I ran a marathon! I ran my first marathon!

LA Marathon Morning…I started with an easy drop off ride to Dodgers Stadium with my “uber”, Anthony. I spent some time in the “gifted” hospitality tent with Bob. And I found my work colleagues among the thousands of others to start our “first marathon” adventure. I was partnered with my colleague’s wife to run together since she was a nervous wreck the day before, but right away that morning I told her that I was going to stop to take pictures, walk when I needed to, and pause to fuel. Needless to say, we separated early on in the race, but I was ok with that. I wanted to run my race and enjoy it as much as I can.

Start…OK, totally missed the fact that Justin Turner from the LA Dodgers and Albert Puljos from the LA Angels were really at the start line to send me off. “Why is everyone taking a picture? Oh! HI!!!” as I wave frantically and make eye contact with Justin. Too late to take out my phone because the start line is just two steps away. Oh, well…memories!

Middle…I was able to run the first three miles non-stop. And boy, did it warm up quick. Overall, the weather was PERFECT!!! This was when I stopped to fuel and remove a top layer so I separated from my partner. And this is where I think my race truly began! Pre Downtown LA was interesting and the familiar smells of food through Chinatown made me smile. I sure was a running lookyloo through all this. I was smiling seeing the sights and the many participants running their race that day. I did have one Port a Potty stop halfway, and I normally don’t stop for the restroom at all. My stops were mainly for moments of rest, to refuel with my gels, water, and salt tabs, and to ask for spray relief from my aching hips and calves. But I didn’t feel pain enough to quit or discourage my run. The best moments were having Charles and Bob “finally catching up to me”, lol, and they kept going!

Favorite Sights…I stopped to take a good picture of Echo Park since it brought back memories of when my parents would take me and my brother there to picnic and play when we were young. Hollywood Boulevard was amazing in the day as it is in the evening. I loved seeing the billboards for the plays and musicals at the Pantages up close and so big! Ignore the man cursing to the crowd…earmuffs! Here was where my personal “aid station”, Anthony, was at mile 12 waiting with a Coca-Cola and some snacks. Further along the way, I was very much in awe of Rodeo Drive. So fancy and rich. No aid stations there at all...interesting. But there was “aid station” Anthony at mile 20.

Minor Delay…So around mile 18 I was walking by a young SRLA student. I said hi. She said hi. I asked if it was her first marathon. She said yes. I said mine also. I asked her how she was doing. And then that’s where it changed for me. She wasn’t feeling good, but had to finish the race. She had to be at mile 22 by 2:00 or she won’t finish in time to get her medal. It was around 11:45 at this point. My teacher instincts took over, and I wanted to help her reach her goal of completing her first marathon. I was having her eat snacks, drink water, stop to sit, run and walk. Sadly, at the middle of mile 21, she couldn’t go anymore. She saw that 16 minute mile pace runner go by, and she was done and heartbroken. After mile 21 many aid stations had already closed up and I was running to find a medic for her. I finally did halfway in mile 22. They assured me they would help her and it was ok for me to continue my race.

End…Once I hit that mile 22 marker I knew only four miles to go. I had no clue what time it was but it was before 2:00 for sure. I had a group of friends waiting for me at the end of mile 23 so I really couldn’t wait to get there. Then I heard “Julie!” I cried, “I need a hug right now! This is hard! I’m not “bleep” doing this again!” They walked with me a few minutes, but then I said I needed to go…a 5k left. So through the homes of Brentwood there were a lot of support along the way still. And here is where it got funny for me as now more food was offered…pizza, baked goods, soda, chips…but not for me. I needed to finish soon! My son Cole, with my long, time friend Alison were waiting for me at the finish, since the race started that morning. I pushed myself to finish. I still didn’t know what time it was (7:19) . I saw the finish line, but as I got closer, I saw that it was closed down and sadly, I was directed toward the right onto the pathway. I did get my medal and some leftover refreshments. It was a long walk to the family reunion site. All I wanted was to see Cole and give him the biggest hug ever! And breakdown to cry! I stayed home from work the next day and ate a hearty breakfast and rested. I was tired and still was for about two weeks. Good news was that by Wednesday my soreness/stiffness was gone!

My first marathon was an amazing experience. I enjoyed every moment of it for sure. It took longer than I expected. But I accomplished something I said I’d never do, and my son was there to witness it. Everyone who has asked me about it since, I’ve said to them that it was fun! I really enjoyed it. I wish I would have finished sooner, but I don’t regret anything about it.

On Day 2 of rest…I’m thinking of registering again for 2020

.On April 12, 2019…Yep, I registered for LA Marathon 2020.

Barbara Bates-Jensen at the LA finish line
I ran the 2010 LA marathon, my first marathon. I started, I finished, and no injuries (except for a couple of nasty looking toenails). My time: 4:38. I thought the course was great (of course having never run a marathon, my opinion is not completely based on a lot of experience!). A bit hilly in the beginning, running uphill to start threw me a little (dodger stadium part}. I thought the route was fun, I loved running thru areas that are usually car-locked and impossible to drive like rodeo drive, sunset blvd in Hollywood and thru downtown. Coming down ocean ave. towards the final 26 mile marker was just excellent the crowds were amazing! The hill at the VA was steep (I had to walk it as I was determined to run across the finish but even my walking was faster than some who were running it). I was just so excited to have accomplished this that I am still walking on air (ok not walking so fast now). Will see you all in a couple of weeks (may take a couple of weeks before I can get these toes into shoes again).

2011 Los Angeles Marathon
By Cyrus Davis
March 20, 2011 marked the date of the 26th running of the Los Angeles Marathon. Like 25,000 plus brave souls, I once again threw my hat into the lot of hopefuls, each of us chasing a different dream. It was not long before many of the dreams were drenched by a torrential downpour that seamed endless. My dream of a sub?five LA Marathon1 was dashed at the beginning of mile 24. After 23 non?stop miles, fatigue set in and I was forced into the dreaded walk?run routine, walking a great deal of mile 24.

Like many eager participants, I started the morning by physically removing my body from bed after the second alarm went off at 5:00 a.m. (the first at 4:50 a.m. as a pre warm?up). I had successfully executed the pre?planning activities the night before: no food after 7:30 p.m., no spicy food for dinner and completed the prepping ritual: Cytomax filled water bottles (3)2, Succeed tablets (5)3, tri?berry GU (2)4, mountain berry Shot Blocks (3), Tums (3) and 500 mg Excedrin (2). How is that for product placement? The most important of the pre?planning was parking my car at a small boutique hotel on Saturday night that is two short blocks from the finish line. The $20 fee is the same charged for official Marathon overnight parking, but this one is literally steps from the finish line on Ocean Ave.

As I started my second cold of the season on Thursday, I was determined not to have any side effects impact my running. It was a divine gift or mind over matter, or a little of both. All cold symptoms disappeared that day only to return the following day.

As I entered my hallway, I picked up a sticky note from my daughter that read, "Wake me, up, I want to go." She usually drives with us to the beginning of the route, and this year would be no different. As we drove towards Los Angeles on the slick streets, I thought a little moisture now is better than rain later...little did I know what was to come!

The pre?race street surveillance done the night before, paid off handsomely as we exited at Riverside Dr., instead of Stadium Way avoiding a freeway exit traffic jam. This was a far cry better than last year when runners exited on the 110 freeway fearful or not starting on time. Anyone ever heard of time chips?

As I waited for the race to begin, (for some strange reason, officials can never seem to start this race on time), I struck up a conversation with a professional singer who had done the race 11 years ago and decided to run it again this year. We mused over how hard it was to sing the national anthem and agreed it was a good idea to have a choir this morning.

The race began and I pressed my Garmin unit to start. It was nice not to have to circle the parking lot twice as we have done in last year. When you are running 26 miles, the idea of running past something twice does not sit well. It was a fairly routine race until mile 8, when my dear friend Janet Gutierrez, yelled out my name, "Cyrus!" It was a pleasant surprise. Mind you there are 25,000 runners out there and seeing her enthusiasm and gorgeous smile was fitting for the moment. Besides she is one of the sweetest persons I know - okay back to the story. At this point I was hoping, being that it was Sunday, someone would pray the half?marathon?rainprayer.

Around this time, I looked up to see a billboard that was congratulating a runner by name. "Okay, that's nice," I thought. Then it hit me. Someone paid to have a congratulatory billboard put up! How much did that cost? Only in LA I thought. Overall, there seemed to be less entertainment or maybe my focus was less - a few bands, a group of well? publicized cheerleaders trying to enter the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest cheering squad, and by now we have all heard of the 400 pound sumo wrestler competing as the heaviest runner to complete a marathon. The wackiest one was the two male go?go dancers in West Hollywood (women would have been more of a distraction).

1 Marathon PR was a 4:53 in Pasadena
2 Down from 4 in previous years
3 One for each anticipated hours of the race
4 For miles after 12 and whenever

LOS ANGELES MARATHON
By Scott Cline

OMG ! What can I say about my 2011 L.A. Marathon? It was probably (probably?!?) hopelessly optimistic of me when I and sprayed on my sunblock as I started to get dressed. Then I checked the NOAA weather. Well, O . . K ? Today I'll be wearing the full rain suit and layers besides, including a big trash bag, a hat and a shower cap for my marathon fashion statement.

As the rain poured down, I did pull out the "hotel" shower cap from my pack. These are wonderful by the way; an excellent and very light way to keep cold rain from washing through your hat and scalp. A BIG heat?retention difference! As always: Bless the volunteers for being there at all, much less under those conditions. The quantity of spectators who were on the course, and who stayed out on the course, was surprising. It is wonderful to have the support of these kind strangers, but I was saddened to see several of their "Pop?up canopies" in heaps of destruction from the wind.

Now that we Legacy runners are migrating towards the less populated back of the pack, I got to see many of my fellow crazies out there yet one more time. As Papillon Steve McQueen said at the end of the movie as he floated away from Devil's Island on his coconut raft, "I'M STILL HERE!!" And so what if I take a long time to finish? Why, if I just look at it in a different way I'm only paying about 25 cents a minute for the right to run the event!

There were many of the young SRLA students out there, gamely struggling with the conditions. I will happily say that the Students Run LA organization is excellent; a very high success rate both for finishing the marathon, and more importantly for training the kids about how to advance their lives. If you ever wonder where to put some charitable donation money, check them out...low operational costs, producing high?level results. On my way back to a warm car, it was great fun to talk to and see the smiles on the faces of two boys (I had helped around mile 10 by getting them rain ponchos which had been discarded) as they were doing the last quarter mile to the Finish.

Monday wasn't too bad, although I was reminded of old song by Archie Bell & The Drells, "Tighten?up" ?? it's the getting up and those first two steps! Tuesday's get up was wonderfully uneventful.

MY FIRST MARATHON
- or -
WALKING WITH THE STREET SWEEPERS
By CATHY RYNE

About one year ago, right before my 49th birthday, I decided that it was time I started taking care of myself. Most of our kids were off in college and we had one more at home who was a Sophomore in High School and never home so this was a good time to concentrate on ME. I joined Weight Watchers and started to walk to help the weight loss. I soon discovered how much I enjoyed walking. Early mornings, you would find me at the Arcadia High School track walking briskly and listening to the birds wake up. It was a wonderful way to start the day!

One day, while watching the LA Marathon on television, I mentioned to my husband Mark, your Vice President, that I would like to make the LA Marathon my goal for next year. Several weeks later, he told me that he had mailed the check in for the two of us to walk the Marathon - and that is when my training began. Mark became my coach and would make weekly charts for me stating how many miles a day I should walk. I was doing 15-minute miles on the track and 18 minute miles long distance. I even started jogging!! After all my training, I had no doubt that I would finish the marathon.

As the days for the Marathon drew nearer, it was raining and cold so I figured I would be doing a 17-18 minute pace and told my family what time to look for me at the finish. Little did I know that the weather gods had other ideas!!

Mark and I arrived at the Bonaventure Hotel bright and early and very excited - or I should say, I was very excited - Mark was too busy packing up his Camel back, measuring the powdered Gatorade, counting out the salt pills and the glucose tablets, making sure the ass-gaskets and toilet paper was on hand, and putting the mole skin and glide, sunscreen, and other necessities into baggies. I knew, upon looking at his supplies that I was ready for the AC 100!!

After the Marathon, Mark asked me what my favorite thing was about walking it and I had to say the beginning. The crowd was so energetic and exciting - singing I LOVE LA and waving to Mohammed Ali was unbelievable. Apparently, the gun went off because I could hear cheering and see the balloon arch go up - but wasn't sure until 10 minutes after the cheers died down and we started to move. All the training, and we were walking baby steps. I looked at Mark and asked when we would actually be able to stride and he just laughed. "Be patient" he said. "And remember, you need to stop trying to run - you are a walker". Sure enough, the excitement had gotten to me and I was trying to run along with the crowd. Thank goodness for my coach (pack-mule?), because the entire time he made sure that I was pacing myself and not getting over-tired or dehydrated.

The first ten miles went so quickly that I felt that this Marathon was a "piece of cake". The crowds cheering, plenty of water and Gatorade, and the bands and cheerleaders made it so much fun! The only problem was the grueling sun, hot asphalt, and no shade or clouds to be seen. I am not a hot weather person - guess I'll never do Badwater - and felt myself beginning to wilt. Mark said that my 17-minute mile pace was too fast for the weather and how I was feeling and told me to slow down to a 20 minute pace. That helped a lot - and so did the ice in my hat and the hoses sprayed on me. I began to notice around mile 14 that the street sweepers were catching up to us. I wanted to walk faster and keep them behind me but it just wasn't possible. As the police officers told us to move to the sidewalk and the street sweepers paced with us - I started to feel defeated. I knew then that my pace was not going to pick up and I wasn't going to be able to get done in 8.5 hours. We were being told to move to the sidewalk on the right of the street, but the portapotties were often on the left so whenever we needed them we had to cross the street.

At every red light, we had to constantly move so we didn't stand too long on one foot. As we continued to walk, we notice pieces of oranges, banana peels, and lots of paper cups on the ground but no aid stations left for us lone walkers. There were plenty of good Samaritans who sat at their card tables handing out water they bought at Costco and some even cut up oranges for us. I have to say here that it was really the "good Samaritans" that got the slow walkers through it. I couldn't thank them enough for the ice, sun block, water, and beautiful smiles. After mile 13, when we walked up a steep hill at the top was Mark's father and sister. It felt so good to see someone we loved waiting for us with hugs and encouraging words.

As we walked we soon had a group of people pacing with us. We began to help and encourage each other to get to the end. Every time the LA Marathon van would drive by and ask if we wanted a ride we would all tell them to keep going - we were NOT giving up.

The walk up Olympic Boulevard was the most difficult one. Downtown LA just never got closer. Mark - who was so fantastic along the way, telling us to drink, giving us Glucose tablets, taking our pictures and just being our own personal cheerleader - really kicked into action. He kept us going with his excitement over achieving our first medals and the completion of the Marathon. As we passed the Staple Center, we kept our eyes on him as he continued to encourage us. We were so grateful to him and extremely annoyed at his peppiness at Mile 25 - how can ANYONE walk this far and bounce around like that!

As we saw the light at the finish line, Mark asked me if I wanted him to run ahead across the finish line and take my picture. My first competitive thought was - "What - have him beat my time?" Then I just laughed at myself and told him that it was a great idea. He ran across the finish line and took pictures of our group crossing the finish line, getting the medal and wearing the Mylar blanket. Then we walked up four flights of stairs to the parking ramp - but that's another story!

To summarize my thoughts about this Marathon - I am so glad and proud to have done it. It took a year of hard preparation of turning myself from an over weight couch potato into an "athlete" and it was well worth it. I was upset that the aid stations shut down after 6 hours and the walkers were left to their own devices - there was also no food at the finish line and I practically had to fight for a Mylar blanket. So, I guess that next time I do a Marathon - I better run it!! Hey Mark, want to coach me for my first 5 K?