Time (1/2 Marathon) - 1:43:20
Time (10K) - 51…something
Pace - 7:53/mi
Place - 403

For a first attempt, I’m very happy. And a HUGE thank you to you guys who came out to cheer. I know you said you were going to do it, but I totally didn’t believe you. I am a big jerk. I have to confess, the only person I saw was Tamara. I heard at least one guy (Louie? Waller?) but when I looked for you, all I could find was a very large bearded man that I didn’t recognize. So I’m pretty sure he wasn’t cheering for me by name.

Here’s a quick blow by blow:

1. Got to Disney Symphony Hall at 6:15am. Freezing. Dark.
2. Took “shuttle” (aka school bus) back to Train Town in Griffith Park. More freezing than before (the sun hadn’t come over the hill yet). Had to use the facilities…as did approximately 1000 other people.
3. Waited in line for said facilities for 20 minutes. Was warned by an official that the race was starting. Still wearing sweats (and yet shivering uncontrollably) and carrying bag. Left facilities line and told self to suck it up.
4. Stripped off sweats (aka tights), stuffed them in bag. Handed bag to official. Ran to the line.
5. Waited for longer than it would have taken me to use the facilities. However, enjoying being surrounded by warm bodies.
6. Herded to starting line further down Zoo Drive. National Anthem, Blessing by Native Americans. Freezing again. Trying to figure out the best time to start my Nike+ workout. Three false starts while waiting, one of which due to uncontrollable shivering.
7. Race starts. Glorious be.
8. Takes about a minute and a half to actually reach the starting line (5000 runners total — makes sense). Thankfully, chip timing. Sweet.
9. Start.
10. Lots and lots of body dodging.
11. Mile 3 - clear now that skipping the facilities was a bad idea and would soon cause problems. Tried a set of porta-poties — all padlocked. Kept running. Fearing worst. Found another set of porta-poties. Rudely edged out middle aged woman. Details of the visit not important but somewhat eventful.
12. Exiting the potty, tried to restart paused Nike+ workout. Informed that Nike+ workout ended. Blind with anger.
13. Running off anger.
14. Get over anger and, rather than run silent, spend about a minute trying to run and get music to play with my stupid, windowless iPod case. Success.
15. Arrive at Silverlake Blvd. (I think) to see and hear friends cheering. Irrationally speed up. Realize I had sped up but not wanting to look weak in front of friends, continue at same pace…uphill. Praise self for my insecurity.
16. Somehow able to maintain sped-up pace even out of sight of friends. In fact, feeling pretty good and passing people right and left. Realize that I have passed some of these people before (stupid porta-potty stop). Discouraged, but still feeling good.
17. Before I know it I’m at Mile 10. Get it into head that all I have in front of me is a 5K. Treat it as such and surge forward again.
18. Think better of treating last three miles as a 5K, but no adjustments made. Starting to hurt. Truly, I wasn’t in any kind of pain until the last mile and a half. It was awesome.
19. Thinking back to the map, swear that one of the last streets is Temple and decide that I will speed up at Temple.
20. Don’t see Temple.
21. Don’t see Temple. Go into a tunnel. People speeding up. Speed up in kind but only out of competitive compulsion, not because I think we’re close to the end.
22. Turn corner and see Finish Line about 200 yards away. Admonish self and kick it into high gear. Pass about ten people on the way to the finish line. Finish. Still feeling pretty good. Wondering if I should have been running faster. Eat a banana and go home.

Every time I do one of these things, I learn something new. While on the bus, I chuckled at a man wearing a disposable poncho. “Does he think it’s going to rain?” I said superiorly. My seat-mate then told me that she had one too and that they help you stay warm after you’ve taken off your sweats. Just chuck it right before you start running. Doh.

I know there are a couple more races between now and the Marathon (the Firecracker 10K in Chinatown, for instance), but I think I’m going to take a break. It’s getting colder and I want to start training for the big one instead of smaller races leading up to the big one. I refuse to have another bad marathon experience.

It’s all marathon, all the time from here on out.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 3rd, 2006 at 6:55 pm and is filed under Race. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.