1 down, 3 to go. This past weekend I completed the first of my 4 scheduled 2013 marathons in Los Angeles. This was an important one for me mentally. I knew if I did poorly and felt terrible at the end I'd have to overcome a lot of self doubt for the 4 weeks leading up to Boston. Now the good news, I finished at a respectable 4:20 (second best marathon time) and felt very little soreness during and the days after. I went into the race with a different approach - relax and enjoy the course.
Last year I got a PR running the New Bedford half marathon without even trying. I decided it would be a nice training run and I'd tweet as I completed each mile, my first "tweetathon". By the time I got to mile 11 of the race I realized I was well on the way to a PR. It worked in 2012, so why not try it for double the distance a year later.
The night before I had the usual pre-race jitters, but luckily Jack and I were staying at a haunted hotel which was a bit of a distraction (Millennium Biltmore - check it out, it's really haunted). Being away from home had me a little thrown off with my usual pre-race prep. I forgot to bring old clothes to throw away at the starting line and forgot to get breakfast. I got to the starting line a little after 5AM at Dodger Stadium with nothing but a white t-shirt on over my singlet. When I arrived it was no problem, it was about 58 degrees, but while I waited the temperature dropped about 10 degrees. Luckily, as most runners know to be true, a good portion of the next two hours was spent in and out of port-a-potties, which tend to be a little on the warmer side (yup, disgusting). That took care of the clothing issue. And as far as breakfast goes, I have to say the LA Marathon was one of the most well organized races I've ever seen. There were tents set up with bagels, bananas, and water. They had LA style entertainment, an entire baseball stadium to explore, and hundreds of port-a-potties (yup, again with those).
By the time the race got underway I was relaxed and ready to kick butt. I started running with the 4:00 pacer, which went against everything I had planned to do, so I immediately scaled it back to the 4:15 pacer. By the time I got to mile 3 I realized I had completely abandoned my plan to take it easy and had yet to take one picture along the course. I turned a corner and saw the LA skyline, the first picture worth taking, and come to a stop. I had been smart all through training, taking it slow and being kind to my body, to ruin 4 months of training for one race would be stupid. The 4:15 pacer went off into the distance and my second official "tweetathon" had begun. I continued to stop and go for quite some time and even caught back up to the pacer all the way through mile 16, but then again scaled back to prepare for the worst part of any long race, "the Wall."
Every runner hits "the wall" at some point during the marathon. Some runners overcome it quickly, others struggle. In my past 3 marathons I'm the runner that struggles. It never fails, somewhere between mile 18-23 my body gets to a point where it's ready to give up and I've never gotten past it, always cursing my way to the finish line. This run would be different, it had to be.
At mile 18 the self doubt started, and I even began to think of excuses to get out of running Boston and Big Sur, but then I remembered all the supporters I had out there cheering for me and an e-mail one of my teammates, Bill had sent me about what it takes to overcome and to be mentally tough. I remembered the reasons why I was out there, for myself, but also why I was a part of Tedy's Team. There was no excuse in the world that was going to keep me from running Boston or Big Sur, and by mile 22 (yup, 4 miles of struggle) I finally broke through my first "wall". The last 3 miles of the race I was in a place I had never been before. I was confident and enjoying every step. The crowd was amazing, and to top it off the course ran all downhill. I broke into a stride that had me fist pumping across the finish line. It was the feeling I had always hoped to have at the end of 26.2 miles and I was finally able to enjoy the moment like never before. My legs weren't sore and I wasn't an emotional mess.
I ended up in LA because I was out there to run my friend Jack's first marathon with him, but unfortunately an injury kept him sidelined. As it turns out it was one of the best decisions I could have made. LA ended up being an incredible boost of confidence for me. I ended up running the 26.2 miles alone and overcome my mental hurdles on my own. It's given me the confidence I need to take on the familiar Boston course and the new challenges of one of the world's most difficult marathons in Big Sur. The good news is Tedy's Team will be there with me for the next two rounds.
Finally, looking back on the whole experience I can't thank the wife enough for pushing me every day. While others have often told me I'm crazy and going to get hurt, She's never once told me I couldn't do it, has only told me to keep it smart. I need that constant reminder. I also owe a lot to all of my friends and teammates. You guys were fantastic cheerleaders from across the country on facebook, through texts, and on twitter. It meant a lot to see someone wishing me luck and then see "42 other people like this" under that. Special thanks to Jack for the support out in LA. You should be a motivation speaker. I wouldn't have been there had it not been for you, and although you didn't get to run this time you have my word that I'll be there to get you through your first marathon, doesn't matter how long it takes.
25 days until Boston. 36 days until Big Sur. 205 days until Chicago.
As promised for another good friend tonight's side note - Matt Wamback has made it his personally goal to beat Oprah or Whoopi in Boston. You can do it buddy!
