On Sunday, March 18 2018, I finished my second Los Angeles Marathon and fifth marathon. This post feels hard to write, because I can’t believe it’s all over. As an ambassador, I lived and breathed this race, as well as the Santa Monica Classic and Pasadena Half, for about eight months. As an ambassador I found confidence in myself to pull off new races I’d never even dreamt of doing, just a short time time ago. (As an ambassador I also got to run the Classic, Half, Marathon and LA Big 5k free of charge; all of the opinions stated here are my own.) I trained more for this race than any race before. I had a goal of 4:30, and finished at 5:07. I refuse to be disappointed by this. I got a course PR! I saw the flaws in my training and I will come back stronger next year. When you are a runner, there is no finish line, and there are second chances. Sometimes those chances don’t come around for another year or so, but there will be a different marathon this year! Where that will be, I don’t know yet. I unfortunately did not make it into the Chicago or New York marathons, which was actually a blessing for my bank account! Since we bought the Rock’n Roll race series Tourpass, I can make any of those races a marathon, but I kind of have my eye on Honolulu Marathon in December. If not Honolulu, perhaps a second go at Long Beach Marathon, where I hold my 26.2 PR at 4:58.

Oh yeah, and I dyed my hair blue for this race!

At the start line, at Dodger Stadium. I generally don’t have nerves anymore before a marathon, but am excited to be there and get started. This year Mike and I ran separately, because of differences in our training plans.

LA Marathon holds a very special place in my heart for a multitude of reasons. It was my very first marathon. It’s a challenging course, but the sightseeing and support every step of the way can be very distracting! Everyone who has ever driven around LA knows it’s basically impossible to get from Downtown to Santa Monica in a respectable time frame, and as a runner, it’s so much fun being the traffic for a day. It’s the most convenient way to see the city, from Echo Park, to Hollywood, Beverly Hills and the beach! It’s also a day when the entire city seems to come out and root each other on, which you don’t often see in a city so sprawled out and diverse.

The finish line is in sight!

I did an 18 mile and a 20 mile training run for this race, as well as smaller runs throughout the weeks. I was never very happy about how my longer training runs were going, specifically how long they were taking me to complete. I knew even if I didn’t make my goal time, these runs would prevent me from getting injured, by training my body for the distance. I didn’t get the speed work or hills I wanted in, but I also knew if I was dead-set on a goal time, I wouldn’t have run the Rock’n Roll Marathon in San Antonio in December, the last of my three-marathons-in-three-months endeavor. That recovery took some time, and by the time I was feeling ready to run again, the holidays came around, and with them, cold and flu season.

When you didn’t do enough hill training, and there’s still a 10k left, and you realize this street might be your home now.

My LA Marathon training should’ve gotten started in November, and instead got started right after the Pasadena Half in January. I regret nothing. I had a blast running all those marathons, and I learned a lot about what I can accomplish and what is going to take some more work! My best races have been the ones I’ve trained hard and had a game plan for. Some of my most memorable races have been the ones I’ve not done any training for, but the company and/or the location more than make up for a PR. LA Marathon sits somewhere in the middle of those two extremes for me. It is my second best marathon time, the location is my home, it’s LA’s best party, and I learned so much about what I can do better for a stronger race next time. I was nervous that after my 6:14 marathon finish in San Antonio, LA Marathon might be a replay. I hit a wall between mile 12 and 13 in San Antonio, and in LA, I hit it at about the time I usually do, between miles 18 and 20. The training paid off! Of course, I would like to get to the point I feel better for a longer duration of the race, but making it to 18 miles is still quite the feat!

The finish line! The medals! The sheer joy of having 26.2 miles behind me! I got three medals – one marathon medal, one ConqurLA Challenge medal and one LA Double Play medal for completing a 5k at Dodgers Stadium the day prior!

My goals for the next few months are to keep up with long runs at least once a month, while focusing on cross-training, strength, form and speed. I’m not at a place financially that I can afford a run coach, but it’s definitely something I think about. I used to run with BlacklistLA, and living out in the Inland Empire, about 40 miles from Los Angeles, I’m really on my own as far as training. I’ve gotten this far, but if I want to level up, I have to make some changes, including getting farther outside of my comfort zone with my training! For now I’m going to listen to advice from other runners in my circle, do my research, train hard, and keep pushing!

Links below for some more great LA Marathon recaps!

Mom’s Little Running Buddies – LA Marathon Weekend and the Race That Wasn’t Supposed to Happen

Carlee McDot – Los Angeles Marathon Recap

My Run Bum – 7th Time’s A Charm 

Sharp Endurance – The 2018 Skechers Performance Los Angeles Marathon