So, the L.A. Marathon
… It was race day: Sunday March 4, 2007. I had run the Pacific Shoreline Half-marathon
in 1:42:00 only 4 weeks ago–a 7:47 average pace–which would seem to
indicate that I could do a sub-four-hour marathon. But I had been
injured only a few days after that, with some kind of groin injury on
my left side. 3.5 weeks of not really being able to follow the training
schedule, not being able to do the 20-miler 3 weeks before the race,
and continuing to try and run, but never being able to go more than 7
or 8 miles without hurting my groin again. I was wearing custom inserts
prescribed by my orthopedist, to correct for a leg-length difference.
But I was beginning to be unsure whether they were really helping me or
hurting me. Two weeks before the marathon, I stopped wearing the custom
inserts and seem to have been getting better since.

I also ran very little at all the week before the marathon…

… Would I be
ready for the race with so little practice shortly before? I’d even
talked with online friends about whether I’d even be able to run the
race at all, with my recent injuries. But I was feeling pretty good,
and the groin injury wasn’t bothering me much at all the last couple of
days before the race.

The morning of the race I woke up late (alarm clock was not set
properly). I was supposed to meet Miriam to go to the metro station from our
hotel rooms at 5:30 am. Instead I woke at 5:30. But we were out the
door by 6 am and despite the long line at the metro station, we were
quickly aboard a train.

It was not a cold morning. Maybe in the low 50′s…possibly warmer.
While this was nice in the early morning, it would turn out to be too
warm later in the day during the race, with temps at 11 am approaching
80 degrees, little shade and not much breeze.

The starting line area wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. We were
able to make it through the crowd and find my running club, the Pacers
Running Club, at Ralph’s. The potty lines were insane, and
when we finally went to line up we wanted to hook up with Miriam’s
friend, Billy, who was going to pace us for a sub-four-hour marathon
(around a 9-minute pace). We were able to find Billy in the crowd
(amazing!) thanks to cell phones and some luck.

The race started about 9 minutes late. We were off and up the hill on
Cahuenga Blvd. for about a mile and a-half. And then downhill to mile 3
around Hollywood Blvd. and Highland. Chris got this great shot of the
three of us (from left to right: Miriam, me, Billy). Yeah, we were
feeling pretty good at mile 3. (Surprise)

We ran a sub-9-minute pace for most of the first 15 miles, mostly
around 8:50. Miriam and I did stop at porta-potties at mile 8, and then
when I got out of the porta-potty, she was nowhere around. After
calling her name a bit, I decided they’d gone on without me, and I
started out. Running along, trying to go faster to see if I could catch
them, scanning the crowd for Miriam in her purple racing outfit. I did
see Miriam’s parents about a mile later and shouted to them whether
they’d seen Miriam. Yes, they had, ahead of me. So I ran after her and
Billy. But I was doing an 8-minute pace and this was just too fast. It
was tiring. I was just getting ready to give up and run the rest of the
race by myself, when my cell phone rang. (Billy and I were both
carrying phones.) They were just ahead of me and I was able to catch
up. I do think that burst of 8-minute pace really took something out of
me, though.

Miriam would ask me every 2 or 3 miles how I was doing and how my groin
felt. It had been just a bit tender that morning before the race, but
we were running along and it didn’t seem to be getting worse. Just
staying the same. She wasn’t having knee problems at the beginning of
the race, but later on she said she started to feel them. By the time
we got to mile 10, when Miriam would ask me how I felt, my response
was: “Tired”. The groin wasn’t bothering me, but I was just tired. I
think we were running a bit faster pace than I really wanted to,
especially for the first half of the race.

There were lots of water and aid stations along the route–about every
mile–and we were drinking water like crazy. Sometimes I would grab two
cups of water at the stations. I stopped at most stations, but after
mile 10 or so some of them I skipped and just stopped at every other
station. I was also eating Clif
Shot Bloks every 5 miles, to try and keep my energy up.

By the time we got to mile 15 the outer edge of my left
knee was starting to hurt and I told Miriam I needed to walk for a bit.
She gave me a hug and then she and Billy were off. (Yeah for Miriam!
She did finish her sub-four-hour marathon: 3:58. She credits a lot of
it to Billy’s encouragement in the last 5 miles when she wanted to go
slower and he pressed her to keep it up.)

In the last half of the marathon, there were quite a few places where
the fire hydrants had been turned on for the racers to run through the
spray of water if they chose. Some people in their front yards were
spraying their hoses for us to run through. And there were even some
fire trucks along the route that were spraying water for us. I ran
through it sometimes, and sometimes not.

I walked a bit at Mile 15 and then picked it up and started running
again. Repeat at Mile 17. Then I looked for the Pacer’s Running Club
tent at Mile 18. Raj was there and I said, “I need a hug.” LOL. He
didn’t seem like the hugging type, but I needed one, so… Coach Stacy
walked and then ran with me to Mile 19 at the Staple’s Center where
Chris and all other family members were waiting. I stopped and talked
to them. I stretched. LORDY my calves were tight. Jennifer wanted to
know why Miriam had gone by so much earlier than I did. Heck, I
finished the first 19 miles in less than 3 hours. I was still on pace
to do a sub-four-hour marathon.

But I couldn’t. When I left my family I tried to start running again,
but I only got about 100 feet or so and returned to walking. My knee
hurt too much. So I resolved that even if I walked the last 7 miles I
should be able to finish in 2 more hours. I walked most of the way to
mile 22, and was having stomach cramps. 10-minute time out in a
porta-potty, and then I pressed onward.

Since Miriam and I had pre-registered for the race, we had our first
names printed on our bibs. This was kind of fun early in the race.
People on the side of the road would call support out to you: “Go
Miriam! Go Sheila! You can do it!” We even had a contest going between
us, as to who got the more support calls. And the clear winner was
Miriam. She liked reaching out to the people on the curbside and giving
Hi-fives, while I was concentrating on my race.

However, at mile 21 walking along and hurting, people calling out to
you to pick it up and go kind of pissed me off. Well, I was hurting…

Every once in a while I would try to pick up and jog a bit, but that
was always short-lived, and I would return to walking. I tried to keep
walking at a speed of 4 mph.

At Mile 23 there was another Pacer’s tent with Coach Eddie, Marie, and
others. I got some encouragement from them and continued along. But not
much further, I had to sit down and rest by the side of the road. I
thought I was going to throw up. I didn’t though, and got up and
continued on, walking about a 4 mph rate.

After passing the 24 mile banner, I thought I would like to run in the
end of the race. So at about 24.5 miles I picked it up and started
running again. Once I hit stride and got to a 9-minute per mile pace, I
was able to hold it and I didn’t even hurt or feel any pain. Finished
the last 1.5 miles at a steady, consistent pace.

And finally it was over. Oh, so tired. When they put the medal on me, I
sobbed just a bit, shoulders shaking and heaving a couple of times. And
I didn’t want to eat anything even though I know I should. I managed
some Gatorade and a couple of bites of banana. When I found my family,
I got a chocolate soy milk that I’d had Chris bring for me. After that
we walked back to the hotel (about a mile away) and I took an ice-bath.
Ahhhh, that felt so good. And then out to a restaurant with family for
good eats. By that time I was hungry and feeling pretty OK.

Later in the evening Chris and I went out to The Cheesecake Factory for
dessert. When we came back home I took ibuprofen and iced my left knee.

Today I’m feeling awfully darn good. Not even sore, really. So I’m very
glad of that. I went out and did a bit over 3 miles in 30 minutes
today… just an easy run. And then some yoga. Tomorrow I’m going for a
massage in the morning and then sit on my butt for the rest of the day.

The groin injury that I’ve been trying to heal for the past 3.5 weeks
seems to be all better, practically. It’s almost as though running the
marathon healed it. I wish I knew why I got the knee injury during the
race instead. And I’ve never had an outside-knee injury before, so this
is new. Even though we were running a slightly faster pace than I had
anticipated, I doubt that was the cause. Perhaps it was due to the
crown in the road? With my left leg slightly longer than the right, and
in most places the crown on the road was higher on the left than on the
right (because we ran on the right side of the road mostly), this may
have aggravated the knee. Also, I didn’t have time for a really good
warmup and stretch before the race.

Although I was disappointed in my time of 5:02:06, I’m really pleased
that I was able to finish the race, and that I was able to run in the
last 1.5 miles. I’m also extremely pleased that I am feeling so darned
good today. Because I feel so good the day after, I really consider
this race to have been a success.

During Mile 23, as I walked along hurting and feeling sick, I was
telling myself that would not do any more marathons. That I would just
stick to half-marathon and shorter races. Those were better distances
for me.

However, after an ice-bath and a good night’s sleep, I’m feeling pretty
darned good. I will do another marathon, I just will hope for cooler
weather.