Race Review: LA Marathon

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Wow. The day was finally here... only a few short hours after closing my eyes, the hotel wake up call and all the phone alarms were simultaneously signaling it was time to get the show on the road.

After figuring out how to hang up our super modern hotel phone... I stumbled to the bathroom and sorted all of my race things out. I had laid out as much as I could the night before.

I really don't think I have ever been so nervous before a race. I was just so terrified that I wouldn't be able to run. Because of this, I neglected to take a too many pictures of my "smiling" face before the start.

I had asked at the expo what would happen if I tried to get on a shuttle later than my reserved 3:30AM time (one of the only times left by the time I signed up) and they said it shouldn't be a problem just don't wait until the last one. I was aiming to be at Santa Monica City Hall by 4:30 (the last shuttle would leave by 5:30). I got there shortly after 4:00 and found a ton of empty bus'. Security took a quick peek in my hydration pack and then I got right on the bus.

The bus was rather quiet. The man next to me only said one thing: "This seems like quite a long way to Dodger Stadium, we are going to be running this far?". I just put my head down.

When we arrived at the stadium, there was hardly anyone there with 3 hours to go before the start, I suppose it wasn't that surprising. I really wish we had been allowed into the stadium though. I feel like I could have fallen asleep in one of the seats or something. Instead, the only place to sit was the ground.

It was cold, really cold and windy. I had a throwaway sweatshirt but really wish I had brought a blanket or a garbage bag or something. This one lady had brought a whole comforter, she looked so warm. I sat there stretching until pretty much the sun came up. I tried to get in touch with the other girls, but they were running late and I realized I wouldn't be able to see them before the race. I gathered my things and headed for the port-a-potties. The lines were pretty long, but I still had time. When I got back to the open corral I tried to find the 11:00 min/mile pace sign but everything was so crowded I was only able to get to the side of chute. As the race began and people started moving forward I was able to get in but I'm not sure which "corral" I actually ended up in. That part was a lot less organized than I expected. Funny enough, people around me were saying things were way more organized this year than previous years.

Above us, the sky was opening up into a beautiful sunrise.

Maybe it's the pessimist in me, but whenever I see this, I always think of the phrase "Pink sky at night sailor's delight, pink sky in the morning sailor's warning". This is probably never the case but it refers to bad weather, and in fact it definitely wasn't the case on this day.

This is the only pre-race selfie I took, check out the photo bomb ha ha:

And just like that, we were running. I was running. I was so hesitant on my feet, would I make it? Would there be pain? Every step terrified me. As we passed the first mile marker, I was still feeling okay, and that's probably when I finally took a deep breath. The only thing I found bothersome was that my hat didn't fit... big race no-no, try on something before you where it in a marathon people!

As we passed through Chinatown, I began to feel some shooting pains in the bottom of my foot. I reminded myself to stay calm and just go slow. My goal was to cross the finish line however I got there. So I didn't want to run so hard that I wouldn't be able to at least walk. I kept to my 10/1s very well other than the major hills. Every time the road would slant in any direction, up, down, sideways, my arch would begin to hurt more. So I walked when I had to and ran as often as I could. I think at mile 10, I finally realized I was going to do this. I still didn't know how long it was going to take me, but I was going to get there, slowly but surely.

As we made our way down Hollywood Boulevard, the sun was really starting to peek through the buildings, and I could feel it getting hotter. I hadn't seen Gatorade at a water station since mile 3 and though it isn't my favorite anymore, I knew I was running low on Skratch in my hydration pack, and my mouth was getting dry. I was shivering quite a bit even though it was hot. I was trying not to think about what that meant, but I know from first aid that I was in the early stages of significant dehydration.

I had a spectator take this picture for me:

I posted it to RBRR's FaceBook page and captioned it "15.2 miles to the beach, we are NOT almost there!"

As I came up on the halfway mark at around 2:30 something, I was pleased. Even if I walked the rest of the race, I was confident that I could get there. That isn't even my worst half marathon time, so all things considered, things were going well.

Sunset Boulevard, was the first taste of what the weather was going to be like for the remainder of the race; HOT.

This was also where I felt walking was going to become more and more of reality as the pain became more intense. I had been texting the other girls during my walk breaks and I knew Jacki was behind me at this point and struggling. So I waited 4 or 5 minutes to see if I could see her and cheer her through since I was walking a lot anyways.
While I was waiting, I noticed this sign and boy was I tempted to stop, champagne sounded pretty delicious!

Having since looked at the picture more closely, a lot of people were headed in there! I imagine for a restroom, but still funny!

Thankfully, I was able to spot Jacki in the crowd and I ran on with her. I figured she would keep going and then I would be walk/running alone for the rest of the race, but she was really having a rough day.

I'm so glad she was with me because look who she spotted on the side of the road cheering, BOB HARPER!

If it wasn't for Jacki, I don't think I would have been brave enough to ask for a picture either, I think he was trying to keep a low profile. He was really kind about it though.

On we went, running when I could, and walking when I couldn't any longer. I started to lose track of where we were when we were no longer on Sunset Boulevard. At some point we ended up in Beverly Hills and from that point on we were almost exclusively walking. I had hoped to be able to run the last 5 or so kilometers to the finish, so I was just biding my time.

Things really slowed down now. Dehydration had totally taken it's toll, I was shivering constantly now, and my mouth was as dry as the desert, no amount of water would quench my thirst. They had run out of Gatorade completely. Everyone seemed really surprised by the heat. I don't know what the exact temperature was, I've seen reports ranging from 28-32 degrees celsius or in the high 80's farenheit. Obviously I knew it would be warmer than at home, but this felt particularly unseasonable.

At some point we ended up on San Vincente which stretched on forever towards the beach. Looking at the course map now, I can see that stretch was about 4 miles long. We were doing our best to walk our kilometers at a 9:30 pace, I'm not sure what that is in miles. There was a slight downhill to Ocean Ave when we could see the beach but it wasn't as dramatic as the elevation profile had made it seem.

When we had about 2 kilometers to go, I wanted to run, but Jacki had developed a blister straight across the bottom of her foot and she just couldn't. We had made it this far together and we were going to finish together. So we walked until we reached the chute and we ran in together. 

All in all, I think I did okay. Considering I ran a half marathon and then walked another one on a foot that probably should have done neither. I crossed in under 6 hours which is what I had adjusted my goal to after the injury. And I didn't DNF (Did Not Finish) which was my biggest fear. I also had lots of fun despite the pain and was a lot less lonely out there with Jacki next to me.

After the finish, I was hobbling. We had to walk quite a ways to get ice and water. I had my left knee taped and iced and took a bag with me for when it was time to remove my shoe. I could tell that my foot had swelled a lot because I could feel the laces on my right shoe were a heck of a lot tighter than when I started. All I grabbed from the small selection of food was some animal crackers. We somehow missed the cold towels, WOW that would have been amazing. I took a picture with Jacki as she is planning on purchasing the photos and we began searching for my sister and Nikki.

The crowds were intense and it wasn't easy to locate anyone. Finally, we found them and made it back to our hotel.

I'm so proud of Nikki, she got a 14 minute PR in some really tough conditions.

Nikki and I the next day. Everyone was so delirious after the race, no one thought to take any pictures.

I was in a lot of pain after the race and still am today. I'm really hoping some rest will help me resolve the issue so I can get back to doing something I love. Until then, I will eat, ha ha.

Post race food at Buca di Beppo

My sister and I spent the evening relaxing in our hotel room and took a very slow walk on the beach to take in the gorgeous sunset.

Thanks LA for a great trip. Now it's back to real life.

Race Review Summary 

Package Pickup/Expo:
Easy and fast. There was convenient parking as well. There wasn't too many exciting exhibitors though, I expected more in that respect for such a big race.

Price/Value: $195
That was the cost for international participants. I'm not sure what it was otherwise. It did include the 5k, but still very expensive. I mean that rivals a Disney race for cost. At this cost, there are expectations, some of which were not met, such as adequate hydration and post race food.

Aid Stations: 
There were enough of them, they had just run out of stuff. I understand that the weather was unseasonably warm, but seeing as how the race released a warning about extreme heat the day before, I would have thought they would have been making adjustments accordingly.

Course Difficulty: 
Not as "flat and fast" as advertised. I don't really think I'm over exaggerating either. I ran San Francisco, I've seen my fair share of hills. Was it the hilliest course I've run? No. But I wish the advertising would have been clearer regarding this.

Medals:
Love them and I love how the ribbon has "Stadium to Sea" on it.    

Sidelined.

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So much has happened in the past week that I don't even know where to start. I've decided to break it up into a few posts to not overwhelm you with all of my thoughts at once.

To start with, I will break down all of the things I did prior to the marathon to deal with the pain occurring in my foot.

1. Panic
I spent the first part of the week completely freaking out about the race even jumping to the conclusions that I might have to back out and not do the race entirely. After the panic settled, I began implementing a plan to give myself the best chance to cross the finish line only a few short days later.

2. See a physiotherapist.
On another runners recommendation, I visited the local physio clinic in hopes that they'd do some magic and have some awesome suggestions to make the pain disappear immediately. She had some great suggestions but of course, was unable to make any promises regarding the race and wasn't able to completely confirm a diagnosis either. She was leaning towards PF or plantar fasciitis but having only seen me once wasn't completely sure.

3. Try reflexology.
I've heard about this before, but thought that it was just the same as massage. I was sort of wrong. It is massage but not the same type that you get when you go to an RMT. It is focused on hands and feet and in my case specifically on my right foot. I will say that I walked out of there without any pain and after 2 treatments, I was feeling pretty good. Health Roots Reflexology offers a treatment for plantar fasciitis, and though I wasn't confirmed to have that yet, it was clear that I'd done something to inflame the arch of my foot and the plantar fascia. A lot of time was spent trying to break up the scar tissue at the base of my heel which is where I was feeling the most pain.

4. Massage Therapy.
I had a hunch that something else must have lead to this problem, for it to come completely out of nowhere just didn't make any sense to me. I did a lot of reading about foot problems that runners encounter and one of the things that stuck out in my mind is having tight calves and that leading to PF. After we ran the 32km, I felt pretty good, tired but good. The only slight thing I noticed was that my calves were REALLY tight. I thought that a couple light runs would loosen things up. Anyways... The RMT worked some magic and really massaged out my legs and feet.

5. See a chiropractor.
I have this really amazing chiropractor who is great at dealing with runners and all the problems we offer. I used to see him regularly, but life got in the way, blah blah blah, and I sort of just stopped going. He was the first person I thought of when all this started but I wasn't able to get in to see him until last Wednesday. Like the physiotherapist, he was very hesitant to pass judgement as to what specifically was happening until after the race, but he was pretty sure that something other than PF was going on. He was also very quiet about the topic of reaching the finish line, but kindly told me to return when I got back from LA and we would go from there. He gave me some hip exercises as he thinks the fact that my right hip being significantly weaker than the other side has played a role in this injury.

6. Ice, roll, stretch, tape, repeat.
I used to roll on a regular basis, but like the chiropractor... life and other excuses got in the way. Anyways, the last week or so, it feels like that's all I've been doing. I even bought a lacrosse ball at the Chiro's suggestion to roll the bottom of my foot and it is the best! I had one of those foot rubz balls from the running store but it just wasn't cutting it. I've also been icing my foot before bed to bring down inflammation and pain. Lastly I've been taping my foot with KT tape... I've been through almost 2 whole rolls.

7. Hope.
There wasn't much else I could do beyond this. My biggest fear was getting out there and having to quit in the middle of the race. Mentally, I would rather not even start the race than have to quit in the middle.

You may already know at this point that I did make it to the finish line, beyond that you will have to wait for my race review which is currently in progress. Today I returned to the chiropractor and he is fairly certain that rest is best at this point. So here I am, sidelined from running until further notice. Right now I'm looking at least 10 days but possibly more. My race schedule is entirely up in the air now. I have to say it is odd to be in this position as I never really have. Though I'm not entirely surprised because after Sunday, I am in quite a bit of pain again, so it isn't as though I can run anyways. 

Next up, Day 1 in Los Angeles and the Nutri Bullet Health and Fitness Expo!