There was nothing easy about the LA Marathon for me. It was only last week that I crossed the finish line but I’m still thinking about it.
All of my classmates asked me about how well I did. I had the same blanket answer for everyone. “I finished, but I was really really slow.” Am I dwelling on the negative? Yes, sort of…but there are a lot of bright sides to it all.
Let’s start with the whining and get it out of the way.
Negative (a.k.a. complaints and whining)
1. My pace was very slow for the last 13.1 miles.
2. I don’t think I stretched adequately for the race since I had a lot of pain still in my flexors, IT band, and piriformis/glute area for a few days after the race. (I’m completely healed up now with exception of random cramps here and there.)
3. I wish my overall time in LA was faster than the one in Greece. Greece was hilly and more difficult! LA was all downhill. What was the problem again?! (My GPS time was different than my chip time, so who knows when I really finished?!)
4. The wind drove me crazy! It literally drove me crazy. As I mentioned to someone else I think I began hallucinating and maybe even swearing at the wind. I also began getting incredibly weepy…on the inside at first, but then on the outside when I saw Shant at the finish line.
Positive (a.k.a. it wasn’t as bad as I’m making it out to be)
1. I undertrained, which can explain the reason why my time got slower. (Not sure why this is positive)
2. I finished it under the time limit.
3. This race was mainly about my leading my team to the finish line and not so much about myself. Most of the time I dragged myself out of bed at 7am to get to my group races on time. It wasn’t a race for me…it was a race for my teammates and for the charity.
So, all in all…the LA Marathon was a success. I hope to actually follow my training regimen next time so that I can finish faster!
Related articles
- Race Recap: The 2012 LA Marathon (ironwomanintraining.com)
- The Post-Race Bagel. Oh, how I’ll miss thee (fiatme.wordpress.com)
- The LA Marathon – Bucket List #26.2 (xplorela.com)
- L.A. Marathon (myp3r.wordpress.com)
- My First 26.2- Part 1 (cusseswhilerunning.com)
- LA Marathon Runners Grateful For The Dry Start (losangeles.cbslocal.com)
Amara in Training 
I’m not a good marathon runner. I want to be but it just hasn’t gone well for me thus far. I am going to try again (this will be #5) this year and am hoping everything comes together. Focus on the positive and try not to beat yourself up. The marathon is a tough distance. You did great, you hit he finish line under your own power and not a lot of people can say that!
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Thanks for your kind words Amanda. I’m only into marathon #2 but I feel like it’s so difficult to see improvements over such a long distance! I’ve been able to see improvements at the 5K, 10K, and half marathon mark, but perhaps I need to build more base or actually stick to some of the 13+ miler training runs rather than taking them slow. 🙂 I can probably learn a lot from the running community on this one!
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