LA Marathon - The Epic Fail

It will come as no surprise that I have procrastinated my LA Marathon race report.  After all, it really isn't a race report when you don't finish.  Yep, a big 'ol DNF.  The first of my life.  I'd like to say it will be my last, but some things you just can't control.  Here are my excuses the two things I couldn't control on Sunday, March 9th.

1.  My health.  OK, well I suppose I have SOME control here, but hey, I work at a school.  You can practically see the viruses in the air.  It was only a matter of time.  I started getting sick in the last two weeks before the race.  I tried everything to keep it at bay, but no luck -- sinus infection.  #*@~^&!!!  To boot, flying never helps congestion.  I felt like crap the day before the race, but there was no way I wasn't going to even try.

2.  The weather.

Here are Greg and I training in DC for the past four months:

And here I am on race day:

You get the idea.  Avg temps at the finish line in LA from 2010-2013 were in the mid 50s.  This year?  Mid 80s. Of course.  Of course, after one of the worst and coldest winters DC has ever had.

Weather aside, I knew my health would make this race a long shot, especially since I had some high expectations about a PR.  I was not going to be satisfied lollygagging my way to the finish line.  I wanted a solid finish, and paced myself accordingly.  After 8 miles, I knew I was in serious trouble.  At the 10 mile mark, feeling like death, I decided to pull the plug.  I could lie and say this was a hard decision but it really wasn't.  I could (a) walk/jog a miserable 16 miles and be depressed the rest of our vacation, feel undeserving of my finishers medal, and need extra recovery for weeks or (b) call it a day, celebrate Greg's race at the finish line, enjoy the rest of my vacation, and recover faster for future races which were/are arguably more important to me.

Some quick notes on the LA Marathon.

1.  The course map makes this route look "easy," relatively speaking.  Think again.  The first 6 miles are among the hilliest I've ever run on road, both up and down.  This makes pacing extremely difficult.  Our marathon last year, Austin, was hilly, but you were not slammed with the steepest climbs in the first 6 miles.  LA's hills may be fewer but they were worse.

2.  The race is extraordinarily well organized.  As a result, you do NOT, despite all of their requests, need to be there first.  We luckily took the 5AM shuttle from Santa Monica (they started at 3AM!)  Take the 5:30, the last one, if you can possibly do so.  Even on the 5AM shuttle we were hanging around at the race start for two long painful hours.  You are waiting in the Dodger Stadium parking lot, so there is no where comfortable to even sit down.

3.  Try to avoid races the day of spring daylight savings.

4.  If you plan on meeting other racers/spectators at the finish, keep in mind there is zero shade in the "family reunion" area.  Family/friends will not want to wait for long on a hot day.

The good news about the heat is that it was fantastic for vacation purposes and made for a nice getaway from the yucky, snowy mess that is the east coast.  After Greg's finish (he made me very proud that day, sticking out what, for us, were brutal conditions) we celebrated with some r&r and pool time.  The day after the race we rented some cruisers and took a 25 mile ride down to Manhattan beach where I got to see the 90210 beach house.  Greg was not impressed but I got a big kick out of it.

I returned to work on Wednesday to all the "so, how'd it go?" questions.  GRRRR.  Saw the Dr. on Thursday who confirmed that my upper respiratory system was a disaster area and put me on antibiotics.  SO, now I'm back, I'm getting healthy, and I have nothing to recover from.  Time to refocus on the road ahead and the things I can control - each workout, one workout at a time.

Next up...6 Hours of Cranky Monkey mountain bike race.  Weather permitting, on March 22nd, Team Islay will try to dominate the 3-person Co-Ed category, relaying laps around Rosaryville State Park.  According to the current signups, we are guaranteed a podium spot.  That's my kind of race!