap cards. Both of the cards were loaded with a 1 day pass.
Race shirt
Complimentary Metro tap card 1 day pass x2
Before going into the area for the official merchandise, I noticed that there was a long line against the wall. I checked it out and saw that it was the line to meet Meb Keflezighi. He was there primarily to promote his new book, 26 Marathons. I first bought the book before getting in line. I've met him on more than 1 occasion, so I only had him sign the book. The guy has always been humble and super friendly from the first time that I've met him. He offered to sign my bib as well, but I told him that he didn't have to since he still has a long line of fans to meet and greet.
Long line to meet Meb
Meb!
I then ventured into the official merchandise area. I looked at a few items, but I didn't come across anything that I just had to buy. Next it was time to visit the booths and check out the rest of the expo. The first thing I came across was the wall of participant names. It was super crowded at the wall, but I was able to locate my name.
Participant name wall
Found my name
Then I checked out the LA Loyal area. There was a booth, but they were only giving out stuff for 5 and 10 years. Although this year will be my 15th LA Marathon overall, it will only be my 8th consecutive LA Marathon. I had skipped the 2011 LA Marathon to run the New York City Half Marathon that year.
Nothing for year 8
Next I came up to the Conqur Endurance Group information booth where they were letting people know that they can register this weekend for next year's LA Marathon at $165. I think it's an okay deal, but not that great for signing up so early. I am definitely not a fan of their weird pricing tactics throughout the year. They would release blocks of entries at a certain price and then announce that they've sold out of bibs at price X. They would then sell the next block of entries at a higher price. Rinse and repeat. Whether it is intentional or not, it's such a feeble attempt to trick people into thinking that the race will sell out. They really shouldn't be so obsessed with attaining that "sell-out" status. They should focus on continuing to put out a great race, and just let the race sell out naturally on its own!
Sign up for next year
But I digress... back to the rest of the expo. I next came across the Justin Turner Foundation booth where I filled out a form with my contact information for a chance to win items autographed by Justin Turner. Hopefully I don't get spammed too much in the near future!
Justin Turner Foundation
The graffiti wall was pretty full by the time I got there. There wasn't a whole lot of white space left for me to add anything to it.
Graffiti wall
Next I stopped by the LA Dodgers Foundation booth. Registration for the 10k was $60. However they provided a promo code that would knock $5 off. To even further sweeten the deal, once I registered for the race on my phone, they let me pick 1 item among the promotional items that they had available. I went with the chips and salsa dish.
Promotional item for LA Dodgers Foundation 10k registration
I stopped by the FinisherPix booth to take a green screen photo. It didn't come out too good as the shadows weren't green enough to be replaced by the background photo that I had chosen.
Poor green screen photo
As I was pretty much done with the expo, my mind was already focused on leaving, so I almost walked right by a few of my good running friends. Thank goodness they saw me and was able to get my attention! Sometimes I do have quite the laser-focus when I'm trying to get from point A to point B. :)
Maricris, Violeta, and Ryan
The trip back to my car on the Metro seemed to take forever as I had to once again catch a bus from the Del Mar Station over to the Sierra Madre Villa Station. The traffic was also pretty bad on the 210 freeway. It would appear that quite a number of people have work on Saturdays. Along the way home, I stopped in at the McDonald's to pick up a very late lunch. Although St Patrick's Day had already passed, they were still serving Shamrock Shakes. I just had to get one.
Sunday 3/24
Race morning... I arrived at the Sierra Madre Villa Station a little before 4 am to ride the Metro Gold Line into Union Station. Thankfully there was no track work this morning. I used one of the complimentary Metro 1-day pass to pay for my fare. From Union Station I walked over to the Patsaouras Transit Plaza to catch a shuttle over to Dodger Stadium. By choosing this option instead of parking out in Santa Monica, I got at least an extra hour of sleep. It was a pretty short ride to the stadium, but our driver got lost in the parking lot. After a few u-turns and a police escort to the correct location, we finally got off of the bus and into one of the many bag check security lines.
Shuttle from Union Station to Dodger Stadium
After getting through security, I made my way inside Dodger Stadium as they allowed us to go into the field level. I checked out the restrooms, but there was a huge line for the stalls already. I turned around and went to check out the restrooms at the pavilion section. The stalls were all occupied, but there were no lines. Only 1 other runner and I were waiting.
After I was done taking care of my morning business, I made my way over to the right field level entrance to wait for the Marathon Maniacs pre-race photo gathering. It was pretty easy to spot the gathering as the MM regional ambassador, Latino Heat, was wearing his bright MM fluorescent yellow jacket and was carrying the MM yellow banner. Once we took the photo, I made a beeline for the gear check trucks. I wanted to check my bag early enough to use the portapotties one last time before entering the corrals. While waiting in line for the portapotties, I had a brief conversation with a couple of guys in front of me. It would turn out that one of them was running his first marathon. You could tell that he was a little bit worried and anxious as he was feeling a bit under the weather. I tried my best to encourage him by giving a few pointers on what to expect from the course. I also told him that I had run some of my best races while sick as I didn't go out too fast in the first few miles. :) As a pre-congratulatory gift, I gave him my beer ticket.
Marathon Maniacs pre-race photo
Start line
As I got to the entrance of my assigned corral, it was pretty much blocked. A large group of unseeded runners was trying to get in and the volunteers were not letting them through. We had to wait for them to turn around and move aside before we could get through. Ultimately it really didn't matter as the corral ahead of me had runners and walkers aiming to complete the marathon in 6 hrs. Now why on Earth would they put me with a verified finishing time of sub 4:30 behind 6 hr marathoners? For the last couple of years they have been putting me further back. Maybe I should just give up and just start in the open corral. I could also start taking things more seriously and train to be up in corral A or B. :) Better yet, sometimes I should just look at the silver lining. I got to see a few of my good trail running friends while waiting in corral E!
I can barely see the start line
Found my friends in corral E
When the race started with Randy Newman's iconic 'I love LA' song blaring in the speakers, there was so much energy flowing through everyone around me. However it took me almost 5 minutes to get up to the start line. I did make it into their live stream at about 58 minutes into the video. I got a shout out from Rudy, the awesome race announcer. My goal today was to finish the marathon around 5 hrs while feeling fresh. The plan was to run the first 20 miles as easily as possible, then see what I have left for the last 10k.
Everything was going fine until about mile 5 as I made the left turn onto Temple St off of Grand Ave. During a nice stretch of downhill I felt something in my left hip that got me a little worried. From that point on, I decided to just ease off on the effort and to take it easy on all of the downhills.
For some reason, this course almost always eats me up. I was pretty tired and feeling pretty spent by the time I reached the halfway point. It was a bit early, but I had definitely switched to survival mode. Since I was starting to deal with cramps, I decided to duck into the McDonald's on Santa Monica Blvd which was just before reaching mile 19. I placed my order for 1 hash brown using the mobile app to speed things up. However when I went inside, nobody was working on fulfilling orders. I'm guessing they weren't getting too many customers with the marathon going on so they were probably in the back goofing off.
After I got my hash brown, I hopped back on the course. I was off to the side walking and taking a picture of the hash brown when Heather comes up to me! She had caught me red handed! :) I ran a little bit with her, but the leg cramps were settling in, so I had to go back to more walking.
Hash brown break
Caught red handed with my hash brown
The last 10k was just me and a few thousand other participants around me on a slow march to the finish line. I tried to run here and there as much as possible, but the cramps kept coming back. I ran into Judge Craig Mitchell during the final miles along San Vicente Blvd. He was the judge that started a running club to help those living on Skid Row. A few years ago, filmmakers shot a film called Skid Row Marathon. I had a good brief conversation with him. It's always great to run into good people trying to help the lives of others.
During the last mile or so, they were passing out red bean paste buns! They're my favorite! I've only seen them being passed out during the Tokyo Marathon! Some of the spectators thought I was eating a burger. I was still dealing with leg cramps, so I was eating almost anything and everything that was being passed out by spectators.
Finish line
Finish: 5:09:53
Click here for my Garmin data.
As soon as I crossed the finish line, my legs seized up. I kept taking deep breaths and kept the legs moving. That helped a little with alleviating the leg cramps. While I was hoping to have finished in under 5 hrs, I was over by about 10 minutes. It was close enough. I was just happy to have finished another marathon. This was marathon #209. After getting my finisher medal, a mylar blanket, and a bunch of snacks, I headed over to the trucks to retrieve my gear bag.Relive 'Los Angeles Marathon'
Finisher medal side 1
Finisher medal side 2
As always, the volunteers were great. They started searching for my bag as soon as they saw me walking up. They found me bag before I got up to their table. After putting some stuff away in my gear bag to free up my hands, I headed towards the finish festival to meet up with my friends. Even though I don't drink anymore, I still had to get in line for ID check in order to enter the beer garden. The line was pretty long, but it was moving quickly.
Finish Festival
Line to check ID
Once inside, it was time to find my friends. Per the usual, the place was overly packed. They really need to find a new venue for the beer garden. I was able to find Heather in the beer line. We then hung out at a relatively open spot near the exit of the beer line where we eventually bumped into other fellow Marathon Maniacs. As with most runners in our club, we all had plenty of stories to share with each other.
Found Heather in the beer line
Heather!
Eddie and Heather
I waited until Kino showed up as I haven't seen that guy in a while. He was one of the Marathon Maniacs that encouraged me to join the club since we kept seeing each other at a lot of marathons. #KinosFault :)
Kino and Heather
After I said my goodbyes, I started walking towards the Downtown Santa Monica Metro Station located at the corner of 4th St and Colorado Ave to begin my long journey back to my car. Even though it took a while to get back to my car, I still think it's a much better and cheaper option than trying to drive out of Santa Monica after the race.
