Race Report: Long Beach Marathon – Part 2

When last I blogged, we were heading to bed on Saturday night in Orange (after watching the thankfully successful conclusion of the Florida State-Miami game), getting ready for an early morning on race day.  On race morning, we were awake and moving around way before the sun came up, and it was already getting toasty outside.  Due to rains in the Phoenix area the week before coupled with unseasonably hot weather in LA, it was actually hotter in Long Beach than it was at home for race weekend.  Super awesome.

Knowing that it was going to be hot (I think the high temp in Long Beach ended up around 90 that day, all told), Risa offered to let me use her cool wrap bandanna; we popped it in the freezer the night before and brought it in a cooler to the start line, fully frozen.  Although it eventually became the same temp as I was (but not until the last quarter of the race or so), it really worked out well and helped keep my core temp lower than it would have been otherwise.

Risa helping me with the bandanna

After a short warm-up, we took a few more pictures, and I was off to wait in the start line mob.

Can you see the water mark on my shirt

from the front of the bandanna?

It was already starting to melt in the heat.

It’s 5:45 in the frakking morning.

The race featured a full marathon, a half marathon, and a bike tour (with a combo option to bike 20 miles and then run a half marathon…hmm, something to consider for the future…yes, seriously); although the 6am start time was originally just for the bikers and full marathoners, due to the excess heat that day, the race organizers also allowed the half marathon runners to start early, too, as opposed to their previously scheduled time of 7:30am.  Many folks took them up on this option, so the start lines were pretty crowded, but everyone was polite, and there were plenty of portable toilets to accommodate everyone.  Score!

Actually, funny story.  There were so many port-o-loo’s around the Convention Center in a giant curve that upon initially catching glimpse of them, the bright turquoise arc seemed to be an art installation.  We had a moment where we believed this and then went, uh, nope, those are toilets.

Anywhoo, around 6:15am, the mass pack of runners finally started the race, having waited through the start of the wheelchair athletes, the bike tour participants, and the legacy runners (a group of runners who had run every year so far).  The first 6 miles of the race were a lot of fun, although I spent most of my time dodging past people who began the race much farther up in the pack than they should have (um, hey, you walking at mile 2?  Start further back in the pack, please); the course followed the port of Long Beach, and we curved around toward the Queen Mary, then back around through Shoreline Village.  The scenery was beautiful but it was hard to focus on, since as I mentioned above, it was pretty packed with people.  Around mile 4, I actually saw a runner run right over one of the sanctioned race photographers, since the pack in front of him made it impossible to see; the photographer was sitting in a low beach chair in the flow of runners (which is what they always do – this guy wasn’t out of place) and when the runners parted, this one just couldn’t get out of the way in time.  Thankfully, they quickly picked each other up and neither was hurt (the photog’s expensive camera seemed to be fine, too).

After we passed through Shoreline Village, we transitioned into a long parking lot between the ocean and Shoreline Boulevard, which just happens to be the home of Shoreline Yacht Club, of which Dad and Risa are members!  We ran directly past the building, so while Chris waited for me on the road, Dad, Risa, and a few buddies of theirs cheered me on from the building’s balcony, overlooking the madness.

Chris took pics from the ground:

Still smiling!

And the rest of the gang grabbed one from above:

That’s me tossing my empty FuelBelt canister to Chris

(he’s in the dark gray shirt to the right of the trash can).

After we passed the Yacht Club, we headed out on the Long Beach bike path for a few miles.  The bike path is a paved sidewalk in the middle of the beach, with sand on both sides and waves from the ocean crashing on the beach about 20 feet away.  Other than starting to get toasty right around then, it was absolutely gorgeous.  It looks like this:

Not my picture.  Thank you, internet.

We then curved back around on Ocean Boulevard and headed toward the start/finish area.  After a few miles of this, the half marathoners split from our group, heading back toward the finish line.  Lucky bastards.  Full marathoners, on the other hand, turned north and headed into some of the more residential areas of Long Beach.  Overall, the course was pretty flat with a few smaller hills, and we passed houses, local businesses, and neighborhood parks, including the Lawn Bowling Club (lawn bowling and bocce ball – are they the same thing?  Does anyone know?).

We passed Wilson High School and saw pep bands, cheerleaders, and their mascot, who seemed to be a bobcat of some sort.  I waved and he/she/it waved back.  What?  When you’re out there running for a long time in the heat, this sort of thing becomes a highlight.  At around mile 17, we headed onto the campus of Cal State Long Beach, which was quite lovely.  For example, we ran past this pyramid:

I can only imagine this is where Cal State Long Beach

buries their recently deceased dignitaries.

No, I really have no clue what it is.

We also ran through here:

See, pretty, right?

Unfortunately, however, I did not personally see Prospector Pete, the school’s mascot.  This saddened me greatly, as his appearance was advertised in the race pamphlet as a highlight.  Here he is:

So f***ing majestic.

Anywhoodle, CSULB had the largest hill of the day, at a whopping 85 feet, but I handled it pretty well, I think.  At this point in the race, around mile 20, I had abandoned my previously stated goal of 3:45, as with the hot weather, I knew it wasn’t in the cards to be so fast.  I still had aims of breaking 4:00, and as of mile 20, I was on pace.

Here’s my split chart from the race results website:

Click to make it bigger

See how at mile 20, I was at 3:02 and at mile 24, I was at 3:46?  That means that until mile 20, I was running 9:06 minutes per mile, which was a bit slower than my goal, but still okay if I wanted to break 4:00.  What that also means was in the next 4 miles, I dropped from 9:06 to 11:00 minute miles, getting passed by the 4:00 pace group and shattering this dream.  It was really, really freaking hot.  Although the course was solid, the last 6 miles or so were straight back down Ocean/Shoreline, and it was brutal; although there were buildings along the side of the road, the sun was high enough that shade just didn’t exist for runners in the street.  I saw many people cramping, passing out, throwing up, and even being taken off the course by medical personnel.

Since I still had the opportunity to set a new Personal Record (always my last option goal), I told myself that I’d keep plodding along, jogging/running, until the pace group for 4:15 passed me.  Since my previous PR was 4:13, if the 4:15 guy passed me, my hopes of a new PR were also gone; if the 4:15 guy passed me, I told myself, I had permission to walk to the finish line.  Fortunately/unfortunately, this never happened, so I just kept running.

Just.keep.running.

Eventually, I made a left turn, and the finish line was in sight.  I came across the line, only to be told that as a full marathoner, I needed to finish in the corral to the right. Oops!  Thankfully, the finish mat recorded my time properly, and my extra finish gave Chris the opportunity he needed to get some great shots of me crossing the line.

Crossing the wrong line…

…cutting through the corrals…

…and going over the right one this time!  Hooray!

Hi, honey!

Overall, even though I didn’t hit my more ambitious goals, I consider the race a success, as I was able to set a new PR despite some seriously hot conditions.  The guy who won the race – a Kenyan, no less – did it in 2:31, which was probably 20 minutes slower than a standard time for someone like that – it really was that hot.  A huge thanks to Dad and Risa for driving us all over the greater Long Beach area and putting up with my spazzy runner needs including having a shouting fit at the driver of a Prius in the parking lot on race morning (not my best moment, but highly entertaining nonetheless).  As always, a huge thanks as well to Chris for constantly putting up with my crap, running related or not.

Finally, the biggest of all thanks to the residents of Long Beach.  As runners, we tied up traffic in the area for hours, and I know that’s super annoying.  However, when the weather turned hotter than expected, instead of just being aggravated, residents stepped out of their homes to offer water to runners and other treats to keep us going (bananas, pretzels, oranges from their own kitchens).  So many people hooked up hoses and used their own spigots to spray down runners who requested it, and I saw people along the course bring out pans of ice they’d cleaned out of their own ice makers and offer it to runners.  One house didn’t have anyone outside but the driveway held two big orange Gatorade coolers and a water sprayer with notes for runners to be safe and use whatever they needed.  Of the 7-9 marathons I’ve run (I don’t remember for sure right now), this was by far the most involved I’ve ever seen the surrounding community; while people always come out and cheer, these folks were a cut above, and they weren’t obligated to do any of it.  Good people, these folks.

On to the next adventure!

This thing weighs a ton!

Later!

Amy