L.A. Marathon!
I finally have time today to do my race recap of the LA Marathon. No, I didn’t run, but Brian did! He did great-4:09:46, I was unbelievably proud of him, particularly since this was his first marathon ever. The weather was perfect-I don’t think it ever got much above 60-and the crowds were a lot of fun. Brian said there wasn’t a single spot along the course where there weren’t people cheering. This was my first time as a spectator at a major race, so that was pretty cool too!
We went to the expo on Saturday morning and luckily it wasn’t too crazy. Brian had some problems getting the right bib, but it all got worked out eventually. (His offical bib, as you can see above, said “Rocks”, the name of his intramural basketball team.) We taste-tested some Gatorade, I bought a Polar sd200 (it was a gooood price, and after checking out the new, extremely expensive Garmins, I decided to go with Polar) and we meandered about. Dean Karnazes, the ultra-marathon guy, was there giving a talk, but he was actually a little dull in person, IMHO.
The next morning, we headed downtown at about 5:45. Brian’s training group, the L.A. Roadrunners, had reserved a conference room at a hotel downtown where everyone could leave their stuff and get ready for the race. Plus, that way they could use real bathrooms instead of standing outside in line for the port-a-potties. The perks of being a member! I followed his pace group down to the street where they assembled for a pep talk while I found a choice spot along the road. As it turned out, when the race started I couldn’t spot Brian in the crowd, but I was so glad I was there. Getting to see the wheelchair athletes and the elite runners start was incredibly inspiring.
After the start, I trudged through downtown to meet our friends, Keve and Kerry, who were such a big help that day. They picked me up in downtown and we all drove to Mile 18 to wait and see Brian go by. After about an hour, there he was, looking great! He tossed me his fuel belt, which was empty by then, and we screamed for him and basically acted like freaks. I was so happy to see him looking so good and smiling!
According to Brian, it got harder after that. The first 13 miles of the course were pretty much downhill and the last half was a ton of rolling hills and really exhausting. While he was suffering through this, we got back in the car and scooted back to downtown to find him at the finish line. Because of all the closed roads, we weren’t able to get right to the finish, but we saw him just after he came out of the chute. He was exhausted, obviously, and maybe a little delirious, but doing great overall. I cried a little, but no one was too embarrassed. Then we came home, ate pizza with family and friends and celebrated the rest of the day, when we weren’t asleep (I have no idea why I was so tired, all I did was stand around).
Congratulations, Brian! I am so proud of you!
Scroll down for more pics, or go here to see all my pics from the race!
7 comments March 21st, 2006
