I Love LA!

The Expo
I drove to the LA Marathon expo on Saturday morning. I always look forward to attending this expo every year. I parked at my favorite $5 parking lot on Pico and walked over to the Convention Center. It was a madhouse inside. As usual I ended up spending more money than I should have. I bought a Phiten necklace, signed up for the Las Vegas Marathon, and 2 pairs of rainbow Injinji toe socks. I quickly made my way through every aisle in fear that I would make my wallet even lighter.

Pre-race
Race morning, I woke up early to take care of business... eat and poop! They say never to try anything new on race day. But I say who cares when you run so dang slow! I wore my new rainbow socks and my Phiten necklace. The necklace was suppose to help with back pain and I wanted to test it out. I headed on out around 5am and parked at Sierra Madre Metro station to hop on the Gold line. With a quick change over to the Red line at the Union Station, we arrived at Pershing Square in no time.

My friend Billy spots me as I was walking towards the starting area. My bright orange Worldvision shirt comes in handy. He was with his cousin and his friend, Cody. We hit the portopotties where we spotted 2 barefoot runners, Barefoot Bob and Julian Romero. Julian was featured on TV where they took notice that he ran a 2:56:22 sans shoes! I was soon spotted by Roccco when I went looking for water after I bid farewell to Billy, Billy's cousin, and Cody. He said that I stood out like a pumpkin in a sea of bright green, the color of this year's SRLA (students run LA).

I later learned that I had gotten on TV for about 3-4 seconds. If you watch the on-demand video on www.universalsports.com you can see me on the lower right hand side of the TV screen at 38:21 and 38:43. I'm pretty easy to spot.

In the past 5 years, I have done my worst at the LA Marathon because I kept on showing up injured and turning the event into pretty much a walkathon. I wanted to run this race hard but finish feeling strong. I kept in mind that I have San Diego the following week. I knew going into this race that my left Achilles and right hip flexor were going to be issues, but I wanted to see how long I could maintain a 4:00 pace... so I went with the following goals:
A: 4:00
B: 4:30
C: finish

The Race
We were packed like sardines at the starting line. I tried to line up as close to the 4:00 pace group but there was no way I could make my way to them, but I was in the general vicinity. The start was crazy, but people for the most part were moving fast enough for me to have a comfortable stride. Why do walkers insist on being in the front? Soon after mile 1 I was passed by a Luke Walton looking guy wearing a Kobe 24 jersey dribbling a basketball while talking on a cellphone. I was "rear-ended" by some dude on a turn just before the 5mile mark. That was weird. It felt like he just fell on my legs. I must have kicked him up at least twice. He was saying stuff in Spanish to his friends, but everybody seemed ok... so no blood, no harm, no foul.

1: 9:10
2: 8:16
3: 8:30
4-5: 18:00
6: 9:21
10k: 54:55

7: 9:11
8: 9:01
9: 9:13
10: 9:09
11: 9:56
12: 9:16
13: 9:05
13.1mi: 1:59:09

I started falling off the 4:00 pace around the 15th mile. Soon thereafter the pace group quickly devoured/passed me like a fast moving amoeba. The bad patch lasted over 2 miles, but I was able to fire up the engines again and keep the pace group somewhat in sight. But they slowly pulled away from me. Right before mile 19 I spotted Kathy and went over to say hi. She was passing out goodies with her sister and friends. After the potty break, I pretty much knew that goal A was out the window. I had to start taking extended walking breaks. I saw the ultramarathoning phenom Dean Karnazes around mile 22. I said hi to him as he passed me. The freak ran about 100 miles from Santa Barbara to the expo on Sunday to be the featured speaker, and then runs the marathon on Monday! He's going to run down to San Diego and then run San Diego Rock n' Roll Marathon. What a beast! I saw Huskydon at around mile 23. I wasn't moving fast and he looked very familiar so I made my way over to him to get a better look. I was struggling quite a bit with my energy level and the desire to run while I was on Olympic. But once I turned on Flower to head for the finish line, I just turned on the jets and ran a decent hard pace to the finish. It felt great to be able to finish strong instead of crawling across. After getting my medal and eating a couple of bananas, I went over to the finish line where I saw NYCParkrunner (Joe) cross the finish line at a little over 5hrs.

14: 9:04
15: 10:24
16: 10:14
17: 9:46
18: 9:52
19: 9:26
30k: 2:54:05

20: 14:37 (potty break)
21: 11:40
22: 10:53
23: 12:20
24: 12:52
25: 12:08
26: 11:05
26.2: 1:43
Finish: 4:24:24

2004: 7:35:37 all time personal worst
2005: 7:01:34 previous personal course record - not very hard to beat!
2006: 7:05:06
2007: 6:07:08 Universal Studios start
2008: 5:24:25 Universal Studios start

When I got home and watched the on-demand video... at the end of the race coverage, Frank McCourt mentioned that he wants to work on changing the course for next year to show off the defining points of LA. He wants the race to start at Dodger stadium and end at the beach. He feels that that will create an attractive world class race that will bring people from all over the world to run the LA Marathon. I sure hope so, his group pulled it off this year despite all of the hurdles that they had to clear. They were seriously handicapped from the get-go. I will be back next year and I was glad to have gotten the chance to redeem myself on the course that completely owned me 3 years in a row.

What I learned
The Phiten necklace seem to have worked. I didn't have the usual lower back tightness at the beginning of the race. I will have to test it further to rule out coincidence. My legs seem to resist cramping better if I eat the shotbloks first then go to the clifshots afterwards. I did the reverse at PV and I cramped up so bad that I couldn't even walk for a while.

I left my heart in Honolulu

Well it looks like it's going to be a scorcher this week. I seriously hope that it cools down by Memorial day or else it's going to get pretty ugly at the LA marathon. I scratched my run yesterday because my body felt run down. Instead I spent the day catching up on movies. I watched Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa and Quantum of Solace. It wasn't a total waste of a day because I did workout the core and upper body later in the evening. It has helped with my running tremendously even though I've put on about 8 - 10 pounds since hitting the weights again.

This morning I went out on an approximately 3.4 mi run at a 7:55 pace. Legs felt okay, but the breathing felt labored at the start. The left leg was not liking the concrete sidewalk. I finally wore my singlet that I bought at the Honolulu marathon expo. I usually wear a medium size but this was a large and it fit rather tight. While I was running, I really missed running in Hawaii even though it was raining for pretty much the whole time that I was there. It was great eating ramen with the Japanese folks and curry with my friend in Hawaii. Most likely I'll go back there to run the marathon every December unless I get into the NYC marathon. Sorry, I won't be a marathon maniac after 2009 is over. I'll be going back to running about 4 marathons a year. Maybe even less and attempt to qualify for Boston. But I will definitely have to work hard to capture that elusive unicorn!

Palos Verdes Marathon

Suckfest 2009: Palos Verdes edition - same story different race.

Twisted Thinking
Before I ran the La Jolla half marathon last week, I came up with a brilliant plan to motivate myself to run a honest good race. I said to myself that if I can muster up a sub 2 performance on a tough course that I would run the full marathon instead of the half at Palos Verdes. That's how I ended up at the starting line for the Palos Verdes full marathon.

Pre-race
The week leading up to the race, my co-workers have been showing up to work sick. Work has been stressful and I worked late on Friday. I woke up Saturday morning feeling pretty lethargic and feeling the malaise you feel right before the onset of a cold or a flu. Normally I would drink Campbell's soup when I feel sick, but I was tired so I stuck to the good 'ol whole wheat toast with Nutella and orange juice. I got to the Point Fermin Park just before 5:30am. I was the 2nd car to park in the parking lot. I took a nap waiting for them to setup the race.

First Half
The race started promptly at 7am. The wind gusts were strong at the very beginning. But once we got a little inland, it was ok. I was a little eager beaver and went out as hard as I could. I figured it was race day and what have I got to lose? I might as well give the legs a little test. Some of the mile markers were off, so I had a hard time gauging exactly how fast I was going. I pretty much just ran the race based on feel. I kind of knew that I was going too fast when my left Achilles was feeling tender and my right IT-band was feeling tight. I covered the first half in about 2 hrs which was too fast for me.
1: 8:10
2: 7:53
3-4: 20:35
5: 7:15
6: 9:41
7: 10:12
8-9: 18:34
10: 9:17
11: 8:44
12: 9:21
13: 9:12

Second Half
What can I say? I went out as BIG as I could which resulted in an Epic blowup Long Beach style. Everything siezed up on me. I sat down on the curb twice and once on these big pipes. I could not even walk! I must have looked like crap because the other runners that saw me asked me if I needed them to go get help. Of course I told them that I'll be alright, that I'll just walk it in. Then God sent one of His angels to come help me... actually it was a fellow runner #305. He stopped and massaged both of my legs for me. He told me that I'll be able to run later on. And that I did when I eventually was able to HTFU and run/walk it in. I switched to walking every time I felt the cramps coming on. I was able to squeek in under 5 hrs and keep my sub-5 streak alive for this year.
14: 10:27
15: 9:39
16: 10:42
17: 14:04 - pottie break
18: 10:50
19: 9:28
20: 21:38 - meltdown Long Beach style
21: 21:24
22: 11:22 - time to HTFU and salvage a sub 5
23: 14:42
24: 11:33
25: 12:50
26: 12:32
26.2: 1:43
Total: 4:52

La Jolla Half Marathon

packet pickup
I left my house at 10am for my Saturday morning drive to La Jolla. I had planned to spend some time down in SD for old time's sake but due to an unforeseen "emergency" I had to waste my visit by driving right back home. I'm thinking that they need to move the expo to another location with better parking. Every year it has been a zoo hunting for a parking space, but for the 2nd year in a row I was able to find a parking spot right outside of Jonathan's Market. They moved the expo to the recreation center this year. The packet pickup was easier than prior years. But the expo did not have anything that interested me. I went through the RRS run-once shoe sale and did not find any good shoe to buy. And that concluded my extremely short visit to La Jolla. I thanked Jonathan's Market for leaving me a parking space by going in and buying a powerbar before I headed back home.

race day
I woke up at 1am to watch the London marathon. Man I felt like a serious marathon junkie. After watching the Boston marathon and now the London marathon... I just can't seem to get enough of it. I ate my usually wheat toast and orange juice. I've moved away from eating Campbell's soup. I only do that when I feel sick. Right when I was ready to leave the house for the race, I watched Wanjiru win yet again. That guy was amazing.

Since I opted out of extra sleep for some elite marathon action, I was sort of dozing on my drive down to the Del Mar Fairgrounds. I was extra careful not to drive too fast because my friends seemed to all have gotten speeding tickets lately and I wasn't about to join them. There were hardly any cars out at that hour so it was a rather dark uneventful drive. I arrived at 5:30am and parked in the dirt lot. I took a quick nap and then got ready for the race... why are there so many 98 degrees songs on my iPod?

I jogged around the parking lot to warm up a bit. I then hit the potties and found a place to sit and relax. I then went to hit the potties again. After which I was spotted by one of my forum friends, so I hopped back into the line with her. It's always good to run into someone you know, it passed the time much faster. I had originally thought about jogging a bit more to keep loose, but instead I hit the pottie yet again with her. Just as we finished our business, the race was about to start.

It's 7:30am and off we go in the first wave! I used the first couple of miles to gauge what my legs were going to give me. I passed so many people and wondered why these folks started in the first wave for people wanting to run sub 8 min pace. But it's usually because the walkers and slower runners don't want to deal with the 3hr cutoff. I much rather have these folks out exercising and blocking my way than have them waste their bodies away doing nothing. Everybody has been created with so much potential and it's just a shame to waste it.

I was moving pretty well for the first 5 miles and I could see the first challenge coming up quickly. The first major hill was the one up Torrey Pines Reserve. This "hill" has killed me both years and I was much better prepared for it this year. I did not have to walk at any point, but it was every bit as hard as I remembered it to be. Once I got to the top, I was ready for the race to end. But I kept plugging away. This was where I spotted my bunny. She was very tanned and reminded me of my Hawaiian friend, so I dubbed her the "very tanned Hawaiian bunny". She was pretty much running at the same pace as I was, so I followed her. Several times I would pass her but she would pass me right back later. My lower back was giving me problems at around mile 8, but I tried to stay relaxed and was hoping it was just a "bad patch" and luckily it went away.

I was relieved when we finally reached mile 10 where we got to fly down a long stretch of downhill. I took my 1 and only powergel and tried to not go too fast because I had to save enough for the final climb at mile 12. I was continuously passed by much stronger runners, but I had to stick to my game plan. I saved enough strength and was able to power up the last hill and the rest was just a super steep downhill to the finish line. The final stretch was a quick sprint to the grassy finish line and I loved that the crowds were nice and loud. I lost track of my bunny at the end, but her job was done as I was crossing the finish line pretty close to my Goal A.

Splits:
1 - 8:37
2 - 8:07
3 - 8:35
4 - 9:17
5 - 8:00
6 - 10:29
7 - 9:34
8 - 8:46
9 - 8:53
10 - 8:52
11 - 8:27
12 - 8:51
13.1 - 9:56

2007: 2:13:06 (as usual, was dealing with IT-band injury)
2008: 2:17:55 (succumbed to the heat)
Goal A: 1:55
Goal B: sub 2
Goal C: don't die
I finished in 1:56:29

Salt Lake City Marathon

Getting There
I flew into Salt Lake City on Friday via Southwest. I really do not like flying with them, but anything to save a few bucks here and there. I thought it would be a direct flight but we had a brief stop in Phoenix. After getting into SLC, I got a rental car and headed over to my hotel right next to the Salt Palace Convention Center. After checking in and dumping off my stuff in my room, I walked over to the expo.

The Expo
It was a no frills expo. I was somewhat expecting something a bit bigger. I picked up my race packet and proceeded to visit every aisle. I bought a Superman keychain thingie for the Christopher Reeve Foundation and that was about it. I stopped by Dane Rauschenberg's booth to say hi and see all of the medals that he had amassed in the year that he ran a marathon in all 52 weeks of 1 year.

Carbo-load
After dropping off the race packet at my room, I headed over to the Gateway to find some food. I ended up eating at California Pizza Kitchen because I had a gift card. Ate a plate full of marinara linguini with shrimp and had a Wasatch unofficial amble ale which was recommended by the bunny/waitress. She was pretty much the only bunny I saw at this race. Too bad she was not running in the race. :D

The Race - first half
I woke up early and took the rail over to the starting line. There was plenty of water available and an abundance of port-o-potties called honey bucket... nice name. The race first started with the bike tour and the early start for the marathon walkers. Then the wheelchair folks took off. Finally came the full and half marathoners. The starting area was a tad cramped at the Olympic Legacy Bridge. I had to walk several yards after passing the starting mats before we were even able to start running. There was definitely a shortage of bunnies in this race. Only about a third were women in the marathon. I think most of them were running the half marathon. It didn't really play a factor because I felt rather fatigued from the get go. I didn't have the legs to be chasing any. The first 5 miles were easy because they were all downhill. The snow capped mountains in the backdrop was nice to look at while running. There came some pretty good rollers after the easy part was over. They weren't too tough, but I knew I wasn't going to have an easy day. While running through mile 12, my lower back started tightening up. This "bad patch" lasted about 2 miles. I had to keep reminding myself to relax as much as possible. When I crossed the halfway mark I felt as bad as I had at the Long Beach marathon. I was on pace to finish between 4:15 and 4:30. Good enough for me, so I continued to trot along.

1 - 8:50
2 - 8:39
3 - 8:25
4 - 8:42
5 - 8:47
6 - 9:03
7 - 9:56
8 - 9:20
9 - 9:47
10 - 9:42
11 - 9:20
12 - 9:54 - hit a bad patch
13 - 10:50 - the hills were getting to me

The Race - second half
The next couple of miles were a bit easier with a much welcomed downhill portion. Then things started getting bad. Both legs and feet felt tired and heavy. Took a pottie break between 17 and 18. I liked that there were no lines at all of the port-a-potties. I finally get to mile 20 and my legs quit on me. My quads and calves all locked up. I had to walk and eat some more shot bloks to get everything to loosen up. After that I just had to switch over to the run/walk method. The cramps would come back every now and then. Mile 25 was a long and steady climb. The sun was out at this point and I just felt like all of my remaining energy leaving me like there was a leak in my body. When I got close to the finish line at the Gateway, I tried to run quickly but everything cramped up again so it was a quick painful hobble to the finish. I'm glad that I dealt with the cramps instead of shutting things down and sitting on bus benches like I did at Long Beach.

14 - 9:33 - yeah for more downhills!
15 - 9:42
16 - 10:32
17 - 10:51
18 - 12:31 - pottie break
19 - 11:38
20 - 11:00
21 - 13:57 - yowzas! both quads and calves cramped up.
22 - 14:21
23 - 14:14
24 - 12:58
25 - 14:28 - long steady climb
26.2 - 16:25 - cramped my way to the finish line.
Finish: 4:43:38 Pace: 10:49

Carlsbad 5000 all day 25k

I hate running 5k's. You have to go hard right out of the starting gate! So what possessed me to sign up to run 5 of them in a row? How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

Friday I ate something that my body did not like. I'm guessing they were these crackers because I ate a bunch of them again on Saturday and I had a pretty bad case of the "downsies". That's the least gross way I could describe it. I barely could stomach a thing on Sunday morning. But I forced myself to eat at least a Powerbar or else I would not be able to last through all 5 heats.

I showed up to beautiful Carlsbad at around 5:30am. Was kind of hard keeping the eyes open during the drive. Did not get as much sleep as I had wanted again due to having to visit the bathroom every now and then throughout the night. I picked up my bib and tag#1 at 6ish. Went back to my car to change.

1st heat - Men Masters 40+
25:06, 8:05 pace - I warmed up with very light jogging. Hit the portapotties and lined up for the race. Talked to a 70 year old guy wearing Newtons. He pretty much tells me that they're the next best thing since sliced bread. The race starts promptly at 7:05. I felt hungry. Hit the pace that I wanted 8min/mile. Felt comfortably hard. The 70 year old guy finishes about 40 seconds behind me. That's what I want to be doing when I'm his age! He did not look 70.

2nd heat - Women Masters 40+
24:37, 7:56 pace - At the pace that I was running, I had about 30 minutes to take care of stuff before the next heat. I drank a bottle of Cytomax and picked up my new timing tag. We were given a new one for each heat. Talk about bunny overload! Here's where I spotted my favorite bunny. She was also doing the all day 25k. She would pace me for about 1.5 miles. Then I'd pass her on the hill and beat her by 10 seconds or so.

We had an extra 20min break while the wheelchair racers did their thing. So I went and picked up my awesome Sugoi tech shirt and goodie-less bag. I went to my car to drop the stuff off and facebooked my times for the first 2 heats. I love Sugoi clothing, this is going to be one of my favorite shirts! Very nice looking print design. Back to the races.

3rd heat - Men 30-39
24:39, 7:56 pace - This was my AG so I tried to run as fast as my legs would let me, but not too fast where I would burn myself out. Looks like I failed. The weather was starting to heat up. So I decided to carry a bottle of water with me. I ate a banana and drank another bottle of Cytomax while waiting for the race to begin. In the middle of my first mile, my stomach starts to hurt. But I ignored it. I followed and passed my bunny, but I knew I was dead for the next 2 heats when I was coming down the finishing chute. I had no kick and my legs felt spent. I was pouring water on my head throughout the heat. Apparently I was brain dead as well. After all of the races I checked the results and originally thought I did not get in the top 250, but I was reading the sex place which was 553. I came in 207 for my AG. I should've gotten a medal, but oh well.

4th heat - Women 30-39
28:03, 9:02 pace - Wow, this heat reminded me why I hated running 5k's. It was pretty demoralizing running the first mile in 9 minutes. My bunny was nowhere in sight. My goose was cooked. Again I carried a bottle of water and kept dumping it on my head. I tried to get in under 28, but my legs throughout this heat felt like they were filled with lead and had 10 lb weights strapped to each leg. Also as I was walking over to the starting line for the 5th and final heat, I noticed that my right foot was sore. So I sort of had a pimp limp.

5th heat - Men/Women 29 and under
29:05, 9:22 pace - I tried to put out whatever I had left in the tank. Which wasn't much. I got to the first mile in under 9 minutes. But I was running on fumes. This one time I poured water on my head, I heard girls behind me say, "did he just pee on himself?" Anyways, I resisted walking and shuffled along. The last turn for the finish line was the most welcoming sight that I've seen in a long time! I tried to speed up to come in under 29, but obviously I failed.

Final verdict: my endurance is getting better, but I still need a lot of work. I love the events that Elite Racing puts together. They successfully brought me back to this event with this new 25k all day romp. Everything went smoothly without a hitch.

Sycamore Canyon 30k

This race felt more like Buns of Steel workout part 2 for me. It was easier than Malibu Creek, but not by much. Coming into this race, I've been feeling really tired mentally. I can deal with physical tiredness, but my mind was just not 100% there. It was like this as well at the Pasadena marathon. Good thing I really love running or else I would just bag it and stay home.

The reason I ran this race was because my friends were going to be there. Hard to believe, but I had initially planned to take this weekend off so that I could rest for the upcoming weekend where I'll be running the Carlsbad 5000 five times for an all day 25k. Also I like being around trail runners. I think they are a completely different breed of runners, probably very high on endorphins.

On to the race... it starts promptly at 8:30 and I started off at a modest pace. I just wanted to take in the views and run a relaxing trail run without caring about the finishing time. But my natural tendency kicked in when we started our first climb. This one girl aka The Bunny takes off and I just followed. She must have gotten tired of me following her because she ditched me a few times, but I caught up to her on the inclines. About 9k later, I reached the first aid station. PB&J's are the best!

The next 12k section was not my favorite. There were sections where it's just climbing. You just didn't have the option of running. It was pretty scary coming back down. Somewhere in the middle I caught up to The Bunny again. But she took off with a group of 6 runners that came up to us. I could not keep up. This was when the race got pretty lonely for me. I crossed this huge grassland area with no one in sight, no one in front and no one in back. The single track was a hard V-shape. I must have rolled my right ankle at least 5 times. I just said to hell with it and walked. I was then passed by a bunch of people. The rest was kind of a blur. I was also in a bad mood because I had ran out of my fluids. Looks like I really do need 2 handhelds. As I was closing in on the aid station, my friend Rachel passed me. I'm pretty sure she knew I wore myself out early on chasing The Bunny. The right ankle was not feeling so hot and the quads were trashed. I hit the restrooms right before reaching the aid station. While the nice folks filled up my bottle, I ate a bunch of PB&J's and a bunch of potatoes. I must have looked like crap because this one old couple that I passed on the way to the aid station offered to drive me to Sycamore Canyon. I said I may look horrible, but I'll get there... it's only 9k more.

For the final 9k it was getting hard running the downhills so I ended up walking the downhills and slogging the uphills. Right before I crested on the final uphill, I passed a girl that asked if I was Pony. It turned out to be Renee. My mind at this point was already on a search for a boulder to sit on, so I welcomed the company. It was nice of her to pace me to the bottom. My quads were not liking the downhill, but our conversation kind of distracted me from the burn. Before I knew it, we were at the finish line. I was kind of spacing out. I just remember Lori telling me to stop eating the food for the 50k people.

I finished close to the bottom at 4:10:45, but I didn't care because I had fun. One thing I've got to do if I want to continue doing trail races is that I really need to get some trail shoes. I don't feel very safe in my road shoes. I know I have pretty strong ankles and pretty quick on my feet, but I don't want to push my luck. My right hip did not bother me. I really hope it will just work itself out. When ever it starts bothering me, I immediately going into the Gallow-walking mode.

One final note: the day that I sign-up to run a trail ultra race is the day that I've completely lost my sanity. No amount of runner's amnesia will get me to sign up for one. :D